Hey Friends,
The resident Situationship (noun; a relationship but… it's not really a relationship? But we have feelings for each other? But we're not talking about it? And there are no good boundaries? Is anyone else sweating?) expert, Ash, is back for a Valentine's Day episode! This week, we’re going to take a road trip.
When you think of the life of a romance, what do you think of? Perhaps the anxious wait for them to get to your house for the first time. The first “Hey, I’m here!” text. The brief drives to pick up food when you’re both bored but still feel like being around each other. The drive back home after a messy break up.
The same way a car can play a significant role in your day-to-day life, it can also serve as an index for the way a budding romance grows, evolves, and even (unfortunately) perishes.
The songs presented below put us on that timeline. Get in, we’re going on a drive.
Belting Pop | Meet Me At Our Spot | THE ANXIETY, WILLOW, Tyler Cole
A wonderfully simple guitar riff brings us into the anticipatory feeling of a solo drive. WILLOW sets the stage with her beautifully strong voice. Meanwhile, Tyler Cole echoes her sentiment and reels the listener into the thrill of their chase.
"Meet Me at Our Spot" surfaces feelings of infatuation for me.
It perfectly depicts the drive down the highway when you’re trying to watch your speed but also too excited to go any slower.
WILLOW and Cole remind us that there are some people where you’re crazy enough to get stuck in traffic just to ask them “So… What kind of music are you into” from across the table.
HYPER Chaos Pop | Do U Think Abt Me?? | Glitch Gum
OKAY. Now the two of you are together and this track is the obsessive-esque feeling that accommodates the crush phase. While not knowing someone else’s status in the “situation," you're wondering: Are you thinking about me?? Do you like me as much as I like you?? I feel like my mind is wandering towards you every time I’m stuck in traffic.
Glitch Gum closes the song by singing in a way that makes us want to empathize with the resentment they’re starting to feel towards themself and the person they’re singing about. It gets so loud and uncomfortable.
It’s well intentioned but so simultaneously intense that they don’t know how to properly express it except fully lashing out.
Dramatic Pop | Supercut | Lorde
We’re driving somewhere together, but something's off. This used to feel better. Why did it feel so much better?
Lorde, in her infinite and young wisdom, creates an atmosphere of unsteady tension and a longing for the original rush of something new.
But this love is starting to grow stale and it’s starting to crumble, even if we did everything we were supposed to.
It’s one of those drives where you’re sitting less than a foot from the person you love, and you’re like...
Damn. It’s really time we called it.
Indie Lamentation | Shampoo Bottles | Peach Pit
So, this hypothetical relationship we've been following has come to an end and
"Shampoo Bottles" captures a final nuance: the way someone else’s life can remain intertwined with yours in extremely minor ways.
Their soap needs to get thrown out. Their charging cord needs to get chucked.
And as someone with that fresh wound, it's easy to notice small associations with them in the world.
Peach Pit captures one of these with the lyric,
"I've been seeing that red Corolla parked out on the corner there
[...] As I'm passing it every other day I look in to see if this one's yours."
Personally, I’ve come to associate so many Honda Civic’s with past romances that it has become a red flag.
After the breakup, you’ve lost that happy connection of excitedly seeing their car come down the street.
Yet there’s always a thrill that accommodates seeing their exact car ~out in the wild~.
It means your lives are intersecting just one more time.
Maybe you’ll catch their eye. Maybe you’ll pretend to notice they're not there.
Maybe you’ll walk a little bit taller... But wait...
This one doesn't have the dent I remember. And somehow you're on to noticing the next one.
Of course, don’t forget to reply with what you liked, didn’t like, and what you’ve been listening
to.
And, as always, this week’s tracks are added to the collectors for all weeks' tracks on
Spotify
and
Apple
Music.
Vroom vroom,
Ash
<3