Music Review: Rob Thomas "This Is How A Heart Breaks"
Rob Thomas
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This Is How A Heart Breaks
Album: Something To Be
Year: 2005
In the venomous "This Is How A Heart Breaks," Rob Thomas' neuroses has distanced him from loved ones, which upsets him.
Clenched drums open the single, setting an unsettled tone. Thomas asks his girlfriend if she wants to be spontaneous. He's noticed she's been ambivalent towards him lately. He feels like he doesn't exist to her anymore. He's disillusioned at what his life has become. Bewildered by the sudden negative direction, he feels lost. He can't confide in the person he loves the most -- his girlfriend.
In the pre-chorus, he says he's about to break from the pressure although he appears to be fine. He can't handle his life anymore.
In the chorus, he charges ahead with his anger. He's had enough. Slowly, he's been holding back his disappointment. The silence from his girlfriend and his uncertainty about his career path has cut his self-esteem. It's nonexistent. It's been keeping him up at night.
In the second verse, he asks his girlfriend if she would like to go back to when they first met. Life was promising then. Now, she tunes him out and yells at him. He blames her changed personality for ruining his life. She became an aggressive go-getter. He misses the days when he was the breadwinner.
He says that if they break up, it won't be an awful thing. They have both been escaping from each other.
Album: Something To Be
Year: 2005
In the venomous "This Is How A Heart Breaks," Rob Thomas' neuroses has distanced him from loved ones, which upsets him.
Clenched drums open the single, setting an unsettled tone. Thomas asks his girlfriend if she wants to be spontaneous. He's noticed she's been ambivalent towards him lately. He feels like he doesn't exist to her anymore. He's disillusioned at what his life has become. Bewildered by the sudden negative direction, he feels lost. He can't confide in the person he loves the most -- his girlfriend.
"Don't you wanna go for a ride/Just keep your hands inside/And make the most out of life/Now don't you take it for granted/
Life is like a mean machine/It made a mess outta me/It left me caught between/Like an angry dream I was stranded."
In the pre-chorus, he says he's about to break from the pressure although he appears to be fine. He can't handle his life anymore.
"And I'm steady but I'm starting to shake/And I don't know how much more I can take."
In the chorus, he charges ahead with his anger. He's had enough. Slowly, he's been holding back his disappointment. The silence from his girlfriend and his uncertainty about his career path has cut his self-esteem. It's nonexistent. It's been keeping him up at night.
"This is it now/Everybody get down/This is all I can take/This is how a heart breaks/You take a hit now you feel it break down/Make you stay wide awake/This is how a heart breaks."
In the second verse, he asks his girlfriend if she would like to go back to when they first met. Life was promising then. Now, she tunes him out and yells at him. He blames her changed personality for ruining his life. She became an aggressive go-getter. He misses the days when he was the breadwinner.
"Don't you wanna go for a ride/Down to the other side/Feels so good you could cry/
Now won't you do what I told you/I remember when you used to be shy/Yeah, once we were so fine/
You and I why you gotta make it so hard on me."
He says that if they break up, it won't be an awful thing. They have both been escaping from each other.
"And I'm sorry but it's not a mistake/And I'm running but you're getting away."
In the bridge, he puts her down for not meeting his high standards. He says that their relationship is boring and routine. She has all these needs she wants him to tend to, which he has no interest in doing. He then accuses her of not growing up and not being a yes-girl for him."You're not the best thing that I knew/Never was never cared too much/For all this hanging around/It's just the same thing all the time/Never get what I want/Never get too close to the end of the line/You're just the same thing that I knew back before the time/When I was only for you."
The chorus is sung twice.
The single takes a soulful tone at the end. The background singers riff as Thomas bursts in with "this is how a heart breaks."
Thomas' wounded soul-who-needs-the-love-of-a-sweet-girl role has been warm-hearted in past singles. However, his selfishness and self-centeredness in "This Is How A Heart Breaks" give the single an unexpected nastiness. The single is a series of contradictions: he wants to be close to her, than he yanks her away. He wants to her be who she was 10 years ago, yet he expects her to change. His rigidity throughout drains any tenderness he gained from the first verse.
While the chorus is rousing and Thomas' vocals are passionate, it's not enough to rid the single of its insensivity.