Musical Musings II

Chapter 22

Musical Musings II.

𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘

I burn for you and you don't even know my name,
If you asked me to, I'd give up everything.

𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘

Welcome back, my darlings! As we saw at the inauguration of this chapter in last month’s issue (which I’d highly recommend reading if you’re a new reader!), Musical Musings is where I take a special song every month and show you the meaning behind it.

The wonderful song I have for you all is “Close to You” by Gracie Abrams!

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Gracie Abrams is a pop artist who gained widespread recognition for her 2024 album The Secret of Us, which featured the previously-released single “Close to You.” She also featured as an opening act on Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR tour and the Eras Tour with Taylor Swift. Her songs are personally some of my favourites and I’d highly recommend you give them a listen…after reading this issue, of course!

Shall we begin?

Verse One:
“I don't got a single problem with provocative,
See the bodies, how they burn, it's just the way it is,
Smoky, dark, crowded room, I need nothing,
Under pink light in June (Ah-ah)
I was so cool, but then, all of a sudden,
You saw me look at you.”

From the first lyric, Gracie emphasises that she doesn’t mind provocative behavior. In this context, it would be reasonable to assume she is referring to behaviour to stir up romantic [or other types of desire] interest. This already sets the stage for how her relationship is and suggests it is going to be rather passionate, which is a sentiment backed up throughout the song. For instance, in the second line: “See the bodies, how they burn” she uses the word burn, which could be insinuating or referring to a ‘burning’ passion or a feeling of high intensity, suggesting a fast-paced relationship and one that is intense and very emotional. She specifically talks about bodies, which also links back to the ‘provocative’ sentiment of desireful interest. Another interpretation of this that I found was that she is not linking back but is just describing people with a mechanical-sounding word to emphasise her possible distance from ‘regular’ human emotions, which is quite an interesting thing to think about. She goes on to say “It’s just the way it is,” linking back to her don’t-carish attitude about provocation in the first line. This also highlights a destined passion, that it was always meant to be this way—it’s just the way it is, everything falling into place. “Smoky dark crowded room, I need nothing”—she could potentially be referencing that she feels ‘safe’ in the dark, more comfortable, and therefore not needing anything. She mentions ‘crowded’ specifically, suggesting that she feels more comfortable within a space of multiple people, but when it is dark and they don’t know each other. The next line juxtaposes with the dark imagery by referencing pink light and June, a traditional summer month (sorry, South Hemisphere people), possibly linking to the concept of newfound love taking away from this dark, provocative, image. “I was so cool but then, all of a sudden, you saw me look at you.” Ah, the classic oh-no-he-saw-me stare. Gracie, I feel you. This lyric could hint back to the earlier reference to the summery and warm month of June that she was cool and fine but then, she fell in love and was warmed by this, going from winter to summer, making the word cool be a double entendre.

Pre-chorus:
“And I burn for you,
And you don't even know my name.
If you asked me to
I'd give you everything.”

Pre-chorus! Gracie reuses the word burn here to emphasise the passion of her love for the mystery person. She describes herself as ‘burning’ for this person, potentially hinting at the love being self-destructive due to non-reciprocal, and how she is so desperate that she would give up everything [as shown in the last lyric] for them. She then goes on to say that this person doesn’t even know her name. Her name is the most basic shred of her identity, the first thing that someone will ask for or know. She is saying this lyric to emphasise that this person doesn’t know her at all because they cannot even know her name. However, getting into a later assumption (keep reading! I’m sorry, I have to include every possible interpretation!) from the chorus, it could be that they already know each other at a surface-level relationship and she feels this person doesn’t know her as well as she wants or needs, therefore, she exaggerates using the ‘name’ lyric. This lyric really puts significance on her vulnerability and the non-reciprocal nature of her love, highlighting the imbalance that could potentially take a toll on her [see: burn for you]. She then goes on to further the interpretation of this potential strain and imbalance, stating that at the mere question, she would give up absolutely everything, including potentially her heart and well-being, towards this person. It also shows just how self-sacrificing and deep her commitment and love is towards this person who remains indifferent to her feelings that she continues to show them such [unrequited] devotion.

Chorus:
“To be close to you,
Pull the trigger on the gun I gave you when we met,
I wanna be close to you.
Break my heart and start a fire, you got me overnight,
Just let me be, close to you.”

So, remember how I said that they could already know each other at a surface-level relationship? That was because of this lyric: “Pull the trigger on the gun I gave you when we met.” She points out that they’ve already crossed paths somehow and she’s given them this metaphorical gun, symbolising how she’s willing to do anything for them and she’s willing to let them do anything to her, even pulling the trigger on a gun because at least they’ll be close to her. That’s some crazy levels of love right there. She then says (after the repetition of ‘close to you’) that they can ‘break her heart and start a fire.’ Now, she’s been using the motif of fire very often in this song, from the continual referencing of burning and now to the explicit act of starting a fire. Saying this right after ‘break her heart’ could potentially link to actually burning her heart, breaking it beyond repair, and highlighting the devastating extent of her love. Furthermore, fires can be used in a romantic literary sense to symbolise intense passion and unwavering love, which is what she shows with her unconditional devotion to this mystery person. She explicitly says that she is fine with all these acts because she just wants to be close to this person, doing whatever it takes because she is desperate for their attention.

The post-chorus is really just a repetition of close to you so I’ll skip that. Instead, we’ll move on to Verse Two.

Verse Two:
“And now your mouth is moving, cinematic timing,
You pull me in and touch my neck, and now I'm dying.
You should be mine for life, I'll be signing,
Every dotted line (Ahh).
Chemical override, ultraviolet,
You could be mine tonight.”

Gracie references watching her mystery person talk in the first line (should we give them a name? I feel awkward calling them that. Perhaps call them MP?) and says that it is specifically ‘cinematic.’ This is likely a reference to how cinema is generally filmed and shot to be ‘perfect,’ and something people want to watch. Therefore, she is saying that the way MP talks is so perfect, that she cannot look away, like a movie scene. The next line says that she is ‘dying’ figuratively by the way that MP touches her neck. The way this is written makes you think it is meant to be intimate but due to the references towards MP’s character in the other lyrics, it could be a simple embrace that she is overthinking, a stray brush of the neck. Next, comes the lyric: “You should be mine for life.” This first part of the lyric sets up the most obvious assumption towards the second. ‘Mine for life’ suggests she is talking about a bonded commitment—that is, marriage. The next line follows up by saying that she will sign every dotted line, likely talking about some kind of contract or written agreement. This is likely to be the marriage certificate, as she talks about a ‘life’ [commitment] in the first part. It could also reference other agreements, like a housing deed [moving in together] for example. She then mentions chemical overriding, suggesting an overwhelming influx of hormones like dopamine from this intense love. The mention of ultraviolet symbolises how it is invisible to the human eye, but still real and shows what they have. Their connection is real, but not yet concrete.

And that’s actually it since the rest of the song is basically repeats of the pre-chorus and chorus. I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it (took me a good while!) and I’ll see you next issue!

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Written by Sara Rowan.
Edited by Hazel Antler.
Proofread by Daphne Clarke.