Discovery in a Song

You ever hear a song, have heard it many times, and the words stream in one ear and out the other? Then one day, for the 100th listen, instead of passing through your head, you listen to the words. The words are gripped by emotions, and there’s newness in a sound you once thought you knew because suddenly the words register, and the song becomes of its power?
Months ago, my friend sent me a song to give a listen: “Maybe IDK” by Jon Bellion. She said “you’ll love it.” A different friend of mine wanted me to go the Jon Bellion concert with her this past fall specifically for this one song called “Maybe IDK”. She said “you’ll love it.” I’d listened to his music, but again it slipped through my mind. I wanted to like it, but it wasn’t resonating, and I would skip the song out of boredom. Perhaps I was too preoccupied with Sufjan Stevens with whom I was crazy about at the time to diverge my attention to another artist. It wasn’t until this morning during what was going to be another absent-minded listen of the Jon Bellion song that the words were validated not by my friends, but finally in my own mind. Sitting in Amer’s on Church Street in the back corner booth, I plugged in my headphones and put on a playlist of encouragement. Haha. I call it “world: 0; universe: 1”. It means a loss on a small scale might actually in turn be a benefit to your future in the grand scheme of things, like a win for the universe that you have yet to discover.

The verses capitalize on common insecurities, wondering why he behaves a certain way, wondering why certain things don’t work out. The chorus of the song says “Maybe I don’t know…and maybe that’s okay”.

There are two layers to this anecdote. Peeling the first layer, you reveal Jon’s Bellion’s purpose in writing the song. He explains that a lot will happen, and it’s okay not to understand why. There’s courage in accepting the things you can control and accepting the things you cannot control…and wisdom in knowing the difference. The second layer is the story surrounding my negligence of Jon Bellion’s music when two people who are close to me recommended it. Sometimes you aren’t ready to experience something yet just like I wasn’t in the place to hear the song yet because I couldn’t appreciate it to its fullest potential. No matter what your friends say, there are some values that you have to realize on your own. On a larger scale, there will be instances where you want something, but despite your will, you won’t achieve it to the fullest. (I say to the fullest because realistically you could do anything in the world you wanted, however, the destination you are aiming to reach may appear different up close. Some food for thought.)

Jon intended their to be a religious association with this song. He says that omniscient higher being is in control of what happens to us. Whether you believe that a divine figure writes out our fate, or if it’s the mysterious ways of the universe, or if it’s our own determination that dictates the way that life goes, it’s okay not to know and it’s also okay to search for answers…because though you might not find what you set out to find, you’ll be surprised by the encounters you have on the way ;).