Medieval by FINNEAS- the Tale behind the Tunes

Welcome back!

All I’m going to say is- this song is it.

I have listened to this on loop for a whole month until my cousin (who has nothing to do so she stalks my Spotify activity) started asking me why I’ve been playing Medieval by FINNEAS for the past month. That’s when I played it for her and waited as she realised what an absolute masterpiece this is.

Finneas

Finneas O’Connell is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. He is incredibly underrated- and I mean extremely incredibly underrated. You might have heard of his equally talented sister- Billie Eilish. The duo started making music together in their bedroom when Billie was thirteen and Finneas was seventeen. Since then, they’ve gone on to produce hits like Bad Guy, Happier than Ever and Therefore I am.

Billie and Finneas

Together, Finneas and his sister have won a total of thirteen Grammy awards. Insane, am I right?

Finneas has produced music for countless other artists, featuring on Lose you to Love me by Selena Gomez and on two tracks on Camila Cabello’s album, Romance. Although you may have heard his more popular songs: Let’s fall in Love for the Night and Break my heart again, this one is no less.

The song talks about cancel-culture in the world today and how much it resonates with medieval times. The brutality has changed form but not magnitude.

Cancel culture or call-out culture is a contemporary phrase used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled". (Wikipedia)

Let’s get right into it.

“It feels a little medieval, if you ask me
Like I'm watchin' a sequel I've already seen
I could tell you what happens to the new king
When he goes out of fashion”

‘Like I’m watching a sequel I’ve already seen.’

Wow.

Finneas is basically saying how today’s word is the sequel to the Medieval ages, but we’ve already seen it all. Just as kings were de-throned and shunned when they got boring, social media users are “cancelled” simply because they went out of style.

“I want my money back now-ow
I've been in the wrong crowd-owd
I'd never say it out loud-oud
But I've hated every word that comes out of your mouth

What should we fight about this time?
What will you write about this time?
What does it matter if you're not fine?
You should've kept that sh*t offline”

This stanza talks extensively about the media’s negative impact on people. He says that he hates every word that comes out of his hater’s mouths.

Fights and demeaning articles are so common that Finneas asks his haters what they’d like to say about him now.

“They're gonna tear you from your pedestal, it's almost inevitable
I'm not being cynical, it's so unoriginal
If you get political, they'll make you a criminal
It's all a bit biblical
Don't put your camera down
You don't go to Heaven in a crown
It's not worth the money, bringing me back from the dead”

This is the stanza that draws the most parallels between the Medieval ages and today, by far. One mistake, and one can be dragged down from their pedestal. This scenario is “unoriginal” because it seems….a little Medieval.

I never said it would be any fun
You never should've trusted anyone
They'll love you 'til they know you're done
And then it's off with his head

It feels a little medieval, if you ask me
Like I'm watching a sequel I've already seen
I could tell you what happens to the new king
When he goes out of fashion
It feels a little medieval kissing the ring
In a gothic cathedral, have you ever seen
What really happens to people like me
When we go out of fashion?

I don’t think there’s anything more Medieval than kissing a ring in a gothic cathedral. Maybe the ring is symbolic of power. I guess we’ll have to find out.

“What really happens to people like me.”

Finneas agrees that as an artist and a public figure he is constantly put on a pedestal and expected to be perfect. He tells us that it is almost predictable what the Internet will do to him if he makes so much as one mistake.

This song also resonates with Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber’s Monster, a track about rising to fame as a teenager and overcoming the hurdles of the industry.

Finneas is a musical genius and no one can convince me otherwise.

Here are some tracks I’d suggest:

Love is Pain

Only a Lifetime

I Lost a Friend

I love you (by Billie Eilish, but he features in the song)

Till forever falls apart ft. Ashe

Listen to Medieval here: