Daughtry’s music remains one of (If not) my favorite(s) and that’s because ever since I heard their sound, they’ve remained true it: their Soulful, Alternative Metal sound. It’s really refreshing to know that there are still musicians who have the guts to stick to their stuff, regardless of commercial and political factors. I know a lot of people react to this notion with the fact that Change is a constant thing in this world, I accept that. Sometimes, I actually feel that change is the enemy. Change hinders prediction, and the less you can reasonably predict, the less you can plan accordingly. Anyways, that’s a topic for another day.

Baptized is a 14 track album.(the rest being acoustic versions) Here is the track list: BAPTIZED…is the first track on the album, Calm lyrics with a general metal feel. The song talks about a man whose world is centered on this girl he loves but has pushed away. But as the days go by, he realizes that he truly cannot live without this girl in his life. He regrets his actions and now calls out to her to come back and baptize him in her Love. It’s a typical scenario that plays out far too often in our modern society.

For some of us, Falling love isn’t the hard part, it’s staying in love. True Love is pure and selfless and quite frankly can be scary at times. It goes without saying that you don’t know the value of what you have till it’s gone but here’s my take: Most of the time, we all know exactly what we have and its value, we just assume that once we have it, it’s ours forever and we can’t lose it. That right there is the reason why so many relationships and friendships are destroyed beyond repair, the inability to acknowledge and RESPECT the worth of the other person. So here’s a Man who has lost sight of the one person who really matters, begging to be “taken down to the water and held down till he sees the light”. For his sake, I really do hope she comes back.

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN…This seems like the converse of the scenario that I just described. This is the story of a young (I wouldn’t want to say naïve) girl who’s patiently waiting for her Mr. Right: her “Superman” to come pick her up. I know many people would fault her for such naiveté. I mean, there are too many guys out there for her to keep wishing on stars, dancing with strangers and talking to angels all in wait for “Superman”. The part that strikes my heart is the fact that she keeps smiling as she waits, she even gives herself excuses why he hasn’t arrived yet.

In verse 1 she says “Yeah he’s still coming, he’s just a little bit late, He got stuck at the Laundromat washing his cape”. I must confess, her patience is a little inspiring. Someone defined Patience as not just waiting but your attitude while waiting. She was exhibiting perfect patience. I still don’t know whether or not to call her naïve simply because we don’t know how the story ends. All we know is that she keeps waiting, she keeps dancing with strangers, she keeps talking to angels and worst of all, she keeps falling apart.

I think the lesson here is the fact that she still smiles, giving herself a reason to still hold on: a reason to not give up. She knows it’s a long shot, she knows there’s a chance that he might never come but she decides to wait till the last moment before giving up. I like the fact that she knows that there’s a point where it’ll be too late: and that’s the point she doesn’t want to get to. That miserable point where you lose all hope and give in to the demons that have been clawing their way to the surface. That’s where her bravery should be applauded. She’s not waiting because she’s needy or desperate, she’s waiting because she’d rather hurt than feel nothing. She’s decided that it’s better to fall apart when you can still be picked up than to falling when it’s too late. She’s not weak; as a matter of fact she’s strong. She’s not dumb, she’s actually wise and most of all I can see now that she’s not naïve, She’s just really, really, really Patient.

BATTLESHIPS…is probably my favorite track on the album, maybe because it describes a kind of love that I’ve experienced before. The story is that of a man and a woman who are deeply in love with each other, but in some twisted way hate  certain parts of one another. It’s not exactly a stable kind of love but the man believes they can be saved. It’s a Love-Hate thing, an I- hate-that-I-Love you kind of situation. They DO love each other, but each person refuses to put down their walls. They’re like metal and metal, they’re made from the same poles and this loves tears them apart just as much as it brings them together. And so they love, constantly being at war in love until someone decides to raise the white flag.

He decides that he can’t continue to be at war with his heart. He doesn’t want it to get to the point where they’ve damaged each other beyond repair: He admits that they’re unstable (We’re high then we’re low, First it’s yes then it’s No) but at the same time he declares that he can’t live without her and he believes that they can work  it out. So he surrenders, swallows his pride and drops his weapons. It’s a really tough thing to do but he decides that it’s worth it in the end. He calls out to her (oh Show me you care, got my white up and its waving cause’ I know that this love is worth saving), in the hope that she’s as tired of fighting as he is. As expected, we don’t know what happens at the end of this tale but I believe that she is just as tired as he is. I say this because most of the times in cases like this; it’s just a matter of one of them being the stronger of the two. Whoever raises the white flag is undoubtedly stronger than the other. He’s probably surer of what he feels for her and all she was just waiting for was some form of assurance on his part. A simple concept of Push and Pull.

I’LL FIGHT…This track speaks of a surer, more confident, more assuring kind of love. As the name suggests, I’ll Fight is basically the confessions of a man who’s in love. He states his wishes for his woman. He wants to see her run anywhere she wants, He wants to see her fly way beyond the Sun and he wants all her dreams to come true. He says he’d love to take her anywhere she’d like to go, he regrets that Life is not as fair as it should be, but he also reassures her that she was born for better things.

