“Snowflakes” by Tom McDonald

Tom MacDonald, as you inevitably know if you’re familiar with his artistry, is a vocalist who has made a name for himself being critical of the society at large. In fact by this point he is by far the most-outspoken rapper in the game, with his famous peers generally preferring to focus on more frivolous matters. And in that regard, Tom is back at it once again with “Snowflakes”.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Tom MacDonald's Snowflakes at Lyrics.org.

Lyrics of “Snowflakes” Analyzed

Below is a detailed analysis of Tom MacDonald’s “Snowflakes:

Hypocrisy

Tom begins the first verse by pointing out different ways the government is hypocritical. His focus for the most part is on American society. And he starts off by noting how ‘lying to the government’ is discouraged, illegal even. But then politicians themselves tend to be untruthful with impunity. 

Then there is this mainstream focus on gun control in the name of saving the lives of children, but countless more are being done away via abortion. Also MacDonald seems to wonder why America, which has serious issues with racism, contrarily “encourage(s) immigration”.

Later Tom confronts the current gender-pronoun controversy, i.e. how the powers that be are trying to do away with identifying people by sex. Ultimately he points to that whole idea as being ‘retarded’. Then he gets back to the hypocrisy of the society at large, for instance how there’s so many protests against the concept of hate, yet at the same time individuals such as “straight men, White folks and Christians” get hated on, and no one seems to care.  He then loosely alludes to the conspiratorial idea that said reality is the result of a manufactured “race war”.

Afterwards McDonald points out how veterans, i.e. those who ‘died for the benefit of every one of us’ (i.e. the citizens of America) are treated poorly, with “welfare” rather being given “to the bums”. He then basically proceeds to diss Americans by stating that outsiders are just as “ashamed” of them as they are of themselves. 

So in encapsulating the first verse, we can say that its primary purpose is to shine a light on hypocritical aspects of American society. And secondly, it is depicting the country as being sort of fundamentally messed up.

A Less than Ideal American Society

And it is by and large that latter idea which the second verse is based on. Tom McDonald depicts America, and by extension we can also say his own homeland of Canada, as a society whose ways are generally counterproductive to its own wellbeing. Or put differently the way men, women and children are socialized is not ideal. 

Part of this reality is attributable to things being out of control, so to speak.  But the leaders of the land, who make all of this possible and in many cases even propagate destructive habits, are to blame also.

Additionally, Tom uses the opportunity of the second verse to point to one of his favorite topics, which is the popular hate against straight White males. And this time around in doing so, he points out how Blacks, Asians and gays are stereotypically afforded more leeway. 

He then brings the passage home by alluding to people being “afraid to speak the truth”. In other words, McDonald is not alone in noticing all of the above. But others are not as brave in terms of saying what they feel in their hearts about such matters. And what all of this results in is more hatred being levied against those that do, such as Tom McDonald.

Snowflakes

And concerning such fearful individuals, it is those who the rapper is referring to as “snowflakes”. Or more specifically pertaining to the narrative at hand, it would be people who go along with whatever is politically correct at the moment, despite how hypocritical, destructive or nonsensical such may be. That is apparently why Tom is referring to such individuals, the American masses if you will, as being “so fake”. That is to say that in their hearts, no one can actually agree with all of the ideologies as put forth above. Yet at the same time they still go along with the program. Or put more succinctly, they’re cowards.

Lyrics of "Snowflakes"

What “Snowflakes” is all about

So conclusively, considering the bridge for instance, we can say that Tom McDonald is upset about America’s present and accordingly is pessimistic concerning its future.  Perhaps one can say, with him being a Canadian and all, that it isn’t really his business. But again, Canadian politics and societal values tend to be a reflection of America’s anyway. 

Moreover, some of the matters mentioned above are reflective of phenomena transpiring throughout Western society. And at the end of the day, amongst the many gripes that the vocalist has, at the top of the list is people’s tendency to just cowardly go along with the flow.

Snowflakes
Tom MacDonald’s “Snowflakes”

Quick Facts about “Snowflakes”

The music video to this track was directed by Nova Rockafeller, a regular collaborator of McDonald’s in that regard. And the clip features a transgender internet celebrity named Blair White. It should be noted that Nova is also known for being Tom’s real-life girlfriend. As of the release date of “Snowflakes”, the pair have been dating for about 4 years.

Other notable Tom MacDonald music videos directed by Nova include the following:

Within hours of its release on 4 June 2021, “Snowflakes” topped iTunes Hip-Hop & Rap Songs listing. But even more impressively it scored a number one on iTunes Top 100 Songs also, in that regard knocking BTS’s “Butter” out of the top spot.

Tom McDonald, who often serves as both writer and producer of his tracks, did so on “Snowflakes”.

9 Responses

  1. Peter D says:

    A snowflake is someone who’s easily offended (including on others’ behalf), not “the masses”. I would suggest you rethink and rewrite the entire analysis with that in mind as that changes the meaning of the lyrics significantly. Or leave it to someone more familiar with the vernacular being used.

    • SMF says:

      Hi Peter, we know what a snowflake is. In more modern times it alludes to someone who is easily offended, but generally speaking it’s someone who is soft. Actually everybody knows that. That’s why we said “or more specifically pertaining to the narrative at hand, it would be people…” In other words we based the analysis on how Tom MacDonald used the word, not on how it’s defined in the urban dictionary.

      And we just had a look at the song again, and don’t see how the analysis is wrong. Even the Genius description says he “takes aim at the current political atmosphere of the United States”, i.e. the masses. And the main thing he’s criticizing them for is being hypocrites. There isn’t even a single line in that song when he’s talking about people being easily offended per se, at least not this time around. Even in the chorus he equates “snowflake” with being “fake”.

      • Peter D is a Snowflake says:

        I think Peter is most likely a snowflake, i.e. someone who got offended by reading the article.

    • George Broff says:

      But in reality, snowflake is a term that republican’s usually used to describe woke Democrats.

    • Anonymous says:

      you are so weak and empty.

  2. Nancy says:

    Say what you like, the fact is, is that Tom McDonald is not a coward. He express what a lot of people are afraid to say and he is 100% correct, no matter what you deem to be “right” no one is going to totally agree so instead of saying what needs to be said people just go with the “flow” and in turn by doing so you’re a hypocrite. I would rather die being true to myself rather than being a hypocrite and that’s because I do believe in karma, both instant and cosmic karma. As I always say, “karma right to you.”

  3. Incinerator says:

    Snowflakes melt when it starts to get hot.

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