So this song has been on my mind a lot lately and I really really love it and I think a lot of people will relate to it... at least I know I do. So this song is called "Nobody's Home" and it's by Avril Lavigne. It was the third single from her second album, "Under My Skin". The song was written by Avril and her friend at the time and ex- guitar player for Evanescence, Ben Moody. It's a really great song so let's go ahead and get into the lyrics!
You can find them here. So this first verse is Avril talking about this girl and how she felt, but she doesn't say how this girl exactly felt because we will find that out later. But however this girl felt, she felt it every day. And it seems as though Avril tried to help her, but this girl wouldn't accept help. She just kept making the mistakes that made her feel the way she did. Then in this little pre-chorus bit, she says what people probably ask this girl all the time, "what's wrong, what's wrong now?". And this is a statement that people who are emotionally unstable get all the time. "What's wrong?" Well the thing about that is that there very well could be nothing really wrong. But in the song her response is "too many problems".
And then we find out how this girl feels. She doesn't know where she belongs. She has run away not only from her home but from her problems. But this only created more problems for her. And she wants to go home. This isn't necessarily that she wants to go back home to her family and whatnot but digging deeper we can think about how she wants to go back to her life before things got difficult for her or before she became, as we see in the chorus, broken inside. But she knows somehow that she can't, that there is no one waiting for her, or nothing for her to return to. We don't know exactly what broke this girl, but we know she is broken. She feels unwanted and like she has nowhere to go where people will care about her. I think that's this girl's main problem. She thinks that no one cares.
The second verse here goes into more detail about what I just said. Avril is telling this girl to take a real hard look at herself and her life. And for her to think about why she has done the things she has to herself and to the people around her. This girl feels rejected by everyone and even if she wants to find her old self, what she left behind, she cannot. So then in the pre-chorus again I think it switches to this girl talking to herself and telling herself to be strong, but she thinks she can't be strong because she has too many problems. Then it goes into this little bridge part. So she hides how she really feels and she doesn't feel like the same person. She has lost whatever ambition she had because she thinks she doesn't deserve it. She has completely lost herself.
So by now I would guess that you have all figured out that this girl has some mental disorders (my guesses are depression and some anxiety and probably abandonment/commitment issues). And what I want you to get from reading this is that you're not alone. Because someone out there has felt the exact same way that you feel right now. And it's okay to feel that way. Because trust me someone cares. It might not seem like it right now, but SOMEONE does I promise you.
So I just went to see Disney's newest masterpiece the other day, "Frozen". It's really an amazing movie and definitely my newest second favorite Disney movie ever. And I would say that by far my favorite song in this movie is "Let it Go" performed by none other than Idina Menzel. For those of you who don't know, Idina Menzel is a renowned actress, voice actress, singer, and songwriter. She first rose to fame by playing Maureen Johnson in the Broadway musical "Rent" and it even landed her the part in the film reproduction. She also originated the role of Elphaba in the Broadway musical Wicked. She then starred in Glee as Rachel Berry's biological mother, Shelby Corcoran, and then she did the voice of the Snow Queen Elsa in "Frozen".
In the movie, Elsa has ice/snow powers that she has kept a secret and when she gets angry they become hard to control and just as she is crowned queen, she loses control and shows everyone her powers. Ashamed of her self, she basically runs away to the mountains thinking she can just disappear and use her powers freely without hurting anybody. When she comes to this conclusion, she sings this song. So now that you understand the context, let's jump into the lyrics!
So you can find the lyrics here. In this first verse, she is talking about how she feels totally isolated and the way she feels about it at first isn't so good. And there is a "storm" so to speak inside of her regarding her powers because they are a part of who she is that she has tried to keep hidden for a really long time. But it got to the point where she just couldn't anymore. Then she talks about how she had to keep it in for so long and her parents had always told her this line "conceal, don't feel". And just as far as like emotions go, this is NEVER a good idea. And it wasn't a good idea for Elsa either. Covering up how you feel makes it harder and harder to keep them concealed and eventually they will all burst out just like her powers did. And then everyone knew. So then she has this realization that she can finally let it all go. She realizes that she can leave behind this whole idea of concealing her true self and start a new life. She's "slamming the door" on who she used to have to be.
And she stops caring about what people think or tell her about herself and her powers. She never had a problem with it to begin with! So now that she has put some distance between her new life and her old life she is able to see clearly that she was ruled by fear in the past and she wouldn't allow herself to be ruled by it anymore. And now she is just going to explore herself and her own power and she won't be limited by rules made by others. She is going to make her own rules for her life. In this second chorus she says she is "one with the wind and sky". I think that this not only refers to her powers of ice and snow but also to her finally feeling like she is who she is supposed to be. She feels like she is natural now and not forced to be someone she is not. And she is stronger now because of this, hence "you'll never see me cry".
And then it goes to this scene where she is really using her powers and she is really letting herself go and her power and soul and thoughts all come out at once in this beautiful way and it really shows how she finally becomes her true self and she says "the past is in the past". This has always been a very powerful statement. And it's also very true. The past is in the past and there is nothing you can do to change it. All you can do is learn from it and move on from it. Then this last chorus is really really powerful. She says that she will "rise like the break of dawn". This really shows how she has discovered her own internal power as an individual and she realizes that she isn't perfect like everyone wants her to be. Nobody is perfect but feeling like you have to live up to some perfect expectation is really really hard and takes an enormous toll on you but now she is free of all of that. And before it was like a darkness in her life and now that she is out of that environment she is in the "light of day". And she finally understands and accepts herself for who she is despite what other people think or say or who other people want her to be.
I hope that you all learned something from this song. I love it and I find it to be very empowering and it relates to a lot of different situations in life. But overall I want you all to know that it is perfectly okay to be who you are and be confident in that person. Screw other people. Live your own life! Make your own destiny and your own rules because despite what other people tell you, your life is your own.
Love to all,
Autumn the Music Girl
