Music tells a story. Most of the most popular songs have to do with relationships gone wrong, which most fans can relate to. Now, that is a good thing. Music is supposed to make you feel like you are not alone, and most artists write from what they know. There is, however, a time where we need to draw the line, step back and just listen to the music for the song- not analyze who the song may be about and send hate.
Artists have been writing about past relationships for decades (I mean, look at all of Taylor Swift’s songs). While some songs are more clea about who they are about than others, in a day and age where social media is so big, it can end up hurting others. Let’s talk about some examples to get a better understanding.
Red came out for the first time in 2012. While most fans could speculate about who the songs were about, it was nowhere near as bad as when Swift just re-released the album. Now I am not going to name any names, but a certain J-named boy got quite a lot of hate. One TikTok video even said, “if I ever see him, I am going to break his legs.” While yes, the song did paint him in a very bad way- this was almost ten years ago. The song itself should be enough for him to realize what he did. Sending hate to him just makes matters worse. And it can make both the artists and him feel bad and have to re-live an experience that they have moved past.
One of the most famous examples is the Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Basset relationship. We need to start by saying these kids were no older than 18 when these songs were released. If I wrote songs about my high-school relationship, they would be just as sad as Traitor was. I will be the first to admit Sour by Rodrigo was one of my most played albums this year, but sending a 20-year-old tweets saying, “I am going to break into your house and curb stomp you” might be a bit too far. Especially since we do not know the entire story.
Basset’s new songs are incredibly well written and have similar parallels between Sour. However, listening to one artist does not mean you cannot not like the other. Tweets and comments saying how “you can’t like both people” need to stop. Music is music, and at the end of the day, you should be able to like a song no matter who is singing it.
So moral of the story, the slander needs to stop. Enjoy the music for the music and let the artists sing about their personal lives without hating on the person they may or may not be singing about. At the end of the day, everyone is still human, and words can hurt. Chances are, you do not know them personally, and the only two who know the whole story are those that were a part of the relationship.