Cuahgt Between The Past and The Present: Meet The Yearning Romantic

Heartbreak and self-discovery highlight the Yearning Romantic’s CIAB. The yearning romantic views their past through a lens of loss. The Yearning Romantic emphasizes this loss and pain through sound effects that distort and muffle lyrics to illustrate the inability to let go and process a heartbreak. There is a sense of hurt and pain in the distortion and choices of lyrics from joan’s so good:

Should I talk to her?

Should I introduce myself?

What if I mess it up?

I just can’t believe my eyes

There’s my girl,

that I know for sure

Never thought I’d need somebody else

Like you,

that you can make me feel, feel,

feel so good

All these years,

waiting for the one,

Never settle for nobody else

Now you’re here,

Life has never felt, felt, felt so good

The yearning romantic starts their song with a high-pitched string guitar, which is quickly followed by a heavy synthesizer beat, which moves back into the guitar with a Spanish-sounding beat. The teen adds echo sound effects to create a dreamy sound in Olivia Rodrigo’s Driver’s License. The lyrics are about a lover who has moved on, suggesting the teen is transitioning to a new phase in their life.

And I know we weren’t perfect,

but I’ve never felt this way for no one, oh

And I just can’t imagine how you could be so okay now that I’m gone.

The teen chooses to use a quote from a Notting Hill scene to emphasize their willingness to be seen –

I’m also just a girl,

standing in front of a boy,

asking him to love her

The yearning romantic longs for their past love to see them as their authentic self or simply as the woman they are. In their audio biography, the teenager shares their heartfelt journey and expresses a deep desire to reshape their narrative by healing from the lingering pain of heartbreak and embracing the possibility of new love.

We can see the teen’s lingering pain through the song Epilogue by IU, the lyrics:

Was it good to know me?

Was it good to love me?

Are the old songs I would sing for us still comforting?

If you answer ‘yes’ to all of these questions

With that alone, my life will be okay

Oh, it’ll hold enough meaning

They further set it as an intimate mood through the slow music pace and the choice of using an electric guitar and keyboard to display a mellow atmosphere. A scene from Call Me by Your Name is significant in showing the teens’ internal struggle with telling someone from the past that they loved them (or deciding to keep it inside) –

Is it better to speak or die?

Moving forward continues with Conan Gray’s song Memories –

But you show up today,

just to ruin things

I wanna lf-

put you in the past ’cause I’m traumatized,

But you’re not letting me do that.

Toward the song’s end, the teen fades the lyrics to shut out that thought. The participant goes back, creating tension of being unable to do anything. However, during their journey of breaking free, the participant amplifies the volume of the lyric

Today, just to ruin things

I wanna.

From the louder volume of the song, the teen emphasizes that past love is blocking them from escaping the past and letting go of those memories.