Felicity Linville
Senior year of high school was a rough time for me. I struggled keeping up with college applications, working a part time job and being in a relationship that was one sided. This song was everything for me, it incorporated all my feelings at the time into one song. I listened to it over and over. Even one time I drove in the pouring rain, with no where to go trying to figure out what I wanted to do in my life.
Relationships are hard when you’re young, I think we as a generation feel that connecting with someone is hard because we have no guarantee on how the future will turn out. I was planning on going off to college while he was planning to enlist in the military. He was convinced we wouldn’t be together after high school, but we stayed together for so long after we had that conversation. I should have ended it there, but I was I love. My freshman year of college he ended it, saying he needed to escape. I never understood why he wanted to escape me. I internalized this disaster and almost failed one of my classes because of it. A month later he called saying it was a mistake and wanted to get back together. He had hurt me so bad though and I needed to escape him. It was impossible to do that though with social media, and all our mutual friends. Cage the elephant turned into my escape. I didn’t want to be depressed anymore but still need to feel something. I wanted the past to change, for the choices we made to be different, but I began to realize how toxic it was. The emotions that I feel in the song are longing for the past and wishing things could have been different. But in reality, looking for peace of mind is really what you’re doing. So sweet with a mean streak was a line that stuck with me, emotional abuse disguised as caring was something I didn’t realize was happening until after the relationship ended. My friends were my rocks while going through this and I helped them go through their own rough break ups.
The genre of alternative rock was so popular among my friends and I at the end of high school. I think we all needed a vent for all the mainstream culture that was being pushed down our throats by social media. We were all tired of the heavy expectations that were placed upon us to succeed. I just wanted to be able to relax. Music was a break from the stress. It remined us of our middle school days when these songs first came out. When we didn’t have to worry about the tests we have to finish, the applications we must submit, and the money we have to make to support ourselves.
As I stood there in the pouring rain, I was able to find the peace of mind. This sweet song played as I was able to have the strength to say that I will be fine. I will be okay. I don’t have all the answers, not even close to a clue but I do know that everything will be okay. That I was fine. That I would find someone else. That I would be happy.
Song: Cage the Elephant Cigarette Daydream. 3:31 long
AFRAM337 