#jazzhands posts

// Chained to a love, that don’t mean much Sensitive tough, you don’t get enough //  -- possible nod to the previous (unhappy?) relationships  // Don’t care to get too loud, Sexy I want you now Bet I could take you there, whispering in your ear What do you wanna feel? Let’s just enjoy the thrill I’ll take over the wheel, Give you the touch you’re missing //  -- there’s no ignoring the sultry tone on here at all, but there’s also a tone of reassurance injected into these words, and I personally feel that Liam’s intonation has justified that tone so much. Reassurance but also alternatively trying to assuage the insecurity that the partner may have harboured from their previous relationships, etc. They’re clearly holding back and the protagonist is asking them not to. // As beautiful as you are, I wanna light all your dark //  -- perhaps one of my favourite lyrics in the song. There’s this thing about healthy relationships where when one of them tries to convince their partner to take that leap of faith, despite the insecurities clouding them, despite previous experiences haunting them or making them cautious. This line is so tender, somehow, and it contrasts the following set so coyly // Maybe you don’t believe in me, it’s hard to no what you see in me //  -- so the first few times I listened to the song, I only registered the latter bit and all I could think of was “aww no” but on listening to the combination of the lines, I’ve been interpreting it as the protagonist realising that their partner doesn’t actually “believe” in them, or that’s what they think at least. “It’s hard to know what you see in me” gives the impression of the protagonist’s own insecurity but it makes more sense as a follow up of the previous line, in that they feel like the lack of trust/faith by their partner leaves nothing to the relationship, anyhow. If you don’t trust me then what even are we doing? Thereby prioritising faith in this relationship. // Don’t be quick to say no, my chest is your pillow Come out of the shadows,  I know that you’re fragile Yeah //  -- the contrast I was talking about. The first line has a very sultry tone that soon flips back to being soft and tender by the end of the worse. Again, Liam’s voice does that trick and again, the protagonist is reaffirming by letting his partner know that they are fully aware of the other’s reservations but are still here for them, etc. and are asking them to take a chance. It’s interesting to note that this should sound pushy, and yet, the earlier “As beautiful as you are...” couplet along with the pre chorus that succeeds this verse (”Don’t care to get too loud...”) again make it sound reassuring. It’s very deftly handled.  //  I’m right here you know When your waves explode Escape the undertow know you’ve been broken know that you been hoping swimming in your ocean A new life is floating The stars were made to shine Reach up and make a wish It’s a beautiful time I hope you take a glimpse We’re the sound of lovers blowing crazy in the wind You don’t have to pretend I don’t care where you’ve been //  --  The premise is sexual, yet the whole aura is optimistically reassuring. See how the protagonist urges the partner to escape the undertow and admit that they’ve been “broken” despite “hoping”, urges them to make a wish, and all this merges with the reaffirmation of how they don’t care where they’ve been and how they are “right here you know”. The “You don’t have to pretend” is possibly alluding to how they were left unsatisfied in the past, and how they don’t have to pretend to be 100% okay when they are not.  To note, undertow is a clever use of word. It figuratively and literally lends to the song and that’s amazingly conceived of. Also to note, women failing to achieve a satisfying sexual experience is a regular occurrence so before people come after me, I’d like to say, it’s not that big of a stretch. Hmm. By and by, can we also appreciate the imagery throughout the bridge, it’s pretty remarkable and overlays this interpretation so so well. That beutifully rad falsetto that Liam hits adds more character to the song as well. Art. All in all for a sex song that everyone is quick to diss, I think here’s a pretty chill way of viewing it as well. There is insecurity and inhibitions which renders the partner to hold back and there’s a seductively reassuring partner, sounds pretty ace if we’re being real. And before people come at me saying “it’s not that deep”, I mean, yeah, I guess, but also, I didn’t have to force myself to extract a meaning out, this just naturally hit me and here we are. Any day better than unabashedly erasing songwriting contribution, isn’t it? (Oh what do you know, I’m not that generous after all.) Lastly, Liam enunciating “thrill, wheel and Get Low” uniquely just, aaaaah