Hello

Hello, how are you?

I’m good and Adele is back! Her third studio album 25 was released late last year, after 3 years of silence since her James Bond tune “Skyfall”. As can be expected, a single was released prior to the release of the album and it was aptly titled “Hello”.

It’s the source of the “Hello” challenge, which I barely participated in: the challenge requires you to text the song lyrics to a friend until they figure out that you’re just messing with them.

Exhibit A

I unfortunately own a Symbian phone and can’t take a screenshot of my own hello challenge but you get the idea, yeah? Doing (barely) and seeing the hello challenge made me think about the lyrics and I conclude that Adele is full of shit. Or at least that song is full of shit.

First, here are the full song lyrics:

Hello, it’s me, I was wondering
If after all these years you’d like to meet to go over everything
They say that time’s supposed to heal, yeah
But I ain’t done much healing

Hello, can you hear me?
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

There’s such a difference between us
And a million miles

Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times 
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home

Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried 
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore

Hello, how are you?
It’s so typical of me to talk about myself, I’m sorry
I hope that you’re well
Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?

It’s no secret
That the both of us are running out of time

So hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times 
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home

Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried 
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore

Ooh, anymore
Ooh, anymore
Ooh, anymore
Anymore…

Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times 
To tell you I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home

Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried 
To tell you I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore

Read the lyrics, watch the video and here’s the shit.

This song initially sounds like someone trying to apologise for hurting a former flame/ paramour/ lover/ partner, choose the word you like, but it’s not. Not really. It’s actually about Adele’s own damn conscience and feelings.

The subject of heartbreak has probably not been raised for some time and, “after all these years” she wants to know if you’d like “to meet to go over everything“? Linguistically, this strikes me as a form of hedging. Furthermore she doesn’t really want to meet because she wants to go over everything but because even after all this time has passed she “ain’t done much healing“. How and why is this your problem? *sigh* Especially since she’s the one that broke your heart.

Adele then proceeds to go on about California dreaming (a shoutout to Mamas and The Papas song?) and the days of your youth. Why is this part of the apology? I don’t get it: is she calling to apologise or reminisce?  We then move into the chorus, where Adele calls out the distance again, as she’s on “the other side“, and says she’s beeen blowing up your phone, calling you “a thousand times”. She wants to apologise for her actions and breaking your heart but “you never seem to be home” so “it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore“. This is where she is supposed to stop but nope. Clearly your silence is not acceptable so she tries another approach.

She asks after you, apologises for being self-centered, then hits you with a low jab asking if you made “it out of that town where nothing ever happened?” Shade much? Lady Macbeth would totally dig it, she did say “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t“. Of course, I’m just going with the spicy interpretation: she could genuinely care if you got out of that shithole of a town. If you didn’t, I see why you’re running out of time but I don’t really know why you’re both running out of time.

Adele sounds kind of sad that her apology is not making it through because “it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore“. How is this kind of apology really for you? Really?

Why doesn’t she just leave you alone if you’re not receptive to this apology? Why does she keep blowing up your phone? This apology is for her, not you: She’s apologising to soothe her conscience. Sometimes, it really is too late to say “I’m sorry”, whether you try or not because people just don’t give a fuck anymore.

Credits

Adele Image: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/adele-new-song-hello-video-sparks-gushing-response-from-fans-on-twitter-a6705351.html

Challenge Image: https://www.today.ng/entertainment/37267/omotola-ekeindes-son-captain-e-punks-her-with-viral-hello-challenge

Lyrics: http://www.directlyrics.com/adele-hello-lyrics.html

Dusting Off

It has been 4 years since I lasted posted anything and I’m posting now to try and engage in low-stakes writing. As can be seen from the twitter feed on the right, I was supposed to write this post yesterday but life yo.

I don’t have anything to say right now, I’m just enjoying typing. I’ll follow up with better (slightly) posts eventually. For now, yay for this new post. Yay for dusting off my blog.

Religion

The ever wonderful Mini reminded me that I have been neglecting my blog and suggested that I write something about religion. I’ve been thinking about it (not enough) and I don’t think I have a proper handle on how I feel about it but here goes.

I’ve never been a regular church goer, neither has my family but my mum is a Christian and me, well, I’m not. I went to a Catholic high school: mostly because it was close by but I think my mum thought it might help me see the “light”, and I learnt a bit about the Catholic religion and other religions too but I never really got into it. I understand the role that religion plays for certain people and I respect that.

I just can’t be religious though *shrug* I’m a highly free-spirited person who is not fond of being confined or governed by rules that are not of my own making. Religion on the other hand, is rule-governed: every single religion has “rules and regulations” in place. They go to places of worship on certain days, they fast, they give tithe. They do this, they do that. And I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want..

