“Motion” by Luke Hemmings

The lyrics of Luke Hemmings’ “Motion” are highly metaphorical, so before jumping in it would be best to quote Luke Hemmings’ own explanation. And as explained, “this song is about having a sense of distrust with the way you perceive your own thoughts and the way the world moves around you”.   

Moreover, Hemmings penned it “about a time when (he) felt like the voices in (his) head weren’t (his) own”, with his “sense of reality (feeling) blurred”. That explanation is also pretty vague itself.  But we will do our best to try to connect these ideas to those being presented in the lyrics.

For instance, the above circumstances obviously resulted in him experiencing a sense of alienation, as put forth from the onset. Moreover, he had reached a point where he couldn’t even believe what he saw right in front of his eyes. 

A Drug Abuse Challenge?

If we didn’t know any better, we may even speculate that this experience has something to do with drug abuse. But the above explanation would imply that it is something more internal, i.e. not being caused by an identifiable external stimulant. 

And that is why, as expressed from the end of the first verse into the chorus, the vocalist is having such a hard time escaping from these sensations. Such an idea, i.e. the futility in someone trying to evade your own thoughts, may be what the less-than-discernible wording of the chorus is based on. 

Indeed it would even seem that Luke set out to capture the ‘blurring’, shall we even say spazzing sense of one of these episodes within the passage.

However, the story being put forth isn’t one of resignation. For in the second verse, the vocalist makes an effort to identify where all of this confusion is coming from. And he concludes that it has something to do with his “arrogance”.

Solution

Then he proceeds to engage in activity, i.e. taking a “walk in the neighborhood”, to rectify the situation. And obviously, doing so proves to be effective. Relatedly, going back to the first verse, it would appear that his less-than-ideal mental state may have also had something to do with spending too much time alone, or at least he withdraws himself at times when these feelings take over. 

So a change to a more open environment proves beneficial.  But that said, he doesn’t seem to directly correlate being outside as the remedy. Rather it’s his faith, if you will, that ultimately led to his healing. Or something like that.

The Conclusion of “Motion”

What we’re really trying to get at is that while Luke is able to recognize that the negative sensation is “gone for good”, at the same time he doesn’t really appear to know exactly why. 

Thus he continues to ‘search for a miracle’, which we would have to believe would ideally be some type of further, final relief from his psychological state. And keeping that thought in mind, with the chorus once again being presented after the second verse, maybe now we can postulate, to some degree, that the passage is indicative of him pursuing that “miracle”.

Release Date of “Motion”

On 21 July 2021, Sony Music Australia made this the second single released from Luke Hemmings’ 2021 album. And the name of the project overall is “When Facing the Things We Turn Away From”. And to note, the first single released from it was “Starting Line” (2021).

Luke Hemmings

Prior to venturing out on his own, Luke Hemmings established himself in the music industry by being the lead singer of 5 Seconds of Summer, who for the past few years have been the most-trending pop band from Australia. And Hemmings, who was born in 1996, co-founded the group in 2011, i.e. while he was still in high school.

Hemmings wrote “Motion”, accomplishing the task alongside Sammy Witte, i.e. the producer of the track.