Interpretation for “Still the One” is pretty straight forward; the song describes a guy who broke up with a girl or made a mistake that made her break up with him, and now he wants her back. “Still the One” resembles Song #10: “Over Again,” because it focuses on a breakup and trying to get someone back. The lyrics,
“Hello, hello, I’m really hoping you’ll forgive me
I keep talking, begging, tell me what I wanna hear, yeah
Girl just tell me what I wanna hear,”
tells me that there must have been something that the guy did to make her mad or break her heart. This made me think of what we talked about in class how society accepts that males can have several partners, whereas females are looked down upon if they have more than one partner. If the guy in this song had cheated on the girl or had multiple partners, him and his friends probably thought it was okay, but now he seems to want one girl and realizes his feelings for her. Also, he says, “tell me what I wanna hear,” and I am thinking that this is hopefully a sincere way of saying, “tell me you love me so we can be together.” In the real world, I think a lot of girls and guys alike pray that their ex significant others would take them back in this way. In addition, the words,
“And yeah, now I’m back at your door
You’re lookin’ at me unsure
I should’ve seen it before
You’re all I think about, baby,”
tell me that the girl is still hurt and now the guy outwardly realizes he messed up and was blind to see whatever he did was wrong in the first place.
In relation to Sex Role Theory, males as we know are competitive, traditionally want to take charge, and are “leaders by nature”. “Still the One” supports this idea that men can take control and “get the girl back” no matter the circumstance. Though the song doesn’t reveal the girl’s response to his plea, we usually see in American movies, TV shows, and books that the girl would take the guy back, forgive him for his mistakes, and live happily ever after. Is this the example we want to set for young girls in our society? I know this is a huge reflection of reality for relationships all around the world and I have even experienced this myself. How much power is too much power in a relationship? When is it okay to draw the line if someone makes a mistake? I never realized until now the extent to which I can unpack this song while identifying underlying feelings that I think a lot of people can relate to.
Shared by: Elyse Hornung
Image Credit: Youtube