"Queen of Kings" Explanation and Analysis

What makes a song sound "piratey"? We trace the inspiration for Alessandra's EDMasterpiece all the way back to the Victorian Era.
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[@ehmzed]

I like to interprete "she will be the warrior of North and Southern seas" as a reference to Alessandra being both Norwegian and Italian and wishing to become a successful singer (queen) in both countries, which are surrounded respectively by the north-most and the south-most seas of Europe. She's also got black hair, she broke the chain when she moved to Norway and broke out of her cage feeling free to express her bisexuality (spread of the wings).

[@overthinkingit]

This is better than what we came up with!

[@ehmzed]

​@@overthinkingit Thanks! Definitely not 😂 But maybe Alessandra herself was the Queen in question all along 🫢

[@mirokatan5095]

You're overthinking it Oh- wait

[@ehmzed]

@@mirokatan5095 Seems like the perfect place to do that lol

[@theophilepetit6223]

I love that interpretation ! Yeah maybe Alessandra is the true Queen here !

[@overthinkingit]

Vote for Ching Shih as Queen of Kings!

[@escargot211]

Since she's lived in Italy most of her life, she may also have been inspired by Ermanno Olmi's "Cantando dietro i paraventi".

[@lemurunc]

Well... actually, the name 氏 would not be pronounced like "she" (the English third-person female pronoun). The English word "see" is closer to the correct pronunciation in Cantonese, which I think is what she would have spoken; or more like the English word "sure" in standard Mandarin. (I'm happy to see her winning in the poll though!)

[@FreyjaRKim]

Once you mentioned pirate, I immediately thought of her and I was waiting for you to start talking about her, and you did! Lmao. She was awesome.

[@user-cz6do3vj7y]

Can u do a video abt song - Sama mi se spava - Luke Black, Serbian song for Eurvision 2023. I think it is good song to analysis. From stage, to background pictures, to people on the stage, to the song and the message.

[@alih4241]

Her Name is Shih!

[@MyBroSux24]

Talking about Vampires in Eurovision, can i remind you about MELOVIN performing for Ukraine in 2018, basically resurrecting out of a piano, doubling as a coffin? I believe there were fresh IV bags on his rider 👀

[@julesboag9927]

It’s definitely Xena warrior princess. Now you might say, but she is only a princess, but in one of the totally plausible plot lines she kills Mephistopheles the king of Hell making her the Queen of Hell then tricks Lucifer into talking on the role. And before you ask, yes to all the other check boxes.

[@ilansinger9562]

Great video! I personally got the sense that the queen in question is The Morrigan. Like you said, the metaphors don’t work if they’re too direct. So I think this song is actually a metaphor when you have The Morrigan in mind. The Morrigan in an ancient Celtic goddess of death, war, witchcraft and so on. She is described as a beautiful black-haired woman, often accompanied with ravens. Some scholars link The Morrigan to Morgan le Fay of the Arthurian legends. So when you think about The Morrigan as a personification or goddess of death, this song falls into place. Her name is she, for it is known that calling death by her name is bad luck since this might invite her. Nothing is faster than her, for she will reach and catch everybody one day. After all, death will eventually conquer all, kings and peasants alike, from north or south. And no matter how much you might try and contain her or delay her arrival, in the end she will stand behind you unchained and smiling with radiance that can awake the northern light. Historically, the Norse did eventually conquered Ireland and so it comes to reason that these two cultures and religions mixed in some capacity. No, I don’t have any sources to back it up. Just a fan theory 🙂

[@v1olante]

I love this interpretation

[@Murat.B]

I’m genuinely shocked that you should ignore the Spongebob Squarepants theme song.

[@overthinkingit]

Haha OMG, it's totally a fast 6/8.

[@PaweMateuszBytner]

>Danny >Not known for running fast Someone missed last seasons

[@LeafHuntress]

I think you missed out on one awesome pirate queen: Gráinne O'Malley She inspired lyrics to the famous song Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile (also thanks for the north/southern mention, it drove me crazy)

[@relizh]

Granuaile was my thought, too.

