"I Don't Wanna Live Forever" is by 2 artists I used to like that now are either a hit or miss. Zayn, a former member of One Direction who proved himself nothing but filler noise for better artists. Taylor Swift, a very talented songwriter who demonstrated a lot of potential from a young age while slowly moving away from her Country roots to become the next Pop Princess. The song being used as either the promo or theme song for the sequel to a terrible movie based on a terrible fan fiction of a horrible book performed by these 2 should be a recipe for disaster. However, what I got instead was truly unexpected.
This song is actually pretty good. The music is clear. The beat is tight. The vocals are being sung by people who are demonstrating that they can, at the very least, carry a tune. I'm very pleased with this song and before I explain why, I will address a small detail about the song that might become a problem down the line: it is very reminiscent of "Starboy" by The Weeknd. To clarify, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" is NOT ripping off "Starboy" (in my opinion). "Starboy" has a darker, more somber tone while "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" is not happy per say but does have brighter tones. The "Oh"s in the background are a really nice touch. In fact, the vocals in general are very well delivered. I don't know if its the editing or their actually singing but Zayn's and Taylor's voices sound really rich and full, helped by layered vocals and good harmonizing. At first, I didn't feel like Zayn's falsetto sounded good, but you get used to it as the song goes on. However, it is a huge relief when Zayn comes back to his vocal range and sounds much better. Taylor on the other hand, doesn't have that problem. The song seems to be written for her because she hits the high notes and the low notes almost naturally. "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" is in Taylor's range and it shows. Yes, the music is still very light and ambiance-like but, just like "Starboy", the reasons why this song works are:
1) It has a clear and distinct melody, rhythm, chord progression, and beats. Unlike "Pillowtalk" by Zayn or "Black Beatles" by Rae Sr, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" is a completed piece.
2)The energy and passion that the instruments lack are being delivered by the vocals (main and backing). "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" sounds likes a painful epiphany and a song of surrendering, in contrast "Work" (by Rihanna) sounds like a drunken slur.
If the music sounds like sadness and pain, how do the lyrics state this idea? In a way, you could say this is a very pretentious Break-up Song. The concept of eternal life being a curse rather than a blessing is nothing new. One of my favorite interpretations of this in music is by the Japanese band Iron Attack!'s "~Aeternitas Ludology~". I wasn't expecting Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik of all people to dive into this deep of a philosophical analysis about life, death, and immortality, but some of the lines in "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" evoke this imagery. The chorus opens up with "I don't wanna live forever 'cause I know I'll be living in vain". This line evokes and expresses a huge personal epiphany. There is no point in living forever. With no end, everything becomes meaningless, just like the girl's desire revenge in "~Aeternitas Ludology~". Then you hear the rest of the song and realize that this is about a break up, which takes that really brilliant lineturns it into a whine of an angsty teenager. For example when Zayn sings "It's just a cruel existence like there's no point hoping at all" which comes right after "Been sitting eyes wide open behind these four walls Hoping you'd call". I still really like this song but the context does not merit this level of angst. These brilliant lines about meaning and meaninglessness in life being centered on a significant other is just a bad message and take away from their brilliance. Break ups are painful, indeed, but there's no need to turn into Kierkegaard.
Conclusion? I still like this song, a lot. I think the music is very well put together even if the lyrics are a little whinny. I will probably even download this song on my iPod after I'm done writing this review. In general, I give this song confident thumbs up (even if it is symbolic of a terrible sequel of an already terrible book that's coming up)
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