I don't remember the first time I heard the song "Waves", but it was most likely on the radio, or it appeared on one of friends' playlists. That was around three years ago. I most recently heard the song while rewatching Riverdale, and as soon as I heard it, I was like I need to know what this song is called. Ever since May,"Waves" has definitely been on my top three most listened to songs on Spotify. I even forced my friend to learn it on piano. It was that good!
I had actually never really heard of Dean Lewis before I heard "Waves", but it wasn't a surprise for me to find out his other songs were super good too. I feel like it is easy to think Dean Lewis is just another artist that writes depressing songs about life, but if you listen closely, his lyrics are not telling a sad story. In fact, it would be more accurate to describe his songs as uplifting or hopeful rather than sad. I think that is what stuck with me in his songs. They weren't about the relatable horrors of being a teenager;they were inspiring me to be a better person, friend, student, family member and more. Lewis's songs awknowledged the good and bad in life and didn't sugarcoat either.
Dean Lewis was born October 21, 1987 in Sydney, Australia. At a young age, he taught himself how to play the guitar and began writing his own compositions. He was inspired to start songwriting after watching a live Oasis DVD in 2005. He wrote over 80 original songs before releasing his first single. Lewis had a couple of other jobs that first exposed him to the music industry like being a sound engineer and organizing live shows for other artists. One of his friends set him up with a woman in music publishing where he wrote songs for other artists. However he found this type of works "frustrating and unfulfilling" (Eames,Tom). Lewis has released one EP and one album. His music has received a total of 2.5 billion streams worldwide. His single "Waves" has been certified six times Platinum in Australia and has a gold certification in the U.S., and his single "Be Alright" has amassed over one billion streams (Mims, Taylor). Lewis got five ARIA awards including Music Award for Album of the Year, Music Award for Best Male Artist, and Music Award for Best Video.
The song "Waves" was released in September of 2016 and was the first official song ever
released by Dean Lewis. It is now part of the album "Same Kind of Different," which was released in 2017. Dean Lewis composed and sang the song with the help of producers Edd Holloway and Nick Atkinson. Atkinson also sang background vocals in the song. Lewis released an acoustic version of the song in 2017 and an Australian pop band, Shepard, released a cover of the song the same year. In an interview with Stack Magazine, Lewis says although many fans believe "Waves" is about relationships, it is actually about life's dwindling excitement (SMF). He said "A lot of people think it's about relationships, but it's more about how with every year [that] passes, life gets a little bit less exciting. I was in London a year ago and a few music things were happening, and I'm like 'Why am I not really enjoying my life? Like, this is cool!' Then, I remembered when I was 15 and you'd go to a house party and you'd be so excited, or going to the movie with your friends. Where has that feeling gone?" (Dean Lewis). This idea is clearly seen through the lyrics of his song:
There is a swelling storm
And I'm caught up in the middle of it all
And it takes control
Of the person that I thought I was
The boy I used to know
But there, is a light
In the dark, and I feel its warmth
In my hands, and my heart
Why can't I hold on?
It comes and goes in waves
It always does, it always does
We watch as our young hearts fade
Into the flood, into the flood
The freedom, of falling
A feeling I thought was set in stone
It slips through, my fingers
I'm trying hard to let go
It comes and goes in waves
It comes and goes in waves
And carries us away
Through the wind
Down to the place we used to lay when we were kids
Memories, of a stolen place
Caught in the silence
An echo lost in space
It comes and goes in waves
It always does, it always does
We watch as our young hearts fade
Into the flood, into the flood
The freedom, of falling
A feeling I thought was set in stone
It slips through, my fingers
I'm trying hard to let go
It comes and goes in waves
It comes and goes in waves
And carries us away
I watched my wild youth
Disappear in front of my eyes
Moments of magic and wonder
It seems so hard to find
Is it ever coming back again?
Is it ever coming back again?
Take me back to the feeling when
Everything was left to find
It comes and goes in waves
It always does, oh it always does
The freedom, of falling
A feeling I thought was set in stone
It slips through, my fingers
I'm trying hard to let go
It comes and goes in waves
It comes and goes in waves
And carries us away
Especially in the lyrics "I watched my wild youth/Disappear in front of my eyes" and "We watch as our young hearts fade/Into the flood, into the flood" it shows how Lewis is slowly losing the feeling of childhood fun as he grows older. He uses waves as a metaphor for the feeling of excitement almost rolling in and out with the tide as time goes on. The tide slowly sucks away the feeling of fun as he "set in stone" on the beach watching life "slip through, [his] fingers." Lewis repeats the line "the freedom, of falling" often throughout his song as though he misses the freedom of being young and having no worries. He also asks questions like "Why can't I hold on?" and "Is it ever coming back again?" It is like he is begging the waves or the world to bring back his youth to him and the feeling of having fun.
Before I started this project, I definitely did not know much about Dean Lewis, or the real meaning behind his song "Waves." After reading many articles about Lewis and listening to his songs, I realized how underrated he was. I have listened to almost all of Lewis's songs, and each one has a special meaning that you can only pick up on if you listen carefully. I used to never listen that carefully to song lyrics, but his lyrics just interested me so much that it made me eager to guess what his each of song lyrics meant and see if I was right. Throughout quarantine, his music has definitely been a motivating factor to get stuff done and try not to sleep the whole day. I just kept thinking that eventually the pandemic would come to an end just like everything else in life does; "It comes and goes in waves." Hopefully, this pandemic will go out with the tide eventually, and I'll be on the beach happily watching it leave.
Sources
Eames, Tom. “Who Is Dean Lewis? 'Be Alright' Singer's Age, Career and New Album Revealed.” Smooth, Smooth, 15 Oct. 2018, www.smoothradio.com/features/dean-lewis-be-alright-new-album/.
Mims, Taylor. “Dean Lewis Signs With WME for Worldwide Representation.” Billboard, 19 Nov. 2019, www.billboard.com/articles/business/touring/8543826/dean-lewis-wme-deal.
Smf. “Meaning of ‘Waves’ by Dean Lewis.” Song Meanings and Facts, 9 Jan. 2019, www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/waves-by-dean-lewis/.
Thomas, Fred. “Dean Lewis: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/dean-lewis-mn0003453728/biography.
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