I’ve been out of university and in the Real World for just over a year now, so I’ve had fewer opportunities to flex the muscles of my inner wordsmith – well, fewer opportunities to flex to a deadline. However, I regret to inform the 3 of you who may read this, that the chance to flex once again has arrived. The light to the blue touch paper? Sonia’s You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You.
I’m pinpointing this song because it’s a more recent discovery by way of an old Top of the Pops repeat. I had no idea it existed, had never listened to Sonia, and suddenly all I listened to was Sonia. This song was repeated, the specific number of times I do not wish to make public. It was the soundtrack to many lunchtime kitchen dances, post-shower dances, getting-dressed-in-the-morning-bedroom dances, practically any situation into which it was possible to incorporate dancing.
You thought I’d be mean about this song by my use of the word ‘trash’ in the title of this post. Thought I’d fooled you? I haven’t – it is, in fact, utter trash. The musical equivalent of a McDonald’s. But please do not be fooled by this, dear reader. I use the term ‘trash’ with the utmost affection and fondness. The subsection of music borne out of the synthesised technicolour apex that was Stock, Aiken and Waterman’s late 80s pop emporium. Such an empire was built on so much pop cheesiness that it could cause gastrointestinal issues in anyone within a 5-mile radius. Don’t believe me? Check out another Sonia offering – Someone Like You. A far cry from the 21st century lamenting of Adele, its 80s counterpart is in fact a bouncy, girlishly naïve, bubble-gum tune about finding the perfect boy. This sense of naivety brings me back to the somewhat questionable message behind You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You.
“You’ll never stop me from loving you/It doesn’t really matter what you put me through/You’ll never stop me from loving you.” Where is this message to be found in Beauvoir’s The Second Sex? Oh, right. Although, the whole song does strike a rather stalkerish note: “When I know that you’re alone/I wander to your home/And catch a glimpse or two.” The only other example I can think of in this lyrical arena is Busted’s That’s What I Go To School For – “I climb a tree outside her home/To make sure that she’s alone/I see her in her underwear/I can’t help but stop and stare.” This hardly supports the case that spying on someone when they’re at home is an entirely non-creepy thing to do. However, where Busted come across as laddish schoolboys, Sonia harks back to that girlish, rose tinted naivety I was harping on about a minute ago. Indeed, the entire idea of ‘it doesn’t really matter what you put me through’ is walking the line between lovestruck and faintly concerning. Food for thought.
I know, I’m being painfully self-righteous. Disclaimer time: I understand this is by no means the worst song to come out of the 80s regarding the perception of women (the entire back catalogue of Mötley Crüe, anyone?) Indeed, there are many other songs with equally wet sentiments from the women of the 20th Century – Jennifer Rush’s The Power of Love, even Dolly Parton’s Jolene. I am not holding Sonia or any of these women up as the enemy of feminism – I’d be a hypocrite if I was. It is simply interesting to notice how easily a questionable lyrical message can be overlooked by a catchy melody jammed with more synths than Gary Numan’s garage in 1979. But then, how many pop songs can that argument apply to?
I can hear my father having a go at me about this now – “it’s only a bloody pop song, stop reading into it so much.” Then again, if I didn’t spend my time naval gazing about 30-year old pop songs, what’s the point of this blog? (Rhetorical question). In all seriousness, I’m not trying to get on a soapbox and rant about how 80s pop music undercut centuries of feminist struggle. That would have been a brilliant dissertation topic, but I digress. The bottom line is this: You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You was written by a group of 3 blokes in the 80s who knew their way around production and a decent melody. I hope he never finds out, but my father is right. It’s incredibly catchy, it’s very upbeat, and most importantly, it’s of its time. In amongst months of such confusion, uncertainty and downright fear, it is completely harmless. If anything, it’s the opposite. The song is escapist and light-hearted. It may be so cheesy that you feel ashamed of liking it, but I say this – put it on when you’re making dinner or tidying your room. Allow yourself to fall for it, hook, line and synthesiser.