You know when someone says “Oh, I’ve never heard that one” about your favourite song? I hate it.
I really want to feel happy for them because they’re in for a glorious treat. But all I can think of is that my first time is already spent, and there they are with theirs freshly ahead of them.
Nothing beats that jolt in the pit of your stomach when you realise that you’re listening to a song that will tattoo itself on your soul. I want that feeling again too. Cue ugly green envy.
This bothers me. Envy is a cardinal sin for a reason. But I think I’ve found absolution: YouTube reaction videos.
Watching someone else experience your favourite song for the first time is a close second. And if it’s a song that’s always been there, one you can’t remember not knowing, this is a chance at the first time you never got.
For me, that song is “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA. I’m Swedish. I don’t recall the first time. But I know other things very well.
I know the lovely surprise hiding behind a stranger’s raised eyebrow when they hear Agnetha’s first “I don’t want to talk...” I know the tug in the heart when they close their eyes at “Does it feel the same / when she calls your name?” And I know the sad delight of that looong “The winner takes it aaaaaaaaaall” towards the end.
By now, I’ve watched dozens of them: teenagers who’ve clearly never heard ABBA, vocal coaches, rappers, heavy metal dudes. And in every face I see myself.
I do realise this makes me sound like some sort of vampire, sucking the blood of ABBA virgins to keep myself alive, but maybe it’s something else entirely.
Maybe it’s more like the joy of watching someone open a present you’ve chosen for them. It’s not a paler version of getting the present yourself. It’s a joy of its own.
What’s your song?
Watch a few reaction videos and tell me: whose face looks the way you feel?
You’ve just read a Tiny Tendency, the smaller sibling of the usual Cultural Tendencies essay: one little thing I’ve noticed about culture, taken seriously for a few minutes—just for fun. Tiny Tendencies appear every other week, between the longer essays.
Still feeling a bit culturally promiscuous?
