Well things in my life have taken a dramatic and lonely turn so I've decided to stick with my Christina Perri streak and go with her song "The Lonely" for this week's blog post. This song was released as the first promotional single for her album, "Lovestrong". It was released to iTunes on March 29, 2011. The lyric video was posted to YouTube the following day. The lyric video for this song is one of my favorites and I hope you all watch it after reading this, because it will be posted below! Now as for the inspiration for this song, Christina Perri has said:
"It's lonely personified. It’s my relationship with no one, and I’m very
happy I kept it superdramatic and simple at the same time. It’s me, a
piano, plus a nineteen-piece orchestra."
And with that, let's get into the lyrics!
You can find them here. So this first verse here depicts a scene of this woman who is very damaged and completely consumed in the loneliness she feels. It keeps her up at night, to the point where she doesn't even know what to do. And in this little pre-chorus part, which I think is a vital portion of the song, she talks about how she is losing herself. She's becoming a person she no longer recognizes because of this brokenness she feels about herself.
So then she goes in to talk further about her experience with this. She feels so lonely, like she is "dancing slowly in an empty room", which is a really sad image when you think about it. I even picture it in like, black and white. Feeling like a sad song is playing in your head and you are so alone and you don't know what to do besides dance to it, but you just wish more than anything that someone would be there to dance with you. And from the next line it seems like she had someone to "dance" with her before, but whoever that was left her. And she wonders if this overwhelming loneliness will be able to fill her heart to some extent and replace the love of this person. And this last part really shows how she is accepting that this person is gone. And this girl is afraid of her own emotions. Which is pretty common especially in females because emotions are powerful and can be very overwhelming and it can make you not want to deal with them. And that is what she is expressing here. She is scared to feel her own pain and sadness because she doesn't want to let this loneliness consume her but at the same time she knows that it's pointless to fight it. And that's when she sort of gives up, which I feel is really expressed in the lines "But the loneliness will stay with me, and hold me 'till I fall asleep". And she reiterates that she doesn't know what she is becoming.
And that's when this little bridge portion comes in. She feels like she's sort of fading away without the love of this person who left her. She feels like she's dying a little bit every day- "barely breathing". And she feels abandoned and she doesn't know what to do or how to deal with it or accept it. She is broken. So she lets the lonely take over.
As sad as that may be, that is the end. Now as far as advice, I would say a few things. First, don't think that you can just replace lost love, at least not right away. There will be a missing piece there for a while. But it's normal and we all go through it. Second, even when you feel like no one understands, someone does, so you don't have to go through it alone. Third, yes, your loneliness may be overwhelming for a while, but as is often said, this too shall pass. Life never stays the same. There are ups and downs and though this may be a really really low down, you WILL go back up. Know that you will not always be alone. The lonely will leave as swiftly as it came and you will be okay. I promise.
Love to all,
-Autumn the Music Girl
"Life never stays the same." -- Well said.
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