Song Analysis: Love Like You (Lyrics)
Anonymous said:
Any thoughts on Love Like You? I've always believed that it wasn't about any specific character, but rather that each line/verse represented a different character. Like Rose to Greg, Pearl to Rose, Steven to Lapis and so on.
I’ve been wanting to write about this song for a really long time now. Since it’s rather lengthy, this is the first time I’ve been able to have a sit-down and analyse all the parts.
Love Like You is the Steven Universe ending theme, with each ending playing about 30 seconds of music. Because of this, the song is rather fragmented. This post will be looking into the lyrics first. The Crewniverse has done wonderfully with varying the instrumental and the arrangement and that’s something I think deserves its own post.
That being said, in this one, I’d like to focus on the themes of the song, as well as where they fall in the narrative of the show as seen in the characters. With that, let’s get started.
Introduction
What I find notable is that for half of the first season, Love Like You was entirely instrumental, with a gradual buildup of instruments entering until the full set we’re so used to hearing was completed. It was during the mid-season finale that we actually heard words to the song.
And in the early stages of Love Like You, Rebecca Sugar had it in mind that it would be all gems singing this song addressing humanity. Right off the bat, we have a sense of inclusion. Usually when we talk about the gems, we refer to them as either “The Crystal Gems” or “The Homeworld Gems,” but here there is no delineation. In the same way, from their perspective, human beings are one. Not only that, that they are capable of an unfathomable kind of love, as Sugar said, gem-kind has to step back and wonder what about themselves is even worth loving in the first place.
It was then that Love Like You became a song that was for everyone and Rebecca Sugar stated that it was the kind of song in which one could find parallels in any of the characters. Because it’s such a human thing to see oneself as unworthy of love, and yet find oneself loved and adored.
To me, that is one of the biggest themes of Steven Universe. In all relationships, there is an aspect of selfhood that must first be grasped and understood before managing a deep relationship with anyone else. In SU, we see so many characters who talk about loving their home, loving their cause, loving others, but one thing every character has struggled with at one point or another is loving oneself.
That’s a very unifying experience, because the question of self-worth is very very close to the question of existence. Why do I exist? What makes my existence worth it? Because I exist, what makes me worth it? We’re questioning the very core of our being, who we are. It’s not always an easy question to face and it’s one that’s often taken for granted. Wondering about purpose, mission, goals, all of that, relates to the question of existence, no matter how trivial the question, because some part of us knows the little decisions we make add up to who we are.
Being able to make those decisions implies an idea of how much we believe we’re worth, and why those actions are worthwhile as consequence. And to me, that’s where we begin in the lyrics of this song.
1. If I could begin to be
If I could begin to be
Half of what you think of me
I could do about anything
I could even learn how to love
There is an “I” and a “You” in this song, indicating that there is an addresser and an addressee. As of now, we don’t know if the listener is in the presence of the persona as this song is being sung, but I’ll explain later that it would make more sense if this were the case.
Based on the way the lyrics are phrased, the addresser and addressee have interacted in the past, which is what allows the “I” to have an idea of the impression they’ve left on the “You.”
What we can see is the “You” holds the “I” in high regard, but at the same time, the second and third lines reveal that the “I” does not feel they match up to it. To be “half” of any measure is usually something we consider barely passing. But just to be “half of what you think of me” already allows the “I” to do anything. I know that it’s also colloquial, saying “If I could only be a [fraction] of X, that would be good enough.” The takeaway here is that whatever that small bit is, the persona hasn't even reached it yet. It’s actually a very self-aware admittance of one’s limitations.
And what is notable also is how doing “anything” does not include “how to love” on the first pass. The “I” says, “I could even learn how to love,” showing that love is as significant as or more significant than anything.
When we use “even,” it’s usually to emphasise what follows the word, because it’s either very different from or of a different level to the other things being talked about. This is an emphasis of how important love is to the persona.
Love is considered something great and worth aspiring towards. More than that, love is learned. So one could “do” anything, but you don’t simply “love.”
