musingsandmorningtea

[musingsandmorningtea]

[musingsandmorningtea]

Hard-to-Translate Japanese Phrases

一期一会 | いちごいちえ | ichi go ichi e

Lit. translation: one life, one meeting

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter that won't happen again, so make the most of the moment." Ichi go ichi e is a phrase often used in regards to tea ceremony, but it can refer to any encounter that should be cherished. It highlights the inability to perfectly replicate a moment, and the importance of recognizing it in all of its uniqueness.

[musingsandmorningtea]

[musingsandmorningtea]

8 Best Halsey Lyrics

Perhaps out of fate, Halsey albums have always found their way into my life just before breakups. I first listened to "Badlands" just before the end of my first relationship, and "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom" was released just before the end of my last. I remember some long drives after the end of my previous relationship where I would just belt out the lyrics to 100 Letters and Bad at Love at the top of my lungs. There's a certain therapy in unrestrained singing. Drivers around me probably thought I was crazy (I still scream-sing her songs, so they probably still do), but it helps me to forget what I need to forget and move on.

Her music finding me in such seminal moments has cemented her as one of my favorite artists of all time. I saw her live in concert last fall, and it was such a stunning performance, both musically and visually. I also haven't encountered a Halsey song that I don't like, so I thought it would be fun and challenging to do an 8 Best Halsey Lyrics list. And so, without further ado, here are my picks:

Disclaimer: This is a subjective list and you are free to disagree with any or every choice of mine.

"The good die young, but so did this / So it must be better than I think it is." Hopeless (HFK)

You always see the phrase “the good die young” when referring to someone who died in their 20s even if they weren’t, subjectively, a good person. Their relationship didn’t last nearly as long as she thought it would and that leaves her with a sour taste. Yet, she thinks the negative feelings are only a result of the relationship ending; the relationship itself, though it ended prematurely, was good.

"I promised myself I wouldn't let you complete me." Is There Somewhere ("Room 93")

That initial stage when you meet someone and you promise yourself that you won't fall in love. She uses promised--past tense--because she's looking back on the moment and realizing that she's in too deep, and that he already completes her. Given the context, she seems to regret falling in love with him, as though the circumstances, the time, maybe even the boy aren't right. "I'm sorry but I fell in love tonight." The song in general just has beautiful, anecdotal lyrics, and so it makes me think that perhaps these two were longtime friends and she regrets falling for him, and potentially ruining their current relationship. This song is bittersweet, and one of the most underrated Halsey songs.

"Your laugh echoes down the highway / crawls into my hollow chest, spreads over the emptiness / it's bliss." Drive ("Badlands")

His laugh is a momentary cure for her emptiness. To me, these lyrics represent the flip-side of the lyrics from Is There Somewhere that I chose above: she’s accepting that he completes her and actually welcomes it. The fact that his laugh “echoes down the highway” emphasizes just how much it permeates through her emptiness. Even in a borderless expanse, his laugh echoes.

"Told my new roommate not to let you in, but you're so damn good with a bobbypin / Now you gonna play me like a violin, hitting these notes." Walls Could Talk (HFK)

Not gonna lie, this is my favorite song on HFK and I think it's way too short. This whole song is lyrically impressive with how quickly and smoothly it flows, but these lines are my favorite. She worked the violin in both musically and lyrically, and it works beautifully as a simile. She tries to push him away, but he keeps coming back and she can't help but fall for his charm every time. The quick, sharp sound of the violin throughout the song really illustrates the harshness of their relationship. It makes me think of him using her as a marionette, manipulating her in order to "hit these notes."

"But I dont let him touch me anymore / I said 'I'm not something to butter up and taste when you get bored.'" 100 Letters (HFK)

I'm 100% here for the independent voice in this song, and the acknowledgment that she's moved on and is recognizing her self worth. She's not a plaything that he can seduce with sweet words just to get what he wants when he's bored. She's a human being deserving of love and not simply a fallback for a boy who doesn't appreciate her.

"I know I've only felt religion when I've lied with you." Colors ("Badlands")

The bliss of the moment makes her feel something akin to religiousness; she believes in a higher power only from being with him. How else could she explain how such feelings manifest? They're otherworldly; transcendental. As someone who was raised in a religious household but never felt deeply religious, I appreciate these lyrics immensely. Her sense of religion is a love that she found with him, not a set of beliefs dictated and enforced upon her.

