I recently caught myself listening to a few Adele songs and let's face it - she has talent: a powerful dusky voice that easily evokes emotion and songwriting passion to boot. Her material, as has often been noted, is all about breakups and heartache. She is not alone in mining her personal life for gold. Taylor Swift (I take this on faith. I don't listen to country music) also uses her romantic misfires as fodder for songwriting. I should point out that this is nothing new. Alanis Morisette did the same thing in the '90s with "You Oughta Know". Heck, if breakup songs were suddenly outlawed, radio stations would go out of business. But the laser focus that these two women put into their music got me thinking - I would hate to date one of them.
And that is the problem - we only get their side of the story. If their exes could write and sing as well, we might get more songs about freedom and succubi. The fact is, we don't know why their beaus left them. We at least know that they're vindictive and have no problem sharing their private lives with others. Fortunately for me I'm in a wonderful relationship with my sweetheart and wife (same person), but I share my struggles with a very small group of people. If I was a guy contemplating dating any woman who had written a breakup song, I would tread very carefully knowing that the woman was brimming with bitter emotion (and you know how men love emotional women) and that no matter what the circumstances, I would probably end up playing the bad guy if things go south. I hope both Adele and Taylor find an enduring love of their lives, but their tendency to sing about it is seriously limiting the field.
