On Song Lyrics, Part II

When I came home for Thanksgiving break a couple months ago, I started listening to the radio in the car again for the first time since summer. There was a lot of new music out, as well as some older hits that I recognized from before I left for school, but two songs in particular caught my attention: “Happier” by Ed Sheeran and “Happier” by Marshmello featuring Bastille.

At first, I was mostly surprised that these two songs had the same name. In general, this probably happens pretty often with pop music, since titles need to be short and catchy. The 1997 “As Long As You Love Me” by the Backstreet Boys and a distinct song with the same name released in 2012 by Justin Bieber come to mind as another example of this trend. Still, for two songs with the same name to be out and popular at the same time seemed a bit more rare.

With a title like “Happier,” the songs could have been about anything; there’s so much that can make someone happy. What’s perhaps even more surprising, though, is that both artists sing about the same kind of happiness, that found by moving on from a toxic relationship.

There’s something really mature about the idea of moving on from someone to make both them and yourself happier. As both Marshmello/Bastille and Ed Sheeran show, it’s not easy and it certainly doesn’t feel satisfying, even after some time. It takes selflessness, emotional intelligence, and intrapersonal understanding.

Together, the songs give a more complete panorama of what moving on looks like. Marshmello and Bastille’s version is from the perspective of someone who is still in the relationship. “I want to see you smile but/ Know that means I’ll have to leave” sings Bastille, highlighting the irony of choosing to let someone you love go. Ed Sheeran’s song, on the other hand, is about someone who is having trouble moving on after the relationship has already ended and his ex-lover has fallen in love with someone new. He sings about how his former partner looks “happier” with her new significant other, while he himself still believes he was happiest with her. If you listen to Marshmello’s version first, then play Ed Sheeran’s, it’s like listening to one continuous story, from the decision to break up all the way through to the consequences.

I love Ed Sheeran’s music, but originally I thought his version was the lesser one. Just move on already! I wanted to scream at him every time I heard the song. If you were really hurting each other that much—if your relationship was anything like the one Bastille sings about—how can you possibly still think it’s a good idea to be with this person again? At first listen, Bastille seemed rational to me, while Ed Sheeran came across as mopey.

The more I’ve listened to the two songs together, however, the more I’ve come to value Ed Sheeran’s version. Bastille may appear more rational, but emotions are inherently irrational. Ed Sheeran’s song may not necessarily have a healthy message—I really do still think he should move on already—but it does have a real, human message, and that’s just as important to portray. What’s more, Bastille’s song seems to foreshadow the feelings Ed Sheeran describes. Even when Bastille seems so sure that he needs to break off the relationship, he admits that “only for a minute/ [he] want[s] to change [his] mind/ ‘Cause this just don’t feel right.” Indeed, it doesn’t feel right for Ed Sheeran, either. Maybe Bastille only appears rational because he hasn’t actually had to face the consequences of losing his lover yet, while Ed Sheeran has.

Sheeran’s song raises interesting literary and philosophical questions when you consider it with Marsmello and Bastille’s. He makes us question what the timeline for emotional healing looks like—whether moving on from someone really does get easier with time or if it somehow actually gets harder. He also makes us think more critically about what is enough to make you cut a person out of your life. Bastille describes the remnants of his relationship as “the wreck we made,” but is this wreck really irreparable? Or, as Ed Sheeran seems to propose when he tells his lover he’ll “be waiting here for [her],” can it be fixed one day, if given enough time? There’s an interesting interplay between hope and reality when the two songs are paired. You want to be hopeful like Ed Sheeran, but you know you need to be logical like Bastille.

The two songs paint a fairly complete picture of what moving on looks like, but there’s still a third part missing to complete the story: one in which Bastille and Ed Sheeran finally achieve happiness. As much as the artists sing about wanting to be happy, neither actually reaches the point of being happier yet in their song. Maybe that’s a statement on what it means to move on. “You never really heal, but just learn to live with the pain,” to paraphrase the old adage about recovering from grief. Or maybe, as I’d like to believe, finally being happier will be the next hit song of 2019.