“Hands so bloody, it tastes like honey / I’m finding it hard to leave.” The Prologue (HFK)

Blood and honey are both thick substances with very different connotations. I also read here that this is a play on the idiom “revenge is sweet,” and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. The revenge is addicting. [As a side note, although it’s not fully a song, and more a recitation of some of the lines from Romeo and Juliet, I think that The Prologue sets the tone beautifully for the rest of the album.]

"If there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes / I know you wanna go to heaven but you're human tonight." Young God ("Badlands")

The imagery of “light at the end of the tunnel” is common for someone on the verge of dying and entering the gates of heaven. He thinks his sex emulates a heavenly experience. This is reinforced later in the song, as he says to her, “If you wanna go to heaven you should fuck me tonight.��� He has a god-complex with regards to his sex-appeal, and I get the sense that she’s trying to knock him down a peg or two. 

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts and some of your favorite lyrics/why if they differ in any way from mine. I’ll probably come back and edit this if my interpretations change over time (as I’m sure they will), but the 8 lyrics will stay the same until she releases a new album/single.

[musingsandmorningtea]

[musingsandmorningtea]

Hard-to-Translate Japanese Phrases

恋の予感 | こいのよかん | koi no yokan

Lit. translation: love's premonition

Not to be confused with love-at-first-sight (hitome bore), koi no yokan refers to meeting someone and feeling the potential for love. You're not in love with this person immediately, but if you keep positively interacting with this person then love will result from it. It's a hope for love, and one that will come to fruition in due time.

[musingsandmorningtea]

[musingsandmorningtea]

8 Best Lorde Lyrics

Inspired by the Melodrama World Tour show that I attended in Philly, here are my picks for the 8 Best Lorde Lyrics.

I can't tell you how many times I've read some variation of "Ella is wise beyond her years" in blogs or reviews of her albums. And every time, I find myself agreeing. Like everyone else, I'd heard Royals and Team perhaps hundreds of times on the radio throughout the years and strongly agreed with the messages of each. By themselves, I liked both songs well enough, but I'd never felt the need to explore the rest of "Pure Herione."

And then, a few months ago, one of my best friends introduced me to "Melodrama."

One listen through, and I liked the songs well enough. Not instant favorites or anything, but I appreciated them. It wasn't until a few days later when I found myself subconsciously humming the tune to Supercut, "In my head I do everything right," that I realized the album had sunk its claws into my head and was not willing to let go. I gave the album another listen and immediately fell in love. To this day, my favorite song on the album changes from time-to-time as I pay closer attention to the details and emotions embedded within each track. Last night, I attended Ella's show in Philly with my aforementioned friend, and I came to appreciate the songs even more with the new emotions she thrust into the tracks during a raw, live performance. And so, without further ado, I'd like to share what I think are the 8 Best Lorde Lyrics (in no particular order):

Disclaimer: This is a subjective list and you are free to disagree with any or every choice of mine.

"She thinks you love the beach, you're such a damn liar." Green Light ("Melodrama")

These words seem a bit basic and questionable when taken out of context (they don't even rhyme), but in the song they deliver such a punch with Ella’s emotion. There is such scorn in these words that they make me do a double-take every time. Rhythmic musical quality takes a backseat to memories in this instant, and I'm here for Ella singing her disdain towards a lying ex. Especially when she catches him lying to get the next girl on his list.

"But I still remember everything, how we'd drift buying groceries / How you'd dance for me / I'll start letting go of little things 'til I'm so far away from you." Hard Feelings ("Melodrama")

This isn't even my favorite song on the album, yet it's a goldmine for quotable/relatable lyrics. At the end of a relationship, even if you're the one that ended it, sometimes these small, happy moments will pop into your mind. Maybe you'll second guess yourself. Maybe you'll start to miss them, even if they weren't good for you. These little moments seem so inconsequential when they're happening, but sometimes they're all that's stopping you from letting go and being happy.

