"Hunger" by Florence + the Machine

This is the first single from Florence’s new album, “High as Hope,” which came out a couple weeks ago. The single was actually released about three months ago, in early May, and I’ve been pretty obsessed with it since then. It’s a good secret dancing song. By “secret dancing,” I mean the dancing that I assume all girls do when they’re listening to music by themselves, the kind of dancing you do with wild abandon that would be fairly embarrassing if someone walked in on you. That’s why it’s secret. Obviously. Florence Welch engages in some secret dancing in the video for “Hunger.” In fact, I’ve stolen some of her moves to incorporate into my repertoire.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what my “hunger” is. A lot of my life, I’ve felt this emptiness – something Florence alludes to (I thought that love was a kind of emptiness) – but I knew I was longing for something.  It didn’t take me long to identify it. I had a lonely childhood and I carried that loneliness into adulthood, in spite of myself, no matter how hard I've tried to reach out. I’ve always wanted someone to know everything about me, someone who wanted to know everything about me.  Because I want to know everything about me. Isn’t that point of all of it – all the shadow work, all the Buzzfeed quizzes telling me which Disney princess I am (it's Belle...it's always Belle), all the journaling? Isn’t that the reason for this blog? The aching hope that someone is out there, reading, wanting to understand my madness? That’s why I write, so that whoever is out there trying to understand has something to work with. Because I want them to know.

I write about music because that’s the best way for me to cope with my life. My favorite songs are the ones that apply to something I’m going through or give me inspiration for the stories I want to write.  That’s why Florence + the Machine is my favorite artist. I feel like every lyric she writes could’ve come straight from my soul. And I’m not even sure I believe in souls (I think I do, but – shh – don’t tell The Husband). When I first heard her second album, “Ceremonials,” I became obsessed with the idea that she was a witch, too. After a while, I came to think that it was probably just projection.  That everyone who I felt intensely connected with – even if I didn’t know them personally - must be a witch, because don’t we recognize our own kind? Well, turns out I was at least sort of right. Florence Welch was on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” a couple weeks ago talking about the coven she started when she was a teenager. Learning this makes me feel so much less alone, because I was also a pretty weird kid who always wanted to start her own coven. But I’m also pretty glad I was so strange because normal is boring. In addition to “High as Hope,” Florence also released a book of poetry called “Useless Magic.” Both the album (vinyl version, of course) and the book are safely at the top of my Amazon wishlist.

Favorite Lyrics:

I thought that love was on the stage,

Giving yourself to strangers.

You don’t have to be afraid.

I also really love the following repeated verse that leads into the chorus:

Tell me what you need, Oh, you look so free!

The way you use your body, baby, Come on and work it for me.

Don’t let it get you down, You’re the best thing I’ve seen

We never found the answer but we knew one thing

We all have a hunger! (repeated x8)

"Hunger" Video