Song Club #25: Jealousy

Jealousy is an emotion that sits underneath so many songs, and perhaps even drives us to write them.

Jealousy is painful yet intoxicating emotion. It can be sickening. It itches. It aches. It torments. And it offers a deadly pleasure: reaching for—but not quite grasping—an object of longing. At least some of the time.  

Even if not expressly written about, jealousy is an emotion that sits underneath so many songs. In ‘The Other Woman’, Lana Del Ray explores her jealousy by describing its object:

The other woman has time to manicure her nails
The other woman is perfect where her rival fails
And she's never seen with pin curls in her hair anywhere

The other woman enchants her clothes with French perfume
The other woman keeps fresh cut flowers in each room
And there are never toys that's scattered everywhere

In ‘jealousy, jealousy’, Olivia Rodrigo is more direct:

I'm so sick of myself
I'd rather be, rather be
Anyone, anyone else
My jealousy, jealousy (yeah)

Though only one is explicit about it, the pang is clear in both songs. We feel it too. This week in our writing, let’s explore jealousy.

Keep going, 

Lucy 

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SONG PROVOCATIONS

Write a song about wishing you were someone else 

Has there been a time in your life when being another person seemed preferable to you? What drew you to this person? What parts of them did you wish were parts of you? Explore this in free-writing and start a song from this point.