‘Us’: how Regina Spektor’s anthem became the romance song for a generation
A song which rails against the shackles of Soviet communism doesn’t seem the likeliest choice of an anthem which defined love and lust for an entire generation, but ‘Us’ by Regina Spektor fulfils just that paradox. Combining the political with an overt sense of self-reckoning, Spektor’s tour-de-force breakthrough spoke to something both deeply personal and equally universal in finding one’s own place in the romantic world.
In many ways, ‘Us’ is a lone example of an occasion where chalk and cheese actually make a pretty delectable combination because, for all intents and purposes, from a sonic perspective, this really shouldn’t work. Spektor’s vocal tone is so obnoxiously over-enunciated that it wouldn’t feel out of place on some kind of screaming emo track, contrasted to a gentle swell of piano and string quartet that drifts the listener down a deeply moving journey.
These two characteristics may seem at odds with one another, but the reality is that it perfectly captures a certain sense of youthful bliss that only those who have found love and joy in the face of adversity can testify to. Spektor, as no stranger to unlikely hits, gained international acclaim for the song following its 2004 and 2006 reissues in America and the UK, respectively, hailing from the aesthetically appropriate album Soviet Kitsch.
Paying homage to the unique idiosyncrasies of style borne out of communist ideology, ‘Us’ and the album at large represent a very special coming of age under testing circumstances. The video for the song, presented entirely in a rudimentary stop-motion form, sees Spektor unpacking into a new home in a spectacularly fantastical fashion while juxtaposing battles with soldiers and dictatorial figures. If one thing is for certain, it definitely lights an imaginative spark.
But this also speaks to the singer’s experience, and likely that of many others, in creating a life for themselves in spite of such political disarray. In this sense, through lyrics like: “They’ll name a city after us/ And later say it’s all our fault/ Then they’ll give us a talking to,” as well as “We’re living in a den of thieves/ Rummaging for answers in the pages,” Spektor creates an exhilarating elegy to youth and the promises of love it holds, and in doing so embodied the definitive power of romance for all those left marvelling in its wake.
Transforming into a cult hit of double order was no mean feat, but this was exactly what ‘Us’ became as its use in the classic teen angst indie drama 500 Days of Summer and the sleeper success of Soviet Kitsch rendered it an anthem of late 2000s romance. Seminal and swooning, it was the epitome of a song for poetic young lovers finding the world at their feet.
Not many tunes or artists can truly take flight after having such a number of false starts trying to lift off the ground, but as Regina Spektor ultimately demonstrates in the anthemic grittiness of ‘Us’, diamonds only form under pressure. Between statues, cities, and “a den of thieves”, in this song, love’s young dream is the triumphant winner – and in many ways, it’s the only thing that matters.