He then goes on to state that, even when things don’t go according to plan and all hope seems lost, She’d always be able to  count on him. He tells her that he’d fight for her and with her any place and any time. My Favorite line is when he says that if she loses her strength to stand, he’d hold her hand. These are the words of a Man deep in Love and these are the words that every woman deserves to hear. I for one who’d love to be able to say these words to a woman, and mean every word of it. It’s not just saying it that counts, it’s showing it. A real man never stops showing a woman how much he cares for her, even after he’s gotten her…Especially after he’s gotten her.

WILD HEART…The song talks about renewing the spark in relationships. In the song, her lover recalls the “Good ol’ days” when they first started.  He recalls her “Wild Heart” in the very beginning, how she always wanted to set the world on fire, how she always lit up the room each time she walked in. It’s a general feeling of Nostalgia. He asks to be taken back to the very beginning, where it all began, to her Wild heart.

Relationships can be like that at times, the spark becomes smaller as time goes by and sometimes you wish you could just go back to when you first met, and stay in that moment. When such a time comes, the solution is to go back, remember why you fell in love in the first place, do something new, collect from the past and build the present. Go back to your Wild heart

LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL…This is a country song recanting the good old days of rock and country music. Daughtry mentions legends of music such as Elton John, The Motley Crew, The Beatles, U2, The Rolling stones amongst others. It’s generally an up tempo song with beautiful guitar instrumentals.

THE WORLD WE KNEW…This is yet another reflective song. Its slow tempo and smooth vocals really bring the lyrics to Life. Here, we’re reminded of how things used to be way back. It refers to a time of simplicity and innocence. It is the voice of a man soliloquizing with a lover. He misses their old life together, a life where they took whatever they were given without a care in the world.

I feel we all miss the world we once knew. Things are not the same as before, things are much more complicated right now and we all would give an arm and a leg to return back. Like I said, Change, though inevitable and constant, sometimes seems like the enemy. But since we’re mature enough to know that we can’t take things back to the way they once were, the least we can do is take a time out, and soberly reflect on…The World we knew.

HIGH ABOVE THE GROUND…is another slow progressive song. It talks about being “High” on Love and how Love feels when it’s with the right person. It feels like being high above the Ground, it’s a feeling of elevation: from worries, from fears, from insecurities. He talks about how they met and the fact that they had been hurt by other people before finally finding each other. He describes the feeling as heavenly, like that of being in paradise. He states that it feels like they can only come down when they want to and then wonders why they would want to.  I wonder myself. If we all found our soul mate, if we all found that person that raises us up above the world of pain and heartbreak…Would we ever want to come down?

BROKEN ARROWS…is the cry of a frustrated lover. The slow tune and grand piano hits the message of this song home. Their Love is no longer what it used to be and he cries out to his lover to look past his shortcomings. He complains that every word he says either comes out wrong or gets misinterpreted. He keeps trying to salvage the relationship but the more he tries, the more it blows up in his face. He claims sole responsibility for what their relationship has become and explains metaphorically that each attempt he makes to save the relationship seems like trying to hit a mark whilst shooting with broken arrows. He promises to find a better way and reassures her that he has a heart of gold, meaning that even though it might not seem like it at the moment; he still loves her and is trying desperately to fix his mistakes.

WITNESS…A mid tempo song with a powerful message. The song asks a very powerful question…Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?. This question goes out to all of us. The song is centered on the spirit of togetherness and asks that all who have refused to give up in spite of various setbacks be “Witnesses” to everyone else, hoping that the rest of us can see that “We’re not alone in being alone.”

TRAITOR….I feel this is the only song that’s a little bit disconnected from the rest of the songs on the album. It has a hip-hop gangsta’ feel to it but it’s well covered with the guitars. The whole theme of the song is that of Betrayal and Revenge. Betrayal is something that we are all familiar with, we’ve all been betrayed by friends, lovers…even family. The worst thing about betrayal is the fact that it NEVER comes from an Enemy. I wouldn’t dwell on the Revenge theme because revenge means different things to different people. Some say “The best revenge is to live a good life”, others say “Revenge is the best Revenge”…Its different strokes for different folks. All in all, it’s still a song that we all can relate to.

18 YEARS...is yet another reflective song, but here its friends reminiscing about the 18 years that led to their adulthood. From Cradle to Coffin is the theme of the song. It’s a mid tempo pop rock song. It gives a general feeling of Nostalgia as two friends look at the town they grew up in and remember how they used to drink till they dropped, and how they threw TVs on train tracks. A lovely track, no doubt.

UNDEFEATED…is a song of dogged determination and resilience. The Artist paints a somewhat violent imagery here to depict the blows critics and society can swing on individuals who cannot fight back.
“Swing Left, Swing Right, Bruised and black eyed, half alive. Bleeding, choking but not broken inside”
The song talks about rising above all forms of criticism and remaining “Undefeated”

CINDERELLA…sounds like a really old country song but Daughtry also infuses the modern vibe into it. It’s basically a love song wound around a “Cinderella” theme. Daughtry mentions the slipper, the clock and the pumpkin: all elements of the Cinderella story. Here, he promises to give her the Cinderella experience, only he promises that this time it’s forever and not just till midnight. A beautifully written song.