Homosexuality in Same Love by Macklemore with Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert

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“My love, she keeps me warm.” Without context, these song lyrics have no impact or power behind them. However, if told that these words were sung by a female vocalist, and preceded by the lyrics “I can’t change, even if it tried, even if I wanted to,” suddenly the words have meaning as a woman sings of her love for another woman (Haggerty, Lewis, Lambert, 2102). These lyrics come from the 2012 song “Same Love” by Macklemore with Ryan Lewis and featuring Mary Lambert. In the song “Same Love,” Macklemore raises his voice against the issues of discrimination, gay rights, and marriage equality that we see in today's era. He uses two fallacies in the song, but Macklemore’s use of the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos in his song “Same Love,” have a great level of success in proving the importance of gay rights and marriage equality. Right away Macklemore establishes his credibility and knowledge, ethos, by stating, "When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay, 'Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight" (Haggerty, Lewis, Lambert, 2102). With such a forceful statement, he shows that he can relate to this issue, which gives him the credibility that people look for in such an important topic. By speaking of personal experience, this gives the audience a closer look into his life and may feel a connection that many people might need to relate and understand the lyrics or topic of the song. With the song beginning with an anecdote about Macklemore as a third grader fearing he was gay brings a great sense of the ethos appeal. This directly illustrates society’s corruption of an innocent child’s mind with the fear of being gay and believing that being gay would be a fault. This opening anecdot... ... middle of paper ... ...with the relaxing style, the delivery also enhances the success of the rhetorical aspects. By keeping the song at a slower tempo, the listener is able to hear the song’s message and meaning at its entirety. The structure, style, and delivery of “Same Love” all work together seamlessly to ensure the success of the song. “Same Love” by Macklemore is a song that tackles a tough social issue and the importance of the issue in a very successful manner. I have great respect for Macklemore for choosing such a controversial and important topic, when his celebrity status is still relatively new and in the limelight. He saw that he had the power and media’s attention, so he took that opportunity and used it to make a positive statement. Works Cited Haggerty, B., Lewis, R., Lambert, M. (2012). Same Love. [Recorded by Macklemore]. On The heist [MP3]. Seattle: Macklemore LLC.

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