Today in Alt Rewind we’re playing Mazzy Star! A song I know you’ve probably cried to, thinking about Jimmy in 9th grade who didn’t have a clue you liked him. Or maybe it makes you think of Sarah, who you dated for a year but couldn’t ever feel satisfied in your relationship. Or possibly you think of your friend, Dan who seemed like a good friend, but he kept trying to change you.  

It’s off her 1993 album So Tonight That I Might See, the one and only “Fade Into You”. It was composed by Hope Sandoval and produced by David Roback. In an interview when the song was released, Roback told the LA Times, “You have to leave something to people’s imagination, so they feel they can participate. Music is music. We don’t want to be part of that over-determination. We feel you should be able to shut your eyes and listen to it.” It’s a perfect message for this song. You don’t really need to over-analyze it, because its power lies in what it means to the individual listener. 

It’s a song about falling in love, a universal yet deeply personal experience. We’ve all fallen in love or lust a little too hard for someone who, for whatever reason, couldn’t give it back to us in the way we deserve. And oftentimes, that unrequitedness only seems to make us yearn for someone more.  “Fade Into You” is about trying to be everything for somebody, when actually you’re losing (or fading) into that somebody’s identity instead. 

It reminds me to seek out love in the people that feed you. I don’t mean literally giving you meals, but someone who nourishes your soul. And when you feel validated, seen, and heard, your soul is more likely to be nourished. And I hope when you hear this song, you remember that the pain of unrequited love is real, but doesn’t need to last. Find someone who makes you stand out, instead of making you fade.