The Neighbourhood's 'Sweater Weather'

Music elicits emotions from the audience no matter the genre and is subjective to one’s life experience. With the increasing prevalence of technology and emergence of social media such as Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms to have easier access to music, music has played a significant role in modern life in terms of emotional connections. Some alternative music offers some unique lyrics to examine love and sex that may not be available to mainstream music such as the bands and artists: The Neighbourhood, Daughter and Jaymes Young. In particular, The Neighbourhood published “Sweater Weather”, Daughter with “Love”, and Jaymes Young with “Two People”. These songs will be analyzed with the summary of myth counts for sex, love, and romance.

One of the myths is that a significant other should know what his or her significant other is thinking or feeling without outright explaining anything as present in one of the lines, “she knows what I think about”. Most relationships are heavily based off of communication; however, the song the intimate physical relationship of having to put the woman’s hands in the holes of the artist’s sweater. Another myth presented is that sex would be easy and fantastic given that this is the true partner. The artist states that he “hates the beach” and that “it’s too cold”, yet he doesn’t mind staying with the significant other, presented by the various images of hands held with a sweater, and ideas about sex. Another myth is that mass media portrayals are not real and therefore do not affect people; however, the artist sings about how he is begrudgingly on the Californian beach, and the state of California itself is a mass media center especially through Hollywood. The song describes the outside conditions of the cold world versus the warm emotional feelings of a relationship; however, this portrayal of the romantic relationship emphasizes the idea of the emotional closeness and affects the listening

The artist states about her significant other that “he's the only one that I have ever loved” which challenges the myth that the perfect partner in a relationship would never separate via anything or anyone. In another instance, the artist’s partner seems to have been cheating and the words spoken during that night where she caught him, thus emphasizing that cheating could happen in any relationship, no matter how perfect it may seem. Another myth dispelled is that no matter how good and faithful the person is, the other person would change from brute to princelike. The artist describes how she knows the other person regrets his mistake, and he still leaves her with another woman, and even states how she “adored him” and hopes he knows it, but ultimately “[makes her] sick” whilst calling him love. In addition, the artist dispels another myth about how the people in a relationship only needs love and it does not matter if the people have different values. The artist appears hurt when the partner leaves her with another woman, thus creating emotional conflict, and even when the other person supposedly regrets him and that he “[told her] so many times”. With relationships, sacrifices must be made; however, similar values must be established to make the relationship