[@Hitezaruki]

Woow! I didn't know about Alessandra's personal interpretation, but I thought she was the Queen all this time and the lyrics were about something personal and symbolic being sang in an epic, poetic way, and yeah, now I know it is... buuuuuut, you are so right!!!!!! It feels like a pirate song!! Great music analysis!! As a sea shanty/pirate songs lover, now I know why I love this songs since the first time. 🤯 I'm a changed person after this video... PD. I love you analysis with the characters🤣 At first I thought it might be Lagertha, some Valkyrie or another viking queen... But you made great points thinking about Daenerys, Ching Shih and Beyonce 🤔 and yes, I'm of those people who miss Jodie as the Doctor too 😔

[@overthinkingit]

Vote for Lagertha as Queen of Kings!

[@MyBroSux24]

3:00 and there's also the new formation with Adam Lambert and the 2018 Motion picture, "Bohemian Rhapsody" which leads to Queen being searched, obviously

[@sirprintalot]

Vote for Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of King(dom)s!

[@overthinkingit]

I voted but only because I'm imagining her as Claire Foy.

[@Dashew]

This is absolutely brilliant.

[@Lior_Haliva]

"Please patriarchy... may I have some mo-ho-ho...?" 🤣

[@overthinkingit]

(Incredulous pause) … MOOOORE?!?!

[@renskedunnewold1995]

I thought of Freya, queen of the Aesir. Probably because the country being Norway brings my mind to Norse mythology

[@MyrtleP]

Having grown up on both Doctor Who and Pirates of Penzance, I am forced to find this video delightful.

[@hausdrache4054]

My brain does this thing sometimes where it ties a song to a fictional person, event, or place. This song immediately was tied to Zatanna Zatara from the DC universe. I will present my thesis. 1. Queen of Kings- Zatanna is the result of the union of a Magic superhero and a member of the Homo Magi. She's often acknowledged as the savior of the magical universe. 2. Runs fast- Sure, she can be fast if she wants to. This one is admittedly shaky. 3. Broke Cage- she's freed her father and others from magical prisons. Heck, every time DC resets continuity she frees him from a new magical prison. 4. Spreads Wings- Another shaky one. If you mean it metaphorically, lots of her stories are about finding and believing in her inner strength. 5. Warrior- Yup. She's a superhero and regularly messes up bad dudes. 6. Operates in seas- Can't even think of a shaky metaphorical interpretation, so we'll call this a loss. 7. Forged in flame- her very existence goes against all social norms among her mother's people. Consequently, she's experienced a lot of loss and chaos in her early life. Her father had to train her in magical arts to defend herself. Its not as literal as Dany's but it still counts in my mind. 8. Black hair and the icy eyes! By my count, Zee has potentially 7 out of 8 if you forgive some of my shakier points. 5 if you don't. I humbly submit Zatanna Zatara for consideration as the Queen of The Kings.

[@Arctures]

re: the music theory bit, I'd also argue that the frequent use of the V7 chord, alongside the 6/8 meter and minor tonality, pushes it even further into pirate territory. Compare it to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme.

[@mashaboulgakova350]

Thank you, thats amazing video

[@goopygoofball]

8:19 this bit made me understand that you must definitely overthink Georgia. Try to make some sense out of these song lyrics!

[@Ducky_logan]

Love this!!

[@mozart2jazz]

Very nice. I actually discussed her use of 6/8 in a comment about the Melodi Fest Finals - and 2 other finalists as well: yes, 3 of the 8 finalists used 6/8. But I reached a different conclusion: with 4/4 being so prevalent, compound meter really stands out, plus it quickly adds tons of energy to songs which employ it. And centuries before Gilbert & Sullivan popularized it, it was frequently used in uptempo dances, especially the Jig.

[@Masaim6]

The only thing this video proves is that the song is very broad as intended.

[@SVUfannyc]

You guys never cease to make me laugh within the 1st 20seconds.

[@StarTheTripleDevil]

For a moment, I thought this video was about accusing Alessandra of piracy or something...

