The Anti-Love Agenda
Ever notice how love songs aren't love songs anymore?
This’ll be quick, as the subtitle alone kind of makes my point.
When I was a wee lass being raised in a cult-y Christian church, I was forced to attend “VBS” (Vacation Bible School) every summer. VBS was basically a thing to keep us occupied during the summer while school was out. We did arts and crafts, performed short skits, and learned corny songs.
Most of the time, when I reflect upon the particulars of my church upbringing, I think, “I’m so angry that this happened.”
But sometimes — just sometimes — I look back on something I learned in church and think, “Thank God that this happened.”
Learning this VBS song about Love, is one of those things:
The lyrics are taken from 1 Corinthians 13:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
How beautiful. How simple. How necessary.
Ever since learning this song, I’ve caught myself singing it in my head whenever confronted with the question of whether somebody (particularly a potential partner) is actually demonstrating Love towards me, or Lust.
As a survivor of childhood abuse, I’ve fallen into my fair share of toxic and abusive dynamics with romantic partners. It’s to be expected when abuse was normalized in those crucial developmental years.
But who knows how much more abuse I would’ve tolerated, if not for this sacred touchstone, set to silly music, forever etched into my musical memory.
I believe everyone needs an education in what Love (True Love) is. Our world depends on healthy relationships, after all — not only romantic ones, but platonic and the rest.
So why is Love so grossly warped, perverted and misrepresented in all of our mainstream entertainment?
It’s almost as if… someone or something… is deeply invested in destroying the relationships between humans… and by consequence, our culture—our world.
No, actually, not “almost as if.” It’s definitely the case that Love is under attack.
💔
Not sure what I mean? Try this: Pick ANY song related to relationships from the Billboard 100, on ANY given week, and I guarantee you’ll find lyrics that twist and distort “Love” into something foul.
In fact, to prove my point, I’ll go to the Billboard 100 and pick a random song right now.
…
Oh God.
Right now at #7 (and having peaked at #1) is “Like That” by Future and Kendrick Lamar. The lyrics are so pornographic and vile, I will not even repost them here. Google at your own peril.
Below that is “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift, which also peaked at #1. This one should be innocent, right? Her fan base is mostly young girls, after all.
Nope.
And for a fortnight there, we were forever
Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather
Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors
Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill herAll my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February
I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary
And I love you, it's ruining my life
For the sake of argument: If we were to treat that 1 Corinthians verse as our guiding definition of Love, how could real Love ever ruin someone’s life?
See how the word “love” is being conflated with “attachment”? i.e. “I’m attached to you and it’s ruining my life?” (And don’t even get me started on the casual promotion of murder.)
Next up at #9, we’ve got “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter:
Oh, he looks so cute wrapped around my finger
My twisted humor, make him laugh so often
My honey bee, come and get this pollenToo bad your ex don't do it for ya
Walked in and dream came trued it for ya
Soft skin and I perfumed it for ya
I know I Mountain Dew it for ya
That morning coffee, brewed it for ya
One touch and I brand newed it for ya
The implication is that she uses her sexuality to manipulate a man and get him where she wants him. There’s also an insinuation that she’s competing with another woman (“your ex”) and treating this man as a conquest with which to bolster her own ego.
I would like to believe that in an en-light-ened world, we would not find such lyrics cute or amusing. We’d find them repulsive—and we certainly wouldn’t mindlessly sing along, hypnotically reinforcing its rotten message in our precious, impressionable minds.
But that’s exactly what’s happening: Because anti-love music routinely tops global music charts, that means countless millions of people are chanting these lyrics and hypnotizing themselves to not believe in Love anymore, on a daily basis.
Even at my occasional karaoke stint, I can’t help but notice how many people get up to sing songs about being cheated on, lied to, used, abused… etc.
I have the same problem with modern “love” (sic) songs as I do with pornography. My Utopian heart wonders: Where are the songs celebrating, honoring, exalting Love?
