Honestly and coincidentally, I had never heard any of the songs that people mentioned in their interviews in their entirety. So, I decided to listen to them all and record what each one made me feel upon first listen. Here it is:
"Wild Horses" didn’t make me feel grief. In fact, it made me feel something far distant from grief, warmth. It inspired me to close my eyes and imagine myself running through fields of wheat and barley, fields of gold. I could see myself running towards a sunset, chasing the pink and orange hues in the sky, feeling free.
Grief
"Love Story" didn’t make me feel lonely, nor did it remedy any feelings of loneliness. Instead, it made me feel desire. It made me feel a longing to be loved and to be in love. It did so in a positive way that made me excited about the prospect of feeling those things.
Loneliness
Both “I’d Have To Think About It” and "Stupid" didn’t make me feel desire. On one hand, they made me feel sad. They made me never want to know what it’s like to lose the one that you love, only to have the smallest part of you yearn for them for the rest of your life. And on the other hand, they made me feel like if that ever does happen to me, I’ll find the strength and community to overcome it.
Desire
"Why Did You Leave?" didn’t make me feel anything related to nostalgia. However, it did make me smile. It made me want to dance and it made me wish that I was in Jamaica, taking in the life of such a beautiful island that I am so lucky to have a connection to.
Nostalgia
"Waves" & "Better Not" were the only two that did it for me. They did succeed in instilling in me feelings of Euphoria. They both, in their own unique ways, made me envision myself driving full speed down an empty highway with the top down and the radio blasting. They made every hair on my body raise, as I imagined myself feeling utterly content.
Euphoria
I truly mean it when I say that I absolutely loved all of these songs. They all resonated with me in numerous, beautiful ways. However, most of them did not do so in the same way that they resonated for the person who recommended them to me. Yet, to me, this is what makes music so beautiful and so powerful. To each and every person it can mean, or be something entirely different. For something that is so profound and collective, it is exceptional that music is able to unite us, but also to inspire our individuality all the while, allowing us to feel truly seen and understood. It embodies an individualized form of therapy that can resonate differently with different people on different parts of their journey of life.
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