Let's Dissect Cobra

 Hey Subbies,

From Sweetie Pie to Her to Plan B to Cobra, this is the song that I have been waiting for since the prelude. People kept saying Meg was falling off but she has remained consistent throughout this last couple of years on this roller coaster ride. Unlike Sweetie Pie this song holds a lot more symbolism and reserves all the metaphors in her lyrics. This song is not for the religiously Herpetophobia types so keep your personals to yourself thank you. Megan funded this project herself after leaving her label thankfully the quality didn't drop or disappoint and to think people wanted her to do an up-tempo track when she had just done a Summery up-tempo collab with Cardi B. I love the fact that's a rock that fits in the rhythm and Blues genre that goes with the storyline.

Megan here is sharing mental struggles and her personal views which is really relatable to us as women who are realizing the trauma and reflecting on it by shading our skin so that it becomes our past. And you know Megan is big on advocating for Mental Health since she lost her Mom, Dad as well, and Grandmother while going through legal battles. Anyway, I still have to work with her framework along with the cinematography of the music video so be patient with me y'all because it's in a more similar vein to Gaga's 911 than Sweetie Pie symbolically. Thankfully, I have experienced recently covered K-pop groups like Blackpink, aespa, LE SSERAFIM, and even Hwasa which there seems to be a theme going on these couple of years so it won't be sparse.

A little recap from my Dissect of Sweetie Pie so if you haven't read that post you might want to before going to read this dissect. "Cobra [Naga / Nagi (f)] here to be exact. In Hindu (and Buddhist) iconography,  snakes are divine gods that live in bodies of water and underground in an underworld called "Patala." The Nagas are guardians of treasure and keepers of magic. They live in an enchanted underworld filled with jewels, gold, and other treasures. They can sometimes appear in (a) humans with snakes on the head and neck; (b) Fully serpent; and (c) Half-human, half-snake. Megan is an Aquarius "The water bearer." Aquarius (the old ruling planet is Saturn) the modern ruling planet is Uranus which is King Vasuki/ Naga in the Hindu epics the "divine being great king snake" (cobra) with a gem (Nagamani) on his head."

Lastly, I noticed how they filmed Megan here. They start with close Intimate head shoots to slowly revealing the rest of her body. It's kind of like when we hear a snake we usually see their face before we see the rest of the body. 

What does the Cobra mean to Megan?

Courage

Cobras exemplify courage and self-reliance. They stand tall and

fierce in the face of challenges, teaching one to tap into their inner strength and rely on oneself to conquer their threats. Emulating the cobra helps one be more confident in the person they are within.

Fun Fact: "There are 21 species of cobras, but the king cobra is the sole member of the genus Ophiophagus. It is distinguishable from other cobras by its large size and neck patterns. The name “king cobra” stems from its ability to kill and eat cobras."

Etymology of Cobra

Cobra (n.) Venomous hooded snake found in India and neighboring regions, 1802, short for cobra capello (1670s), from Portuguese cobra de capello, literally "serpent of the hood," from Latin colubra "a snake, female serpent" (source of French couleuvre "adder"), which is of uncertain origin. So-called for the expandable loose skin about its neck. The word came to English via Portuguese colonies in India, where the native name is nag (see naga)."The Uraeus was was the Ancient Egyptian cobra symbol of the Goddess as Creator. The symbol was worn on the foreheads of deities and rulers in the position of the "third eye" of the insight. It stood for royal spirit, healing, and wisdom. The Uraeus was a hieroglyphic sign for "Goddess," derived from one of Egyp's oldest deities, the Serpent Mother variously called Uatchet, Utahit, or Ua Zit. To the Greeks, she was Buto, after her sacred city Per Uto. Together with the Vulture Goddess Nekhbet, she represented cycles of birth and death, beginning and ending. These archaic goddesses were known as the Two Mistresses, by whose authority all pharaohs ruled and the cycles of nature were constantly renewed. The Cobra Goddess eventually merged with Maat as the All-Seeing Eye and with Isis as the mother of the Sun."

The Serpent Ouroboros

Several Traditions indicate that the original serpent protecting the World Egg was female, a mother-serpent, like Ananta the Infinite in India, or Mehen the Enveloper (Ua Zit, Buto Uraeus) in Egypt. The male serpent became the guardian of the Egg only after patriarchy was well established. 

Mouth

We open with an intimate close-up shoot of Megan's mouth and her opening monologue. 

Just as a snake shed it's skin we must shed out past over and over again."

 This statement is really about American culture and intersectionality that fragility isn't really afforded to black women. But Megan is ready to rise again although she suffered and made some mistakes which has been really transparent about in her music which is her current confrontable to open up about her struggles in the industry. A lot of people see women talking candidly or not at all as a threat or risk out of fear. 

Tongue

Also, I want to talk about the tongue or power of the tongue which is really on brand for Megan because she usually ends her sentences or phrases with "Aah" and tongue out which has very negative conations in the West due to medieval depictions of devils and it's linked with untruthfulness'. In Asia, an extended tongue is a sign of potency and life force because the tongue between the lips imitates the sacred lingam-yoni. 

