Music soothes my soul.

It's funny how different a song can be from the first time you discover it to the 1,000th play on your iTunes. Music transforms from that initial listen and can change its meaning over time.

For instance, the song "Skeleton Key" by Margot and the Nuclear So-And-So's originally was considered a love song to me. I used to think it was a praise song, written by a guy for a wonderful girl who was always there for him (Just like a skeleton key is the foundational key for a house - she was his foundational girl, always having his back). After listening to the song again and again, I realized the song was really about a girl who was plain and didn't affect him as much as I had dreamed. In the song, the girl basically changed her life and left another man to be with the singer. She attended to him night and day, and yet the singer doesn't even care for her. One verse states, "I miss you less and less every day/ The stream of whiskey's helped to wash you away/ And it's clear to see, you're nothing special/ You're a skeleton key." - What once was considered a special reserved position, that of the skeleton key, is now a worthless title. Being a skeleton key is bland and unimportant.

To hear the song, click below :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzd6MSh9u_w

Some songs, on the other hand, remain the same and cannot be changed, regardless of the meaning or who the song represents. Songs like "Cooler Than Me" by Mike Posner could not be more obvious about its meaning. He essentially spouts off about a girl who thinks she is on a pedestal and should be worshiped. Posner even hits on the fact that she's insecure by the way she adds makeup and wears the hottest clothes. Posner sings, "I got you all figured out/ You need everyone's eyes just to feel seen/ Behind your makeup, nobody knows who you really are/ Who do you think that you are?" Clearly a slam song, there is no way to mess up the interpretation.

I love when certain songs remind me of certain people, and it cracks me up when songs that traditionally are meant to remind me of someone good are actually songs that slam them in the process. I used to think "Linger" by the Cranberries was a love song and it meant so much to me when I was dating someone, and the song isn't celebrating love - it's about a girl who is hurt after losing someone she cares about.

Music reflects the way I feel, and it also helps me deal with some internal struggles. I can't help but think how people misinterpret songs all the time, with unintentional hurt. Danny Bonaduce's then-wife was attempting to be sweet by singing him "Best of You" by the Foo Fighters, when really that song is about a girl sucking the life out of a guy and how the girl is toxic. Hey, she tried. :)