Inspiration

Author’s Note: This Is a Point of View Piece for the song This Girl is on Fire by Alicia Keys, Jeff Bhasker, Salaam Remi, and Billy Squier.

In the song This Girl Is On Fire, Alicia Keys is singing about herself in the third person. The song shows her point of view when she was struggling. These lyrics are a perfect example. “She's just a girl, and she's on fire. Hotter than a fantasy, lonely like a highway. She's living in a world, and it's on fire. Feeling the catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away.” Though in the song you hear about how strong she becomes, and how others are influenced by her personality.

One way that Alicia’s point of view influences the reader’s interpretation of this song is how her perspective shows strength. Even though she is going through hard times, she is still able to prove to everyone she is capable of feeling happiness. “Everybody stands, as she goes by. Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes. Watch her when she's lighting up the night. Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl, and it's a lonely world.” This song’s story is about a girl who refused to give up, and in the end gained lots of respect from others.

However, if the song was about a girl who gave up and never tried, I don’t think that people would like it as much. The story of someone being strong and powering through their troubles, is more inspiring and influential than a story about someone who threw in the towel too early.

As you can see, the point of view of a song  forces people to see just one side of an event. In This Girl Is On Fire, Alicia uses the lyrics to show others point of view, and her strength. This song is a favorite to many people, and I think the reason it’s so popular, is because of the message it sends.