Biblically the tongue was synonymous with language such as the well-known term and Acts parable "Speaking of the tongues" which direct copy from Buddhist text that mentions the Ushnisha, symbolizing knowledge of all languages. 

Eyes

"The God of the Circle, the one" in Hinduism and the idea that the cosmos is an unbroken circle repeated by Gnostics with the image of a Serpent eating his tail also known as Ouroboros. By the 1st century B.C., it became synonymous with the Full Moon and the pupil of the All-seeing Eye. Snake Eyes hold a lot of spiritual symbolism and as the saying goes "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" snakes are feared for the most part.

Genesis of the Desolate Garden

[Verse 1]

Breakin' down and I had the whole world watchin'

But the worst part is really who watched me

Every night I cried, I almost died

And nobody close tried to stop it

Long as everybody gettin' paid, right?

Everything'll be okay, right?

I'm winnin', so nobody trippin'

Bet if I ever fall off, everybody go missin'

 After leaving the confines of the snake she enters a setting of tall grass and dead and barren trees. Megan is now seen as Eve or Lilith's archetype character based on her public persona also known as the Madonna Whore Complex is so prevalent in American Religious Zeitgeist. Women are often not given a chance to choose and shamed for failing Relationships. The lack of community that Megan lost over time from her intimated family members passing at a very important transition time for young adults, my generation calls it "adulting" which isn't taught in school. 

The Garden usually associated with Biblical and Near Epics is actually sexual in nature where seeds are fertilized to grow bare fruits and vegetables. But they weren't associated with common folk they were associated with the Kings and Queens and those who could afford it like merchants. The Fruits of labor are a metaphor for the Queen because she produces the next heir(s). Coming back to the Madonna whore complex the Virgin Mary is usually depicted in Vulgate Hortus conclusus so Gardens with the Tree of Life in the center and a fountain which is associated with the cycle of the moon and life.

Black & White (Past) 

[Verse 1]

Shit, I'd probably bleed out some Pinot

When they find me, I'm in Valentino, ayy

He pourin' me shots, thinkin' it's lit

Hah, little did he know

[Chorus]

This pussy deprеssed, hmm, I'm about to stress him, yeah

Pink nails 'round his nеck, huh, but this ain't domestic, ayy

Think it's goin' down, hah, now he stand corrected, ayy

This pussy depressed, hmm, I'm about to stress him, ah

 "Black is the strongest of the neutral colors. On the positive side, it's commonly associated with power, elegance, and formality. On the negative side, it can be associated with evil, death, and mystery."

"The color white has several meanings and associations purity, innocence, cleanliness, blankness, coldness, emptiness, simplicity, and minimalism."

When a person chooses to film something in BW it is usually for aesthetics purposes it brings out things that color can't do and it is very editorial. But in Film it can usually represent a time in the past similar to the classics from Pre-code Hollywood like Film Noir. Megan looks elegant yet cold due to the atmosphere which is great for expressing her lyrics.

Megan here is talking about some type of self-censoring herself and the people around her were essentially enablers in all her relationships. The snake on the ground symbolically feels like she was exposed and this is backed up by the fact that we are in a bedroom and she is on a bed. A bedroom is a very intimate setting for usually one or two people that definitely turned toxic. Also, white and black snakes like California King Snake, Black Mamba, or Southern Black Racer are usually in flight or fight or flight mode when put in a defense position.

Green With Envy

"It can represent new beginnings and growth. It also signifies renewal and abundance. Alternatively, green can also represent envy or jealousy, and a lack of experience."

Why Women Are Stripey?

The Battle between Mom and Dad gene activation at the 4th-day mark of 100 cell embryo with X-chromosomes (female) to full maturity of the offspring these 100 cells will manifest a stripy partner on the skin of the women. Sadly it's a visible gene expression but is common on other mammals like female calico cats. That's the beauty of Epigenetics

Veritasium - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD6h-wDj7bw

Into the Wilderness

[Outro]  

I ain't goin', yeah, no emotion, ayy  

Back outside, yeah, back in motion, ayy  

He keep callin', hmm, I ignore it (Ayy)  

He say I'm crazy, hmm, don't I know it, ah

 Spiral

Both single and double were among the most sacred signs of Neolithic Europe. They appear on megalithic monuments and temples all over the continent and the British Isles. Spiral represented the Serpent guardians of Sumerian Temples.  The spiral was connected with death and rebirth; Megan's story represents the process of entering the earthly womb represented by a snake at the being of the Music Video and ends with a Sacred Dance imitating this movement of which many pagan European folk dances use spiral lines of dancers circling into a center and out.

All I have to say is Megan is embodying Mami Wata here. And who is Mami Wata you ask...well

"Mama Wata (also Mamba Muntu, Water Mother, La Sirene) is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the Afro-American diaspora. The appearance of her hair ranges from straight, curly to wooly black and combed straight back. Sacred Fertility dances performed by the African women during ritual possession by their Devine African mothers, and deities, and the European’s Ignorance and fear of them earned her, and the African Goddess, reputation as the “harlot, whore, prostitute, etc..."

I hope you guys enjoyed the read I was actually working on something else before I got a notification from my socials that she dropped this so I'm trying to post this since there has been a lot of discussion recently since it dropped. I may add more as get art history and ancient history books in the future.