"And laughing 'til our ribs get tough (laughing 'til our ribs get tough) / But that will never be enough (but that will never be enough)." Ribs ("Pure Heroine")

This whole song makes me feel so nostalgic. I think that the last two lines in particular encapsulate that feeling of nostalgia for me. I remember laughing uncontrollably with my friends in the school yard, and while there's nothing stopping me from laughing uncontrollably now, circumstances have changed. The emotions have lost their carefree innocence, and the kind of laughter that hurts your stomach is no longer limitless. We can laugh all we want, "But that will never be enough" because it won't bring back the unrestrained emotion that we were capable of as kids.

"I'm acting like I don't see every ribbon you used to tie yourself to me." Sober ("Melodrama")

This is the first time the imagery of ribbons appears in a song on this album, and it appears again in the song Supercut. In this instance, she hates the idea of ribbons that he tied to her: small, happy moments (perhaps like those in Hard Feelings) that she needs to ignore in order to finally and fully forget him. The latter appearance of ribbons in Supercut reinforces the idea that these connections she's trying to ignore are happier moments, as she sings, "The visions never stop / These ribbons wrap me up / But when I reach for you / There's just a supercut." Rather than the full and individual moments, they all blur together into a supercut of an idealized version of her relationship. The ribbons also just make me think of the red ribbon of fate, and how she makes herself believe that their relationship and meeting is fate and right even when it’s not.

"Our thing progresses, I call and you come through / Blow all my friendships to sit in hell with you." The Louvre ("Melodrama")

No particular order, but I think this is my favorite on all of "Melodrama." The fact that she doesn't even say "relationship" just "thing" is telling enough, but she describes their association as a sort of monotonous routine that she's accepted. Even the following lines sound a bit mocking in their delivery, "But we're the greatest, they'll hang us in the Louvre / Down the back, but who cares, still the Louvre." She's resigned to this association, this thing, even at the cost of her friendships, and knowing that being with him isn’t right--it’s “sit[ting] in hell.”

"You drape your wrists over the steering wheel / pulses can drive from here." 400 Lux ("Pure Heroine")

Their relationship is relaxed and they've got no destination in mind. It might sound a little cliche, but he's allowing his heart to dictate where they end up. These lyrics hold a lot more weight in context, but even by themselves they allude to a relationship built on instinct and one where the two lovers allow their hearts, rather than their minds, to take the wheel literally and metaphorically--the wheel of their relationship.

"When you've outgrown a lover / The whole world knows but you / It's time to let go of this endless summer afternoon." Hard Feelings ("Melodrama")

Ella is a queen of metaphors, and comparing the idealized relationship to an "endless summer afternoon" is perfect. The endless summer afternoon makes me think of a young relationship, two lovers lounging by the pool (Buzzcut Season, anyone?), drying by the sun, and sipping cold drinks. You think and hope that the afternoon will never end, and everything is peaceful and right. Time is frozen in that perfect day and moment; that "perfect" relationship. Yet, from the outside, the rest of the world continues to move along. They look past those perfect moments and see that the relationship isn't what it used to be and just isn't working anymore. You've grown apart and mutual memories of better times can only save the relationship for so long.

"Wide awake in bed, words in my brain, 'Secretly you love this / Do you even wanna go free?' / Let me in the ring, I'll show you what that big word means." Glory and Gore ("Pure Heroine")

To be honest, the meaning of this song is really hard to decipher so this one might be better out of context and attached to personal experience. Throughout Glory and Gore, Ella sings of gladiators and fighting in rings, but it's hard to determine if she's being literal or metaphorical. But for these lyrics it doesn't matter because they have a universal appeal to them. Of course, the "big word" that she refers to is "free" and it makes me wonder if she's saying we don't understand what freedom is until we have to fight for it/risk losing it.

My favorite songs are mostly from “Melodrama,” but a couple of my favorite songs didn’t even make the cut for this list. I absolutely adore Supercut, but it didn’t quite make the list (maybe would’ve made 9 Best Lourde Lyrics). This list was purely in terms of lyrical content, not necessarily looking at musical/sound content. 

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts and some of your favorite lyrics/why if they differ in any way from mine. I’ll probably come back and edit this if my interpretations change over time (as I’m sure they will), but the 8 lyrics will stay the same until she releases a new album/single.