I think, religion began as spirituality and somewhere along the line, someone thought that adding rules would make it easier (or something) for people to feel connected to each other or to keep track of who’s who and what’s going on. Or something. Or maybe the rules began as guidelines or suggestions and somewhere along the line they just got so emphasized, for whatever reason, that they became rules that people should adhere to. Also, culture found its way in there. Seriously, would God not want to speak to me because I’m female and I’m wearing pants? Isn’t that a little petty?

Some of these rules, to me, seem to infringe on my freedom: I have a thing for bacon hey. I will have it when I want it, when I want but not if I followed some religions. We recently covered some aspects of the Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza and I must say, I was intrigued. His conception of God as this anthropomorphised being just spoke volume to me: God does not have human qualities, we have just attributed them to him.
Spinoza’s God is my kind of God, I can be down with that: he doesn’t care if i wear pants or eat pork. He doesn’t care if my friends are gay or if I touch males. Well Spinoza’s full conception of God had other implications for religion: they got him excommunicated. But I like Spinoza’s God: he’s sort of outside of religion.

Religion is linked to a lot of heinous acts and as much as this may be the fault of the people in charge, it doesn’t do much for religion’s image. I’m not too sure what I’m saying anymore but I understand the value of religion. It’s just not for me

The Time Thief

Most of us are familiar with the saying that “Procrastination is the thief of time” and have probably seen it in practice as we have other things to do when we should study or write essays. What we don’t really mention, maybe even realise, is that there is a much friendlier, more effective, living breathing talking time thief (cue drumroll): The Mother.

Yes, that’s right: The Mother is the smartest, most organised time thief you will ever come across. With her cookies or trips to the mall and other (sometimes less enticing) tactics, The Mother will steal your time without you even realising it. How many times has your mother taken you to the mall when you were supposed to be writing an essay? Or gotten you to wake up early to go somewhere, only for her to take forever getting ready? Never mind the tasks/chores that popped up when you had other stuff to do.

The Mother calls you, to blind you with her love and affection, so that when she strikes: you are defenceless. Do not underestimate The Mother: she is highly trained and skilled at what she does. All those cookies, ice-cream, chats and countless wonderful things, are her weapons.

The Mother probably created that procrastination saying to draw attention away from herself. Do not be fooled! The Mother is the Ultimate Time Thief!

*No mothers were hurt in the typing of this post and it is not to be taken too seriously or too lightly. And Remember: The Mother is watching.

Self-Preservation and Love

Yesterday, while waiting to cross the street and singing a Taylor Swift song to myself, I thought (not for the first time) that we seem to applaud a person’s lack of self-preservation if it’s in the name of “Love”.

The song that I was singing was “If This Was A Movie” which has a line that goes

“Come back to me Eli… If this was a movie.. Stand in the rain outside, til I came out”

And as I crossed the street I realised that after said Eli catches a cold, she’ll have to make him soup and all that stuff. That aside, it makes no sense to catch a cold unnecessarily: why can’t you talk in a warm, dry place? And who wants to be lip locking with a blocked-nosed, sneezing person? Not smart

Anyway, today, while on Facebook, I saw this status update:

“Genuine love isn’t a passive, quivering mass of good feelings. Genuine love is a deliberate, intentional, honest, and even painful giving up of self-preservation for another person’s good.”

Of course, red flags went a-flying at “giving up of self-preservation for another person’s good” and I commented as such. The owner then went on to tell me that it means “giving up the “I”, which you have taken good care of because there’s someone worthy and deserving of being part of your “we”“. I clapped once because I felt that this is such nonsense. Even tweeted it. The owner of the status said that she quoted the status from a book but I don’t know or think that her explanation comes from that book.

I really don’t see why one would have to give up “I” for “we” when “we” is made up of two separate beings called “I”. And how can you call the “we” yours? It’s not “your “we”” that you’re making someone a part of: you are making a “we” with that someone. That’s just the way that I see it. Which takes me back to the problem of self-preservation.

How does a lack or surrender of self-preservation become part of love? Why? How does having a seemingly low regard for your own well-being mean that you love someone? Where exactly does this make any sense? A lack of self-preservation, to me, indicates a psychological problem. This is the part where I shrug and sip some Oros.

Standing in the rain is not romantic, it’s silly. Jumping in front of trains, catching grenades and all the stuff isn’t romantic or smart. But it’s just a song, right? It’s just a status update, right? It’s just a comment, right? It’s just a bunch of words, right? OK then, let the toxic relationships, I mean good times, roll