Alcohol in a song usually related something with rap, hip hop, pop, or country music, they got happy and dance-able vibes. Some articles mentioned that alcohol in songs can even celebrates excessive drinking as a fun activity, which can encourage unhealthy drinking patterns in its audience. Is it though?. But my focus is not about alcohol in this article, it's exciting to talk that alcohol could be use as a metaphor in literary.
In the world of music, alcohol often serves as a powerful metaphor, encapsulating emotions that sometimes cannot be put into words. Two songs that expertly use this imagery are Hozier's "Cherry Wine" and Taylor Swift's "Champagne Problems." Both songs, although different in style and narrative, use the symbols of grapes and champagne to evoke a deep sense of sadness, intertwined with a bittersweet melody. This article explores how these songs use alcohol-related imagery to tell moving stories of love, pain, and regret, demonstrating the enduring power of metaphor in music.
It's funny when I wrote this article, I didn't t realized that they both use alcohol for describing pain in their musics. Even funnier because most of the fans; both Hozier's and Taylor's misunderstood the meaning. They thought Cherry Wine and Champagne Problems is a romantic song, they even use these song for proposed their love one in the concert. It's a choice, I know. But we better know the whole meaning, right?
On some social media, there's large comments that treat Cherry Wine as a genuine, sweet love song, I even thought this song was about a couple show their affection to one and another in the line, "The way she tells me I'm hers, she's mine," also the melody. Many people even express a desire to use it as their wedding song!. It was only after the music video, featuring Saoirse Ronan, my Irish princess, with a noticeable bruise around her eyes, was released that the public began to realize that this song might not be so sweet after all.
This interpretation of Cherry Wine might seem strange, but it is completely intentional. The song is narrated from the perspective of a male victim in an abusive relationship with a female abuser. Maybe because if Hozier makes a lyrics sounds like he romanticizing abuse relationship, he will got attacks just like sentiment as King's "He Hit Me, (and it felt like a kiss)." The audience's initial misunderstanding of the song is not a mistake, it's part of the design.
My perspective to this song change completely after watching the music video, when I read the lyrics carefully, there's some part shows an abuse in their relationship;
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine/
Calls of guilty thrown at me/
All while she stains/
The sheets of some other/
