Rhythm of Rebellion

Most people with access to a radio or the internet have heard the song Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man. It topped the Billboard Adult Alternative list, as well as the Billboard Alternative Chart in just six weeks. The song, while catchy and repetitive has a deeper meaning than most would think. 

The band released an interactive video to go along with the song an it reveals exactly what the song is actually about. 30 different "tools to resist" are featured, and in the interactive video the watcher is encouraged to find all of them, with a running count in the corner. Some of the "tools" include donating to the ACLU, standing up for equality, and combating climate change. And those are just the first few. 

One of the most repetitive lyrics in the song is "I'm a rebel just for kicks", which can be taken to mean that, in the current time, rebellion against everything is common and it seems like it's just for fun. The band has clearly shown that it's not just for fun and there are several issues that can be brought to light by 'casual rebels'.

Another two lines with deep context are "I been feeling it since 1966" and "Let me kick it like it's 1986". While I couldn't find the actual meaning of the two lines, with a little bit of research, the most likely reason for using these two years connects to the Civil Right movement. 
1966 was the first year that the Civil Rights Voting Act was in place, and many people saw that as all that needed to be done for Civil Rights even though the deep-rooted problems still persist now, which explains the "been feeling it since". 
1986 was more difficult to figure out, but following the Civil Rights idea, I found that 1986 was the first year that Martin Luther King Junior's birthday was celebrated as a national holiday. The "let me kick it" could mean that the Civil Rights problem was reduced because of the importance of the day. 

And of course the title of the song, and the most used phrase in the song, "feel it still". The lyrics seem to be a push to show that none of the issues that have been represented in the videos are over. They are still being felt everywhere, from the globe to specific organizations. There are several other sets of thought provoking lyrics such as "we could fight a war for peace", "is it coming back", "might be over now, but I feel it still", but without knowing the video's context there is no way to put the phrases into the context that the band has given it. 

Feel It Still is one of a few popular songs that has a deeper meaning that anyone can find by looking and opens up the discussion of difficult topics, which happens to be one of the "tools to resist" in the video.

I encourage everyone to listen to the song and go through the interactive video to make their own opinions on it, but that's what I think.

Comment what you think. 

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