skyecaptain ([info]skyecaptain) wrote,
2009-11-19 13:21:00
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  • Music: Rihanna - Te Amo

Just to be clear pt. 2...

...Can't keep up with the various threads, but has anyone talked about the plot of "Te Amo" yet? This is what I wrote on Lex's thread:

Has anyone talked about how "Te Amo" seems to be about Rihanna being hit on by a woman in a club and cautiously kind of going with it? "Just watch your hands!" Or is she singing from the perspective of the boyfriend?

Story seems to be that Rihanna is in the club, dancing casually with a woman, and then at some point the woman puts her arms around Rihanna's waist and whispers "Te Amo." Rihanna understands that the woman is lonely but she can't love her the way the woman loves Rihanna. So she keeps dancing with her, but wants the woman to be sure that she keeps her hands down -- I'm not going to run away, but don't touch me like that.

It's kind of heartbreaking and complicated! I just wish the main conceit worked better -- Rihanna pretending like she doesn't know what "te amo" means, which I find incredibly hard to believe. She could have just as easily just used "te amo" without the "won't someone please tell me what it means" thing, which seems to be beside the point of the song anyway. Like, what does her saying "I love you" do to change what's actually happening here?

I'm becoming less and less convinced that this could possibly be anything but Rihanna's flirtation with, or at least empathy for, another woman's crush on her, btw, as the song makes less sense if Rihanna is somehow the "man" in a hetero relationship...

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  • 42 comments

[info]alexmacpherson

November 19 2009, 19:43:27 UTC 2 years ago

Haven't paid as much attention to the lyrics as I have to "Fire Bomb", unfortunate candelabra line apart, but yes, what a strange little song this is. You don't hear the sort of intense platonic emotion that the narrator feels in pop that often. I don't hear it as taking place in a club - I get the impression, maybe due to the Latinate music, that they're on a deserted island beach, maybe they've escaped the club to be alone together, because they have a bond regardless.

It's a weird inversion of "I Kissed A Girl", actually: Katy Perry is a straight/bicurious girl who kisses another girl, but from the evidence of the rest of the lyrics doesn't really feel anything for her. Whereas here, you hear how Rihanna cares deeply for the girl and her loneliness, but doesn't kiss her...

[info]edgeofwhatever

November 20 2009, 03:03:50 UTC 2 years ago

BTW: http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/41219025.html

[info]edgeofwhatever

November 19 2009, 19:47:28 UTC 2 years ago

Lex described it as a song about "fending off the lustful advances of a lesbian stranger" in his original Rihanna post, and I did say something about how depressing it is, but I don't think anybody discussed the lesbianism aspect in-depth.

But we should have, because it is heartbreaking and complicated! And a way more nuanced, respectful, realistic examination of female sexuality than I would have expected from pop music. (Maybe Rihanna could give her friend Katy a lesson.)

I think the "te amo" conceit totally works. The language barrier is a stand-in for the bigger barriers between them -- they don't really understand each other, they can't really provide what the other wants, even if Rihanna knows perfectly well what's going on. And Rihanna does know perfectly well what's going on: "Don't it mean 'I love you'? I think it means 'I love you.'" She's not pretending she doesn't know what "te amo" means, she's looking for help from someone who knows better than she does. She's asking because there's a difference between knowing and knowing. Rihanna knows what the girl is saying, but she doesn't know. This isn't a language Rihanna speaks.

[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:16:56 UTC 2 years ago

I'll accept that, and certainly the music itself on the chorus helps drive your own interpretation home -- "te amo, te amo, what does that mean?" the words echoing inside of her. She thinks it means love, but she just can't feel it. And yet, you almost get the impression that she wants to, which would make Rihanna the first pop star in history who did the whole "I am so over boys wish I was gay instead" thing and made it work. I'm actually sympathetic to this: things would be so much easier if I was just completely different. But I'm not, so I have to deal with myself anyway.

[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:19:30 UTC 2 years ago

not "almost get the impression," you MAJORLY get the impression. You get an impression like a hammer makes an impression on your finger when you miss the nail. (I mean that in a good way for this song, the obsessiveness of "te amo," like "stupid" in "Stupid in Love," carrying more weight than explicating more could, which ties into your idea that every word is in its right place on this album.)

[info]edgeofwhatever

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

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[info]skyecaptain

2 years ago

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[info]edgeofwhatever

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

2 years ago

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[info]alexmacpherson

November 19 2009, 20:28:21 UTC 2 years ago

It's heartbreaking, as unrequited love can't help but be, but I don't think it's depressing - Rihanna can't give her friend what she wants, but she reaffirms the depth of her friendship despite that, and maybe that understanding and respect will be what the other girl needs in the end.

