Alice Phoebe Lou: Emotional Expression Through Music
/Emotions have always had a place in the arts, specifically in music. Music universally expresses a variety of emotions, positive, negative, and everything in between. Remember that time you found a song where you related to each lyric so much that you thought the artist must be inside your brain?
These experiences mean a lot, especially when related to common struggles like grief, change, love and other human experiences. It makes you feel connected to the artist and less alone in your thoughts and feelings. It can even give you a new perspective on these situations. The shared experiences of being alive as humans connects us to each other, and putting those experiences into music that can be shared as well is meaningful to individuals.
“glow” album cover via independent artists management
I’m going to talk about two of Alice Phoebe Lou’s songs and how the emotions behind them bring layers of beauty to the meaning. In the song “Glow,” Alice sings about the abstract feeling of loving oneself amidst the loss of a relationship. She starts the song off by singing, “I dance with myself/ Like there is nobody else in the world.” This gives the listener a feeling of self-love. She immediately follows this lyric up with “I fall to the floor/ And I fill the whole room with salty tears,” which gives us the idea she’s upset. So, what is she feeling?
She goes back and forth between positive and negative emotions in the first verse, continuing this trend in the chorus with the lyrics, “I swim out the window/ And into the night/ I am smiling, I am screaming/ I am glowing from inside/ Do I dare to feel this feeling?” These lyrics, in my opinion, embody the back-and-forth feelings associated with grieving. Though she is sad, she is also celebrating the reunion of herself with her feelings. Though there could have been positive emotions associated with the subject of this song, there is also a clear feeling of relief and lightness within the lyrics, her tone of voice and the melody.
Despite her sadness, she recognizes this as an opportunity to love herself. As she says in the next verse, “I squeeze a little tighter/ And suddenly I’m holding my own body/ There’s an empty space where you once offered yourself to me.” She then ends the song with a verse on her mother and the things she does for Alice. “My mom knows I’ll be alright/ But she’ll be glad I’m home/ She’s always casting spells for me/ Keeping guard for me/ Working hard for me.” She then closes the song with the chorus again, leaving the listener with the thought of gratitude and safety.
“shelter” Album cover via independent artists management
In the song “Open My Door,” Alice sings about a clearer version of self-love. She opens the song with “I used to open my door to pretty much anyone who was tryna look for a place to feel safe/ But I made my whole world safer for everyone but me.” These lyrics speak of the habit Alice has made of allowing people to push her boundaries and prioritize the well-being of others over herself. She follows this up with “So, I took my bones, and I called them my own/ And I found a place inside that’s safe for me/ And now I wander the world alone but alive/ Smiling on the inside.”
Alice talks about taking initiative to solidify her own boundaries and distance herself from those who could be detrimental to her mental health. The melody of the song stays slow and airy, giving it a hopeful sting. She repeats a lyric from her song “Glow,” singing again “Smiling on the inside.” She finishes the song with a call to the present, saying, “I’m back on land, welcome to your life, Alice.”
alice phoebe lou via andrea rojas
I’m sure someone reading this can relate to what Alice Phoebe Lou has written about. I’m sure that if you don’t relate to these songs, there are other ones out there that you can relate to. The vocalization of the feelings you yourself have felt, the connection to not only the human who made the song but other humans who find that same solace in listening, the deep understanding of your emotions as part of a bigger ecosystem, the ecosystem of humans. All of these are ideas that are brought up when listening to emotional music. The lyrics, rhythm, and instruments used all contribute to a spiritual listening experience.
Willow loves creativity. She can be very quiet sometimes. She can also get annoying with her weird tangents, but sometimes they’re interesting. She likes to relax, and play The Sims. She goes to Algonquin College currently in the Professional Writing program. She suffers part-time working hard at an unnamed restaurant. She enjoys crafts, artistic activities, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. She also loves therapy. That picture is not her.
