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Kelly Powell

Professor Enos

ENGW-1111

January 21, 2017

What True Love Sounds Like

It is often said that love is the universal language. Being that our world is as diverse as it

is, the idea of a universal language would seem like a relatively hard concept to grasp. The idea

behind this concept is that most people would like to eventually find that other person that truly

understands them and will walk side-by-side with them throughout life. This concept is not the

entirety of marriage, but solely the idea of love, as it would be foolish to say you cannot have

love without marriage. This idea comes alive by the song, Say You Wont Let Go which is a

song by the artist James Arthur. The artist takes the listener through his love story, and he

intimately reveals the details of what he hopes for him and his future wife one day. Arthur

successfully reaches his audience by incorporating word choice and rhythm by using the

rhetorical appeal pathos. In doing so, a new standard is created for what love should truly look

like.

With Arthurs Say You Wont Let Go, the purpose behind this song is to remind those

listening that love is immensely joyous, but love can be agonistic as well. When those moments

of pain come around, it is important to keep holding on which one can take away from the song

title itself. Love is not easy just as marriage and children are not easy, but a song such as this

allows for the listener to be reminded that love needs a foundation and commitment to survive. A
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song like this can be what someone going through a rough patch needs to hear to want to try to

solve problems within a relationship because of the message it portrays for the listener.

It is obvious with this song that Arthurs primary audience target is generally women who

enjoy listening to a style of music that is combined with contemporary R&B and folk music.

This is not to say that men are not able to relate to the song, but overall the words are written in

order to speak to a female audience with such lyrics as, You look as beautiful as ever, and I

swear that everyday youll get better, you make me feel this way somehow. The adjective

beautiful is a respectable term that Arthur understands that most women want to be seen as

instead of the less respectable terms such as sexy or hot. Because Arthur makes the song sincere

and relatable to relationships, regardless of gender and/or musical preference, he is able to create

a song that makes a person think of somebody else whether that person is in the past, the present

or the future.

Songs have the emotional power to trigger tears while other songs can inspire you to run

a marathon. Because of the emotion involved within the song, the artist uses pathos to reach the

listener. He uses words to tell his story of love and his voice to deliver his message. Love is such

a powerful component of life, and everybody has experienced love at some point. Even if it is

not the romantic form of love, there is the love that exists in a parent-to-child bond. If my sons

were not able to express to me that they love me via words, they are able to show their love by

the use of body language and the ways in which we play, trust and cuddle.

The artist depicts his romantic relationship by using word choice to tell his story. It is

clear that the lyrics of this song are written to be have an informal diction level such as the song

title itself, Say You Wont Let Go. Arthur uses rhyming schemes throughout the song to create

a balance of lyrics for the listener. The first verse of the song reads, Then you smiled over your
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shoulder. For a minute I was stone-cold sober. I pulled you closer to my chest. Then you asked

me to stay over. I said I already told ya, I think that you should get some rest (James Arthur). In

first few phrases of the lyrics, the artist informs the listener how he and his significant other met.

He describes meeting in the dark, dancing the night away and drinking too much. After this,

the artist says that she offered for him to stay over, but he replied, I think you should get some

rest (James Arthur). This allows the listener to surmise that he truly cared about her well-being.

The beginning lyrics also illustrate how informal their relationship was at that time. Although he

cared for her at that point, the way in which Arthur bluntly states that she was throwing up

shows us that their relationship was extremely green as throughout the rest of the song, the artist

refers to her as beautiful and my dear. The artist goes on to explain that he is now older and

the two of them have children together. When he talks about their life together he says, For a

minute, I forget that Im older, I wanna dance with you right now (James Arthur). This allows

the listener to know that even though they (as a couple) are older, he still loves her more than

ever. Lastly, the artist explains in his lyrics that he wants to stay with her until they are grey and

old.

The rhythm of the song is light and flows well. The introduction is solely acoustic until

the first verse when the beat of snapping comes in. After the first verse, the song introduces

piano at the start of the chorus. The rhythm of the song deviates twice from the original rhythm

when the lyrics read, Im so in love with you, I hope you know, darling your love is more than

worth its weight in gold (James Arthur) as well as during the lyrics, I want to live with you

even when were ghosts (James Arthur). The first line impacts the listener because it adds

impact to Arthurs emotions. The change in rhythm in the second line impacts the listener

because the topic changes from light associated with love to a darker tone which is associated
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with death. Keeping consistent with a darker tone, the instrumentals slow down to just a sole

piano. The tone returns to normal as the lyrics read, I promise til death we part like in our vows

(James Arthur), but Arthur now sings with more force behind these lyrics. This is impactful to

the listener as Arthurs tone demands attention as he brings more passion and urgency to the

microphone. The conclusion of the song ends with the fade out of music.

Arthur is singing his song to his future wife which means that the point of view is both

first person and second person as I is James Arthur and you becomes the person he is singing

to. The songs title, Say You Wont Let Go, is where the listener first sees the second person,

but Arthur uses first person mainly in the verses. A perfect examples of this would be the lyrics,

Ill wake you up with some breakfast in bed, Ill bring you coffee with a kiss on your head. Ill

take the kids, wave them goodbye, and Ill thank my lucky stars for that night (James Arthur).

Though the lyrics are beautiful, I think it is easy for people all around the world to relate to

because it is how every person should want to be treated in their relationship. The lyrics are clean

and respectful which is a difficult concept to find these days. Arthur puts so much force into

these words that he creates a powerful connection with the listener of which he is trying to say I

love you and dont let go.

Upon hearing this song for the first time, I knew that I was emotionally connected to it,

but was unsure why. It is evidently immensely romantic, but the main line that reads (and the

title of the song), say you wont let go, allows any person to relate to the emotions that are

being expressed. I was able to relate to the song because it seems as though every marriage

seems doomed to fail before it even begins in todays world. My husband and myself were

married when we were both twenty-years old, and weve been married for five years now. We

had many negative comments made when we were married, but now we have two beautiful boys
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and are creating a life with each other now out of the military. What I want is what most people

want which is brought through in this song; a plea for ones significant other to promise that they

will never give up, and they will be able to stay together until they are grey and old.

Work Cited

James Arthur. Say You Won't Let Go. Back From the Edge, Columbia Records, 2016. Slacker,
http://www.slacker.com/fullsearch/say%20you%20won't%20let%20go.