The Cure song guaranteed to give you chills, according to science
One reason why The Cure surpassed many other rock bands was Robert Smith’s authenticity.
Most of what he writes comes straight from the heart, whether they’re like small diary entries capturing older memories or the waves of rumination that come after, when you’re trying to make sense of it all. Smith is one of the most real and raw songwriters to have ever existed, living and breathing the craft as though he needs it for survival.
One of the biggest examples of this unmatched authenticity is the fact that Smith is the same person in any situation – on stage or offstage. What you see is what you get; no barrier separates the art from the artist, or the image from the real person. There are no boundaries that place the frontman in a separate category from the real figure behind it all – meaning that Smith is, quite literally, his music.
As he once admitted to NPR, “I look like I look, whether I’m onstage or off. I mean, my hair looks the same. My face looks the same. I wear black. I don’t walk around in a pink, silk kimono at home. I listen to a lot of music, I play music. In that sense, I’m who you would expect me to be.”
One of the ways that Smith managed to transform his thoughts and experiences into art is by weaving in fictional embellishments, taking real events and swirling them into a gothic abyss where ambiguities thrive. When it comes to definitions of gothic wave, The Cure have always been right there, torchbearers of everything it represents – from heavy or haunting atmospheres to lyrics that ruminate on existence and romance, sometimes both.
A lot of the time, it’s hard to put your finger on why, exactly, their music hits – it just does. And it’s only when you start to dig deeper that you get even more swept away in the overwhelm that is Smith’s gorgeously delicate view on the world and the things that make us tick, sometimes in ways that make it hard to figure out what it is that he’s actually talking about.
That said, it’s often those scenarios that make for the best kind of music; the kinds that are easier for us to apply our own meaning to, as though the material was curated especially for us and not from anyone’s perspective but our own. It’s like with ‘Lovesong’, for instance, arguably one of the band’s most commercial and accessible songs in their discography, but one which proves the point nonetheless, giving us chills every single time.
According to data scientist Rémi de Fleurian, there’s a reason why that song in particular evokes such an emotional response, and it’s to do with “frisson”, or, as it is more commonly known, the chills we feel when listening to a piece of music that makes us feel something. Fleurian looked into 700 songs to identify the features of songs that made us feel a particular way, including well-known spine-tinglers like Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘Tears in Heaven’.
These songs were found to be typically “sadder, slower, less intense, and more instrumental than matched tracks.” They were also more “sophisticated, relaxing, quiet, non-danceable, slow, and non-electric”. It’s no surprise, therefore, that ‘Lovesong’ was also on there – providing a laidback listen that also sends you somewhere visceral. However, those features aren’t the only reason why the song hits.
Although it was initially inspired by Smith’s need to showcase his devotion to Mary Poole during a hefty touring schedule, its meaning also feels far more universal, but also weighted down by something more precise, like the yearn that comes with longing for someone that you already have but who you could have spent more time with, or at least, more time proving your commitment to when you were physically apart.
The lyrics also hold a lot of weight, despite their simplicity, making it easier for us to hold onto them for a longer amount of time: “Whenever I’m alone with you / You make me feel like I am young again,” Smith sings, “Whenever I’m alone with you / You make me feel like I am fun again / However far away / I will always love you / However long I stay / I will always love you.”
