Interpreting Songs: Say Something by A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera

I first heard this song while studying for my exams. Like any student, I was procrastinating and browsing on Facebook when I came across someone's status about how this song made them sob to death from beginning to end. As much as I was bothered at how much that was obviously not true, I decided to watch the video anyway. My first thought? Christina looks AMAZING.

If you know me well enough, you'd know that I have a secret hidden passion for poetry and that the first things I listen to in a song are the lyrics. Initially, when I first heard this song (and by the influence of the video) I thought it was about love. My interpretation: a person is in love with someone, but that person does not feel like that someone loves them back enough and so this person is giving that someone one last chance to prove their love or else that person is going to leave that someone (run-on sentences FTW). As sad as this interpretation sounds, it wasn't something that I could generally relate to and connect with so I thought to myself "uhh...I'll give this song a B-" (clearly, I was still in school mode).

It wasn't until I listened to a cover of the song by Kina Grannis that I fell in love (and listened to the song repeatedly for hours) and that I realized that love was NOT the sole topic of this song. It could also be about faith. Regardless of what religion you are, losing faith and having doubt is a phase that we all go through. Some have short phases, some have long phases and some have intermittent phases...but I think one would be lying if they said they have never experienced this phase. In the song, when they sing "Say something. I'm giving up on you" it is like a message to God (or *insert your God's name here*) from someone who is losing faith. "Say something" is not taken literally, rather it's more along the lines of "Why aren't you answering my prayers?". When I thought of this, it hit home because I admit that I have had phases of doubt before and I believe even the most religious of the religious have had these phases too. Another line I found very faith-related was "Anywhere, I would've followed you". I interpret this as "Ok, you know I believe in you and I would listen to you and accept you no matter what, but just show me a sign that you're actually there because I'm starting to doubt"...Am I making sense or am I pushing it too far? LOL. Anyway, this is my own interpretation. At the end of the day, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. In this case, I'm the beholder and beauty is in my interpretation of this song LOL!

Let me know if you agree or disagree with my interpretation. I love hearing what other people interpret! Here's the cover by Kina Grannis that I fell in love with. Check out her other videos too! You'll fall in love! (Random fact: This video inspired me to learn the song on the piano! It's really not that hard!)

If you watched X-Factor this season, you probably saw Alex & Sierra's cover of this song too. All I can say is: WOW! I love them and I love this song so you can imagine my excitement. They are so cute and I envy their relationship! I WANT A LOVE LIKE ALEX & SIERRA's! *crying*...okay, let's get back on track.

I think it's awesome being able to find songs that can have a hidden/double meaning about faith. It makes the song more relatable and somehow therapeutic. Another artist that has songs with hidden meaning about faith is Lights! Go check her out and let me know what you interpret from her songs!

Thanks for reading, and remember...if it makes you smile, that's a plus! :)