FROM all the birthday cards I’ve written with a disclaimer of “I’m not good with words, so here’s a song for you…” to all random moments that will prompt lyrics in my head, I have finally proven that when words fail, music speaks.
So when do words usually fail at being words? Well, it typically happens (at least for me) when you are too happy or too sad. Sometimes you just run out of them to describe almost everything when you are in the zone of falling in love—and also falling out of it (ouch!).
Here’s my pick of three songs to summarize tender flames that just went up in smoke (but I bet he wouldn’t even bother listening to)…
- Rollercoaster by Bleachers
(from Strange Desire), 2013:
You will never go wrong with this song. It perfectly communicates the feelings that you have when you thought you will never go wrong with him, too. This is actually Stage 1 of every “cutesy” love I’ve ever heard of, the “rollercoaster” of emotions and feelings rolled up into one giant burrito.
Coming from their debut album Strange Desire, this indie pop band starts this song with, “It was summer when I saw your face, looked like a teenage runaway, God never thought I will take you that far…”
Totally, your thoughts when you saw that smile after your gazes first met.
- Ever Enough
by A Rocket to the Moon (from Wild and Free), 2013:
Welcome to the rut—where you can finally see that everything isn’t made with hearts and golds.
This is where doubts and insecurities start to build up and will try to weigh your relationship down.
Though this song from the most anticipated album of A Rocket to the Moon in 2013 was reviewed by many as a song of assurance and faith, my perspective says it’s a little bit otherwise.
The chorus goes like, “I will always be yours, forever and more, for the push and the pull. I still drown in your love, and drink till I’m drunk; and all that I’ve done, is it ever enough?”
This only shows the martyrdom of the lover but with a visible hint of doubt that if after everything, will it ever be enough to sustain the love that was once there?
- Miserable by Join The Club
(single) 2015: Bittersweet.
This is the perfect word to describe this heart-wrenching song—and also your love story.
Well, there are some things we can’t really save, even how worth saving we think it is. Please try not to cry when listening to this song but, with the cold voice of Christian “Biboy” Renia on the background, I bet a tear will already fall just before the chorus starts.
Maybe love doesn’t mean to last for the two of you, after all. However, the most important take-away in this situation is learning how to let go—most especially if you’re the only one left holding on:
“Harapin ang huling sandali ng ala-ala mo/Ang dating sa akin/Ngayon may iba nang nagmamay-ari…” Inspiration of the article title is from Flying Ipis’ This Song Is Not About You from their 2013 album Give Ipis A Chance.
(Karla Tulabut describes herself as “just a typical 21-year-old girl in plaids and Vans, but not your ideal one.” She claims she “loves to incorporate music in her daily life, especially during birthday greetings. Sweet when asleep, but can totally bombard you with all kinds of profanities when awake—in the sweetest manner she can pull off.)