Analyzing Macklemore's Song 'Same Love'

Song Analysis: Same Love – Macklemore
“What's unnatural is homophobia. Homo sapiens is the only species in all of nature that responds with hate to homosexuality.” Alex Sanchez provides a perfect quote for the opening of this paper. Macklemore’s song and Sanchez’s quote fit hand in hand without flaw. Thus, this song is basically trying to make a statement to all people that discrimination against homosexuality is truly sickening. It doesn’t matter what religion you are or what belief you might have; sending hate to someone who is just being themselves is wrong all the way around. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to believe in it, but like anything else, you have to respect it. Whatever morals you may have are not always the same as
the rest of the human population. Everyone in this world is their own individual. But we are all of the same species. Therefore, no one has the right to slander any individual over their sexuality. It is not just a choice, but by research it is also the way they were simply born. Starting off, in the first part of the song, the character, Ben, is having an inner conflict with himself because he thinks he might be gay.
Looking at the lyrics, it seems that he’s always known homosexuality to be a sin. So when he considers the fact that he might be gay, he cries to his mother. Something interesting I noticed, however, was the fact that Ben was only in third grade when he introduced this thought to himself and his mother. Why is a third grade boy crying, let alone worrying, about his sexuality? How does he even know that it’s such a huge controversy going on in this world? But then you look back at the third line and notice he said his uncle was gay. I’m assuming that someone in his family has made that simple characteristic of his uncle to be something more outrageous than it really is, causing Ben to constantly look out for people like so and also to be terrified to become someone like his uncle. Coming to the end of the first part of the intro, he presents a few stereotypes that give him comfort that he, in fact, is not a homosexual like the fact “he’s loved girls since before pre-k” and “he’s good in little
league”. Secondly, Macklemore, the artist, introduces religion and how it is the main cause of the issue of discrimination.
According to the specific religion Macklemore is rapping about, since the very beginning, God made it clear that homosexuality is a sin. In the third line of the second intro, he says “The right wing conservatives think it's a decision and you can be cured with some treatment and religion”. I believe he is stating that if you are gay or think you might be, turn yourself to God and you’ll be cured. You’ll be normal. You’ll be accepted.
However, the bible clearly teaches love, and that “God loves all his children”. That quote definitely contradicts every bit of targeting homosexuality. If God loved all of his children, then why are gays the only exception? In the last couple of lines, he comes to a good point. The earliest bibles were written nearly 3500 years ago. Throughout time, we have paraphrased and interpreted the message numerously. So does that mean that we took God’s message out of context and manipulated it into something
more? Afterwards, we have the hook, or chorus, by Mary Lambert. She starts off stating the fact that she cannot change, whether she wanted to or not. If someone is homosexual, maybe it’s not their choice. Maybe it’s how they are wired. People don’t consider science when it comes to topics like this. They only fall back on morals and religion. If someone is naturally a homosexual, there really is no way for them to change. But as she continues, she just repeats “She keeps me warm”, which I interpret as: “she makes me happy and I’m comfortable where I am with myself and our relationship”. Furthermore, verse two of Macklemore’s part begins with the social aspect of society. Any website or social media in this world today is full of hatred on many different levels. As the artist illustrates, YouTube is a great example of a website where people feel the right or freedom to express their opinions on homosexuality when the topic is introduced. Yes, every living person has the freedom of speech and the right to their opinion. However, every living person should feel obligated to respect the opinions, or beliefs, of others if they want the same in return. Differences between races, sexuality and many more have caused wars since the beginning of time, due to the inability to create compromises. Macklemore then goes into “expressing yourself for who you are”. You are the way you are. Shame should not be associated with how you feel about yourself just because someone else disagrees with it. If they do not accept you, escort them out of your life. Do not feel unaccepting of yourself. Be respectful to yourself first, and others secondly. If you treat everyone the way you expect them to treat you, then you are truly beautiful inside and out. No one has the right to knock you down, especially if you stay stonewalled and stand up for yourself. Altogether, the world is full of evil hearts that only look to build themselves up by tearing others down. It’s truly sad to look back and remember those who took their lives, simply all because of sexuality. To those who are struggling within, the only thing you need to worry about is finding out who you really are and being able to boldly express yourself. Accept who you are and live your life to the fullest. Be happy.