Song of the Week

Grandiose synths filled with anticipation and energy crack open the scene for Oceans’ passionate vocals. This upbeat anthem uses an analogy to ancient Egypt and Cleopatra to chronical Oceans personal relationship with one particular woman who encapsulates this ancient queens incarnation. Cleopatra was a political and strategic queen who fought hard for her country, Egypt, but was diminished throughout history by Roman propaganda as a foreign temptress who slept her way to the top via Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Ocean focuses on Cleopatra’s use of men to get what she wants but in the end, the men in her life are the reason for her downfall and demise.

Electric feels flow freely with the song’s loose introduction. The mood starts with a man yearning for a woman. Neither positive nor negative emotions hold the center stage. “Set the cheetahs on the loose / There’s a thief out on the move / Underneath our legions views / They have taken Cleopatra.” Oceans queen is missing and he assumes she was taken. Cheetahs in ancient Egypt were used for hunting and even tamed as pets. Her tamed protectors are now out looking for the thief that stole her away. A legion is a large unit of men in the ancient roman army bringing us back to the past.

Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, helped Cleopatra take back the throne after her brother forced her out. They were business partners as well as lovers. After Caesar’s death, she fell in love with Mark Antony, a roman politician and general, causing political chaos throughout the middle east and eastern Europe. She moved on rather quickly to someone close to Caesar after his death. In verse one Ocean says, “We’ll run to the future, shining like diamonds / … / Our skin like bronze and our hair like cashmere.” Ocean promises his queen that if she returns he will give her riches so overflowing that her hair might turn to cashmere. The lyrics are so integrated weaving in between the ancient Egyptian and parallel modern story. The pounding beat expresses his urgency in searching for her.

The first verse is the first time Ocean mentions pyramids. Pyramids symbolize life after death and the souls metaphysical immortality. Egyptian royalty were buried in pyramid tombs to be guided toward the afterlife. If Ocean is comparing himself to Caesar we can draw the connection of his Cleopatra leaving him and him feeling like it’s the end. The song being titled “Pyramids” is key because if Ocean is Julius Caesar in this story then he is living on after his death. After his friends betrayed him and Cleopatra left him for one of his generals. He lives on.

Verse two finds us further along in the story. Ocean now realizes she wasn’t taken and is not the person he thought she was. “What good is a jewel that ain’t still precious? / How could you run off on me?” He worshipped her and this is how she repays him. She gives up so much of herself for this newly discovered man or life, still unconfirmed, that she is losing her self-love and Ocean’s respect for her. “You feel like God inside that gold.” She is reveling in this new found luxuriousness. Ancient Cleopatra was once renowned as a feminine archetype who came and conquered when no other man or woman could, using men as needed. Ocean points out, that that may be what his Cleopatra is trying to accomplish but in fact, it’s only leading to her own objectification.

I don’t exactly love the idea of a man telling a woman when she is being objectified especially if she is feeling empowered but it is true that professions life stripping can feel empowering at first and then turn sour later after your dependent on the income. It all depends on the person.

In verse two, Ocean reveals the reason his Cleopatra was ‘taken’ was adultery with another man. “I found you laying down with Samson and his full head of hair.” The ziggy bop rhythm carries on. Samson is a legendary warrior and judge portrayed in the biblical Book of Judges. He is known for his unmatched strength and his greatest secret is that his long hair is the source of his strength. Samson’s perceived strength leads us to believe Ocean sees this other man as superior highlighting his own insecurities. “Our war is over, our queen has met her doom / No more, she lives no more, serpent in her room.” The precious jewel he once knew is gone. Ocean acknowledges her moral death saying his queen is dead, or dead to him. The serpent being the thief that took her away and ruined her goodness. Ancient Cleopatra has been passed onto western culture as a symbol of wickedness and predatory femininity. She is known for her seductive beauty instead of her political prowess which Ocean connects to his Cleopatra here. Cleopatra was also the last ruler of Egypt alluding to Ocean believing he will never feel again the way he felt about this woman.

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In a magician’s transition, the dancing grooves are sedated from pumping energy into a twinkling whirlpool of psychedelic revision. We spiral downward into a soothing lazy river of sound compared to the song’s first half. Space age tech auditorily animates the sounds spirit. “Big sun coming strong through the motel blinds / Wake up to your girl / For now, let’s call her Cleopatra.” We followed our modern Cleopatra through her fall from grace and now we find her at rock bottom. She wakes up in a motel room seemingly hungover looking for her clothes. The lyrics heavily imply that she’s working in this scene presenting her as some sort of escort.

Ocean repeats over and over how she is, “Working at the pyramid tonight.” We are slowly moving farther away from ancient Cleopatra and into Ocean’s personal story. The pyramid earlier represented Ocean living on past his emotional death. He was her Caesar before she moved on to another man, Samson or now Antony(Cleopatra’s next husband). The pyramid now represents Cleopatra after her emotional death. Before the song’s transition Ocean said she died and now she is working at the pyramid. Pyramids take the soul into the afterlife and the old her is dead. We find her life after death is different from his.

The introduction to part two is dizzying. The static synth comes in during Oceans’ description of his life after death. The slow-motion party description leaves him affluent but still thinking about her. “Pimping in my convos / Bubbles in my champagne, let it be some jazz playing. / Top floor motel suite twisting my cigars” He’s in the same motel but on the top floor. This is the first time the song explicitly references a pimp and prostitute relationship. “Hit the strip and my bills paid.” She no longer wears the gold but gives it away. Ocean inferred this pimp and prostitute relationship because she is working in sex work while giving her money away to some undeserving guy. Ocean doesn’t feel bad for her anymore and implies he would do the same by saying he is the one pimping. The music video however shows a lot of desensitization and disorientation involved in the process of forgetting her.

Ancient Cleopatra and Antony parted ways while fighting for the Roman Republic’s survival in 30 BCE. In full Romeo and Juliet fashion, he fell on his sword after getting false word of her death. When she found out he actually died she committed suicide as well. Ancient Cleopatra literally killed herself for Antony like Oceans Cleopatra is killing herself for her new man by working non-stop to pay his bills and even resorts to stripping to support his lascivious life. The next scene in the song paints an intimate encounter of the two past lovers in the modern day. “You showed up after work, I’m bathing your body / Can we make love before you go? / … / But your love ain’t free no more.” Here it’s confirmed that she is now a prostitute. They are still sleeping together even though they are both dead to each other. The story ends here in confusion and listlessness.

John Mayer’s guitar solo ripples echo, giving the listener time to process the journey they embarked on 9 minutes and 52 seconds ago. The tragedy of Cleopatra reincarnates through Ocean’s personal retelling. Ocean plays her Roman king and her pimp. She falls from an African jewel to a hooker. This is clearly only one side of the story but one thing is clear. These people ruined each other and continue to live on after the deaths of who they used to be. That’s why you find them at the pyramids.

The Other Cleopatra

I need to take a moment to revise the version of ancient Cleopatra illustrated in this interpretation of her. She was a great beauty and loved many powerful men in her lifetime but Western culture is prone to marking that her entire identity and historical significance. In Arab recorded historical retellings, she is more well known as a scientist, chemist and philosopher. I want to make sure this part of her identity also shines despite this article being about Oceans interpretation of her and not her historical significance.

More types of media are slowly being released reclaiming Cleopatra’s African identity as well. She has been continuously whitewashed by the media. Scholars have recently been speaking up and exposing more audiences to this type of media is key in reshaping her image back to her truest self.