Camelphat & Elderbrook – Cola
Roofies are bad.
[Video][Website]
[3.67]
Kat Stevens: CONCORD, NH – An area woman was overheard last Friday night to be sorely unimpressed with the quality of classified substances available for purchase in her local area. “She was standing right by the DJ booth, so I heard every word”, remarked DJ Dave Camelphat, 46. “I think she said something like ‘it’s practically all baby powder’, or something like that?” A regular provider of repetitive beats to the musical community, Camelphat claimed the woman arrived with friends and immediately bought a soft drink, but then decided after approximately 10 minutes that she would opt for something stronger, as she was not ‘feeling anything’. “I just think she didn’t even give it a chance to kick in. My beats were sick – but her attitude was the unhealthy one here.” When pressed, Camelphat admitted his view may have been coloured as the woman had not paying attention when ‘the drop’ (a lull in the music designed to cause a build up of suspense) arrived. “I mean, what real music fan says ‘fuck it, I’m getting a vodka Red Bull’ – right in the middle of my set? Come on!”
[5]
Rebecca A. Gowns: Quite frankly, this is triggering. The lyrics seem to be celebrating slipping drugs in a girl’s drink without her consent — some commentators suggest it could be MDMA, but it sounds so much like a date rape drug. She can’t tell the difference yet?? What the hell else is that supposed to mean? I found a Dutch interview with Camelphat where he slyly says it’s really about “a girl who’s so drunk that she can’t taste the difference between Pepsi and Coca Cola,” an excuse that’s so stupid it makes me angry. The music matches the lyrical content, loping and trippy, making the whole experience extremely unpleasant. You want music to evoke feelings of nostalgia, not PTSD.
[1]
Ian Mathers: Here’s the thing, my dudes: when I have to look up the full lyrics to your track because I’m not sure whether the refrain (“she sips the coca cola/she can’t tell the difference yet”) refers to someone getting roofied/dosed/whatever or not, and then I’m still not sure either way after looking up those lyrics, it literally does not matter whether it is a “good” song or not because chances are pretty good I am never going to play it again. Yes, it could easily also be about a woman who has put something in her own drink and is waiting for it to take effect (or… whatever, a dozen different meanings I haven’t thought of), but the lyrics don’t clarify it enough for me to feel like I know which is is, and life is finite and I’m going to die with thousands of songs unheard and nearly all of them don’t have that particular problem, so. I would leave this unmarked, but that’s not how we play, so I’ll split the difference between what I think I’d give it otherwise and nothing at all.
[3]
Edward Okulicz: The way this pulses menacingly gives me the awful feeling that the character in this song is the one who wants there to be a difference when she sips the drink, because he’s put something in there, something stronger than a little rum. The detached tone is one I associate with a patient observer, a villain who doesn’t think they’re a villain, and that’s a worry. I mean, if she’d put a little something extra in her own drink, there’d be some frustration, or some excitement, or something, for a narrator to report. It’s a shame, because it’s fairly hypnotic, but I can’t close down the places my mind goes when I hear it.
[3]
Iain Mew: It’s such a pleasure to once again hear patient, dynamic, deep dance music in the charts that it almost overcomes the weak vocals and nothing narrative.
[5]
Will Adams: I love when house gets sinister, but too often “Cola” slips into the wrong side of unsettling. The music is there: a polyrhythmic pulse spanning the crisp beats between an eerie chord progression arching its back and hissing at you. But the lyrics present a distasteful image of a dude alternately sneering and leering at a woman who’d rather just sip her drink in peace. A past version of me would simply advise to pay no mind to the lyrics, but as has been painfully made clear the past few weeks, ignoring problems like these has damaging, long-lasting effects.
[5]
Btw Concord was from the first Onion article I clicked on, I have no idea if Dave has actually DJed in NH or not.
Seeing the other people commenting exactly the same thing I thought and hoped I was wrong about when I heard this song kind of solidified it for me. The whole “she can’t tell the difference yet” is really giving me a rape drug vibe, and while I like the music a lot it’s kind of off-putting.
I’m surprised there wasn’t more controversy about this track … “She cant tell the difference yet ” … sinister creepy …. Cola is a track about a girl sipping a spiked cola drink . I love a bit of deep house but I cant love this track .
I loved this song… until I started paying attention to the lyrics. It is not entirely clear what this song is REALLY about, but the suspicion that it may be about slipping something in a woman’s drink, along with the simple fact that it could be taken that way, raises some concern with its popularity and mainstream play. There are enough problems in today’s society with the mass media glorifying negative, sometimes horrific things, we don’t need to add more to it.
Its pretty conclusive no matter what camelphat say the meaning of the lyrics in this song.
So far everyone is focusing on the verses..
However..
Listen to the chorus
Actually saying it clearly..
Ro-Hyp-Nol Rohyp’Nol
Ro-Hyp-Nol Rohyp’Nol
Ro-Hyp-Nol Rohyp’Nol
Ro-Hyp-Nol Rohyp’Nol
Now i gurantee you will not be able to listen to the song without singing those lyrics in yout head.
it isnt saying rohypnol lol
but yea ” thats what youre coming for”
…….. ” u ask her whats happening”
and of course ” she cant tell the difference yet..
hard to think its meaning can go many other ways eh guys
Its not saying it but its being subtle, and masking the words.
You know thats what its meaning.
Bey the original actually did have those words.
Either way…
Its what it all means.
I got a whole different meaning. I thought it was just talking about a girl going to the club high on coke and basically her crashing and being unhappy with her buzz. Maybe they were suggesting that another type of speed would make her feel better like “Pepsi” or that her high hadn’t kicked in. I am a girl and I never thought it was about dosing an unknown. It says line after line.
In my opinion, it’s about rape drugs. I sense it’s telling us about the predators point of view, how he examines her in the club – “See how she looks for touble”, often a predator will blame the victim in his head. And of course, the rest of it is talking about how uneasy shes feeling after consuming the drink he spiked. Especially with a gloomy, intense, dark tune.
Now if this was written and produces just to aknowledge a dark reality in the clubs or a sinister fantasy – that i’m not sure of. Though the first option seems more fit..
Sooooo disappointing.
Such fantastic house track that I despise because of the lyrics.
House is about love and freedom.
Love and freedom has to include pain and darkness and I welcome songs that explore that.
This goes beyond that, and I’m not cool with it. DJ’s who play this song disappoint me.
FUCK YOUR RAPEY VIBES CAMEL. YOU RUINED YOUR OWN BANGER.
Lol this song is about a girl being kicked out of the club because she’s to intoxicated and they have changed her alcoholic beverage to cola. Listen to the lyrics properly and what the artist even says.
Naivety.
It’s about drug raping a girl and blaming the victim.
Vile.
Get rid.
Did anyone do any research before jumping to conclusions? Elerbrock stated that it’s about a woman that shows up to the club already intoxicated and the bouncer refuses her entry. He get’s her a cola to try to sober up, but she thinks it’s a rum and coke. He’s talking about it in numerous interviews.