I Don't Know About You...But I'm Feeling "22"

Hey Everyone

     So my positive mood is back, sorry for the depressing post last week! I mean, I'm going to do depressing stuff sometimes, but for right now, I'm trying to stay positive. And currently, (along with die Young) this song is my upbeat, positive jam. And it's Taylor Swift's new confirmed single! It's off of the album "Red" and it's called "22". Another song about living life and having fun, and it has some good messages for even those of us who aren't 22.
     Lyric analysis time! Okay so click here as per usual. (Do any of you actually do this?) And follow along! So there isn't really a deep meaning to this song, it's more just about having fun! For instance, making fun of your exes with your friends? Just a  fun thing to do on a "perfect night"! I love the pre-chorus part here about being "happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time. It's miserable and magical..." I think that is so true about youth in general. We're happy most of the time (except when we're not, but we really should be), free because of the freedoms of youth and the little responsibility we really do have. A lot of us probably feel like we have so much responsibilities with school and work (for some) or homework or chores, but truthfully there is so much more as you get older.Confused- aren't we all? I mean, we change our minds and our feelings constantly and we're pretty much running in the dark but that's the thing- we keep running. We dive into life headfirst and don't stop to think and it can be confusing but it's a ride and we all go for it! And as for lonely? We all get lonely sometimes (especially those of us living the single life) but that's just a part of life, and sometimes that's not so bad. It's "miserable and magical".

    

     The chorus is really just awesome. I cannot describe it any other way. Once again, it's about letting go. The last line of the first pre-chorus says this- it's time. Time to let go and just sit back, and enjoy the ride. And I think part of this is about friendship- specifically the line "everything will be all right if you keep me next to you". Friends have to stick together and everything will be all right. Verse two is kind of self-explanatory but I love the last line of it. "And end up dreaming instead of sleeping". This is possibly one of the greatest experiences in life- to dream with your eyes wide open. To feel like you're "living the dream." And truthfully, it's easily achieved. Just do something you're passionate about, something that is your dream- follow it wherever it goes. And enjoy it with all of your heart. And then you will find yourself dreaming instead of sleeping. Another great line in the second pre-chorus is "Tonight's the night that we forget about the heartbreaks". I find that spending time with friends, having fun, and focusing on yourself and what YOU want to do is the best way to forget about heartbreak. Trust me, it works. And trust Taylor, too!  And the bridge- the last two lines here are so typical girl. Don't we all just love those bad boys? You gotta have 'em. And when you're out having fun and just messing around, I think that's okay. But a piece of advice here- protect your heart. And know that no true bad boy will change and be good for you.

     Well, I kind of feel like I put most of my good advice in my lyric analysis, but I can restate them here, right? Let go, let loose, live your dreams. That's basically it. And protect your heart. Because nobody can change who they are for you and you can't expect them to- but DON"T change yourself for anyone else either because they can't expect you to! But most of all, have fun and enjoy life. Don't take it too seriously and don't try to grow up too fast. Just enjoy being 22...or 16...or whatever age you are! Enjoy your youth. Because you only get to live today one time, so make it count.
Make It Count Everyone,
-Autumn  the Music Girl

P.S. I just found this music video a few days ago...it's new! Enjoy listening!

I "Remember When"...

Hey Everyone,

     Today's been kind of a rough day. I know my las two posts have been rather cheerful about everything I'm dealing with right now, but I thought it might be time to let some more feelings out. Avril Lavigne is another favorite artist of mine. She is a Canadian singer who released her first album, "Let Go" at 17. She's had 6 number 1 singles so far in her career, the first of these being "Complicated".
     Her latest album, "Goodbye Lullabye" came out on March 8, 2011. This song, "Remember When" is from this album. It's really a beautiful song, though it is very sad. For Avril, this album was all about sitting down and writing about how she actually felt at the time, lyrics with meaning, rather than the fun and poppy songs she usually wrote. These were going back to her days of acoustic and older music style. It was a completely different experience for her.
     Now, as usual, for my lyric analysis. Click here to go to the lyrics. The first verse in itself is very emotional. During this relationship, she was probably going through a lot and spilled her guts to this person because she loved him. And she wanted to be with him always and she never once thought that he would ever be missing from her life. And she finds herself caught off guard by it. It's a very vulnerable state. In the chorus, she says she hasn't forgotten her feelings for him. They were feelings so strong that she cannot get rid of them. She cannot let go of the memories or shove them into the "bottom drawer". And there is a sense of emtiness there. A feeling of loss and grief. And she can't let go of any of it because it's all she has left, but because of all of the pain, she won't let herself go back. She can't. Even if he asked, after all he has put her through, she doesn't think that she could go back to him. Not only that, but she probably isn't "coming back around" because there's nothing left for her there. In the second verse, she is talking to this person. How she remembers that they had planned to always be together. And now that she's without him, she's lost. She doesn't know what to do, what to think, where to begin to heal, where to start over. The next two lines here have always confused me a bit. Of course, her crying is self explanatory, though I'm sure she cried more than a little bit. But this death of him that she speaks of is confusing. It could be that he "died", leaving her life. Or it could mean that he died, as in he was hurt by this too. And she's probably wondering if he remembers as much as she does or if those memories are anywhere near as important to him as they are to her. And the one thing she wants to know from him as that he doesn't regret being with her, that he doesn't regret those memories. And she wants to know that he won't forget her, even if he abandons her. And she doesn't want him to forget because she has not forgotten yet. She doesn't want him to forget how he felt about her when she can't let go of how she feels about him. And yet someday she knows she will. She just can't yet.
     Letting go is always the hardest part. Letting go of the memories, good and bad. Letting go of everything he said, everythig he did, his laugh, his eyes...everything. Once a relationship ends, it never ends cleanly. One person is always left in the dust. One person is always sitting there reminiscing and wishing for a resolution and a end to the heartache while the other is perfectly fine. One person cannot let go...at least not for a while. But that's something we all have to do at some point- let go. Sometimes there is no point in holding on because there is nothing left to go back to, but we tend to hold on anyway. I feel that there is always a sense of hope for a reunion that often never comes. And when we realize it will never come, that is the time we must let go. But for right now, if you are experiencing this, as I am, just hold on. Maybe don't hold onto the hope that he will come back, but hold on to the memories. Hold on to all of the beautiful, wonderful times with him. And in time, learn to let go little by little. You will appreciate the memories someday and someday you won't be hurt anymore by them either and you can just recognize them as beautiful. But for now, even if it hurts, hold on and learn to let go. Because someday, no matter how hard it is to grasp right now, you WILL let go and you WILL move on.

