I love songs that ask questions and linger in my head. It’s only fitting that this song found its way to my ears at the end of one week and beginning of another — literally. It’s one in the morning, the freshness of a new week on my horizon, yet last week lingers over my head like a mysterious house guest. This song painted a picture in my head immediately, and somehow managed intertwine itself with my life’s thoughts. The positively piercing vocals of Seinabo Sey scribed themselves to the inner walls of my ears and brain, and within moments, I was transfixed. I’d heard this song previously, I think as a remix by Kygo, but never the original, and I felt physically moved by the musicality and sonic adventure that I found myself embarking on. There’s a duality that I’m always in search of — one that exists in perfect equilibrium and forces me to sit at my computer at one in the morning on a Sunday, just as I think I’m about to go to bed, and crank out a post — because that duality is the perfect blend of music and lyric. It sounds cliche, but you know what? Cliches are rooted in next level emotions and feelings, too real to communicate, and because it’s so hard to translate those emotions and feelings into words and proper descriptors, we give them these blanket terms that are supposed to, you know, do the job.
They don’t.
There is a light to all this darkness, I will tell you this
There’s redemption in you asking them just why it is
Some answers are better left unspoken when you know you ain’t getting any
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?”
This set of words went in one ear and painted a mural inside the walls of my curly haired head, danced for a while as I smiled and reflected on the notion of youth and youngness. Just earlier tonight, I had discussed my twenties with someone over the telephone, in which we both agreed that these were years better spent in search of self. That means embodying selfishness, welcoming it, allowing it to take hold of yourself, because during no other decade of your life is it known and excusable. Isn’t that silly? You can try, in your thirties, but it will feel tiring, particularly because it’s less talked about, particularly in our society. You can do whatever you want, but there’s always going to be more people in your life married with babies in your thirties, than in your twenties. All I ever hear from other twenty somethings is, “I feel” and “I think” and “Sometimes you make me feel” and it’s amazing. Because it’s okay to feel. But think of it this way — you spend your baby years discovering. You spend your teenage years understanding. And your twenties? You discover and understand all at once. And you learn. That’s the beauty, because there are so many different things going on at the same time, for the first time in your life and for the first time for many of you, in your independent life, that it’s only natural to be selfish.
So the next time you think, man, I should have my sh*t together and get grown, remember. You ain’t getting any younger. And now is the time to discover and remember that life is equal parts answer and equal parts mystery.