The Lower Frequencies

First, a preface, because I have two brothers (and, hell, BRP will jump in, too) who are going to rag on me mercilessly for this post: I don’t normally listen to pop music, but with two little girls, one ten and the other six, it’s at times difficult to get away from the Disney Channel on Sirius. No, I’m more of  a classic rock guy (who has a tendency to listen to very loud metal) and I’ve got the hardware to prove it.

Anyway, Demi Lovato’s (I looked up the spelling) song “Give Your Heart a Break” has been in heavy rotation since, well, forever, it seems. Admittedly, it’s a catchy song – and there’s where I catch hell from my brothers – but I listen to and value lyrics more than I probably should. It’s why I can’t stand what Metallica has been churning out the past two decades (OHMYGOD, HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG SINCE “…AND JUSTICE FOR ALL”? WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, JAMES HETFIELD?) – I mean, have you LISTENED to “My Apocalypse”? “The Day that Never Comes”? Friggin’ “Frantic”?! They’re crap! My God, James, get back on the cocaine and write another “Blackened”!…

Uh, pardon me.

OK, back to Lovato’s song. The lyrics, as sung by Ms. Lovato, tell the story of a girl who is trying to coax a guy into loving her, but the guy is hesitant because his heart has been broken once too often. And every guy who read that last sentence just rolled their eyes.  And that’s my point.

This song was not meant to be sung by a female.

This is not to knock Ms. Lovato’s rendition, because she does have an amazing voice, but the male this song is supposed to center around would have to be the most effeminate man on earth, and this type of man does not attract pop-star divas. For instance:

The day I first met you
You told me you’d never fall in love
But now that I get you
I know fear is what it really was

OK – a GUY is AFRAID of falling in love, and it’s not suggested at all that it involves a fear of losing his man cave with beer tap and 60″ LG?  Right. But let’s give it the benefit of the doubt here.  Moving on to the chorus:

Don’t wanna break your heart
Wanna give your heart a break
I know you’re scared it’s wrong
Like you might make a mistake

There it is again – the fear – and the girl is the one who’s trying to reassure him that he’s not making a mistake.  At this point this guy’s got some serious esteem issues, or is a bit of a milquetoast. And the kicker comes in the next verse:

On Sunday you went home alone
There were tears in your eyes
I called your cell phone, my love
But you did not reply

Come on, people! He left with tears in his eyes, and his favorite team didn’t just lose the national championship game? I’m sorry, I just can’t suspend my disbelief that much.  Despite the popularity of Lovato’s song, despite its catchiness, despite the fact that  it just makes you feel like singing along when taking your younger daughter to school (erm, so I’ve heard), the song, when sung by a female, is fairly nonsensical.

Oh, and there’s the fact that it was written by two men.

This entry was posted on November 27, 2012 at 3:52 am and is filed under Entertainment with tags Demi Lovato, Give Your Heart a Break, songwriting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.