I like making playlists based on feelings, sounds, stories, genres. I thought I’d share some with you. Hopefully this will become a weekly thing.
This playlist is built around Melissa Etheridge’s “I’m The Only One” after replaying it twenty times in my car post-swim. I’m not in the place to scream-sing this to anyone, but the agony in her voice and lyrics took me to points in my life when I’d’ve gladly “drowned in my desires”. Though I’m not that person anymore, that feeling can still burn inside. So here’s a list of songs about loving someone who’s loving someone else. Like all suffering, it begins with desire.
“I’m The Only One” and “Mr. Brightside” are both literally about their object of desire going home with someone else, and they are the most agonizing as well. We need some build up, though, some exploration of this agony.
Janet Jackson sings about wanting out of whatever-this-is. To me, it’s a long flirtation where no one is putting their heart on the line. That’s agony in the nebulousness; a feeling many millennials can recount.
Along the way, we experience the agony of cowardice – unable to express ourselves to this perfect being. They don’t know our name, but we’ve built a whole life around them. Madonna, however, is always vocal. Her tale is one of subjugation – she could be anything to him, but really, she’d rather be his lover.
Later, we reflect with Babyface and Jewel on having loved and lost – the pain of desiring something we think is true, that we’re meant to be together, and the reality that our former lover thinks otherwise. Then the ultimate subjugation – being with someone despite our best interests (“The Heart Wants What It Wants”, “If It Makes You Happy”).
We can’t end on a sad note though. With “Creep”, we’re taking our complicated relationship as is and ensuring our sexual satisfaction on the downlow. This might cause pain in the end, but right now, it hits the spot.
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One response to “Spotify Playlist: Agony, Agony”
Thank you! I’m a big fan of sad love songs. I’m an emotional cutter, I think.