(courtesy Netflix)
For anyone who’s ever struggled to make their authentic way into the world as a young adult because they didn’t match the world’s very restrictively narrow idea of what a person should be sexually, Heartstopper has been a liberating revelation.
Warmly inclusive and funny and heartfelt to a searing but also comforting degree, the show, based on the wonderful series of graphic novels by Alice Oseman, makes it clear that when you find your people, you not only find a supportive community who unconditionally love you, but you have the breathing space to finally work out who you are and live that out.
What a gift that is when it happens in real life, but until it does, if it hasn’t already, there is Heartstopper, and specifically season three, which not only offers up more thoughtful storylines and richly developed character growth (especially for the lovingly sweet couple at the centre of it all, Charlie (Joe Locke) and Nick (Kit Connor)) but music handpicked by creator Alice Oseman and executive producer Patrick Walters.
You can read about what went into picking these things, but here are the five songs that particularly struck a chord with this reviewer …
“the way things go” by beabadoobee
(courtesy official beabadoobee Facebook page)
The song by Filipino-British singer-songwriter-guitarist, Beabadoobee, born Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus, appears in season 1 of the season where Charlie is wrestling with when to tell Nick he loves him. It’s a big moment and this delightfully lovely song kicks off an episode rich with hope and possibility. There’s so much wishing for a particular outcome by Charlie, and many of the other characters too, but the song hints that for all our wishes, hopes and prayers, that love has a way of going where it will. It’s the unpredictability that informs the first episode and that’s why this song is so perfect for it.
“a letter to myself at 17” by Baby Queen
(courtesy official Baby Queen Instagram page)
If we knew then what we know now is a common lament of people who wonder what night have happened if they’d had an adult perspective about their things when they were younger. Impossible, of course, but retroactively writing to yourself, which South African-born, London-based singer Baby Queen aka Arabella Latham does in “A Letter to Myself at 17” does go someway to at least addressing the angst of wondering “what if?” The song accompanies a scene at the beach where Nick and Charlie are having fun in the surf at the beach – well, what there is, of it, anyway – and Charlie is trying to find the right time to admit to Nick that he loves him. The moment does end as hoped, and Charlie thinks he ruined everything, but as the song says, “And the harder the game, the stronger the pain the more you grow / So you grow”. In other temporary setbacks aren’t the end of the world, though they seem that way at that age, and you’ll be fine down the road.
“The Best Day of My Life by Tom Odell
(courtesy official Tom Odell Facebook page)
Charlie is dealing with a pretty massive thing during season three, and as much as he is in love with Nick, he’s also caught in the pain and sadness of dealing with ———- SPOILER ALERT !!!!! ———- anorexia nervosa. For the longest time, it’s his own private hell and there are times when he wonders if he will ever be free and everything will be okay. It’s a lot to deal with it, and after the beach scene where the “I love you” moment falls flat, Charlie feels even more bereft. But then, quite unexpectedly, the life-changing admission happens at the end of the episode and all that darkness and hopelessness lifts. The song which soundtracks this HUGE moment for Charlie and Nick, “Best Day of My Life” is by English singer-songwriter Tom Odell, and it captures how the night is darkest before the dawn but how wondrous the can be! It’s a quiet joy to listen to but it’s full of so much meaningful emotion that your heart bursts just listening to it, more so when you happily glory in the scene it’s attached to, which finishes off the episode so perfectly.
“Vertigo” by Griff
(courtesy official Griff Facebook page)
Into episode two and we have this gorgeous song by another English singer- songwriter, Griff, whose song “Vertigo” capture the thrill and fear of plunging into love. It’s a huge leap and while it can pay off brilliantly well, and change your life, and all that exciting possibility can often feel too much to handle. But the song assures us it’s worth the leap, and it’s placement in this episode where love comes with so much weight as it does joy is a pitch-perfect with all the emotion and insight in the songs bringing all episode two’s various themes alive profoundly well.
“Serontonin” by Angie McMahon
(courtesy official Angie McMahon Instagram page)
Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, singer-songwriter-musician Angie McMahon gifts episode four of the season with her song “Serotonin”. The track accompanies scenes where Charlie is at a recovery centre to learn how to deal with his condition and its lyrics, “I will run to lift the levels / I will dance at the same time as breakfast / I will schedule my friends in / And I’ll eat more tryptophan, oh / I will work on moving through it / And how I communicate it” beautifully captures what it feels like to be in the midst of something overwhelmingly hard and difficult but to also have the cautious, hopeful sense that you are getting through it too. The song, like every song, in the season, doesn’t just deliver musically, but crucially for Heartstopper which is full of ideas, thoughts and emotions, lyrically. Songs like “Serotonin” amplify where the characters are, and in this case it’s how Charlie, aided by the love and support of medical professionals, family and friends is slowly coming through a very dark place to whatever lies beyond.