If you're an avid Spotify user, you're familiar with Discover Weekly. It's a playlist that Spotify creates for you that's filled with recommended songs you may like to listen for the week. I always listen to the playlist while I'm driving or for background music, and I may favorite some songs that I enjoyed more than others. However, while getting ready and packing for a trip, a specific song came on that made me feel mixed emotions. Very rarely do I come across such songs and when I do, I'm hypnotized.

The song I'm talking about is "Should've Been Us" by Karina V. The song is originally by Tori Kelly, but in this case it was a cover. This was surprising to me considering I've never been familiar with Tori Kelly. When I listened to the covered version, I enjoyed it so much and felt so different rather than when I listened to the original version. The original version is somewhat slower, weirdly auto tuned, and the music is more techno. The covered version uses acoustic guitar, a cleaner and cleared voice, and more fast paced. I'm no music major that can describe everything in their technical terms, but this is coming from my own perspective of what I notice. This is coming from your average listener with a hearing disability, so the outcomes may be different for someone else.

Anyways, when I became familiar with the lyrics, it was obvious this was a breakup song of some sort. The lyrics "It should've been us, should've been a fire, should've been the perfect storm. It should've been us. Could've been the real thing, now we'll never know for sure." is repeated throughout the song, hence the title. When I hear this verse, I begin to think of every crush, romantic love interest, and steady boyfriend I've had before. (I haven't been involved with very many people so it was easy to think of them each throughout the song.) I don't wish to be in love with these few people again, but the song makes me wonder what would have happened if I would have stayed with either person. Each relationship was great for a short amount of time and I was happy. We all tend to focus on what went bad and ruined the relationship instead of why we enjoyed it in the first place. That's not a reason to stay together, but it's OK to remember the good when you think of the bad.

The song made me happy that I was able to have experiences and happy that I was smart enough to leave when I did. It made me sad that thing's went downhill at some point. The way she sings made me feel empowered because I was smart enough to realize that I was in numerous bad situations. The type of song this is is one you wouldn't expect these types of thoughts, but everyone's perspective is different. Last but not least, it made me appreciate where I am in my love life today. I'm currently happy with who I'm with and how we're working together to make the "perfect storm" (insanely cheesy I know).

Original Song:

Cover Song: I could not find a link to the song so here's a webpage that has the artist and the lyrics!