Caitlin Mae follows her success of her previous hits 'Fiona' and 'Seasons Change' (both hitting No. 1 in the iTunes chart) with 'Love Story Tragedy'. Caitlin's sound is unique yet highly distinctive.
It's a song, while a beautiful song, divulges feelings of despair and shares a personal story with the audience. Caitlin always creates amazing and thought provoking lyrics, this song is no exception with lyrics such as “I can’t love you when I don’t love myself”. It is such a current and present lyric, which is in itself tragic. There is scope in this world for love, love of others, and most importantly, love of one self.
“On the “Seasons Change” EP, I wanted there to be moments of full transparency, with beautiful days, come painful ones, with love, inevitably comes hate, the definition of yin and yang. That is the epitome of “Love Story Tragedy”, a tale of self-destruction. There was period of a time, when I thought that I may never feel ready to share my demons with anyone, let alone the world, but eventually, brighter days outshone the dark ones, with this song, and the EP as a whole, being a crucial final step in leaving the past where it should be, and instead setting out in search of a future full of endless possibilities.”
Starting with piano, the song has a strong sense of intensity and has you gripped from the very beginning.
"It doesn't sound like the truth but it's me, it's not you. I was never yours."
It's the cliche when breaking up a relationship, 'it's not you it's me'. This lyric also references how love can be objectified, we refer to other half's as my partner, my wife, my husband, and whilst they may well be, are they truly yours? We share so many connections with others that we can never just be 'yours'. Equally it's connotations with objectifying women, seemingly degrading their value, and their ability. Something that isn't hidden for Caitlin, her talents are laid bear for all to see in all of her songs and performances.
"Now I'm a little bruised but too scared to tell you, because there ain't no cure."
This lyric highlights how much we all struggle sharing our emotions and feelings, the 'bruise' perhaps representing anxiety or some form of mental health issue, and our belief that no one can 'cure' us. Mental health needs to be understood as not needing a cure, it needs managing; we all have moments of mania or euphoria. There needn't be a stigma surrounding mental health as we all have it, we're all affected by it, we just perhaps show it diffently, must like songwriters will use different genres, and different chords and keys to reflect the complexity of our psyche.
"I let you in then got to thinking, I can't do this again. I showed you out so all my doubts could come flooding back in."
These lyrics reflect the realisation that what once was perhaps something good, now isn't and doesn't serve your purpose.
"You were like a Sunday morning, you let the light in but I'm a three am up crying again
I can't love you when I don't love myself.
It's another love story tragedy."
This verse documents the polarising characters, one of a chilled and relaxed, whilst the other has trouble switching off.
"It sounds a little cliche
But I get in my own way
So I don’t get hurt"
We all create defences to protect us from hurt. Whilst this is done with great intention, sometime this comes at a cost, namely barriers affecting our ability to interact with others to protect ourselves.
"I like to pick a fight first
And prepare for the worst
So my bubble won’t burst"
Liking to pick a fight could suggest how we like to be thought provoking, challenging norms and the status quo. In preparing for the worse we acknowledge that our arguments, strength and or ability may be lacking, but that won't stop us from being true to our own world and beliefs.
"Everyone I’ve ever loved
Moved on without looking back
And I shouldn’t care but everywhere
I turn takes me right back"
Clearly someone is finding it hard to move on without looking back. I'd argue you can't move on unless you look back as otherwise how are you going to learn from those mistakes? This verse demonstrates that they can't differentiate between the past and the present, believing that the present is the past; this isn't healthy, and at some point we need to let go of the past whilst taking the lessons with us on our journey in life.
Th song returns to the chorus contrasting between the 'Sunday morning' and 'three am'
"Everyone says I’m happy
Is that what a smile means
Nobody thinks I’m lonely
Cuz I’m good at acting"
I think this sums up our assumptions on emotions. A person can be crying so we assume that they're sad and that they're not tears of joy. Equally, we see many people smiling, not realising that this is a facade, they're concealing all the hurt and negative emotion. Why is this? Perhaps they are aware of how heavy it is and don't want to bring others down too; perhaps they've been conditioned not to share their feelings, whether that's through culture or through sharing past experiences and having a negative reception. Are we truly lonely when we have our thoughts to keep us company? As children, some would make up friends, would we still consider that lonely?
The song closes out with a repeated chorus, ultimately ending with "It's another love story, tragedy" . from speaking with Caitlin, she tells me:
“Turns out, the real tragedy is in denying yourself finding true happiness.”
'Love Story Tragedy' was released 30th June 2023 and reached No. 2 in the songwriters chart. The release is aptly timed to coincide with Pride celebrations, so the message of 'finding true happiness' has a greater resonance.
Comments