Lucy Dacus expertly reflects on the double-edged sword of breaking someone’s heart in her newest single “Limerence.”
“Limerence,” released on Jan. 15, is one of two singles from Dacus’ upcoming album Forever Is a Feeling. While the release of the first single, “Ankles,” was announced by Dacus on her Instagram page, “Limerence” found its way onto streaming services, much like the sound of the track itself, quietly and with little fuss.
Due to the secretive nature of its release, the singer has had little to say about “Limerence” specifically. Still, in an interview with Dazed about the album, Dacus talked about various iterations of love being an inspiration for the record. “I have a lot of songs about love in the grand scheme,” she said.
While “Limerence” starts by painting the picture of a warm and intimate gathering of friends, the track’s opening verse seems wildly misleading when considering the content of the rest of the song. This description of everyday interactions shared between buddies is accompanied by the beautiful twinkling of intertwining piano lines and humming strings, further diverting the listener’s attention from the track’s real intentions.
It isn’t until the first chorus when all the pretty musical decorations fade away that it becomes clear something is afoot, with Dacus plainly concluding that she will soon have to break her partner’s heart.
It’s a smart choice. Instead of highlighting its emotionally devastating intentions from the very beginning, leaving only masochists and crazy people to see the track to its end, “Limerence” lulls its listener into a false sense of security before violently tearing up any hope they might have had for their emotional well-being.
“Limerence” is a song about coming to terms with the end of a relationship and the harm that will be done to both parties when severing those ties. It’s about desperately wanting to be happy with what is good for you, but feeling the most alive when you are participating in something that is ultimately going to hurt you more. “Limerence” beautifully reflects the utter ugliness that permeates certain human experiences. This is something that, for the most part, humans don’t want to be forced to reflect on.
Still, Dacus knows her audience. Currently, her most popular track is a song called “Night Shift,” which uses the very simple but devastating metaphorical analogy of shift work to describe the aftermath of a failed romantic connection. Lucy Dacus fans are interested in ripping their emotions to shreds and Lucy Dacus knows that. Perhaps new listeners need to be slowly immersed in the emotionally injurious nature of the track, but fans of the singer must know what is coming, right? Why plant the heart-wrenching premise of her latest track behind this red herring of an opening verse?
The answer is simple.
In the beginning of the song, Natalie speaks of limerence as she smokes a blunt, Roddy expertly plays GTA in a way that should be concerning and Lucy shovels popcorn into her mouth to hide from her own thoughts. Each of these characters is coping in one way or another, distracting themselves from their problems either by using recreational drugs, spending lots of time playing video games or simply pretending the problem at hand doesn’t exist.
The opening verse is both purposely clear and unclear because it can be interpreted in two different ways: as an indication of the track’s thematic narrative or as a distraction from the pain the song is about to cause. Either way, the first verse deals with the art of avoidance which is what the track is about at its core. “Limerence” understands the desperate need to distract oneself when the lines between right and wrong begin to blur and things start to get complicated.
While it expertly functions as a beautiful distraction, the opening verse is not a red herring. It clearly tells you what is coming all along, you just have to stop and think about what you are listening to.
Still, no one can argue that “Limerence,” in its blunt and candid nature, isn’t incredibly successful in its attempt to emotionally destroy you. It’s devastating, but with Lucy Dacus, that’s usually part of the package. She does it so well that it’s hard not to admire her as you wipe away tears with your shirt sleeve.