Where are our auspicious Love songs? Our supreme Love songs? Our awe-inspiring Love songs?
Out of all the valiant, noble, possibility-forging Love stories in the world, the best we can contribute to the Billboard 100 is more of Taylor Swift’s bitching about how all her relationships suck??! Come on, now.
What is the solution?
The same as the solution to anything else: to make the unconscious, conscious.
Consciously Choosing Love
There is hope.
The song So This Is Love has maintained massive popularity on social media for well over 2 years. Countless reels have been made with the audio, which features these beautiful lyrics:
So this is love
So this is love
So this is what makes life divine
I'm all aglow
And now I know
The key to all heaven is mine
My heart has wings
And I can fly
I'll touch every star in the sky
So this is the miracle
That I've been dreaming of
So this is love
This song makes my heart swoon. “The key to all Heaven is mine.” Yes, indeed. That is what True Love feels like.
In my search for True Love songs, I’ve found that many of them are “vintage” or from prior decades. Modern True Love songs are hard to come by.
But there are some great examples, like this song & music video about Charles “LaLa” Evans, who was so in love with his wife that he built a museum to honor their 59-year love story.
HE BUILT A WHOLE MUSEUM ABOUT HER.
I CRY.
Let's make a monument for our love, our love
Our love, our love
And though I am not in Union myself, I did project my imagination into a soulmate relationship in order to write this song for my latest album, UGLY:
i could give it all for the chance to love you
and all would be renewed manifold
keeper of my heart
lover of my dreams
sing for mei could spend my life getting lost inside you
and in every moment, i’d be found
guided by your star
i loved you since the start
of eternityno matter how i break
i know that you will make me whole again
whatever it may take
created for the sake of loving youso take it all
so take it all
so take it all
so take it all
The love story of the anglerfish may be my favorite love story of all time, as I wrote about in my book, The Secrets of the Anglerfish.
Actually, no. My favorite Love story of all time is the story of Jesus’s Love. For a God whose love is incomprehensible. For a humanity that did not love him back. For Mary Magdalene, who I am convinced is his wife, and who seems to have been actively scrubbed from our historical records specifically so that humanity would not have an inspiring example of Divine Soulmate Love to emulate.
But that’s a post for another day ;)
I’m leaving the comments open to free subscribers on this post. I want us all to share the best True Love songs we know — the lyrics of which align with the definition of Love given in 1 Corinthians 13.
Go ahead — share to your heart’s content!
Thank you, lovelings!
If you like my writing, please subscribe!
If you know other people who’ll like my work, please share it with them:
You can support my work with a donation:
Ko-Fi • Stripe • Venmo
In addition to my writing, I offer other cool things, like this course:
SYMBOLSPEAK: Decrypting and Rescripting Reality for Health, Wealth and Happiness
And this course:
And this book:
And this music video:
And this album:
And other content across social media:
Everyone's sharing some great love songs! My hope has been restored! 🤩 So I've decided to make a playlist on YouTube just for these songs. Keep commenting and I'll add them when I have time!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpNFk7JZXysgOV1z-2evlw7jgR8i8rA5j&si=BlJ2JDkVOUfrrT87
The law changed in the late 90s pertaining to how many radio stations a company can own. Used to be only 3 at a time. The law changed to you can own as many as you want. Clear Channel pretty much bought up all the radio stations in the country. That's why starting around 2000, radio went downhill. It's all Pop now and they can controll the narrative through music. I'm grateful I grew up in the 80s and 90s with good Rock radio. The powers that be are sucking the soul out of every art form, that includes what your post is talking about, turning love into lust. When I hear a popular song(which is few and far between), I can just feel the negativity oozing from it. I don't even consider any of it music. It's so bad. I'm a Rock and Metal guy, I'm thankful there are plenty of bands still putting their soul into their jams. It's just not on the radio anymore. Good post. You are %100 correct.