Gen Ed

Introduction: So hello all my fellow classmates and Miss May. The song I am going to talk about is How To Save A Life by The Fray. For now, I will talk a little bit about the scenes of the video to help you all understand it better but the main thing of this song is the story of how it came about. So, as we all can see in the Music Video, it starts off with the scene of the band and along the video, lots of other kids whom I can say are pre-adolescents to adolescents are introduced. If we all notice carefully, all the children look depressed and this can be seen from the scenes of them crying and shouting in the Music Video. Also, at random parts of the video, there were encouraging phrases and words shown that are supposed to help them get through the tough period of time and of course, at the last part of the song is when all the children finally getting out of depression as they were all seen smiling genuinely and not being in agony anymore. And if you all did take note, the last word that appeared in the Music Video is ‘Say goodbye’.

Backstory: Okay so there is actually a little story behind this meaningful song. Isaac Slade, the lead singer of the band attended a camp for troubled teens and he was a mentor there. At the camp, Slade met a boy who was dealing with a drug problem. This song is talking about all the people who tried to reach out to the boy but was unsuccessful. The people around the boy only knew how to say things like, “Quit taking drugs and cutting yourself or I won’t talk to you again.” The boy was losing his friends and was dealing with depression and they just didn’t realize that what the boy needed was a listening ear and a lot of moral support.

Perspectives: Well, this is written based on a first-hand experience by Slade, it actually makes this song very intimate and personal.

Messaging: In my opinion, I think it appeals mainly to the heart as this was a camp for troubled teens meaning that the boy Slade met was probably just