Author: Amanda Taylor
Iconic band, The 1975, blurs the line love and longing with “I Couldn’t Be More In Love”. The second to last track on the band’s third studio album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships is arguably one of the band’s best productions.
Not Your Average Love Song…
“I Couldn’t Be More In Love” illustrates the duality of being in love and longing. The instrumentals and gentle mix of keyboard synths echo throughout the track. The first verse concludes with the pleading lyrics, “She said, ‘I gave you four years of my life’” as the chorus breaks free and lead singer, Matty Healy executes his scream-it-hoarse vocals. “What about these feelings I’ve got?… I couldn’t be more in love” Healy cries as a trumpet is heard faintly in the background. By the second chorus rendition, what sounds to be a church choir can be identified laid behind the vocals and heard throughout the rest of the song. To which, I think was a brilliant addition, as it contributes to the raw song that Matty and his bandmates created. Playing on the idea of duality within the track— to end the second verse, “Because I’d give you all the years of my life” is felt in the listener’s chest. I love this line so much because not only was it sung at the end of the first verse as something his partner told him, speaking in past tense. Now, Healy wines in the present tense, from his first person perspective. The tone in which the line is sung alongside the choir-like synths, it can be perceived as love, but also a dramatic longing for love. The line itself, solely relying on lyrical analysis, he would give and be with his lover the rest of his life is essentially what Healy cries. Which makes me further contemplate the distinction between love and longing within the song and its entirety in reality.
I Couldn’t Be More In Love?
This track has the ability to be perceived in any which way the listener chooses. On one hand, the title and familiar line, “I couldn’t be more in love” represents the excessive amount of love that possesses Healy, so much so that he’s casting to his lover that he truly couldn’t be any more in love with them. With this interpretation, the rest of the song follows suit in the same tone, lyrics, and instrumentals and allows listeners to give in to hearing a song about love. On the contrary, the powerful line may have an alternative meaning. Healy’s pleading could signify his longing for the relationship to work and even rekindle. “We got it wrong and you said you’d had enough” also sung in the dramatic chorus’. With this, “I Couldn’t Be More In Love ” has the potential to be listened to through a perspective of longing and heartbreak. The song’s meaning is entirely up for interpretation of the listener.
What is Love and What is Longing?
The bridge of the track is a soft and evolving electric guitar solo followed by my favorite part of the song, the powerful vocal outro. Matty Healy repeats the chorus previously heard throughout the track but with an elevated church gospel harmonizing in the background while his vocals soar. As a big fan of The 1975 and A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, I think this is one of the rawest vocals heard within the entirety of the album. After hearing the song conclude and putting it into perspective, I feel as though the entirety of the song, including the guitar riff bridge, was leading up to the exhilarating and unmatched vocals heard in the last chorus. It sounds as though this “love” has been contained for too long, it feels as if it’s been freed with the lead singer’s incredible voice. The vocals sung from Healy’s chest can be heard as either a cry out to a lover— longing for their love, or an expression of all the love he has contained far too long. The song’s interpretation varies and is always up for debate, but “I Couldn’t Be More In Love ” being recognized for anything less than one of the band’s most well produced tracks, is not.
Amanda Taylor | I Could Be More In Love | KXSU Music & Arts Reporter