LANY: Nobody Else

Recently, I’ve been looking over my “Liked Songs” list on Spotify. I’m finding a lot of things I don’t recall liking, which was a nice and unexpected surprise. I’ve been re-listening to these things that, apparently, at some point in hte past, I clicked a “like” button for.

One song that I’ve been looping: Nobody Else, by LANY.

Some caveats. I don’t know this group at all, and I don’t know much beyond this one song. I’ve found it catchy, but the more I listen to it… the more I’m finding I just absolutely hate the lyrics. The musical structure is… fine, but nothing earth-shattering or new. It’s pleasant and easy and comfortable.

But as much as I’ve been looping this song, I’ve been angry about the fact that I’m looping the song.

Have a listen, and see what you think. And then we’ll talk about the words.

The song is lovely, but it feels like I can only enjoy it if I ignore the words. One of the phrases I recall when I was studying writing/poetry is that good poems should risk sentimentality. And the unspoken side of that was that a good poem should risk it, but stop short. This song goes beyond the boundary lines, and the lyrics just hurt.

Still – I can’t help but keep humming and replaying the song. For something so strongly pop, I was thinking of Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” – another song I found myself incessantly looping. For that song, there was a bit more musically that drew me in.

While I’m still listening to this LANY song, it feels like a poor man’s version of Death Cab’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”.

I was also reminded of John Mark Nelson’s “You Are the One”, a song in the same spirit. But, for me, a song whose lyrics carry the sentiment better.

Related:
John Mark Nelson: You Are the One
Christina Perri: A Thousand Years