Tweeting Lyrics

I don’t have a Twitter. The idea in and of itself freaks me out—why do people need to know what I’m thinking every minute of every day? Am I really that interesting? Should a majority of my thoughts be made public? Should any of my thoughts be made public? Why would I have to follow people? Why would people follow me? Does it bother anyone else that Foursquare enables actual following? Like, stalking? 

My roommates, however, are really into all forms of social media—Twitter being their favorite. They like to read tweets aloud, forward tweets to each other and Nancy Drew their way through other peoples’ tweets, drawing stark conclusions from 140-word passages. Their favorite tweet to analyze?

The lyrical tweet.

From what I’ve gathered, the lyrical tweet is a few lines from any given song that’s supposed to summarize how said tweet-er is feeling. On occasion, the lyrical tweet should be taken at face value—sometimes people just like a song. But, for the most part, the lyrical tweet is a passive attempt to convey something without actually saying it.

As a nonbiased, third-party observer, here’s how I interpret some of the lyrical tweets I’ve seen recently:

Where have you been all my life? – Rihanna

New relationship, huh? A week in and you can already tell you’ve found the one? Hey, man, best of luck. I hope for your sake that one of you doesn’t tweet that Gotye song in three months. 

But you didn’t have to cut me off/Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing/And I don’t even need your love/But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough - Gotye

You were the clingy, overemotional one in the relationship. 

She’s like a one-way ticket cause you can’t come back/Sayin’ yeah, and you want her/But she’s so mean – Matchbox 20

You’re in love with your best friend. Chill, we all know it. We’ve known it for like six years. And we all think it’s really cute. It’s just—she’s not into you. You know? You’re like… you’re not her type. Sorry.

So what, we get drunk/So what, we smoke weed/We’re just having fun/We don’t care who sees/So what, we go out/That’s how it’s supposed to be/livin’ young and wild and free – Wiz Khalifa

Enter Saturday morning hangover, immediately followed by Saturday afternoon hangover, immediately followed by tweeting that Fun. song about being young.

Not losing any sleep/I picked up every piece/And landed on my feet/I’m wide awake/Need nothing to complete myself, no – Katy Perry