All Too Well

 All Too Well by Taylor Swift 

This song is incredibly beautiful. One of the things that makes Taylor Swift such an amazing songwriter is how she tells a story in her words. In every line of this song, you are transported to that memory. You are there as if you are a part of the memory. When I listen to this song, I am transported to memories in my own past that are similar to hers. I connect with this song and it becomes personal to me.

That's what makes her songs special.

You can take her lyrics and apply them to your own life. You feel her happiness with her, you feel her pain with her, you feel everything. There are few things more beautiful than being able to connect with someone else's emotions in such a direct way.

My favorite part of this song is:
Maybe we got lost in translation,
Maybe I asked for too much.
Maybe this thing was a masterpiece before you tore it all up.
Running scared, I was there,
I remember it all too well

Right there is where it hits me. Did I expect more than I should of? Is this my fault? Or did he mess it up? Is one of us really to blame? And then the reality of the memories being too clear in my mind. These are all questions and thoughts most people have after a very tough break up. That is where we connect.

Taylor Swift is fearless because she wears her emotions on her songs. She is not afraid to say that is hurt and that she is upset over it. She is honest about her feelings and there is nothing wrong with that. She gets criticized for her songs always being about guys but she says the things a lot of us are afraid to say.

Maybe people are jealous of her bravery?

~JessAmanda

Shadow by Sam Tsui

"I'm trying hard to forget you but my empty walls won't let me let you go. When you took it all you forgot your shadow..."
This song is beautiful, not just because it is by Sam Tsui but because of the message. It is very easy to relate to. We have all been through that break up that you did not want to happen. This song talks about how that person may have physically left but they are still there in your heart, in everything you and everything you see. When everything is gone and you are all alone, that person is all you think about. When that person was around, you were never alone. You always had that person to talk to when you had nothing to do. That person was a huge part of your life. You may have even started to plan your future with this person. Now, they are gone and you don't know where to go with your life. You try to go back to normal but normal was where you were at with them.

So what can you do?

~JessAmanda

Bring Me The Night by Sam Tsui and Kina Grannis

Fact 1: I love Sam Tsui.
Fact 2: I love this song.
Fact 3: This song has a strong effect on me.
Every single time I listen to this song or watch this video, I tear up.
The song was basically made for long distance relationships and how they are still together even though physically they are apart. I can relate to that, I was in an LDR for a few months before we ended things. And knowing that I would talk to him at night would "bring me to him" in the way the night "brings me to you" in this song. I don't even know if that was coherent but it is how I felt.
I also feel like this song connects with anyone who feels that their love is out there somewhere but they are not sure of where exactly they may be. So the night brings them closer to this person they have not met yet. That idea reminds me Somewhere Out There from An American Tale:
Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight, someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight.
Somewhere out there, someone's saying a prayer, that we'll find one another in that big somewhere out there.

That's hopeful, isn't it?

~JessAmanda

Songwriting

I wrote this song 2 years ago and it just made me think about how things change. I still connect to the feelings I had when I wrote this song but it is towards a new person now...that is kind of weird to think about.

Verse 1:
I don't sit and cry anymore.
I'm gone and I've walked out that door.
I've taken the time to find out,
What you're truly all about.
Though I still hope you're doing fine.
I'm sorry,
But I've gotta move on with my life.

Refrain:
Though you'll always hold a place in my heart,
I can't take myself back to the start.
There's too much damage done.
This won't be another battle you've won.
I'm gonna win this fight.
I've walked though and seen the light.

Verse 2:
You used to have this hold on me,
And I didn't know what to be.
Now I'm through with that.
It's time I stop looking back. (Refrain)

Bridge:
Maybe you'll try to come back one day,
But you'll find out, I'm far away. (Refrain)

Refrain 2:
 But don't forget:
You'll always hold a place in my heart.
But I'm through with playing this part.
I'm not some broken-hearted girl,
I want something more in this world.
This won't be a battle you've won,
It's through and I'm done.
I've won this fight.
I've seen the light.
I've found something that's true.
And it was never meant to be you.

~Jessica Young-Eleazar

"I am someone who is looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love."

For quite a while now I have been waiting to find that perfect person. And I am such a romantic, I want a love story that is absolutely perfect but I have learned that perfection is in the flaws of love. I used to believe that I was a "hopeless romantic". As time has gone on, I realized I am anything but hopeless, I am hopeful.
Hope is what keeps me going. I hope that one day someone will take me by surprise and fall for me as hard as I fall for them. With that hope, I also know there are things that try to break my hope. Sometimes I do feel "hopeless" but who hasn't? Sometimes the world just seems to be against you and you cannot seem to find that one person that is meant for you, but I keep on hoping.
I don't want to ever give up on love because I have faith that I all this love I possess is in me for a reason. {Insert cliche phrase, "Everything happens for a reason"} Every moment, every heartbreak, well it will eventually lead me to the person I am going to be with for the rest of my life.
Love has kicked me down and I still believe that it's out there, somewhere. I just know it has to be out there for me and for all my amazing friends that deserve it.

Don't we all deserve a happy ending?

Falling Slowly

Falling Slowly from Once

Something about this song is just so incredibly beautiful. The instruments used in this song are just the right amount of everything. From the chords to the lyrics, I fall more and more in love with this song every time I listen to it.

"I don't know you but I want you all the more for that."
How can you not fall in love with this song? It's so simple. It shows how simple and beautiful love can be. We would all be lying if we said that we don't want a beautiful love story where you fall in love with that person in such a simple way.

This song gives me chills. Falling Slowly is a love song but it also has a tone to it where it is a song about heartbreak and that is what makes it gorgeous.

Isn't it hauntingly beautiful?

Meet Me!

Well hi there!

I'm Jessica and I'm 19-almost-20. I am from the Chicago suburbs but I feel like Saint Louis University is more of my home now. I am a Middle School Math Education major/Music minor. I was always that weird kid who loved school and that is why I want to become a teacher. I want to share my love of learning with future generations, it's as simple as that.

As for my love of music, I have been singing since I could talk and songwriting has always been my outlet to release emotion. I cannot imagine my life without music. I also am very passionate about theatre. There is something about being on stage that makes me feel amazing and it's not the spotlight. It's the fact that I can leave my problems backstage and go on stage and take on a character's issues and just forget about real life for a little bit.

I am hopeful, driven, quirky, sassy, outrageous at times and someone that you can talk to if you need to vent. I give advice but rarely take it.

This is me, take it or leave it.

~Jess Amanda