My Emotional Connection to the song Uber Everywhere

The other day I was listening to Uber Everywhere by MadeinTYO and I started crying. My brain was swirling with emotions, and my eyes began to spew fluid all over my freshly washed crew-neck tee. I couldn’t help but feel like this song connected me to the deepest canyons of my brain, and MadeinTYO’s melodic voice brought back emotions from a simpler time.

Maybe it was because the first time I listened to Uber Everywhere I was playing tonsil tennis with my first true love, and whenever I hear the lyrics “Bad bit in LA tell me I should make the trip, shawty bad as hell yeah with them Kylie Jenner lips” I think about her tender touch, and how nobody has made me feel the same way since. Maybe it was because of the hard trap beat, which acts as a metaphor for how trapped my own heart feels. The real reason may be accredited to my childhood and middle school traumas; however, I think the pure essence of the song could evoke prolific emotion in anyone who listens to it. In fact, I would argue that if you don’t shed a tear after listening to this song you are no human, perhaps an alien or a fish.

Before I divulge the reasons why I think Uber Everywhere is one of the most overlooked love ballads of the 21st century, let us examine who MadeinTYO is, and why he loves Ubering to every destination he goes.

A quick Wikipedia search will tell you that MadeinTYO’s real name is Malcolm Jamaal Davis, and he is from Atlanta. Now this begs the question, does Atlanta have Uber? Another quick Google search will tell you that yes, Atlanta has had Uber since 2012. Interesting. MadeinTYO spent several years in Japan, Yokosuka specifically, where they did not have Uber. In fact, MadeinTYO’s stage name loosely translates to Made in Tokyo, due to the years he spent in Japan where he was supposedly “made”. Perhaps he put his heart and soul into the song Uber Everywhere as a metaphor for the emotional differences he experienced between his time America and Japan. It must have been shocking seeing so much Ubering on the road in America, when there was none in Japan. In this case, and as evidenced by the lyrics of the song, Uber may have represented his passionate connections he had with people, particularly “bad shawties with Kylie Jenner lips”. Was MadeinTYO’s Japan experience tainted by heartbreak? The only logical conclusion I can draw from this is that MadeinTYO’s time in Japan has made him want to Uber Everywhere because he associates Uber with deep, loving connection. Perhaps that’s why the song resonates with me, and likely millions of others in such a profound way.

Now that we know why MadeinTYO loves Ubering, I’ll break down the song and highlight what lyrics and melodies made me cry the hardest. Hopefully in reading this, you can cry too. In a reflective way.

In the first verse of this intergenerational heater, MadeinTYO states “heard you was a lame boy, get up out my face. And my ex keep calling, swear that she be in the way”. Upon first glance, one might examine this lyric and think nothing of it, however here at Spoon University we do not hire goofy goobers, so we can carefully examine this fine piece of artistry. It seems as though the artist is talking about pushing people away, whether they be “lame boys” or “exes” that “be in the way”. Perhaps he is afraid to open his heart after the traumas he experienced in Japan, and this lyric emphasizes that no matter how lame a boy, or ex a girl may be, he has trouble reconnecting with them. On a personal level, I cried pretty hard at this lyric. Right off the bat in the song I was gushing because I realized that I too had been pushing away lame boys and telling them to get out of my face. What if I had just let them into my circle, into my heart? Where would I be today? I cry every night thinking about this.

Next, I will dive into the meat and potatoes of the song, the chorus, if you will. “Yeah, Uber everywhere, [Expletive] in the VIP, Yeah, Uber Everwhere”… “Aye, Skrrt Skrrt”. Now if just reading that doesn’t tug at your heart strings, I don’t know what would. What makes this even more gut wrenching to listen to is knowing the fact that MadeinTYO associates Ubering to emotional connection. Like the first verse, it seems as though he recognizes the fact there are available connections for him to make, but he seems to “Skrrt” away from them. This is usually the part of the song where I start to sniffle and gasp for air through the ocean of tears streaming down my face.

Now at this point, the remainder of the song draws many parallels to the overall theme I have laid before you. MadeinTYO presents the fact that he is just about to re-hash an old relationship with a comrade, then seemingly slips deeper into the abyss of “skrrting” them, or Ubering away. At one point, he even seems to reminisce about his childhood in the lyric “pull up in that juice box”, implying that if he could go back to a simpler time (perhaps when he was wearing Pull-Up diapers and drinking juice boxes), he would be able to right the wrongs that put him in his emotional cage.

Perhaps it was my middle school memories, tainted with loneliness and despair after I was broken up with, perhaps it was the girl who got away that this song reminds me of so dearly. Perhaps it is because I too yearn for emotional connection, or that I wish I could return to a time much simpler and easier to understand than this. My association with this song may sway my opinion on it, I’ll admit that. But what I have presented bright as day is that when you dig deeper, this A List Celebrity, MadeinTYO, is just like us. It seems as though this song was a cry for help, a desperate weep to the masses that maybe, just maybe, a “bad shawty” will hear. He wants to be in a place we all want to be, comfortable with who we are, surrounded by our loved ones and most noteworthy associates; he just needs to take an Uber to get there.