Nobody Else
Sometimes in your journey of musical discovery you are fortunate enough to come across an artist whose music seems to speak with you on an entirely distinct from what you predominantly experience. As you listen it gives you the feeling of being an entirely different plane of existence where only you and the music are present.
You find that each and every track they release just floods your mind with thoughts and emotions in the most sensational way. This is unquestionably the case for me when it comes to music by Melissa Lamm.
Click the image to give this grand song a listen
Nobody Else - Melissa Lamm
Melissa has dropped yet another heart-pounding, soul-stirring banger of a track on us. It is a fantastically upbeat track with fantastic production, the music has a tremendous energy which complements the lyrics perfectly. One of my favorite parts of collaborations is getting to discover great music by new artists and I found lots to enjoy when checking out the Spotify library of Konn.
There is much to dive into with this track so let's get into it shall we. In the opening verse we hear:
“I know maybe it's just selfish, oh
But I guess that I can't help it, no
Got me crazy actin' jealous
Like I never really felt it
I want you to not want anybody else”
Love is so interesting because of all the many different emotions that can be attached to it, the way that it is a unique experience for every person and how much context truly affects what it may mean. I don’t know the context in this case but wanting to be wholly, completely loved by another isn’t selfish though it certainly can feel that way. The latter half of the verse is what I really want to focus on. I have some questions about it. I wonder if there is a third party involved, so it’s a love triangle kind of situation? The word jealous gives me this idea but maybe I just read too many YA novels. Of course, you could also be feeling jealous of something other than a person. Perhaps the one you love is devoting more time to a hobby or a job or something of that nature. Being jealous can also mean protective in the right context. Or as has been my experience with love, sometimes such thoughts of jealousy are completely irrational and are based off of things you are creating in your head but I am sure that is just me. There are so many different ways to take this verse which I thoroughly enjoy.
Click the pic to view Melissa’s website
The chorus and second verse solidify the narrative of the song that exists in my head. For me this song is about a point in a relationship where it becomes time to determine whether or not it will progress further. It seems to me that the speaker has a certain degree of confidence as to the response they will get.
“Can I be yours and you'd be mine
Until forever, end of time
I know it's a lot to ask
But our love is gonna last
I want you to not want anybody else.
I don't know just how it happened
I could never havе imagined
Findin' someone that I want all to mysеlf
If you got love, I gotta have it all
I need it, baby, that's it
I want you to not want anybody else.”
The lines such as “but our love is gonna last” and “I could never havе imagined, findin' someone that I want all to mysеlf” are what give me this feeling of confidence and hope as to how this conversation will go. If you did pour your heart out to someone like this and the answer was no then I would say it is time to say “Goodbye”. This my poor attempt at humor but it does remind of the theory I am currently compiling when it comes to Melissa’s music. I have this crazy idea that at least lyrically all her songs are connected to the track “Sober” separated by no more than one additional song. Using this song as an example: Nobody Else -> Goodbye -> Sober, right now it is just thought bubbles and a spreadsheet so it remains to be seen if it will become concrete enough for me to write about it.
Now onto the post-chorus which I think also presents some interesting ideas. As I already mentioned the chorus contains the line “I want you to not want anybody else” and in the post-chorus we hear “tell me that you love me and that you don’t need nobody else, body else.” I suppose one could think this is spoken out of insecurity which I couldn’t argue that I never felt insecure in a relationship but I hate how often insecurity seems to be associated with love in this way and that is not at all what I feel the point is. I feel this line is bred out of a desire to know how committed the other person is to this relationship. Both the chorus and the second verse give me the impression that the one speaking in the track is all in when it comes to their love and they want assurance that the other person feels the same way. Wanting to know this isn’t a product of insecurity but rather of logic, I don’t think there is anyone who wouldn’t want to know that the one they love is just as into the relationship as they are. Ideally, I wouldn’t want to have to ask this question to someone but rather you would see it manifest in their words and deeds. This is why I think that this track isn’t necessarily about words you would speak to someone else but rather an internal dialogue you might have during the course of a relationship.
Sure, some of my thoughts could be attributed to me overthinking as I am guilty of this a lot of the time. Either way though the song really made me ponder some things pretty deeply and only truly gifted songwriting does that. I don’t know why I didn’t start asking this sooner but I think I will from now on as I would love to hear any thoughts those reading may have. I don’t expect something so lengthy of course. I just love that music affects us all in such unique and personal ways.
