How does music intertwine with your life? Does it give you that extra sense of motivation to propel yourself over the next obstacle life throws at you? Does it act as an escape from reality and introduces a peaceful state of mind? These are just a few essential questions I would like you to consider while continuing to read. The song Up in the Air is an alternative rock song recorded by a band called 30 Seconds to Mars. It tells the story of a heartbroken person who recently lost someone who they were romantically involved with. It describes the anguished feelings surrounding a break up and losing someone that meant the world to that person. Up in the Air captures the pain and feeling of hopelessness associated with a severe break up and losing the love of your life through meticulous word choice and imagery. One of the most essential parts about writing a song is word choice. This is fundamental in allowing the listener to be immersed by the music and feel what the songwriters intended for the listener to feel. Through good word choice, this song succeeds in capturing the authentic feeling of recently losing the love of your life, an experience that both extremely personal but so widespread. A good example on how the song captures the frustration and passion is the following, “You were the love of my life, the darkness, the light. - This is a portrait of a tortured you and I. -
Is this the, is this the, is this the end?” This is a very profound and intense line from the song that expresses the sense of hopelessness that goes hand and hand with a break up. It does a nice job capturing how they had been through a lot and it wasn’t easy, but why would they walk away? You can’t walk away from love, not after all that we’ve overcome. This was preceded earlier in the song by the following ‘Stuck in a moment of emotion I've destroyed - Is this the end I feel? -Up in the air, fucked up our life, - All of the laws I broke and loves that I sacrificed. - Is this the end?” Those lines do a good job of encapsulating the correlation between sacrifice and love. Everyone makes sacrifices for the ones they love, so it’s always hard to feel that those sacrifices weren’t appreciated. It also does a very nice job of describing the feelings of nostalgia that people are forced to tolerate post break up. It feels as if you can’t escape and that