Music and the Fictive Dream: Sing Street's "Riddle of the Model"
Music and storytelling in film go hand in hand, songs move along and amplify emotions, and sometimes they are central to the storyline itself. One of my favorite films is Sing Street, a story connecting self discovery, love, and music.
Sing Street is a coming-of-age film set in 1980's Ireland directed by John Carney following a teenage boy - Conor - who, due to recent family issues and financial difficulties, is switching to an all boys Catholic school. He meets a girl - Raphina - who lives across the street from the school and, in an attempt to impress her, lies that he is part of a band and asks her to star as a model in his band's music video. She accepts, and he forms a band - "Sing Street" - which takes him on a journey of self-discovery and romance.
The first song that the band "Sing Street" writes is titled Riddle of the Model, which Conor writes about Raphina without her knowing that she's the subject. The song is about his first impression of her; he finds her really cool and mysterious and describes her as this interesting, untouchable person he's been thinking about. Raphina had told Conor she's a model, hence the name and his idea to ask her to model in his band's (not created yet) music video. Conor had been really into watching music videos on MTV and the song itself is influenced by some of the popular bands at the time - Duran Duran, The Cure, Genesis, Aha, etc. This song is the introduction for Conor's feelings for Raphina in an effort to impress her, and the band's jumping off point into processing their own emotions and having fun through music. As the band develops, they begin to find their own sound. However with this being their very first song, I feel that Riddle of the Model is the most heavily influenced by other 80s pop bands in it's music, though the lyrics are personal to the memory of Conor meeting Raphina and use 80's cliches and drama to paint that picture. It's written in an intentional effort to portray a teenage music writing experience. Riddle of the Model sets the tone for self expression through the music by balancing being yourself and pulling from influences that you look up to, along with the spontaneity of writing a song on a whim, which connects to the overall messaging of the film itself.
I really liked how the rhythm sort of hitches at times, as I really think it connects to the band's immaturity of newly playing together. I feel like the song portrays what I expect from a teen band in the 80s. You can see the effort and you could also see how they were looking to other musical influences on how to write their own music. Right down to the timbre of the instruments, the magical electric synths, the punchy guitar riffs, it almost feels patched together, simple in an organized chaotic way- which was the aim the film was going for.
"Sing Street (soundtrack)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Nov. 2025. Web. 12 Apr. 2026.
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