By Mackenna Stewart
This Valentine’s Day, whether you’re going through a heartbreak, in a very confusing talking stage, or just in the mood for a softer, romantic groove, there is definitely a song for you. In fact, when I asked the Lovett community in the survey about their favorite songs for certain moods, I received a wide range of songs from different genres.
When I first thought of Valentine’s day, I thought of a couple of different categories that people might find themselves in. First the hopeless romantic. The one that listens to their favorite love song just for the fun of it. Even though they might not be able to exactly relate to the lyrics, it can be fun to fantasize over the possibility that the particular song was made just for you.
Since I received an overwhelming amount of Taylor Swift songs, I decided to look a little deeper into Love Story by Taylor Swift, and find the hopeless romanticism in her lyrics. First, let’s start off with a definition of Hopeless Romantic. According to Brides.com, a hopeless romantic is “someone who continues to believe in love, no matter the struggles that they might have experienced in the past.”
Now with this definition in mind, let’s dive right into the Love Story. Love Story cleverly uses the plot of Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden love to hook her audience into this love affair. In the song, Juliet is told by her father to stay away from Romeo at all costs. But Juliet, determined not to give up on love, disobeys her father’s wishes and begs Romeo: “Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone. I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run.”
To a hopeless romantic, the idea of running away with the person you love is a dream come true. And adding the forbidden love effect only makes the dream much sweeter. But, that’s the thing with hopeless romantics, they’re always living a dream that they fight so desperately hard to make a reality. As you can see in Love Story by Taylor Swift, this dream does come true, but only for the 3-minute duration of the song.
The next category is songs for the person going through a really tough heartbreak. Now heartbreaks are tricky because they can manifest differently in people. For example, some people like to plot their revenge, while others immerse themselves in their playlist of songs that they most likely prepared for this exact moment.
While I did receive another storm of Taylor Swift songs, I decided to take a look at the second most recurring songs which were from Adele. Instead of choosing one song to analyze I chose two songs, which were Someone like you and Rolling in the Deep.
Someone like you is the perfect song for a girl or guy who decides to wallow in their sorrows with a comfort song. By the time listeners get to the third stanza of the song, it becomes more and more apparent why this is the perfect heartbreak song. “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you.” To me, these words definitely sound like the words of someone going through the denial stage of a breakup.
They are struggling to come to grips with the idea that they will never find love again. But there are a lot of feelings that can be associated with the hard task of letting go of love. Like when Adele says, “I wish nothing but the best for you.” Going through heartbreak is hard because once you love someone, it’s hard to forget that particular person. A person’s only hope is to silently beg that they won’t be forgotten. But even if that person is forgotten Adele gives us a little advice to help us get through a heartbreak. She tells us that “Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.”
If you aren’t reminiscing on your past relationship, then you’re probably “Rolling in the Deep.” Rolling in the Deep tells a traumatic and heart-wrenching story of a girl/boy that felt like their failed relationship had the potential to really be something true and pure. Adele mentions how the scars of her past relationship “Remind me of us” and “Keep me thinking that we could’ve had it all.” These couple of lines, which are repeated throughout the song, clearly show the pain and anguish that accompanies heartbreak, similar to her song “Someone Like You.”
“Rolling in the Deep” takes a major turn when she hits listeners with this line, “Baby, I have no story to be told. But, I’ve heard one on you, now I’m gonna make your head burn.” Basically, Adele went from reminiscing to acting as if her relationship never even happened, and to add more fuel to the fire (literally) she plans to seek her revenge and make his head burn. Although, I don’t advise you to actually burn your ex’s head.
Like every relationship, there is a beginning, middle, and end, or in other words a talking state, dating stage, and break up. The talking stage is probably one of the toughest stages to be in during a relationship. It causes one to wonder endlessly whether their relationship is exclusive or open, real or just a fling. If you find yourself in this place then the perfect song to listen to could be “All I want for Christmas” apparently because, according to one student, “the lyrics are lowkey romantic.” But if you’re not feeling the Christmas spirit then “I want you Around” by Snoh Aleagra is the perfect talking stage song for you.
Snoh begins the song in a predicament where she is struggling to explain her feelings for someone, but finally decides to blurt out how she feels when she says “I fall for you every time I try to resist you.” Then a few stanzas later listeners will notice that the same uncertainty Snoh experienced at the beginning of the song isn’t yet resolved when she says, “Come through, I think I need you here.” Then again, just one line later Snoh seems certain that “Now you’re the one I’m thinking of.”
Snoh shows us firsthand that talking stages are tough. But in the end, Snoh does give listeners hope in her repeated line “I want you around.” She ends the song with this line to show that there is hope to go from the talking stage to dating, but it will only work if one is committed to sharing their feelings at all times, even when it’s hard.
Behind every love story is a song, even if one feels like they haven’t begun writing their love story. Whether you’re going through a heartbreak, in a talking stage, or just hopelessly in love there is a song waiting to be listened to and become the soundtrack of your life.
