S3 Scribble #13: Bells for Her

“Can’t stop loving,”

Today marks the 30th anniversary of an album that changed my life and provided me with some much-needed feminine strength, energy, and power throughout my late teens and into my present-day early twenties: Tori Amos’s Under the Pink. It was this album that launched me into the phenomenal discography of Tori Amos – an artist who, if you’ve been following my blogs for a while, is clearly one of my favorites. I often see myself in her music, and sometimes her music even helps me process emotions I don’t fully understand prior to hearing one of her songs. 

“Can’t stop what is on its way.”

I’ve had the good fortune of seeing Tori Amos perform live in concert several times. I have made friends through our shared love of her music, and I was even lucky enough to meet her after one of her shows. I’ve been told to never meet my idols. Clearly, whoever said that did not experience meeting Tori Amos. I wrote her a letter thanking her for her music and sharing the impact that it has had on my life and I gave it to one of her team members prior to the concert. When I met Tori after the show and told her my name, she said she had read my letter and thanked me for writing it, even referencing some specific things about myself that I had written in the letter. It was an unforgettable experience: someone whose work I admired so much had not only read my letter, but retained the information it contained! Needless to say, I will be a fan for life.

“And I see it coming,”

When I feel particularly strong emotions, I love that I can often find comfort and relatability in the songs of my favorite artists. This week, I have once again had to practice letting things go, and the song “Bells for Her” is about exactly that. Letting go of things I can’t control isn’t easy for me, and, thanks to this song, I know that I’m not the only one who struggles with this. I “can’t stop what is on its way,” but I can work on accepting that I don’t have control over everything. In this week’s case, everything turned out alright… as it usually does. This is just yet another experienced example I can use, moving forward, to remind myself to relax in the face of uncertainty, because getting worked up will not stop what is on its way.

“And it’s on its way.”

Listen to Bells for Her by Tori Amos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWIvvDjOt-A