04. 12. 2020
Dandelion // Oohyo // 2017 // Rock, Indie
Dandelion was released in spring 2017 under the album of the same name. Even before listening to the song, the timing of its release and the sunny, dainty yellow of the album art suggest a song related to spring and good feelings. The song appropriately features Oohyo’s expressive, childlike voice as the main source of the melody and leaving the instrumentals as more percussive elements. Oohyo explains that she wanted to express the meaning of love she has experienced:
love is like a bloomed dandelion on a sidewalk that we carelessly pass by as we look into our phones. It is plain but always there to suddenly shine us with warmth when we come back home with our tired and tense shoulders. I believe that’s what love is like
Oohyo is also one of my favorite artists to listen to focus or calm down. I love the poem-like narrative she builds with words that further express the atmosphere of her music. Her song reminded me of a piece of news that aired last week: the government decided to mow off large fields of yellow rapeseed flowers in order to prevent crowds from gathering to see flowers.
It was both shocking and infuriating to see the large hunk of metal rip through the wispy stems. Visually, the contrast was shocking. It really showed that our ordinary routine and yearly plans to watch spring flowers could be disrupted just like that. It was a real shame since flower seeing is definitely an experience that one must be physically present for. The news also made me upset since they wouldn’t have had to cut the flowers if people followed procedures and practiced social distancing. I understand that with the seasonal change and long periods of quarantine, people are becoming listless and taking the pandemic less seriously. I just hope that we can practice more patience and hope that we will be able to see the summer flowers without being wary of others and wearing masks.
