Do Not Wait.

 I love the band Wallows. I found them a super long time ago, it's probably been close to 4 or 5 years now. I remember I heard their first released song, Pleaser, and was obsessed. Of course they got popular among indie tiktok when they released their song with Clairo. Even my friends who didn't listen to that kind of music loved "Are You Bored Yet?" and to this day that's probably one of their most popular songs, (I would know since that's the one song every person in the room yelled at their concert last year) but it's not mine.

Mine is "Do Not Wait" for reasons I can only attempt to explain. 

I wish I could hear this song again for the first time. The genius of their album Nothing Happens is, although nothing revolutionary to the music industry, insane. The album fits so well together that if you listen to it in order, many of the songs actually fade into one another including looping from the end of the album back to the start. 

My favourite transition they did was from "I'm Full" into "Do Not Wait," a slow fade from the upbeat "headbanger" rock into the more slow reflective beat. It's so good that to this day every time "I'm Full" comes up on shuffle I immediately queue up "Do Not Wait."

Keep in mind, I'm not an artist or musician and don't know many of the actual song writing terms. So bear with me as I try to explain it. 

The first half of the song builds up everything. Beautiful music glistening behind the soft and gentle vocals. The song talks about memories, things you want to forget. But they're all still around you. The repetition of "Do not wait, I'll be there" builds up only to fade down to near silence for a second.

Do not wait.

Do not wait to do the things you love, the things that are good for you and make you happy. Find a way to do them. If you wait you might never get the chance. This is something I am learning more and more everyday. To take risks, just do things without thinking about all of the what ifs. I saw a post recently that shared advice on being hesitant to do things you want to. "What if it turns out better than you can ever imagine?" We shouldn't wait to live. 

The second half kicks in full steam ahead with an instrumental part that just makes you nod your head as you think back to all the core memories of your life. 

Nostalgia is a pretty heavy theme throughout this song. When you're in your teen years, small events that wont matter soon feel absolutely life changing and terrifying. 

The bridge is perhaps my favourite part. As the song continues there is talking overlapping which talks about some "traumatic" events or ideas. Whilst in the background you hear "nothing happens" the name of the album, the overall theme. I don't know exactly why, but this line resonates with me

Nothing happens. 

I kind of took this as "nothing matters" but in a good way, not a negative morbid way.

It has essentially been my life motto ever since first listening to the song. And i think that's why this song to this day, years later, means so much to me. Nothing matters, so go out and do what you want. at the end of the day all that matters is your happiness. its your life. People get so caught up in trying to conform to societal standards. Thinking they have to reach certain life goals by specific ages, thinking they need a relationship to be happy, they need a 9-5 job, they must follow all the trends, they must stay in their home town or home country forever. you don't have to conform to anyone's expectations but your own.

This might be easier said than done. But good things are never easy. So do what you want. Wear that dress you love, go run around a field, travel as far as your heart desires, chase your dream job. We only have so long on his earth so we may as well make the most of it. 

I know that this maybe wasn't exactly what the members of Wallows envisioned while writing this song or album, but this is how i chose to interpret it. That's the thing with not just music but art in general; everyone will interpret it slightly differently. And i don't think that ruins it or invalidates anyone's personal meaning for it. I think it's part of what makes art so beautiful. it can mean so much to so many people, for reasons that might not even be closely related.

I'll forever be thankful that i heard this song and that Wallows wrote it in the first place. it may sound a bit cheesy, but this song truly did change my life. it inspired me to change my outlook on the world. and that is exactly what i hope to do for others someday.

With love,
Mckenna <3