Music Review: Calvin Harris & Florence Welch "Sweet Nothing"

Calvin Harris & Florence Welch

Sweet Nothing

Album: 18 Months

Year: 2012

        Florence Welch yearns for emotional intimacy in the downcast  “Sweet Nothing.”

        Mediative synths open the single, setting a lonely tone. She brushes a tear from her eye. He shakes his head and turns the television off, telling her she shouldn’t have the watched the movie if she knew it make her upset. She sniffs and gets a tissue, explaining she’ll be ok.  However, she has to go home now. He gives her a peck on the cheek and she leaves. Once she’s in the car, she bursts into tears, wondering why he’s dismissive of her feelings. In their first month together, he told not to keep secrets from him, to tell him everything. She let herself fall in love with him. However, his cruel remarks and plastic demeanor have turned her cold. (“You took my heart and you held it in your mouth/And, with a word all my love came rushing out/And, every whisper, it's the worst, emptied out by a single word/There is a hollow in me now.”)

           In the chorus, it was her belief in the goodness of him that allowed her be vulnerable. However, their conversations consists of pop culture and work gossip. He only mentions the positive things going on in his life.  She knows he doesn’t speak to his father but after a year, he has made the topic off-limits. She isn’t sure what to discuss with him anymore. (“So I put my faith in something unknown/I'm living on such sweet nothing/But I'm trying to hope with nothing to hold/I'm living on such sweet nothing/And it's hard to learn/And it's hard to love/When you're giving me such sweet nothing/Sweet nothing, sweet nothing/You're giving me such sweet nothing.”)

          The rattled beat spins and spins its jumbled thoughts, unable to concentrate.   

        A month later, they are out to dinner with some of his friends. She continues to replay the memory in her mind as he talks about how he is going to receive a promotion at work. She squeezes his hand and gives him a kiss. She puts her glass up and makes a toast. He shoots her a dirty look and grumbles that he didn’t want her to make a big deal out of it. She shrinks in her chair, wary of entering the conversation again. (“It isn't easy for me to let it go/Cause
I've swallow every single word/And every whisper, every sigh/Eats away at this heart of mine/And there is a hollow in me now.”)

           The chorus is sung again.

          The rattled beat returns again.

           In the bridge, he says he loves her. Wit his casual tone and her frown, neither actually believe in the emotion.  (“And it's not enough/To tell me that you care/When, we both know the words are empty air/You give me nothing.”)

               She “oh’s”  and then says “nothing.”

             The rattled beat returns for a third time.

             She “oh’s” again and says “sweet nothing” twice to end the single.

            Welch’s harrowing vocals cry in silence, pleading for her misery to be recongnized by him. He has enclosed his walls on her, blocking her in with only a narrow hole for air.

           Harris’ lamenting arrangement howls, venting its quiet frustration and bottled fury.

           The forsaken “Sweet Nothing” has its heart ripped open, leaving permenant scars on the skin.