When it comes to love, I haven’t had much luck in that department. I’d like to think it’s because I am busy all the time with my academics and extracurriculars, but it’s always the timing that seems to be wrong.
In the past couple of years, I’ve been in situations where I’d thought I met the right guy. He would seem too good to be true, or come into my life at what always seemed to be the wrong time, or worse. I’d get friend zoned because they saw me as their sister.
All in all, if I’d have to sum up my love life in two words, I’d say it’s awkward and nonexistent.
For me personally, Conan Gray’s song “Crush Culture” is the most relatable song for single women such as myself this Valentine’s Day. I think what is really unique about the song is its sarcastic elements and relatable lyrics.
In the opening of the song, it starts as follows, “My god don’t look at your phone/ No one’s gonna call you/ Quit checking your volume.”
In an interview with digital media company Genius, Gray stated that this lyric refers to, “[when] I’m waiting for a text from someone that I like, really want to be texting me. I just check my phone over and over and over and over and yeah, I’m a mess.”
Although a little sad, this lyric is relatable because it’s happened to us all at one point. We’ve liked someone but they didn’t text us back, or they took what feels like forever to finally text us.
From the start, this song is for the loveless. Gray said that the opening of the song “was admittance right from the start that this song was gonna be about someone who isn’t in love.”
He finishes the verse with the lyrics,“I don’t care if I’m forever alone/ I’m not falling for you/ ‘Cause this baby is loveproof (culture).”
These lyrics are full of sarcasm, especially the word “loveproof” because in actuality Gray admitted, “I’m definitely not a love proof person at all, like, whenever anyone looks at me on the street I just melt, you know? ”
I myself, am by no means love proof. I blush whenever a guy likes me, is compassionate, intelligent, charming, or just super sweet.
In the pre-chorus of the song lyric that stands out to me is,“I don’t want your sympathy, all this love is suffocating.” Like those sentences mentioned above, this line is very ironic.
In the Genius interview, Conan explained that,
“With the suffocating line, I was really trying to make it seem like, oh yeah, I got plenty people. Like, get off me, I don’t even need you. Too many people, ugh. But, I definitely am not suffocating in love. I could use love. I think we all could use a little bit more love.”
I agree with Conan on this one that we could all use a little bit more love. Also, don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember to love yourself. I personally am always really hard on myself and something I’ve had to learn over the years is to love myself.
Who knows? Maybe in the process of learning to love yourself you’ll find your special someone.
The song ’s sound is sweet and mellow, but the overall tone is bitter. Throughout the music video for “Crush Culture,” we see Conan suffocating in symbols of love. In multiple scenes of the video, there are symbols like paper hearts, handmade valentine cards, roses, a picnic basket, a heart-shaped lollipop, and heart-shaped balloons. Every time he sees a couple being cute or cheesy he storms up to them and angrily interrupts their dates to destroy any items that symbolize love.
The chorus of this song emphasizes his overarching feeling of bitterness towards love. This can be interpreted from the line “Crush culture makes me wanna spill my guts out. ”
I can relate to Conan because I too feel bitter on Valentine’s Day because I haven’t had a significant other to share the experience with.
Who knows, maybe when I find Mister Right it’ll change my bitter perception of this holiday, and I’ll start to love Valentine’s Day again like I used to in my younger years.
Here is a link to Conan Gray’s music video “Crush Culture” if you’d like to watch.
Here is a link to Conan Gray’s Genius interview if you’d like to watch.
If you’d like to hear more from Conan he has a YouTube channel. I suggest checking out his other songs, Lovesick Boys, Honeybee, Lookalike, Antics, Idle Town, Generation Why, Greek God, and Grow.