Why Are Toxic Songs So Good!

SZA released her album “CTRL” in 2017. Six years have passed since this album came out, and SOS was a highly anticipated sophomore album. This album, which has a track list of 23 songs and a run time of about an hour and a half, was enjoyable, to say the least. I  have to say. I don’t know why, but toxic songs are just a gold mine for great music!

          I don’t know what it is, but hearing her say, “I don’t wanna be your girlfriend. I just wanna be your person.” It is the most endearing thing I have ever heard in my 19 years of life. I mean, this album is just a snapshot of how sometimes relationships suck, even if it’s one where you’re exchanging bodily fluids at 3 a.m. I’ve heard that heartbreak, in a sense, is grief; you go through the same steps essentially: anger, acceptance, bargaining, and denial. You get the picture. 

 But then, if you look a little deeper and hear what she’s saying, her story sounds a little too familiar. I mean. The best songs come from toxic situations. From Jazmine Sullivan’s Bust the Windows to The Hills by The Weekend, Confessions by Usher, and even You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette. Like, yes, it’s fun to sing your heart out to Bust the Windows Out Your Car; however, would you do it?

   I want you to think about this. Would you truly and honestly bust the window out of your ex’s car? I won’t even bring Carrie Underwood into this with the tires. But, like, come on. If the answer is yes, then I’m sorry, but you’re toxic. 

    Yet then again, the levels of toxicity are being thrown around like we’re playing tennis, and I refuse to be Serena Williams. Everyone is called a narcissist or has been gaslighted. The only person I truly know who’s been gaslighted is Rapunzel from Tangled. If you can’t top Mother Gothelf, were you truly gaslighted? 

      Overuse of a word desensitizes its original meaning, is all I’m trying to say. It’s the boy who cried wolf out here, and eventually, people will stop believing it. Just like the Me-Too movement, which is saying believe every girl, yet we forget that people who lie. It’s a slippery slope, and many people are slipping and sliding down with no indication of when they’ll finally land on a solid surface.

       It’s a cruel, cruel world! But, as they say, that’s life. And I do not want the love life these singers sing about! Like Dirty Diana by Michael Jackson is a karaoke gem, yet if you listen to the words, it’s like excuse me, Sir, but um, are you ok! Aretha Franklin said, “Ain’t No Way,” and I concur because I’m not putting up with the tomfoolery. 

 That’s what all these good toxic songs about cheating, revenge, and all that jazz. But, at the end of the day, what message does this send? Masking what the song is about with beautiful runs, rifts, and nasty beats: we listen to songs but don’t take in the words. 

      Then sometimes it’s just so fun being messy. I mean, if I can live vicariously through a book, I can do the same with music. So, it may seem like I’m complaining, but I am not a good Sir or madam. I am just saying that sometimes the best music comes from the most toxic of situations and ones we should never strive to imitate.

• The End