Exploring Dean Blunt’s “Black Metal”

Bhavana Hari

Rap Journalist

Dean Blunt is the kind of artist who becomes more difficult to pin down the more you try to understand him. The London artist first gained attention as part of the experimental duo Hype Williams before developing a solo career that is just as hard to categorize. His interviews and performances add to the mystery surrounding him, and that uncertainty carries into his music. His 2014 album Black Metal is a strong example because, instead of committing to one recognizable genre, Blunt moves between indie, rock, folk, R&B, and electronic music with experimental touches. The result feels less like an attempt to fit into a genre and more like sound chosen to match each emotion.

Black metal is not what you would expect.

​ Despite the title, Black Metal does not sound like what you would expect from its name. The opening is soft and guitar-heavy, sometimes resembling Radiohead or Mac DeMarco. As the album progresses, the sound becomes stranger and more electronic. What holds it together is Blunt’s delivery. His relaxed, almost uninterested tone makes even emotional lyrics feel distant. Listening to Black Metal can feel less like hearing a direct account and more like piecing together fragments of thought.

Exploring the idea of limerence

​“50 CENT” is one of those songs where emotional distance becomes especially interesting; Blunt begins with the concept of unrequited love, but the sadness quickly becomes bitterness and frustration. He immediately admits, “I want a girl who doesn’t / want me back,” which establishes rejection before the song has much time to develop. He follows that feeling with “Try letting go / but I can’t read maps,” which probably is one of my favorite ways the album describes being unable to move on. He knows he should let go, but he portrays himself as not knowing how. He talks like someone who knows the relationship is not working but still cannot completely let it go. The hazy guitar and production remind me of Radiohead because there’s something uneasy underneath the song even when it sounds calm on the surface. Instead of giving a clear story about the relationship, it gives the listener fragments of jealousy, rejection, and anger. If you were hearing someone’s thoughts while they’re still trying to convince themselves that they’ve moved on, that would be kinda unsettling, honestly. 

Running away from everything

That feeling of pushing people away becomes even stronger in the song “BLOW.”  Blunt begins by rejecting another person’s support, repeating, “I don’t want you helping.”  Soon afterward, he takes that isolation even further when he talks about running away where “ain’t nobody going to find me.” Both lines make him sound determined to deal with whatever he’s experiencing completely by himself. He explores the idea of self-rejection and self-isolation by pushing the people closest to him away and rejecting any help. Later, however, vulnerability gets replaced by self-confidence. Blunt claims that, “All this money really cared my woes” before eventually declaring himself, “The man.” I find that change really interesting because it feels human for someone to turn insecurity and self-isolation into a way to cope with rejection; it’s kind of ironic. I feel like that’s how most avoidant people tend to fall into that cycle. That change is also interesting because it’s almost like he’s trying to convince himself that material success has solved his emotional problems. There’s something contradictory about listening to someone repeatedly insist that they do not need anybody while spending so much of the song discussing help, escapism, and what has supposedly made them feel better. Blunt can sound emotionally detached even when the situation behind his words feels extremely personal.

Rainy Days and “100”

​“100” takes that vulnerability and makes it much harder to hide. Blunt admits, “I’m dying to meet you,” while immediately acknowledging that, “everybody says I’m wrong.”  Unlike some of the defensiveness heard earlier on the album, there is something almost painfully straightforward about those lines. He wants this person even when the people around him apparently believe pursuing the relationship is bad. I feel like that’s a common feeling among people since we always want things that aren’t the best for us, but feel the most comfortable with. 

This song reminds me of a rainy day somewhere in Washington, where everything outside looks gray but still somehow peaceful. The simple guitar and Blunt’s relaxed, nonchalant delivery make the track feel nostalgic, but underneath that peaceful sound is a relationship that’s already becoming difficult. When he admits that, “The [explicit] got too long,” the fantasy surrounding the relationship begins to fall apart. He’s emphasizing that his “rose colored glasses” have officially come off.

  “100” is also where I especially understand Blunt’s music as a form of poetry. He’s very elusive on details; however, he repeats a handful of thoughts and lets the delivery and production create the whole image. The listener has to sit inside the feeling rather than being given a complete story. 

Acting like you never cared

Then there is “HEAVY,” which shifts the energy again. Compared with the reflective feeling of “100,” the song starts with a more noticeable and upbeat tempo. However, Blunt still sticks to his emotionally detached, nonchalant tone, but more than ever in this specific song. When someone asks him about a woman, his response is simply, “What about her?” and you can really hear how apathetic he is when he gets reminded of the relationship. He later insists, “I guess I never knew that girl.” 

Those lines become more interesting when placed behind the relationships described in the other song,  “50 Cent.” He cannot figure out how to let someone go. On “100,” he openly wants someone despite being told he’s wrong, but on “HEAVY,” he suddenly barely knows the woman being discussed. Whether he actually feels nothing or is pretending not to care is left unanswered.