(via Shutterstock)
Love is a messy powerful thing – sometimes it works in our favour, sometimes it doesn’t.
When it does, and our romantic dreams crumble into dust, it can feel like the world has fallen apart, it can feel like indescribably words, emotions so big and damaging they somehow sit beyond words.
But they don’t, of course, and four of these five artists make that abundantly and gloriously clear, pairing their heartfelt, pithy observations with lyric truths that are at once potently truthful and somehow comforting.
And honestly even the one song that doesn’t directly address the topic has so much rock-heavy pounding energy to it that it feels cathartic in its own way anyway.
Think of it as musical therapy for the soul and glory in how it feels to have words and music reach into your soul and give it form and voice …
“Loop” by Mia Nicolai
(courtesy official Mia Nicolai Facebook page)
“Loop” is one of those beautifully constructed pop songs that near perfectly juxtaposes a jauntily playful melody with lyrics that cut right to the heart of how soul sucking it is to be in a romantic relationship and to feel like the person who should love you, just as you love them, doesn’t seem to be acting the way you think they should.
In other words, one person putting in all the effort while the other one does next to nothing; now, there aren’t rules on what someone has to do in a relationship, no KPIs to be met (thank god for that!) but surely if they really loved you, they’d look at you, think of you and do thing for you completely unbidden.
Mia Nicolai, a Dutch singer-songwriter-actress who represented the Netherlands in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in a duo with Dion Cooper, absolutely nails how it feels to be in a one-way relationship and how agonising it is to have to walk away after trying to let your partner know what’s wrong in a way that doesn’t dictate to them how to behave, which she admits quite rightly, would yield nothing anyway.
It’s a glorious slice of pop that makes you bounce across the floor even as your heart grapples with how love is always as pretty or fulfilling as we want and that sometimes it simply goes south and all you can do is look after yourself as the ship goes down.
“Hype” by Sigrid
(courtesy official Sigrid Instagram page)
Norwegian singer-songwriter Sigrid is one of those artists you can’t help but come to again and again.
Her songs are uniformly wonderful to listen to, presented with a heartfelt emotionality and a lyrical incisiveness that cuts right to the heart of the matter.
In this case, “Hype” questions an ex about whether they really loved her, whether she lived up to the hype and why it is she only hears from them when things are magical or extraordinarily heightened?
After all, where is the pleasure in feeling like someone only sticks around around when you meet some unrealistic ideas about what a partner should look like, and as Sigrid observes with some melancholy, “… left when the party died”.
You want someone there through thick and thin, no matter how glam life is or isn’t, and Sigrid captures the agony of not getting that and wondering if that person they adored ever really loved them in return.
“Give It Up For Love” by Georgia
(courtesy official Georgia Facebook page)
Hailing from the UK, Georgia is an artist who always delivers when she drops a new project.
The multi-talented singer-songwriter-record producer-rapper-drummer has a knack for crafting songs that resonate with a melodic beauty and lyrics that strike home in a way that makes near-instant perfect sense.
Case in point is “Give It Up For Love”, from her album Euphoric, which has a mid-fi dance beat to it, anchored by Georgia’s gorgeously emotive vocals and lyrics that assure that person she loves that “if you’re still not sure / Give it up for love”; in other words, don’t overthink this and just surrender to the warm unconditional embrace of love and the rest will take care of itself.
If that all sounds a little too simplistic, it resonates strongly with me ; I met my husband 15 1/2 years ago, and while deeply irrevocably attracted, wondered if I had what it took to love him enough, but then I just gave intro how much I loved him and, just like Georgia says, discovered that giving it up for life is well and truly worth it and then some.
So, jump into love and you may find something glorious awaits in its warm embrace …
“Unconditional” by Molly Burch
(courtesy Molly Burch Facebook page)
Another artist who’s managed to distill what it feels like to send unconditional love one way and it’s not reciprocated as you’d have hoped, is American singer-songwriter Molly Burch, who hails form Austin, Texas, and whose music dives deep into what it feels like to have your heart broken.
In “Unconditional”, she says to her ex, who she admits has gone forcing her to move on, “We can conquer thе world together / Until you think you found someone better, better” but she admits everything she thought about them is just a fantasy, one she has to mourn.
Lifted from her latest long player, Daydreamer, Molly Burch describes the song this way:
This song is a traditional unrequited love song but I wrote it thinking about how I feel as a working artist in todays climate. A big part of pursuing a creative job is being okay with the roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes things feel positive and sometimes you feel a lot of rejection. This is my way of expressing that through a narrative of not being seen or appreciated by a person you were romantic with. (Stereogum)
“Leaving the Light” by Genesis Owusu
(courtesy official Genesis Owusu facebook page)
Oh the sheer unbridled energy of Ghanaian-Australian singer, Genesis Owusu, in full flight!
It’s a glorious thing as he pours his heart into punchy, full-on lyrics paired with music that gives no quarters and drives itself on and on and on.
His new song “Leaving the Light”, lifted from new LP STRUGGLER, fits into this pedal-to-the-medal groove with immaculate precision, delivering what Double J radio dubs “frenetic, gleefully unhinged energy” that is grounded by “a new lens of perspective”.
It goes on to say …
Life’s weirdness and chaos is explored with nuance here; much like 2022’s “Get Inspired”, “Leaving The Light” kicks things up another notch sonically, providing Genesis a strong foundation to deliver a new sermon, complete with lashings of post-punk and alt-pop. (Double J)
It’s powerful, it’s unremitting and it’s hands down one of the best pop songs to come down the pike this year, bristling with a liveliness and truthfulness that will not be denied.
EUROVISION 2024 UPDATE!
We have a host city in Malmö and now participants! This list isn’t absolutely, finally official but it comes from a trustworthy Twitter account that has assiduously tracked who’s in and who’s out. No word from Australia yet which may not opt to be in next year’s contest. Time will tell …