Alien

by Cassadee Pope

This song is by Cassadee Pope, released in 2016. The song is about feeling alienated because of your differences from other people. The lyrics are below:

You can have a lot of friends and still feel alone
But there's a lot of hands
Trying to mold you 'cause they think they can
You're a band geek, you're popular
A broken heart or a heartbreaker
What do you do when you're in between?
How do you label a freak like me?
I'm a blackbird flying in a white fence town
Got a church pew heart and a rock-and-roll mouth
I'm a straight-A kid with a fake ID
Little somewhere in between
I'm a dark horse running where you can't run wild
Got a good girl soul with a fast lane smile
I'm a homecoming queen with a tattoo sleeve
A 501 Blue dream
What's the point of fitting in?
'Cause at some point, I know we've all been
Alien
Alien
I'm an open book full of mysteries
With a runaway heart on a settle-down street
I'm an outsider just looking in
Not a 1 or a 2 or a perfect 10
I'm a wildflower growing through the concrete
Always somewhere I shouldn't be
I'm a blackbird flying in a white fence town
Got a church pew heart and a rock-and-roll mouth
I'm a straight-A kid with a fake ID
Little somewhere in between
I'm a dark horse running where you can't run wild
Got a good girl soul with a fast lane smile
I'm a homecoming queen with a tattoo sleeve
A 501 Blue dream
What's the point of fitting in?
'Cause at some point, I know we've all been
Alien
Do you ever feel like you were born
In the wrong place, in the wrong time
But there ain't nothing wrong with living your life?
Alien
Yeah, I'm a blackbird flying in a white fence town
Got a church pew heart and a rock-and-roll mouth
I'm a straight-A kid with a fake ID
Little somewhere in between
I'm a dark horse running where you can't run wild
Got a good girl soul with a fast lane smile
I'm a homecoming queen with a tattoo sleeve
A 501 Blue dream, oh
What's the point of fitting in?
'Cause at some point, I know we've all been
Alien
Alien

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Ann]

In this song, Cassadee Pope describes her feelings of being forced into an identity that limits herself. Her lyrics are powerful, including lines that describe people "trying to mold you 'cause they think they can," and "how do you label a freak like me?". The song is about being more than what people think you are. The main theme throughout the song is identity, how others identify you and how you define yourself.

When adolescent students hear this song they will relate to the feelings of being caged by a label that Cassadee Pope sings about. Music often speaks to adolescent students in a unique way. Middle school students face daily pressures to be who others want them to be. As they listen to this song, they can think about the labels the people in their lives place on them, and the way this impacts how they see themselves.

Gallagher's strategy from Chapter 6 of Write Like This for having students analyze and interpret, in which students look at a picture at first for a few seconds, then a second time for more time, and finally for an extended time to see what they notice each time, could be adapted to use with this song. In class, I would first play a clip of the chorus and allow students to write down thoughts or questions. Then, I would play the first half of the song and have students again write down what they noticed. Finally, I would play the whole song and have students interpret what Cassadee Pope's main point is in her song and how they might relate to this idea.