[@sodapopinksi667]

Would you download a car? Alessandra would

[@andyfoyen5890]

I immediately thought about Dido (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido) when I first heard this song. Because of the outfit, « She » must be somebody from the ancient history. But since ancient history has been dominated by patriarcal societies, there are not plenty of women of power who were prised. Dido is the only one I know. She broke out her cage by fleeing Try. She spread her wings in nothern Africa. But mostly, Carthage was known for its power on the sea. North and southern seas could refer to the Mediterranean. North would be Roma and south Carthage. So why is she the warrior and not the ruler? Because Carthage lost to Rome after a bis resistance. Of course, Dido died prior to Carthage Roma wars, but she is the only commonly known ruler of Carthage.

[@argella_d6046]

"The little orphan at the start of Oliver" You mean... Oliver?

[@xandradice]

What a twist!

[@antonellacusimano7070]

I love your videos. They are the proof that it doesn't matter what you are talking about. It's how you do it that really counts. I don't always agree wirh your interpretarion but they inspire thoughts and reflexions. I appreciate. Hope my english is good enough to let you understand what I mean. As for the song, definetely not my favorite. I'm happy for her, as she is half italian, but I don't understand why so many people likes the song so much.

[@Winterbay]

Man, I will never be able to stop hearing this song as a Critical Role theme song now 😂

[@overthinkingit]

It’s Thursday niiiiight…

[@annakobuk3618]

Am I the only one person who duribg first listenings thought that the lyrics were: She will be the warrior of North and SEVEN Seas? More fairytale/pirate fantasy vibe.

[@gh0st_b0yfriend]

Amazing video, love a generous portion of kickass women's history with my song analysis. I think it's all of them! The person who came to my mind was the prophecied daughter in The Northman, shown only in a glowing divinely revealed gif, but destined to unite and rule over Alexander Skarsgård's viking homeland, and make the suffering of her parents worthwhile. Being a character whose life remains in future tense at the end of that movie, and one who is so clearly drawn from our entire cultural legacy of prophecy, mythology, fiction etc, she seems like if nothing else, a very similar character to the one in Queen of Kings. I think it's more than likely that at least one person on the songwriting team had seen that movie, that Dr. Who episode, the Vikings tv show, Game of Thrones, one of the adaptations of She (who must be obeyed) and a million other stories in our sprawling culture of women who ruled land and seas and had to defy odds, break cages and spread their wings to do so, and constructed an idea of a character that takes elements from all of them and represents all of them in a sort of archetype, that also represents all female empowerment.

[@abramovichniv]

She who must be obeyed is how Rumpole in the BBC serie referred to his wife

[@neon-kitty]

The Pirates of the Caribbean theme song was actually composed by Klaus Badelt. Hans Zimmer merely produced the soundtrack of the first film (he composed on films 2-4, though).

[@overthinkingit]

I’ve read that maybe Klaus as credited for contractual reasons (Zimmerman was not supposed to be composing another film at the same time as The Last Samurai) but Zimmer did the composing.

[@weewoo314]

i mean… more than pirate music, this song absolutely matches the style of bigroom house more than anything else. definitely a more nuanced interpretation of it than what most people would see it as, but bigroom also usually uses 6/8 and the biggest tell is the snare at the end of multiple parts in the chorus. it's basically just what people call a 'pryda snare', and was synonymous with what bigroom house became.

[@overthinkingit]

Join the Discord and consult next year? belinkie at overthinkingit dot com

[@justnorth7400]

It's good that these lyrics can be interpreted as something meaningful, I still find them to be very clunky though.

[@Morpholaf]

This video was refreshing =)

[@Ducky_logan]

“That’s what I call my wife!” Lol

[@efi3825]

The sails on the chinese pirate ships look a little bit like wings, though ;) And maybe these ships run faster than other models?

[@GustavDahlander]

The Vikings were pirates.

