Music analysis 2# “The Hills”

Introduction

I came across this song from a YouTube video from a channel I like. The video was reviewing the album that the song The Hills was on. I absolutely loved the song and the whole album for that matter. Rachel Chinouriri has been one of my favourite artists for a few years now. Rachel is a London based artist described as an indie pop singer songwriter. Her primary genre is pop but is often mingled in with elements of rock, folk and takes a lot of inspiration from the pop rock sound of the 2000s.  I chose her single The Hills from her critically acclaimed debut album What a devastating turn of events released in 2024. I really enjoy the song for the very intimate lyrics and large screaming rock-pop sound. I think the song reflects on an experience everyone has had in their life, the feeling of not belonging.

Lyrics 

 The Hills perfectly encapsulate the feeling of you don’t belong and having to realize the true meaning behind that feeling. The opening lyrics of the song refers to Rachel's guilt for not feeling a sense of connection in Hollywood, a place she worked hard in her career to get to “typical complaining ‘bout a miracle”. The lyrics “long way down the road from the hill I know” is referring to the crippling homesickness she feels from being an ocean away from everyone she loves. She expresses the desire to return to her loved ones and true home in London but feeling trapped in the lyric “its never ending” referencing her time in LA.  Rachel goes on to express how she truly hates this feeling of loneliness and wants nothing more than it to end “pulling the skin of my bones”. She describes the inert gut feeling she has that everyone around her knows she doesn’t belong there  “when you don’t belong the hills will know”, “it is visible, you don’t belong here”. “Scrubbing the writing on the walls” is a lyric that is gut wrenching as it refers to her trying desperately to erase the negative things she’s been told by people who don’t believe in her. Throughout the song she uses the word “hills” a reflection of Hollywood but also as a metaphor for the daunting atmosphere she encounters that makes her feel alienated.

Texture 

The beginning of the song is a thick wall of texture, stemming from the very beginning with a slightly distorted guitar and bass then adding the drums and a melodic circling keyboard notes sound. After the vocals kick in the texture thins with the drum becoming the most prevalent, maintaining for a bit. The middle of the song maintains this drum heavy sonic grungy sound throughout only thinning a few times. My favourite part of the texture is at the end of the song. The texture slowly starts to grow and reaches a peak with distorted guitar, blaring drums and the same circular looping keyboard notes from beginning. Finally the thick texture quickly thins down to only the vocals and strumming guitar to deliver the last emotional lyrics to the song. 

Timber 

The guitar throughout the song is often distorted and conveys a dark raspy tone to the atmosphere. The drums are prevalent with them being a heavy point of focus with an aggressive blaring heartbeat throughout. An interesting aspect of the timbre I noticed was the faint keyboard heard in only certain areas of the song. The notes sound very melodic going around and around with a vibrant distorted sound. Rachel’s vocals throughout the song carries a lot of the emotional weight. Her vocals are often very frilly and soft, carrying a lot of emotion. She pours her frustration into the heavy loud aspects of the song almost to the point of yelling. During the softer emotional dips through the song she switches to more wispy raw vocals to make the listener really pay attention to the lyrics. The timber of the song conveys a very raw, dark and grungy atmosphere. 

Form 

The song's form mostly follows the typical verse-chorus structure that is most common in pop music. The song differs with having a pre chorus in the beginning and a post chorus at the very end of the song. As the chorus repeats it becomes louder and stronger as it is repeated culminating into the final chorus where there is a big release that had been building throughout. This build up of the chorus fits perfectly with the frustration and sadness of the lyrics so a cathartic release is very satisfying to end the song on.

Dynamics

The dynamics through the song are changing constantly throughout.  In the beginning there is a very dramatic loud start and as the song continues the dynamic changes to a mellowed out version of the beginning pulling more focus to the vocals. The dynamics dip a few times to a soft raw vocal delivery to contrast the heavy overcrowded dynamics.  The end of the song is a great wind up to a guttural release of longing and frustration emphasized by crashing dynamics. The most tender emotional moment of the song comes after the release. The dynamics soften to show how broken and raw the emotions are after the loud culmination.

“(Rachel Chinouriri) – The Hills.” Genius, 2025, genius.com/Rachel-chinouriri-the-hills-lyrics. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.

MURRAY, ROBIN. “Rachel chinouriri shares new song “The Hills”.” The Clash, 12 Oct. 2023, clashmusic.com/news/rachel-chinouriri-shares-new-song-the-hills/