‘Tonight’: Angel Olsen’s final chapter of a breakup
Dealing with heartbreak, whether in the form of romance, bereavement, professional loss, or even unfulfilled dreams, is never an easy feat and one best expressed out loud before letting it consume your every thought. Historically, musicians have mastered the art of turning pain into pleasure by using their craft as therapy. Perhaps one of the finest at perfecting this magic trick is North Carolina songwriter Angel Olsen. No greater example of this was the release of her fifth studio album, All Mirrors, in 2019, which took listeners on a journey through her own experiences of romantic trauma.
As the album’s title suggests, this record continues to discuss themes explored by Olsen in previous releases, but in a more cynical and self-reflective vein. In particular, the song ‘Tonight’ navigates the ruinous effects of toxic relationships, but not in the way one would expect. Instead, Olsen presents listeners with a stark reflection that she’s better off in solitude despite her affection towards previous lovers.
Following the song’s release, Olsen admitted to Q: “That one specifically, it’s more about not hating someone anymore and not needing them either – not even needing to talk about them or think about them.” Her soothing vocal performance and the accompanying glistening orchestrated instrumentals capture the track’s excessive vulnerability.
Much of the album’s songs follow the same path, but it’s the devastating honesty riddled throughout ‘Tonight’ that listeners clung to after its original release, separating it from the rest. It goes without saying that Olsen’s magic derives from her distinctive nostalgic synth-wave sound. The music masses neatly perceive her as a modern-day fusion between the whimsical chimes of Kate Bush and the melancholic sighs of Joni Mitchell.
Despite the song’s softly sung nature, its hard-hitting lyrical content demonstrates a thorny juxtaposition at play. Listing the experiences she enjoys alone in ‘Tonight’ like “the air that I breathe”, “the thoughts that I think”, and “the life that I lead”, Olsen takes no prisoners when it comes to quietly confessing that her life is much more fruitful without the constraints imposed by her previous relationship.
Just as her perspective on romance shifts and becomes “clear”, which she addresses in the song’s second verse, the adjacent instrumental textures begin to soar until they reach a climax sonically illustrating Olsen’s newfound freedom. There is no wonder that the seminal track, as well as the album that it appears on, caused a ruckus among singer-songwriter enthusiasts when it was introduced half a decade ago.
Having come out as gay publicly in 2021 via an Instagram post, it seems that being honest with herself is more important to Olsen in recent times than ever before. Written and published two years prior to this announcement, it might not be too adventurous to suggest that producing songs like ‘Tonight’ were the catalyst for Olsen’s transformation. If so, then Olsen’s story proves the power of songwriting and its ability to convey obvious messages in the subtlest of terms, as she explained to Pitchfork: “There’s nothing more impactful than someone quietly being cold and knowing that they don’t need someone anymore. And if you really believe something, you don’t have to shout it.”
If there’s one lesson that budding songwriters should take from Olsen, it’s that often the softest of voices speak the loudest and this is certainly true when revisiting ‘Tonight’.
