On the DL is back for another semester! It’s been a hot minute since I last wrote. In that time I have been spending my Sundays watching Formula One which also means unwillingly listening to the Dutch national anthem. While that has been a constant in my life, this summer my music just wasn’t hitting, I realized I could only listen to Un Verano Sin Ti so many times. In my quest for new music I began to do what I normally do, which is go through the playlists of my friends, which was to no avail until I came across Serengeti by the Flints. 

The thing about Serengeti is that it fits multiple vibes, whether you’re driving with the windows down on a hot summer day, sitting around a bonfire late at night, walking up the gentle hill that is Mass Ave on your way to campus, or cooking dinner when you’re back home. The beats that power Serengeti are reminiscent of the beats of classic songs from the 60s. It has the energy of Tears for Fears, Daryl Hall, and the Bee Gees where the track is straight vibes, radiates happiness and convinces you that it’s about wanting to feel alive.

 Serengeti is one of those songs that you think is happy until you dig into the lyrics and are shocked by its deeper meaning. I call these ‘happy-sad’ songs. According to the Flints, Serengeti tackles the topic of human consumption and the large amounts of waste that are generated from it. The amount of waste that is generated threatens animal life in Africa, like the Serengeti which is a protected area of land in Tanzania that is home to lions and other wildlife. The waste generated by humans led the Flints to think about breaking free from the constant cycle of capitalism where people buy and get rid of things as they please leading to the main phrase repeated in the song “want to feel alive.” That simple line “don’t you want to feel alive” is arguably a philosophical question: What makes you feel alive? Wouldn’t you want to feel alive? This is why Serengeti is such a perfect happy sad song in my opinion. The funky beat makes you want to dance as you cook chicken curry, but then you go listen to the lyrics and the thought of “yeah I want to feel alive” crosses your mind and then you ask yourself what feeling alive really is- I’ve found that going back to the beat takes my mind off of the existential question that the song asks. This is all to say that Serengeti is a banger and it’s a glimpse of what the Flints have to offer until their EP ‘1 Million Lightyears’ comes out in November!