Source: day
When you come out of a failed relationship and experience all the emotions, from anger and sadness as well as tears, how do you deal with this situation?
Maybe eating junk food, or dumping your emotions into your diary, but if you’re a world-famous artist, all you have to do is record a song attacking your ex, upload it online, and see how it spreads.
At least, that’s what Shakira did with “Out of Your League,” about her ex-boyfriend, footballer Gerard Pique, who broke YouTube records.
And she is not alone, as everyone considered that Miley Cyrus’s new song, “Flowers”, is about her ex-husband, Liam Hemsworth.
Thus, it has become commonplace for pop stars to turn their feelings into songs, and experts in this field range from Adele or Taylor Swift, to Ariana Grande and The Weeknd, to Justin Bieber.
Why does this type of music get huge amounts of viewership?
We all feel attached to this type of song, because in one way or another it tells the painful reality that we feel after the breakup.
Songwriting lecturer Martin Wright, who works at the British and Irish Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) in Birmingham, says the best breakup songs are about narrative. “If I break up with her, it’s about empowerment and liberation and freedom, but if she breaks up with me, It becomes about grief, bitterness and even revenge at times.”
Here, Wright pointed out that Shakira managed to combine most of these elements into one line: “I will not go back with you, not if you cry, not even if you beg.” (From her new song).
Tears on paper
However we enjoy listening to these songs, they can be an outlet for the people who write them.
The singer and songwriter, Nahli, from London, says that she started writing immediately after the breakup, adding: “After the breakup, you feel that you are carrying a huge burden on your shoulders. At that time, I resorted to writing my diaries and then turned them into songs. All my deepest feelings come out.”
