Here’s a flawless combo, a perfect match: Australian musician and writer Flume, and Canadian singer Kai: “Never Be Like You,” now charting on Top 40 formats.
This song is an emotional plea from a woman who is sorry she messed up, had a one-night stand, and now is miserable because her boyfriend wants to break up with her. Her emotional intensity brings to mind “All Cried Out” by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam. Thirty years ago Lisa Lisa was miserable, too, and that honesty drove the song into the Top 10.
Some lines require a degree of believability…
“Please just look me in my face, tell me
Everything’s okay”
…and Kai rings true.
A listener might observe that women wailing over a break up is not only not new, it’s eternal, and while today’s flirting and hook-ups might be digital, fleeting, or even VR, real sizzle and connection remains one-on-one, and emotion is still part of that mix.
Pop songs both reflect and influence the culture– apparently the attraction of lovers, that compelling electricity, is still operative, despite the emotional risk.
Whether or not we Boomers are still as rabid about the big touchstones of love, sex, fidelity, jealousy, and pride as we were when we 20 or 30 or 40 is a whole other thing.