Released: 2020
Aight y’all, let’s slice into Alessia Cara’s banger for Netflix’s flick “The Willoughbys” titled “I Choose.” This joint, it’s no hard-time plot, it’s a steady flow on love, loyalty, and choosing personal happiness over worldly status symbols.
In the opening bars, Alessia takes us back to her past, rhyme-spinning about how she was “stuck in her ways” akin to “old-fashioned days.” Here she sets up the dilemma, a classic hip-hop storytelling technique. She used to chase after “something new,” an echo to society’s obsession with fresh, shiny thangs. But the real deal? All the roads led her to the one she loves.
Alessia’s lyrics, “The house that you live in don’t make it a home, But feeling lonely don’t mean you’re alone” are a callout to society’s materialism, a theme as old as the genre itself. She’s saying having a dope crib doesn’t equate happiness, and feeling lonely doesn’t mean you’re alone. Deep, right?
The pre-hook, “Through the lows and the highs, I will stay by your side” and “At the end of the day, I choose you,” straight up substantiates this anthem as a love song, but it’s more than just a love song. It’s about choosing to stand by someone even when the odds are stacked. When the “sky turns to grey”, symbolic of tough times, and there’s “nothing to say”, she still chooses her love. Now that’s deeper than rap.
The second verse propels forward with her newfound strength to break free from societal norms and expectations. She’s embraced her ride-or-die, the person who she feels at home with, irrespective of their roots or status. It’s all street love and loyalty.
And she rounds it off again on a note of choice, repeated in the hook, emphasizing that people, situations and conditions may change but at the end of the day, her choice remains unchanged. That’s as real as it gets in hip-hop, my fam. Blatant honesty, raw emotion, and shoutin’ it out to the world unapologetically.
So, in short, Alessia Cara’s “I Choose” is a gut-honest, soul-touching hip-hop ballad about not letting external factors and societal pressure sway one’s choice of love and loyalty, all marinated in Alessia’s smooth flow and raw vocal talent. Now that’s some OG hip-hop magic for ya!