[@logi-a]

I know it’s been a year but I like to think she’s talking about loreen, she is the queen of Eurovision, She ran away with the victory in 2012, She broke the long victory hiatus that Sweden had been in or you could say that she broke the cage thing she’s in in her 2023 preformance, In the euphoria lyrics she talks about going up and going higher, She fought against dozens of other countries and being the one on top, Loreen was born in the north but has parents from the south She won esc in the literal land of fire And she has black hair She is THE queen of kings

[@RodolfoGaming]

3:05 really missed an opportunity to say that the brittish monarch actually knew what to do when it was a female and the opposite is true now, great video regardless

[@zombiezombilis1148]

maybe queen Teuta, the Illyric pirate queen?

[@TheSongwritingCat]

I don't know why I'm feeling so picky today but she sounds like a mezzo to me and I dislike how the parts in her upper register sound so unsupported. Anyway, this video went in a very fun direction.

[@chrisphoris2729]

I thought you would talk about the fact that the music sounds a bit like Run to The Hills from Melodifestivalen and Hungarian Dance No. 5

[@MyBroSux24]

Gee thanks, now I am craving for a Psytrance style remix of Hungarian Dance No 5

[@MyBroSux24]

Dude, i have to come back to this because i FINALLY figured what it reminded it me of... Tarantanella Napolitana, a (fitting to her half-italian heritage) italian folk melody. You're welcome, i ruined it :D

[@nilstons8334]

Totally nonsense

[@danielwalker2445]

Yo crees (I believe that could be Elsa from frozen )

[@Calintares]

my headcanon is it's describing a very cool bird. hence why it's gonna spread it's wings and had to break out of a cage

[@NevaehMayPaige]

Vote for Alessandra as queen of kings

[@tosvus]

As an aside, Espen Lind has written music for Beyonce...

[@KittyPetote]

I love rex smith !❤️

[@matarmeyer1302]

I can also ad that the song sounds quite like the Israeli national anthem the Tikva. Not too much but there are similarities.

[@priyantpratap8253]

Omg Kevin James 🤣

[@stekra3159]

Let me just say I am the very model of a modern major general.

[@markus_ch]

“20 years ago, Eurovision was known for silly gimmicks.“ Sorry to say, but for me, Norway is back on that track since the last couple of years, and this year is no exception.

[@chrisbrandt9334]

PREACH!!!

[@tosvus]

Perhaps, but the fact is a large portion of Eurovision never left silly gimmicks. Anyone who watches the show, a random year in the last 20 years will know that.

[@overthinkingit]

Vote for Beyonce as Queen of Kings!

[@Dylantheballer123]

Here

[@taranciucgabrielradu]

Dang you really went and over thought on this one and missed the most obvious ahahahah

[@trildi]

The most overthought one of them all - this is definitely not about Beyonce! 😆 Her name is 'She' is simply a nod to all womanhood and the seas reference is a filler, I think they could have come up with a better line there but hey ho. Thanks for another entertaining video!

[@overthinkingit]

Yeah, this one was mostly just for fun. Next week we promise to get serious. It’s Croatia time (probably).

[@trildi]

@@overthinkingit And we look forward to it!

[@aleqxsz]

In my autistic brain i liked to still say that the Queen of Kings is Catherine the Great

[@overthinkingit]

Vote for Daenerys as Queen of Kings!

[@ChadGamesIsYourDad]

💀 i dont think so matey

[@line_vondensternen337]

Daenerys nuhys darys issa 👑

[@terjemullerkarlsen3028]

Why do you bother? There are actual jobs you can apply for. In Norway we have NAV to help you.

[@overthinkingit]

Oh man, I'd love to live in Norway. You have oil money and trolls, right? And there's not a school shooting every other week? Sounds pretty sweet.

[@babygrogu845]

Is it just me or someone else instantly thought of J.K.Rowling reading H.Rider Haggard's "She"(who must be obeyed)?😂 God, I hope I could use some of these laboriuosly learned (is that a decent, well used expression🤔) information in my pub quiz... Thanks guys, love your work, you're Kings of Kings or idk what....👑💪❤️

[@goncalosilva97]

wait you have a wife

[@EurovisionESC]

"I'm bisexual" okay, already don't want this to win anymore if you come to esc and say this

[@sugarinmywounds]

That quote was taken way out of context, so don't worry.