I blame it all on the pop ballad.

I blame it all on the pop ballad.

The other day I was walking home carrying groceries while listening to my ipod. Given the bags in my arms I couldn't change the song when "Have you Ever" by Brandi(circa 1997) came on. I was struck by the words and nostalgically was immediately brought back to high school years. I remember hearing that same song when I was 15 and thinking I knew exactly what Brandi was preaching about. As a 25 year old woman who's never been in love, I was struck with the sudden notion, "who could I have POSSIBLY been thinking of when I heard that song??"

It got me thinking about all of the pop ballads for the last 15 years that I've been listening to and relating to. I started wondering whether I ever had really related to the topics in the songs, or if I just wanted to relate to the songs. Having never been in love, do I really know all of the nuances of being in love? Obviously I can relate to unrequited love, who can't? It's the most permanent of all loves. We all want what we can't have so unrequited love is somewhere where we can find ourselves for an extended period of time. I think the term, "unrequited love" however, implies that it is love. How can it be love if you have no reciprocation. Doesn't that make you just in love with the idea of having a relationship with that person? We're brought up to think that in order to be truly happy we must find the person who completes us. If for some reason we don't find them or BONUS we find them, but they don't want us, what then? It's my newest conclusion that we just fall into the vast pool of prime targets for the ever constant, ever present, pop ballad.