Love to you all,
-Autumn the Music Girl

Let's Live Like We're Gonna "Die Young"!

Hey Everybody!

     So as some of you may know, I went through a pretty bad breakup earlier this week. And I have been trying to cheer myself up and I have found myself listening to this song a lot: "Die Young" by Ke$ha. And it has changed my perspective on things, I think.
     This song is just all about being young and having fun and enjoying life. You can click here for the lyrics as always. And I love this chorus. It's catchy and it WILL get stuck in your head so, beware. The song itself has a great tune but it's the message I like best. It creates a scene with a party or a club and everyone dancing and a cute boy who came with a girl who isn't paying any attention to him and all of a sudden you find yourself dancing together and you just want to enjoy the moment. Going out, having fun, enjoying life: that's what being young is about isn't it?

   
     People always tell us as we are growing up to hold onto our youth because someday we will wish we were this age again. And I have come to realize this as true. I was always looking into the future, wishing I was older. Because we always see age as more freedom. And though there is more freedom with age, there is also more responsibility...and in the end, less time to enjoy that freedom. So I have decided, as I hope many people will decide, that right now, I just want to act my age and have fun and enjoy what I am given. I just want to enjoy life. I want to go out, make mistakes, make memories, and regret nothing. We all want to grow up too soon. We all want to grow up before we have even gotten the chance to enjoy the age we are at right now. So I say, "Let's make the most of tonight like we're gonna die young." Because you never know, we just might die young. So enjoy life while you can and as I said with "Run Free", make sure you go out knowing you've done everything you wanted to and with no regrets.

Regret nothing<3
Love you all,
-Autumn the Music Girl

I Still See it All in Burning "Red"

Hey Everyone,

    
     So Taylor Swift is another artist that I love. I've been a fan of her since her first album came out in 2006. Her new album "Red" came out last year and I adore it. A lot of her songs are more mature sounding on this album as well as her voice. One song that I am personally relating to tonight and that I have decided to write about is the song on the album entitled "Red".
     Sadly, Taylor tends to keep her inspirations pretty quiet. So I don't really have anything to say on the inspiration part of things. But the song's lyrics should make up for that. So, you could click here and look at them with me through my analysis of the song. So there are a lot of similes in this song. The first one is explained- that "driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street" is fast, passionate, and ends very suddenly. Then "trying to change your mind when you're already flying through the free fall" is a reference to "falling" in love and not being able to do anything about it, not being able to help yourself. And the reference to the autumn leaves are talking about the bright colors- happiness and losing it all is not talking about the color but the happiness flowing out of the relationship and the relationship ending.

     Then the chorus. "Losing him was blue like I'd never known". Blue here represents the inexorable sadness of the initial loss of the one you love. "Missing him was dark grey all alone". This represents how dark everything in her world was while missing this person. It was lonely and bleak and seemingly hopeless. "Forgetting him was like tryin' to know somebody you never met" talks about how impossible it is to forget this person. They are forever imprinted in her mind."But loving him was red." This is the memory of the greatness of the relationship. Red is a vibrant color that stands out against all else. And that relationship was one that stood out. One that was different. And it was passionate and bright and beautiful and one you will always remember. In the next verse it talks about touch and a realization that "all you ever wanted was right there in front of you". This may be literal because sometimes all it takes is a simple touch to spark that realization. The memorization line is pretty straightforward- there's a familiarity about them and it's easy and simple to memorize him. And by that I think she means that  she just knew him really well. The line about fighting is saying that fighting with him was pointless and stupid. And "regretting him was like wishing you never found out that love could be that strong" is basically saying "why would you regret something beautiful?" In the bridge, she talks about trying to let go and move on but she still has the memories of this "red" relationship and she can't get those memories out of her head, making it impossible to move on.
     So as you can see, it's quite a sad yet beautiful song. And it's remembering a beautiful relationship that though you wish it had never ended, is still recognized as something magical.It was an unexpected and shocking loss and it was very hard to deal with. But she looks back on the wonderful things in that relationship and sees them all in red. Metaphorically of course. It's really just saying that it's vivid and bright and yet...painful. I think, at least.
     So, don't let go of those red memories. Don't lose the good times even if your world is blue or dark grey right now. It will take time. It will be painful. But in the end, you'll be stronger and you'll still have those red memories, but they won't hurt anymore. I think that a quote from Taylor works well here:

"Be that strong girl that everyone knew would make it through the worst. Be that fearless girl, the one who would dare to do anything. Be that independent girl who didn't need a man. Be that girl who never backed down."

So no matter how hard it is, be THAT girl. Because she's inside you, just waiting to come out and shine. And if he is out there and you know you'll have the chance to be that girl- show him that girl. And show him what he's missing.

Love to you all,
-Autumn the Music Girl