Have you ever found a song that feels like it was written just for you? From a band so obscure and underground that you can’t help but feel like you were their first fan? Of course you can, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Zolas.

I’ve expressed in the past that when I appreciate music, I try to appreciate just the music and not the artists. I didn’t even research the Zolas before I wrote this post, but that doesn’t bother me at all. So I won’t give a background of the band because I don’t know and I really couldn’t care less about it, but I will tell you exactly why I adore the song “You’re So Cool.”

Live commentary as I listen to the song with headphones on, volume cranked up loud:

I enjoy this song so much, but not entirely for the lyrics. The Zolas are such a small and undiscovered band, yet I can’t believe that this guy’s voice hasn’t been recognized yet. Whatever, I’m glad that the Zolas haven’t been on the radio, otherwise the band would have been ruined for me foerver.

There is such truth in these lyrics; the music largely fades out and you’re just left with this guy’s voice, singing:

I can tell we’ll never be safe, till the walls come down

Every morning chipping away, till the walls come down

What about the portion when the band just starts chanting I’m wide awake, I’m wide awake, I’m wide awake? This music is ideal for leg kicking and cane waving, if you know what I mean.

This music is a nice deviation from what popular music is shifting towards, by which I mean, techno-beats and autotune; this sounds like the perfect mix of contemporary and classical that I’ve come to love.

This man’s voice is in the perfect range for singing and when he goes back and harmonizes with himself, magic is in the air, I swear.

The lyrics we all want something that’s bigger than fashion is sort of just the frontman calling out society for focusing mainly on petty details and outward beauty.

On the surface, the lyrics of the song remind me vaguely of the Mike Posner song “Cooler than Me.” Except, Posner sort of just pokes fun at some anonymous girl and doesn’t really make much of a statement besides that, which the techno-beat sort of accounts for. Some lyrics of the Zolas’ song are reminiscent of this message but when he slows down and the background music just fades away, he’s getting the core message across: we’ll never be safe until the walls fall down…stop trying to block me out.

The humorous element of this is that since I’m a debater, I’m constantly surrounded by timers that are going off with a high-pitched, continuous beeping, and part of the background music in this song SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE IT, so that whenever I’m listening to it, I have to take off my headphones and make sure my timer isn’t accidentally going off.

Towards the end, when the lead sings over and over again “I can tell we’ll never be safe, till the walls fall down. Every morning dripping away, till the walls fall down,” he augments it by building up to the foot-kicking portion, so that the song doesn’t look any of its genuine quality.

The ending though…slows down perfectly to just whisper-sing the title of the song into your song as the final thought, the good-bye from the Zolas to me.

Bravo.

I wrote a poem based off of a lyric from another song by the Zolas, “Ancient Mars”: read it here!

Here’s the song itself, “You’re Too Cool” by the Zolas