Jeremiah Sweat

English Apollo
Id, Ego, Super Ego In Music

We all make decisions in our lives. Whether their good, bad, or just plain terrible. But
what if there's an explanation to these thoughts? In 1923 Sigmund Freud's personality theory
saw the psyche build off of three mindsets known as id, ego, and superego, all developing at
different stages in our lives. The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. It
consists of all the inherited components of personality present at birth, including the sex instinct,
and the aggressive (death) instinct. The ego develops to mediate between the unrealistic id and
the external real world. It is the decision-making component of personality. The ego works by
reason, While the id is more chaotic and instinctive. The super-ego incorporates the values and
morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. This develops at an early
age. To better explain the more feeling aspect of this theory by using songs as examples. I will
analyze the lyrics on what I believe what they mean then explain the real meaning to show
examples of each psyche build.
For the id I have chosen the song I kissed a girl by Katy Perry. What I believe the song
is about someone (Katy/ The main character) makes irrational, and uncontrollable decisions
while being intoxicated. While shes intoxicated she feels sexual feelings, and tension towards
another person after kissing them at a party even know they know it “Felt so wrong, it felt so
right”. Then later in the song, she goes on by rambling about her sexual feelings and attractions
to this person in the line,
“Us girls we are so magical
Soft skin, red lips, so kissable
Hard to resist so touchable
Too good to deny it
Ain't no big deal, it's innocent”
Even though she knows its wrong for her to be in love by being a girl herself, she still
chooses to make wrong decisions.
According to ​Genius.com​, the song is about how Katy’s song begins to shift from rationalizing
why she made a mistake in kissing a girl, to what was so enticing about the proposal. She says
that she was not “used to” kissing/being attracted to another female and only wants to try her on
to get a feel for the experience. In the line,
“No, I don't even know your name
It doesn't matter
You're my experimental game
Just human nature,”
In this verse, Katy continues to give the listener reasons why she kissed this girl. She
even boldly claims that it is “human nature”. That sounds a lot like what I said in my analysis of
the song. But not only that it sounds a lot like the id of the human psyche by being close to your
instinctive side or “human nature”. The next human psyche we have the ego.
For the ego, the song I have chosen is, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic At The Disco.
What I believe the song is about a man getting married to his wife but what he doesn't know is
that is fiancé has been cheating on him the whole time. After one of the grooms, friends tell him
about his wife’s antics. He calls off the wedding instead of yelling at his wife with, “poise and
rationalities” which sounds a lot more like “poison rationalities” in the line,
“It's much better to face these kinds of things
With a sense of
Poise and rationality,” which makes a lot of sense because they wasted time money, and
energy into a relationship that was falling apart in secret. According to​ Genius.com​ Facing a
situation with “poise and rationality,” would be to handle it elegantly. A natural reaction would be
to lash out at his lover, but instead, he chooses to be more graceful. Writing a song is likely a lot
better than doing something regretful. Once again I was right about this song. This also does
match well with ego by being rational when Id is more instinctive and crazy. The next and last
psyche is super-ego.
The song I chose for the super-ego is “F****** Young” by Tyler The Creator. Since the
lyrics are very straight forward I believe the song is about a man who falls in love with a woman
who is under the age of 18. So he concludes that he can't love her because if he is caught by
the police he would be taken to jail. In the line,
“ A six-year difference
Is a ten-year sentence” In another line, he also references the police with,
“There go the policeman (Knocking at my door)
Do I leave out the back and (Grab my wallet and coat)
Or do I answer real confused like ("I don't know")” Also in another line says,
“Cause girl you're perfect, but you're too f***ing young (for me)
And when temptation calls my phone, I never pick up
And girl, you stole my heart but you're too f***ing young
This is more than a crush, I just might be in love”
So the song seems pretty obvious on what its about. In an interview with “​Billboard​” Tyler
The Creator said,
“I wanted to make a song like Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions album. You listen to s*** in the ‘70s,
they got to the point. Although it sounds soft, “F***ing Young” is perverted and weird, but it’s
true. There was this girl that I liked, and we both had feelings for each other, but there was a
five-year difference between us. It weirded me out, so I wrote a song about it”. But in
comparison to super ego the song fits the description extremely well. Tyler chose not to further
his relationship with an underage girl since its illegal and society would say no. Even though in
the past it was legal to be wedded at age 15 until we culturally evolved and put a limit and a
standard to feelings and emotions.
In our lives we all make decisions. Whether they are subconscious, rational, or if they fit
society's standards we all have to follow through with a decision. Do you believe in Sigmund
Freud’s theory?