Ok, so, as I said above, I feel this song does an imperfect job of expressing the commonly held views of the song as said above. However, that is assuming that the views of previous posters are what the song is really about (I am not criticizing the posts above; their views make perfect sense and honestly are more likely to be right than what I'm about to propose, but hear me out).
I propose that the song may actually be more complex than we give it credit for. I gave reasons above why it doesn't do a good job of convincing us the girl is sincere. Maybe she's not supposed to be...
Maybe, we are supposed to hear the song and think, "I don't think the girl is sincere about getting over the other guy." Maybe the song is directed not at the new guy but at herself.
Just as the motif of somebody getting over a past love with a new one is common in both life and art, so is another; the theme of people avoiding true love because they've been hurt by that person, and their futile attempts to move on with someone else, somebody "on the rebound" if you will. Maybe she talks about how much she loved the other guy not to give context of how things were, but rather as a hint that this is still how she feels. This would explain why the new guy is complemented often yet looked upon somewhat coldly. Her declarations of "I belong where you are" could very well be her way of demanding of herself "He's good, you should love him!"
After all, the old guy was a dick, and the new guy is probably sweet, sensitive, loving, whatever it is she is looking for. She left the old guy because he rejected her, and wants to convince herself she is improving and will eventually be happy with the new guy.
In short, maybe it’s supposed to sound phony. That’s not to say that she isn't convinced that she is sincere, but people can be quite good at fooling themselves and convincing themselves they feel differently than they do (although this tends to eventually unfold, both in life and in art...believe me I've been there). If this were a movie, we might expect the new guy to eventually question her, and when she says “we have something different” and “I’m enjoying it” he would tell her that he loves her but that she needs to ask herself if its him she really loves.
The fact that the words chosen do a poor job of convincing me the girl is sincere would therefore be a strength in this case; she's SUPPOSED to be insincere. If that’s the case, my opinion of this song would change from me finding it “superficial” and “hard to take seriously” to “excellent,” “clever,” and “in a whole ‘nother realm.” If that is the case, BRAVO!
Note: I use the term love” loosely. True love is the kind of thing that happens once in a lifetime. As used in my post, love can mean as little as the serious and deep infatuation that is often confused with the real deal.
Also, despite my somewhat harsh criticism of this song (in post #1), I believe Alison Sudol is an amazing singer and songwriter. In fact, One Cell In The Sea is one of my all-time favorite albums (along with the likes of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”; I’m not called MetalSandman999 for nothing).
Ok, so, as I said above, I feel this song does an imperfect job of expressing the commonly held views of the song as said above. However, that is assuming that the views of previous posters are what the song is really about (I am not criticizing the posts above; their views make perfect sense and honestly are more likely to be right than what I'm about to propose, but hear me out).
I propose that the song may actually be more complex than we give it credit for. I gave reasons above why it doesn't do a good job of convincing us the girl is sincere. Maybe she's not supposed to be...
Maybe, we are supposed to hear the song and think, "I don't think the girl is sincere about getting over the other guy." Maybe the song is directed not at the new guy but at herself.
Just as the motif of somebody getting over a past love with a new one is common in both life and art, so is another; the theme of people avoiding true love because they've been hurt by that person, and their futile attempts to move on with someone else, somebody "on the rebound" if you will. Maybe she talks about how much she loved the other guy not to give context of how things were, but rather as a hint that this is still how she feels. This would explain why the new guy is complemented often yet looked upon somewhat coldly. Her declarations of "I belong where you are" could very well be her way of demanding of herself "He's good, you should love him!"
After all, the old guy was a dick, and the new guy is probably sweet, sensitive, loving, whatever it is she is looking for. She left the old guy because he rejected her, and wants to convince herself she is improving and will eventually be happy with the new guy.
In short, maybe it’s supposed to sound phony. That’s not to say that she isn't convinced that she is sincere, but people can be quite good at fooling themselves and convincing themselves they feel differently than they do (although this tends to eventually unfold, both in life and in art...believe me I've been there). If this were a movie, we might expect the new guy to eventually question her, and when she says “we have something different” and “I’m enjoying it” he would tell her that he loves her but that she needs to ask herself if its him she really loves.
The fact that the words chosen do a poor job of convincing me the girl is sincere would therefore be a strength in this case; she's SUPPOSED to be insincere. If that’s the case, my opinion of this song would change from me finding it “superficial” and “hard to take seriously” to “excellent,” “clever,” and “in a whole ‘nother realm.” If that is the case, BRAVO!
Note: I use the term love” loosely. True love is the kind of thing that happens once in a lifetime. As used in my post, love can mean as little as the serious and deep infatuation that is often confused with the real deal.
Also, despite my somewhat harsh criticism of this song (in post #1), I believe Alison Sudol is an amazing singer and songwriter. In fact, One Cell In The Sea is one of my all-time favorite albums (along with the likes of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”; I’m not called MetalSandman999 for nothing).
Goodnight!