Day 37: Answer Time!

Yesterday I asked the audience to guess which song I liked best out of a selection of just two. Honestly, I thought this was a pretty easy one. But somehow, no one managed to get the correct answer! That's fine with me though, more salami for me. So which is better between You Are In Love and Enchanted?

Well first I want to say that I don't think either of these songs are bad. They each have their strengths but since they are topically very similar songs it's not hard to at least try and see which one does it better. That's not to say they are completely identical thought. In Enchanted, Taylor has basically just met her love interest, whereas in You Are In Love they are already in a relationship, albeit a relatively young one. The goal of each song is simple, to communicate what a young love feels like and each succeeds in it's own right. That said, Enchanted does a much better job in my opinion.

No small part of this difference comes with the simple introduction of a little subtly. Let's just take a look at each song's line that best sums it up.

"I was enchanted to meet you"

"You are in love"

Even a small layer of abstraction can go a really long ways. This might just be me, but saying explicitly that you're in love is just so unconvincing to me. A much better way of getting this point across would be to say something equivalent but unique enough to make the audience think about it a little. Something that isn't too out there so as not to alienate the audience, which is exactly what the word "enchanted" achieves.

Weird thing is that most of the rest of You Are In Love is perfectly good. Normally one bad line isn't anywhere close to being enough to sour my opinion of it, but it's not just in the chorus, it's the whole name of the song. That overshadows many of the other much better lines.

"You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the warsAnd why I've spent my whole life try to put it into words"(You Are In Love)

I would go as far as saying that this line isn't just good, it's very good. It does what the chorus should've, and described more than just the fact of the love. It goes further and actually gives you an impression of what it felt like.

Before I go, I want to point out just how similar these songs are. It's the reason I decided to talk about them in the first place was that I noticed so many things in common, even down to the details.

"You can hear it in the silence, silence, you
You can feel it on the way home, way home"(You Are In Love)

"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I'm wonder struck, blushing all the way home"(Enchanted)

The choice in details here, like the travel home is in no way a complete coincidence. I'm not saying Taylor planned this because there's no way that's true. Rather I think she chose these details to focus on in multiple songs because they are an easy way to make the relationship feel more real in a way that everyone can understand. Notice that she says "on the way home" instead of "in the car" "on the train" or "in the taxi" to keep it as vague as possible so that people can apply their own experiences to it. For some reason I always picture a taxi cab even though I never take them. I have been known to drive them occasionally though.

That's all for today's post, make sure to let me know in the comments why I'm wrong

See you tomorrow
-C