Wine and Champagne: How Alcohol Describes Heartbreaking Songs with Heartbreaking Melodies

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/

Thrown at me so powerfully/

Just like she throws with the arm of her brother//

In those line, with literal meaning, it's shows that the girlfriend did an abuse to her boyfriend, even throw an accusations in, "calls of guilty thrown at me,' line. Despite the pain, there is a twisted beauty or allure in the suffering, akin to the allure of cherry wine. If some of you familiar how Hozier wrote his songs, you would understand how he described something in his mind, he's always crafting a love songs about omnipotent, violent lovers, critics for society, as shown by one of his other song like Take Me To Church. 

Nevertheless, If you already watch the music video, there's no doubt anymore that this song leaves no ambiguity about the song's true subject. It focuses entirely on abusive relationships and how the victim, caught in the cycle of push and pull, rejection and acceptance, gradually convinces themselves that the abuse signifies their lover's sweet, caring nature. The video starts with a romantic scene of a couple flirting in their living room, interspersed with shots of the woman alone at her vanity, slowly removing her makeup to reveal a bruise around her left eye.

The video concludes with a statement that all proceeds, from AdSense revenue to iTunes downloads, will be donated to a charity called #FaceUpToDomesticAbuse. The message of the song is unmistakable. Yet, the lullaby-like melody and lyrics reminiscent of religious devotion continue to mislead listeners. It's still amazing how the lyrics are about a man being abused by his girlfriend and the video is a woman being abused by her boyfriend. It's like Hozier really shows how abuse can go both ways and isn't just specific to one gender.

I couldn't write more deeper than the articles that I use as a reference, they analyze Cherry Wine in a good structure, one of the article that I like is entitled, "Sleep to the Freezing: How Hozier's 'Cherry Wine' Tells a Victim's Story" by Batrisyia Zumli, who analyzed so beautifully, I'm amazed. 

Enough talking about Cherry Wine, it's Champagne Problems time, I hope you all didn't get drunk yet. Even though the title already put 'problems' word, but doesn't mean all the listeners understood the true meanings. I start to love Taylor writings (I already love her music long before this, though) when she dropped Folklore, then several months after that, Evermore appeared with the same vibes, I started to read the lyrics carefully because that's how I found out there's so much vocabulary and interesting metaphor that I didn't understand, yet. 

Apart from Cherry Wine, I already knew that this song is about sad story because that one Josephine March and Laurie love confession edits. Even though I still didn't get the true meaning of, "Your Midas touch on a chevy door, November flush on a flanel cure," was, this song is a full of metaphor you should understand. I watched some of couples use this song as a proposal song in The Eras Tour, whereas, this whole song is talking about a girl who rejected a proposal. So, let's wrapped lyrics by lyrics started from;

'Cause I dropped your hand while dancing/

Left you out there standing/

Crestfallen on the landing/

Champagne problems//

This lyrics line clearly implied that the protagonist let the male down by leaving him out there on the landing, crestfallen, which usually to describe disappointment. It's more clear in the next stance, "Your heart was glass, I dropped it champagne problems,". Taylor constantly repeat the word 'champagne problems' it shows that the metaphor meaning of; refers to the person experiencing these problems is in a position of privilege or luxury, where their concerns are comparable to someone fretting over which expensive champagne to drink rather than facing more significant challenges. It's often used humorously to acknowledge that while the problem may be valid to the person experiencing it, it's not necessarily a serious or urgent matter compared to other, more substantial issues; it's about dilemma or problem. 

In the bridge, Taylor wrote beautiful metaphor in, "Your Midas touch on the Chevy door, November flush and your flannel cure," The phrase "Midas touch" refers to the mythical King Midas, who could turn anything he touched into gold. In this context, it suggests that the person being addressed has a transformative or magical effect, making ordinary things (like a Chevy door) seem special or golden. "November flush" likely refers to emotional rush that comes with the cold weather in November, suggests the comforting, warm feeling provided by the person's flannel clothing, symbolizing coziness and care. The protagonist reflecting on how the presence of the other person brings warmth and magic into their life, even amidst chaos. That's why that;s became a problem in their group of friends. Their friends were like, "why the heck did you turned him down, you fool?" if I can continue this to different topic, it would be related to social literature; how people often mind someone's business.

Last one is my favorite of all the lyrics, 

Sometimes you just don't know the answer/

'Til someone's on their knees and asks you/

When men proposed, they usually get down on one knee, but in this lyrics, Taylor wrote, 'knees' plural, so I can assume that he begged her to accept the proposal. If I can use Jo March and Laurie as a reference, that's how it looks; Laurie desperation when Jo turned him down and saying, "but I love you, Jo," in a frustration tone, but Jo is not on dilemma, she knew her answer. But at the end, the lyrics went to acceptance stage, that the protagonist did the right tings so he continue his life and fine the real things instead. Just like Laurie realized that she always had Amy March who loved him since the day one, he forget his rambling to Jo. 

I wish I could swim to the deeper ocean to talking about this, but just it. I only explores how alcohol-related imagery in songs can evoke deep emotions and convey complex narratives. Hozier's "Cherry Wine" and Taylor Swift's "Champagne Problems," highlighting how both songs use the symbolism of alcohol to tell stories of love, pain, and regret. While "Cherry Wine" initially seems like a romantic song, it actually depicts an abusive relationship, a realization made clearer through its music video. Similarly, "Champagne Problems" describes a rejected marriage proposal, despite some fans mistakenly using it as a romantic anthem. Importance of understanding the true meanings behind these metaphors, which reveal the songs' deeper, more poignant messages.