Shuffle Synchronicities: Volume 1 - #292
"Milkshake" by Kelis - 11/05/21
"Milkshake" by Kelis
This Neptunes produced track sung by Kelis from 2003 is perhaps one of the most long-lasting dance songs of the aughts.
It seems to still have a place in the culture even in 2021, appearing as recently as the 3rd season of Netflix’s show Sex Education.
Part of that is Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo’s production, which was inspired by a trip they took to dance clubs in Brazil. The Neptunes returned interested in new sounds. Unlike many urban pop songs, which rely on drum machines, this beat consists of a lone darbuka playing a rhythm similar to a belly dance.
Besides the production, and Kelis’ vocal performance, the lyrics stand out.
As Matthew Trzcinski wrote in 2020:
~“Once you’ve heard the lyric ‘My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,’ you’ll never forget it.”
Many believe the song revolves around a pretty obvious sexual innuendo.
Kelis has said that it refers to an undefinable it factor that women have.
But she has also been open to whatever interpretations fans have.
She told The Guardian: “It means whatever people want it to; it was just a word we came up with on a whim.”
And she believes the song has stuck around when many other hits from the mid-2000s have faded because of this lyrical ambiguity.
In an interview with Delish, she said: “It means a lot of things. I think that’s why the song has lasted so long, because, like any other art, you can turn the metaphor into whatever you want.”~
Mostly, to me, it feels like a fun song to dance to.
As from a memoir synchronicity POV, I’ve been working on preparing to send out the formal invitations to the Shuffle Synchronicities Substack 1 Year Anniversary Dance Party on Saturday, January 8th here in LA.
I recall that my ex-wife’s brother selected “Milkshake” as his recommendation for a song to add to the dancing playlist at our wedding.
And it remains quite a banger.
However, when I shuffled to it today I was asking the spirits/my dad for what to think about after my recent outing at the Philosophical Research Society here in Los Feliz where I saw the theatrical premiere of a film called Holywood about how:
Located directly underneath the iconic Hollywood Sign resides one of the most profound and eclectic spiritual communities in the country.
Holywood is an extensive exploration into this truly mysterious landscape, where the juxtaposition of the material and the mystical cannot be ignored.
Home to the Theosophical Society, Krotona, The Vedanta Church of Hollywood, and the Philosophical Research Society just down the street, Courtney Sell’s documentary asks the question “Why here?”
While most arrive in Hollywood seeking superstardom, many have arrived seeking a more significant spiritual meaning to life, and the poetry within this contrast is undoubtedly remarkable.
This week I have also been reading the book, The Roots of Coincidence, by Arthur Koestler, which is from 1972, and is about theories of parapsychology and their links to modern physics, and is influenced by Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity (which of course influenced me and this Substack).
One of the things Koestler writes is that sometimes paranormal events happen with a delay.
He provides the example of someone who could predict images on cards miles away in scientific studies to such a statistical anomaly that it was undeniable to even Noble Prize winners.
However, if those predictions came before 2 seconds instead of after 2 seconds then the prediction was off by one card image.
I’ve noticed this, too, with the Shuffle Synchronicities.
That sometimes it’s the second song after the initial shuffle that holds more meaning.
And there have been a number of examples.
Today was perhaps another one.
As the song after “Milkshake” was:
"The Afterlife" by YACHT
YACHT is a Los Angeles-based band that released this song on their 2009 album See Mystery Lights.
Along with the album they began publicly discussing their personal philosophy, and published a book called The Secret Teachings of the Mystery Lights: A Handbook on Overcoming Humanity and Becoming Your Own God, which, synchronisticaly enough, recommends the founder of the Philosophical Research Society, Manly P. Hall’s book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, as the fourth book in its recommended reading section.
Here’s some more samples from YACHT’s book:
Some of the lyrics in the first two verses of “The Afterlife” seem to resonate with last night’s film, Holywood, and its depiction of Southern California as a special place for spiritual seekers.
Land of the Golden West
Land of summer's breeze
Laden with health and vigor
Fresh from the western sees
Hail to thee land of promise
The end of our system
And yet, after a wonderful instrumental interlude, the last verse suggests that spiritual knowledge exists outside of any particular space-time.
It's not a place you go
It's a place that comes for you
Its not about who you know
Or who's in your heart
It may come as a surprise
But you are not alone
All that you have is not what you own
Ooooh the afterlife
How’s that for a synchronicity?
Okay, that’s the two hundred and ninety-second Shuffle Synchronicities.