Dare You To Move Analysis

“Wow, your house smells amazing!” I exclaimed to my friend Kristi as we sat in her living room. Two years ago, I remember walking into Kristi’s house and taking a deep breath. Every time I visited her house, I relished the pleasant scent floating around her house, so one day I expressed this to her. However, her reply surprised me. “My house doesn’t smell like anything!” she responded. Initially confused, I slowly realized since she lived in her house her entire life, she no longer noticed the smell. This made me wonder if I no longer noticed things in my own life. Sometimes people’s lives mirror this situation. Settling for lackluster lives and sinful actions, they fail to notice problems in their lives anymore. Through “Dare You to Move”

Switchfoot calls attention to this and dares people to come out such a mindset. While the message of the song does instill an initial sense of guilt in people, the message of salvation, soaring vocals, and upbeat track replaces the guilt with inspiration and people realize they can change their lives here and now.
Switchfoot first uses lyrics to form their message and effectively convey it to listeners.

In the first verse, Switchfoot welcomes people to life and tells them everyone waits to see how they live. They decide what comes next, but Switchfoot has some advice for them in the chorus. Repeatedly, they sing, “I dare you to move.” Here, they urge listeners to make something of their lives and not just sit around. The next line, “Dare you to life yourself up off the floor,” has an interesting meaning. Switchfoot does not mean people literally need to get off the floor, but they compare a life where people waste their potential to people who do nothing. However, because the first verse has not touched on any serious subjects yet, listeners feel inspired by the

lyrics.
In contrast, during the second verse, Switchfoot begins to instill a sense of guilt in listeners as they address the sinful nature of humans. They sing, “Welcome to the fallout/ Welcome to resistance.” The fallout refers to the aftermath of sinning, and the resistance occurs when people try to ignore the potential consequences. Next comes the lines, “The tension is here/ between who you are and who you could be/ between how it is and how it should be.” This addresses the active struggle in people’s lives when they realize life might have more to offer, the life they currently live lacks purpose, and they have wasted their potential. The chorus follows, but this time it sounds different to listeners because they think about their sins and struggles. During the first chorus, listeners simply felt a sense of inspiration or awareness, but this time, listeners feel guilt and remorse for their sinful lives.
This feeling of guilt vanishes during the bridge as Switchfoot reveals the true meaning of the song. Switchfoot begins the bridge by singing, “Maybe redemption has stories to tell.” Here, Switchfoot reveals that redemption has not finished its work yet. Redemption wants to work in people’s lives and bring them back from the darkness and into the light. Next, they sing, “Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell.” Switchfoot hints at the true meaning of the song here and explains that people do not need to search high and low to find forgiveness. Then, they sing, “Where can you run to escape from yourself?” This phrase holds immense meaning as it reveals the real hindrance in people’s lives: themselves. During the second verse when Switchfoot discusses the possibility that people have not lived the lives they should, listeners might have thought about certain friends who they should not hang out with or certain events that have happened in their lives, but here all focus turns inward. Listeners realize the only thing holding them back from changing their lives and reaching their potential is truly themselves.
The bridge ends with the phrases, “Where you gonna go? / Salvation is here.” These lines sum up the true message of the song. During the entire song, Switchfoot emphasizes the lyrics “dare you to move,” but they never elaborate on what they truly mean or how to “move.” Some people may think they cannot change their lives at this point in life, and others may think salvation requires work. Switchfoot believes otherwise. Here, they reveal how to truly “move like today never happened.” People should not go anywhere because salvation waits for them here. They do not have to work for it or earn it, and they can start changing their lives here and now because God waits to forgive them, help them, and cherish them at anytime and anyplace in life. This one passage shows the true meaning of the song, which says no matter how discouraging life has gotten and no matter how far people have fallen, they can still move. They do not have to move anywhere physically, but instead can move from their state of despair and claim God’s redemption and salvation. After that, Christ will renew their lives and they can live with a purpose.
Although the lyrics make up the most important part of the song, Switchfoot’s instrumental choices add to the effectiveness of the message. Instead of creating a laid back track or a ballad, Switchfoot used an upbeat track with prominent guitar and drum presence. This has a strong effect on listeners as the heavy drum and guitar creates a physical reaction to the music. These instruments have the power to reach into the soul. After the bridge, the instruments have a solo where the drum and guitar amplify and progress, like the instruments are urging listeners to get up and make a decision about life. They move emotions and make people feel guilt, inspiration, and longing, which in turn causes people to take the message to heart and move into a new and better chapter of life.
Switchfoot also sings the message with extreme passion and intensity.

Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot, belts the lyrics with raw emotion like he relates to this song. He sings like he truly believes the message and needs it for himself too. When he sings lines like “Dare you to move” and “Salvation is here,” he sounds like he desperately does not want people to fall into the same mistakes he once did. He wants them to get up and live now because he knows what the alternative feels like. These vocals, combined with the deep lyrics and heavy beat, make the message come across as genuine, believable, and

authentic.
The song ends with the chorus one last time, and Switchfoot uses the progression of these three choruses’ to enhance their message. After the bridge, the chorus plays one last time and listeners relish in the lyrics because they feel hopeful about transforming their lives. The progression of the three choruses’ marks the journey of transformation. People often start life feeling inspired and full of opportunity like they do after the first chorus. Then, like during the second chorus, reality and sin bog them down. However, when they discover God, they can truly experience happiness and hope for a meaningful future. Through their carefully chosen lyrics, Switchfoot manages to outline the controversies of every life and encourage people to change without sounding judgmental or discouraging.
Through “Dare You to Move,” Switchfoot begs people to stop their lives of sin, stop their lives of idling around, and start living how God intended them to. To each person, this means something different. Some people may need drastic changes in their lives, but others may simply need the awareness. Because Switchfoot never actually includes the word “God” in the song, this song also reaches non-religious people. The message reaches its full potential when people understand that God lies behind the salvation and redemption, but without the Christian message, this song still inspires people to do something positive with their lives in a non-threatening way. Switchfoot effectively reaches demographics that most Christian songs do not and encourages everyone who hears it that they can make a difference, they can change their lives, and it can all start the moment they choose to change.