Bo Burnham’s “Inside Outakes” Album
written by rachel beckmann
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, American singer/comedian Bo Burnham created an album from the comfort of his Los Angeles home. Titled Inside, Burnham used this piece as a way to cope with the year that we knew in 2020. Including songs dedicated to raising awareness of civil rights, isolation-led depression, as well as other important items. Released on Netflix in 2021, his fans would grow to love and relate to this album in a completely new way. With the stay-at-home orders being a fluctuating item, Burnham was inspired to create the twenty songs all alone; acting as writer, director, videographer, editor, as well as performer. To read more about the Inside album click here.
Now 2022, some may argue that the Inside album may seem to be yesterday’s news: a dated piece which is no longer relevant to the music industry today. However, we at Concrete Jungle Magazine think differently, as do many of Burnham’s fans. In fact, due to the high interest that the first album created, Bo Burnham has recently released an extended version of the album, called The Inside Outtakes, onto his YouTube channel. This soundtrack includes over twelve never-before released songs and some clips dedicated to showing the artistic process and the behind-the-scenes of the Inside album.
source: Bleedingcool.com
One significant difference between the two would be the organization of the albums. While the original Inside album consisted of full songs, the Outtakes include songs shorter in length, ranging anywhere between 16 to 50 seconds. These may have been stuck between the heavier songs to break up the heavy topics that Burnham sheds light on in the Outtakes, or songs that were a tad bit too short to otherwise be held in the original album.
source: Google
Burnham kickstarts this album with “Bezos III,” following the previous songs, “Bezos I & II.” While this saga is a continuous effort to raise awareness of the person that the Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, is, both “Bezos III“ and “Bezos IV“ are used as interludes between the more content-heavy lyrics that Burnham otherwise provides. “Bezos III“ seems more chant-like in theory, while “Bezos IV“ seems to almost be a dedication to Jeff Bezos. Stating that he is “stickin' with Jeffrey (Jeff) / Jeffrey Preston Bezos (Bezos),” asking if he needs 180 billion reasons why Burnham is doing this. While this track leaves room for interpretation, it could be that Burnham is questioning Bezos’ overwhelming net worth which currently sits around 180 billion USD. This use of the extended metaphor continues from “Bezos III,” where the Gregorian chant seems to almost allude to the very idea that Bezos feels untouchable; like someone should be chanting his name in his honor. The reasoning for these two songs being left out of the original album, may be because stretching the continued topic of Jeff Bezos makes a more powerful impact if placed over a longer period of time
Other interlude songs include the following: “WTFIGO,” where Bo Burnham spends 54 seconds asking ‘what the f*ck is going on?’ in a sort of jingly tune, and “Feel Good,” where the artist asks the listener for guidance for 43 seconds on how to, well… feel good. One of the more notable filler songs, titled “Biden,” exposes Burnham’s political side. After the release of the Inside album, it is no secret what political party Burnham leans towards — the left. However, despite his liberal tendencies, in the song “Biden,” Burnham expresses his distaste for our current president:
“They're really gonna make me vote for Joe Biden/Joe Biden/How is the best-case scenario, Joe Biden?”
At 51 seconds worth of catchy tunes, Burnham puts into words the uncertainty that the Democratic party feels by electing Joe Biden, knowing that it is the ‘best case scenario’ as compared to the alternative, Donald Trump.
source: thedailybeast.com
In the next song, “1985,” Burnham creates a track similar to the topics of his previous songs, “White Woman’s Instagram,” as well as “Comedy.” He recognizes that his space in the BLM movement as a white man should not be to ‘save the day’ but instead to ‘shut the fuck up’ as a means of support — rather than (counteractively) using his white privilege to be an ‘agent of change’. Burnham accomplishes this by discussing his own race in the track 1985, with the topic focusing on ‘every white guy in 1985’. During the course of this song, Bo Burnham expresses the mundane and non-difficult life that white men lived back in the day; except for those who endured the AIDS crisis. For political correctness, though, Burnham soon takes back his generalization of the majority by changing the topic to his “ My Oblivious white dad in the mid-80s”. This song may be touching on his father’s ease of living in the 1980’s by remaining oblivious to the difficult crisis around him.
The following track jumps forward into “The Future,” where Burnham expresses his depression and being stressed with a child, and the everyday mundane tasks that he has caring for himself. This could possibly be discussing his lack of personal responsibility, or explaining his choice of not having children?
In the intro to “Five Years,” Burnham breaks the fourth wall by leaving a voicemail to his partner, asking her to download this voicemail for this same song. If you’ve been in a long-term relationship, this song may be your new anthem. Burnham takes his listeners on a trip by explaining what the everyday is like with his partner; from his partner stealing his Chinese takeout dumplings, to them hogging the master bathroom. Even after five years together, Burnham is still surprised by his significant other and he can see them for who they ‘really are’. By his feminist partner expecting him to ‘be a man’ and kill a spider (that he definitely isn’t scared of, as explained in his jingle “Spider”), it shows the reality of a long term relationship–you are always finding out new things about that person. Through this portion of the song, Burnham is able to ever so slightly hint at what one may consider the hypocrisy in feminism agenda, that “everyone’s a feminist until there is a spider around.”
source: Google
On a genuine note, Burnham’s Outtakes are exactly what his fans have been waiting on, and are right on par with the originals. There are a few songs still that may have uncertain meanings, if any at all. In “Microwave Popcorn,” Burnham argues with himself on the process of making popcorn in the microwave for two and a half minutes, which is just enough time for a listener to pop a bag in himself. In “This Isn’t A Joke,” Burnham talks a bit of random things, like how he’s an odd-looking dude, and about a scar he got when he was born (his face). Then, in “The Chicken,” Burnham is able to answer the question that we’ve all waited for: Why did the chicken cross the road? To make a name for herself. This song, which is the last song in his album, may notably be one of the most influential. In “The Chicken,” Burnham expresses that all of the chicken’s opportunities are sitting on the other side of the road and all she needs to do is cross it.
While the former songs may seem to be unfocused in parts, Burnham utilizes this comedic dilemma to bring the album back to its core of empowering the minority populations, just as his original album, Inside, did. Because these extra tracks seem to be scattered in terms of topics discussed, it makes sense that Burnham waited to release them on their own.
source: thebleedingcool.com
