“Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina & The Waves
Metaphors are present in our lives almost every day. We may not always take the time to see it, but you can find them in a variety of sources. For my selected artifact, I analyzed the song “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina & The Waves. For this post, I will break down the rhetorical aspects of this artifact, and how it applies to metaphorical criticism.
“Walking on Sunshine”
This song delivers an upbeat, and rather fast pace. The music is vibrant and exciting, making you want to get up and dance. She sings about someone she loves, who at first she’s not sure loves her back. The song explains the progression of her relationship with this person, and as they establish their love, how it fills her life with happiness. Now that she knows this person loves her, she’s confident, and compares her feelings to what it’d feel like to walk on sunshine, which is pure happiness! See below for the lyrics and song:
The Metaphors
The chorus of the song, “I’m walking on sunshine!” contains the metaphors, and to this song’s advantage, the chorus repeats a significant amount.
Sunshine resembles happiness, because it’s bright and warm, such how we feel when we’re happy. The singer is not literally walking on sunshine, because that’s not physically possible, however she’s applying metaphorical criticism in order to compare sunshine to her happiness. She’s clearly in love, and being in love typically feels happy. In the singer’s case, because she and her partner love each other, she expresses her emotions through this song, utilizing metaphorical criticism to compare sunshine to the happiness that derives from the love she receives from this particular person she sings about.
The Vehicles/Tenors
The vehicle of metaphors is the mechanism/lens through which the topic is viewed. (Ross 2009). Therefore, The vehicle I have located in my artifact is healthy relationships. I suggest that the audience can view this song with the perspective that they would like to feel the way the singer feels about being in love. The tenor, on the other hand, is the topic or subject being explained. As it’s already been established, the topic is happiness, and Katrina & The Waves properly executes this explanation through her metaphor, “I’m walking on sunshine!”
Explanation
I can make the assumption that the singer was compelled to write this song to show her audience what it’s like to feel the way she does, which is genuine happiness. Because Katrina & The Waves creates a song that evokes such positivity with it’s cheerful lyrics and music, I suggest that listeners to this song who are feeling down can apply this song to their lives song to brighten their mood, and become inspired to find their sunshine! Not only that, but Katrina & The Waves can make their audience reflect on their personal relationships, and ask themselves, “Do I feel like I’m walking on sunshine with this person?”