Re: Something Like This Lyrics
Rayén Rundall
The Pop Song Professor project is all about helping music lovers like you to better understand the deeper meanings of popular song lyrics so that you know what your artist is saying and can enjoy your music more.
Coldplay and The Chainsmokers are probably one of the more unlikely collaborations we'll see this year in music, but "Something Just Like This" may be one of the best collabs we'll see. Musically, it's entrancing. It's everything we love about The Chainsmokers' thoughtful and body-moving approach to EDM music with everything we love about the dry, smooth power of Chris Martin's voice. It's really the best of both worlds, and while the group is an unlooked for collaboration, personally, I'll be looking for more songs from these two groups.
Of course, a song may sound great, but if it doesn't mean anything, that's all it every is--a good sound. Thankfully for fans of the two bands, "Something Just Like This" does have a deep, emotional meaning, if not a mysterious, "deep" one. The song is sweet, to the point, and I think you'll find what it has to say beautiful.
Starting with verse one of "Something Just Like This," we notice that Coldplay and The Chainsmokers are setting up an idea later in the song. Here, Chris Martin sings about "reading books of old / The legends and the myths." He's comparing himself to the Greek gods and demigods as well as modern "gods," otherwise known as "superheroes." This isn't the place, but there's an interesting discussion to be had about how superheroes are the new "gods" of our era. The Greek gods and heroes were the subjects of epic poems told around campfires, and we read or watch tales about our superheroes all of the time!
Well, whether they're new or old, The Chainsmokers and Coldplay see these heroes and realize that they aren't like them. They don't have the riches of Achilles, the strength of Hercules, the self-control and stamina of Spiderman, or the power and fury of Batman. They're normal people. And where does that leave them?
We see that The Chainsmokers and Coldplay are making "Something Just Like This" about a woman the narrator is in a relationship with. Chris Martin tells us that she ignores his thoughts on the list of heroes and instead prompts him to be a hero in an average, attainable way. She wants him to be willing to take risks and go on adventures. He doesn't have to be a superhuman or have special abilities or even sweep her off her feet into "fairytale bliss." Instead, she wants something she "can turn to" and "can kiss" or "miss" depending on which iteration of the pre-chorus you're listening to. She wants someone who is reliable, emotionally present, and affectionate.
It's at this point in the song that both the lyrics and music gain power. The words "I want something just like this" gain power because of the way Christ Martin repeats them, and the music gains power as The Chainsmokers "drop the beat" and bring heavy synth in. This is obviously the point in listening to the song when dancing is supposed to be at its craziest and when emotions are supposed to be at their highest.
As for who's supposed to be singing these words, it sounds like either the narrator or his love interest could be expressing this sentiment, but I guess that it's both of them--her affirming her description in the pre-chorus and him vehemently agreeing.
In verse 2 of "Something Just Like This," The Chainsmokers and Coldplay revisit the concept of verse 1 and further describe heroes and epic events that make the narrator feel inferior. "The testaments they told" refers to the books "testifying" to mighty deeds. The "moon and its eclipse" suggests epic events verging on the miraculous. The reference to Superman, of course, makes sense because he's the strongest, ablest superhero of all. And Martin ends the verse by reaffirming that he's "not the kind of person that it fits," making the return to the pre-chorus all the more uplifting and sweet.
Like I said earlier, there's not too much deeper in "Something Just Like This" other than what we see on the surface. The narrator doesn't feel up to the job of being in a relationship. He doesn't think he's good enough (and who doesn't feel that way?), but his love interest affirms realistic, healthy expectations for the relationship.
I like this song because it's simple and sweet. The cover art is a picture of a young boy pretending to be a superhero, and I think this fits well because many people still want to identify with the precociousness and imagination and ambition of the children they once were. The narrator in this relationship feels like a child wanting to be a superhero, but his adulthood reminds him that superheroes aren't real and that he isn't one. The love interest's response, however, shows him how he can be a superhero for her even if he isn't for everyone else.
Hi! I'm a university writing center director who teaches literature classes and loves helping others to understand the deeper meanings of their favorite songs. I'm married to my beautiful wife April and love Twenty One Pilots, Mumford & Sons, Kishi Bashi, and so many others!
I think it's a boy/man talking to his girlfriend, telling her he does not feel that he is good enough for her. She tells him, she has no need for some fantasy superhero who will promise her an (unrealistic) "happily ever after" (fairy tale). She wants someone who she loves who will just be there for her. She wants what she already has with him (something just like this). In my mind the doo-doo-doo's is where they kiss.
It sounds like it's about a boy who has been reading books about superheroes and his mother tells him that you don't have to be some superhero. She wants her son to have an open mind and a wide imagination.
The first singer (male/female) of the couple wants more from her/himself or the couple. Meaning this is the dynamic person in the couple who wants to move in, get married, get children or get a career for him/herself.
Always moving forward and trying to reach the next level in relationship, personal life or career this driving person has been trying in vain to get them both moving forward, but he has failed ("not on the list"). The active person in the couple is exhausted in trying to move on.
The reply comes from the passive person from the couple, who is happy with the "status quo" and stay as they are. Just kissing or in physical contact without further commitment or actively developing the relationship (or holding back the personal development of the other).
The second person is not ready to "unroll" Clark Kent and become Superman, as she is too comfortable in her current situation. Like a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, she is not ready to transform herself or the relationship in something different. The next level is not for her.
She is not fit to be superhero who tries improve herself or the relationship. Physical "kissing" and status quo is maximum she can do. She is the passive one who is dragging the couple and the first person back both in the relationship and at personal level.
Have you been the first (active - pushing forward) person in the relationship, or the second one who is not ready to commit, not ready to move, not ready for transformation (caterpillar / butterfly)? Both of them are exhausted in the relationship due to the difference in pace, timing and effort put in making it work.
The meaning is so clear and obvious, This is what we all thinking about, We are not superheros, why some people expect impossibles from us, I'm just a man, not an extraordinary person, not someone can do anything, keep up with everything, tolerate all the bad feelings they grow inside us and not even talk, you know, I've faced with these things a lot and this song is exactly what I wanted to shout to these people all time :'(
However, he get the feeling of being a super hero when he get's "something like this", the life he always dreamt about.And risking it all to get that life (A signifigant other, house, kids. Al those sort of things.)
For me, this song is about a man who thinks he's not good enough for his girlfriend and he tells her that he's got nothing special. That superman's had power and Achilles had gold or Hercules had gifts, but him, he's not special in any way so why did she chose him? And that's why she says "I'm not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts", because she doesn't care that her boyfriend got "nothing special" he's special enough for her. So to prove it to him she says "Were'd you wanna go? How much you wanna risk?" like for her. And he says that the only thing he wants is "Something just like this". That what he's got right now is and always will be more than enough for him.
Have you heard that new song by that American singer still not very well known that sings about "I drive alone past your street..." and is number one in several countries right now? What about that song from the '80s that we can't remember the title, but it goes something like this: "every now and then I get a little bit lonely..."? If you don't know who sang them, no worries, "turn around, bright eyes", and see that we're now able to search a song by its lyrics on Deezer!
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