college applications have been on my mind all throughout this summer, so what would be more fitting than a song literally named “Campus”?
i first heard this song a couple years back while i was bored at a t-mobile store. i remember hearing that incredibly simple bass line- just the eight-note scale of g major, and really liked it. to find songs i hear in public, i try memorizing a few lines of them and digging through the internet. the lines i memorized back then are the title of this post.
it’s a very short song, at just under three minutes, and as a pop song, the instrumentation is very sparse. but it manages to tell a short, clever story about what i’m guessing is an affair between two professors. the highlight of the lyrics has to be the ambiguous but infectiously catchy chorus-(“How am I supposed to pretend”/”I never want to see you again”). on one hand, you could treat it as one whole sentence, and it would be a question of longing (“How am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?”). on the other hand, you could treat it as two separate sentences, and it would be a cold rejection (“How am I supposed to pretend? I never want to see you again”). well, that’s lyrical analysis for you! give it a listen if you haven’t already!
