“Sometimes it’s the element that most attracts a partner to you, that in the end, the partner can’t handle. “You can’t clip the wings of your partner in order to make them stay, rather, you can improve yourself so they’ll never want to leave.”
“First you blowing up my phone telling me that you love me / then you yelling and cursing telling me I ain’t nothing / and you doing this ‘cause you can’t lock me down / had to switch place on you, can’t box me out…” – Can’t Cage Me Now
I felt everything she was saying in those short few stanzas alone. Can’t Cage Me Now by Lizzy Latimer carries a great message, infectious beat, and impressive rap flow. Though categorized in Pop, the Hip-Hop, RnB, Afrocentric, and Dance hall influences are evident, a homage to Lizzy’s love of rap, R’n’B, and Hip Hop. Though the falsetto beginning may cause the hook to sound a little strange at first, what the hook lacks in profound deliverance it makes up for with catchiness, and the production and fluidity of the song itself presents some of the most true, empowering, and solid words of empowerment that I haven’t heard in a long time from a rap song, especially one in the pop genre by someone as young as Lizzy Latimer. In fact, though I’m not much of a rap fan (very few artists I actually admire in the genre), my favorite part of this song was the rap part. Without profanity and obsessive vulgarity, the powerful message gets across fine, and I can rewind, fast-forward, etc. without cringing every few seconds. The eccentricity of the song is a brave one, the authenticity outstanding. Kudos to Lizzy for choosing to be a part of a genre that represents what’s hot today, while being able to not let her message get overshadowed by production. The song is very straightforward and can resonate with everyone who has at some point in their lives been put in a cage via societal, parental, or romantic-affiliated limitations…without all the jargon and filler.
“I wrote this song about scenarios I have seen many times. In the cases I’ve seen, the woman’s ambition and drive is what their boyfriend/husband was drawn to, but after some time, they keep pressuring them to basically just be a house wife.” – Lizzy Latimer
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