I guess that I don’t need that though.. Now you’re just somebody that I used to know. How do you feel listening to Gotye’s masterpiece? Who do you remember? We’ve all sung this song alone in our room on a random night. Remembering someone dear who is no longer around or even near, we’ve all spilled a tear driving home with this song in the background. If you had the chance to be once again with somebody that you used to know, what would you tell them? Will you try to fix things? Will you tell them how much you miss them and how they never left your mind?
In our monthly Song-inspired series, ELLE editors explore human feelings and stories of joy and sorrow beyond melodies. In today’s article, we explore loss, regret, and non-existent second chances.
Whenever Somebody that I Used to Know plays, how do you feel?
AHMED, 28
“I remember her and smile.” “Do you know that bittersweet feeling? Remembering the good times you had with someone, even though things didn’t end well?” Memory is an interesting thing; it’s always lurking somewhere near, waiting to strike whenever the chance arises. Sometimes, it hides between the pages of an old notebook, in the last traces of an old perfume, and most of the time, it shows up in a lullaby you used to love—not just you..
SARAH, 30
“It’s like I’ve been transported to a time when everything was good.” That time when you lie down in your room and open your memory box often comes with a song playing in the back of your mind. “Yesterday, I was tidying my room when I suddenly found a batch of old train tickets from 2019. There were four of them; one belonged to me, and the other three to people who are no longer here.” “People I loved—and still do—dearly.”
MAI, 38
Just like we said above, memory has the power to take hold of you and strike when you’re at your weakest. “I was never aware that this song existed, until one day when I was driving home. It was like magic. I happened to be thinking about someone, someone I wish things hadn’t ended with the way they did. I was struck by a feeling I can’t describe; it felt more like I was… attacked.”
ABDALLAH, 29
“The part when it goes, ‘But that was love, and it’s an ache I still remember,’ hits me so deep.” Sometimes it feels like a song was written specifically for your situation. It’s as if the songwriter had been wearing the invisibility cloak from Tom & Jerry and sitting with you in the same room all the time
Life can be cruel sometimes. Actually, most of the time. It robs us of many things we thought were eternal. However, did it ever occur to you that, at one point, you were the cruel one? You may have been cruel to yourself, settling for less and gaslighting yourself later when you realize it. Yes, losing someone can hurt as much as a bone-breaking, but what if that someone wasn’t good for you? What if you weren’t good for them? When things end between you and a friend, a lover, or anyone you held dear, your mind somehow manages to keep only the good memories, just to torture you. But that’s not how things work. You need to see both the good and the bad. And you need to love yourself a little more.
