The Current Music Blog: December 2, 2007 Archive

Rilo Kiley = Flagellation?

Posted at 9:11 PM on December 2, 2007 by Jacquie Fuller (10 Comments)

So, you know that song, "Breakin' Up," by Rilo Kiley? I have a relationship with that song that I have with no other song ever recorded. I'd call it a "love/hate" relationship, but it really goes deeper than that. When I say "love," I mean love like first kisses and the consummation of unrequited crushes and choirs of angels singing. And when I say "hate," I mean hate like murder.

No offense to anyone who loves this song--this is just my opinion--but every time I hear it play, I feel every cell in my body fill with loathing. Like someone just shoved a plateful of pickles under my nose. I'm thinking, "Who got a hold of one of my Intro to Creative Writing student's awful, maudlin love poems and set it to the kind of music I'd hear at Restoration Hardware?"

Ah, but then ...

What happens next is what perplexes me: I find myself singing, across the mountaintops and over the valleys, as if I had suddenly been transformed into one of the backup gospel singers in Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video: "Oooh, it, feels good to be fuh-ree!" And I surf the sweet, swelling wave of triumph over the heads of all the schmucks who ever broke my heart.

How can one song have such an effect on me? It's totally bewildering. I can't stand it ... yet, I can't get enough of it. If I were a monk, "Breakin' Up" by Rilo Kiley would be my hairshirt.

What songs do you have a love/hate relationship with? (Bonus points if they're played on The Current.)

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