1 November 2019
How much does pop culture in general affect pop music in particular? I ask because the incidental soundscape and intimate tones of ‘Lose You To Love Me’ feel emblematic of the new social media age of personal-content selfies and online self-help, to be consumed individually in private. (A decade earlier, this track may well have come out of the oven as an EDM build-and-drop bop for a notionally communal audience.) Adding to that impression, the video (below) with Selena Gomez in a constant close-up was made on a smartphone. Then again, the song that will replace it at number one in Ireland covers the same lyrical and emotional territory, by another female pop star, and is a disco banger, so what do I know.
I suspect the real-life celeb-gossip angle may have been the honey that drew in the floating voter and gave ‘Lose You To Love Me’ its final chart-topping push to the summit. But here again I could be wrong. While neither singer nor song shoot out the lights, and the opposing-pair lyrics can be sometimes banal, there’s a smouldering emotional core to this: “Sang off-key in my chorus / ‘Cause it wasn’t yours” smartly captures the recognisable spoiling behaviour of the narcissist in a relationship. As with many actors who are also adept at singing, Gomez sells the drama in the story relatably and convincingly. By the end, she and her character are striding on, shaken but stronger, for the win.