[info]edgeofwhatever

November 19 2009, 21:51:06 UTC 2 years ago

It never occurred to me that they might be friends (as opposed to strangers), although I guess it's possible.

Although, actually, no, that's not working for me. If they were friends, why wouldn't Rihanna just ask her what "te amo" meant, instead of turning to whoever else is in the room? I also don't see her reaffirming the depth of their friendship -- all she affirms is that she isn't afraid, and won't run away -- and I don't get the impression that this relationship is going to last beyond this night, this club, this beach. Every time we see what the girl is doing, she's pulling or holding Rihanna somewhere (taking the lead as they dance, putting her hand on Rihanna's waist, pulling her out onto the beach, begging her to stay, and Rihanna has "no choice" but to hold her hand and then has to tell her to let go) while we see Rihanna trying to put distance between them (telling the girl not to touch her like that, telling the girl to let her go, trying to walk off the beach, telling the girl she doesn't feel the same way). Both verses end on "it's over," the bridge ends on "I don't feel that way."

Rihanna clearly doesn't dislike the girl, and wants the girl to know she's not afraid of or disgusted by her, but nothing in the song indicates that they're particularly close, or that they're going to be close in the future.

[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:24:30 UTC 2 years ago

"Maybe if I keep saying 'te amo' I will start to feel it" -- oh, that pesky desperate pathological reasoning. Has anyone written a song about this idea before, that one can keep saying "I love you," hoping its connotations will somehow rub off on them and create feeling, and still failing miserably? Damn, this is really good song!!!

[info]alexmacpherson

November 19 2009, 20:29:49 UTC 2 years ago

Definitely - the use of repetition throughout the whole album is really interesting. Crops up more on the swagger tracks, almost like Rihanna's grinding her image into your face, unrelenting and uncompromising, but even there it also works with the "trying to convince self of this" interpretation.

[info]edgeofwhatever

November 19 2009, 22:09:29 UTC 2 years ago

It works with a "slow realization" interpretation, too. The same way the repetition of "stupid" in "Stupid in Love" carries Rihanna from defeat to standing up for herself, the repetition of "te amo" and "I love you" carries her from being kind of whatever about the situation to maybe actually loving this girl. The first few times "te amo" appears, it's clearly attributed to the girl; the next time, in the chorus, it's Rihanna saying it in a way that makes us think for a moment she's returning the sentiment; then it comes up again in the second verse with no attribution. Likewise, in the beginning "Don't it mean I love you" / "Think it means I love you" are pretty clearly an extension of her asking, "Won't somebody tell me what she said?" but by the end (after Rihanna's said she feels the love) they and "te amo" and the phrase "I love you" by itself are just floating around, not attached to anything -- like, hey, you said "te amo" and I hung around and danced for you, doesn't that mean I love you, in some way?

[info]skyecaptain

2 years ago

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[info]edgeofwhatever

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

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[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:41:47 UTC 2 years ago

Oof, on the twentieth listen, I'm seeing more -- they're on a beach, not in a club, and when there's no denying what's going on anymore, Rihanna sort of sighs and says...OK, I understand what you need, even if I don't feel it. And she starts dancing for her, as the woman just watches what she can't have from a (safe?) distance...

[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:44:16 UTC 2 years ago

Also, think of how intimately Rihanna is observing her behavior. "She's scared to breathe, I hold her hand" ... Also, similarly to "I Luv Your Girl" (what I said about the "f-- that n--" line) it seems that she only said "te amo" once, perhaps the last things she says to her, or maybe in passing (did I hear that right?)

"Listen we can dance, but you gotta watch your hands. Watch me all night, I'll move under the light because I understand that we all need love, and I'm not afraid. I feel the love but I don't feel that way."

Enter massive handclaps as we start DANCING WITH THEM. GAH this is like a seriously amazing song.

[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:45:12 UTC 2 years ago

Well, they end up on the beach, anyway, when (presumably under the eyes of other people) the woman gets nervous and they go away to the beach. And that's when Rihanna puts on a private show for her, under the moonlight in the water. Jeeeeez.

[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:46:57 UTC 2 years ago

When I said murder on the dancefloor...

OK, number of times that murder/killing in some form is committed on this album: "Russian Roulette," "Fire Bomb," "Cold Case Love" (chalk outline) "Last Song" (this is the last song you'll ever hear). Any others?

[info]edgeofwhatever

November 19 2009, 21:27:03 UTC 2 years ago

Re: When I said murder on the dancefloor...

Busy listening to "Te Amo" on repeat, but do they actually kill anyone in "G4L"?

[info]skyecaptain

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

November 19 2009, 20:47:45 UTC 2 years ago

Well "Te Amo" has almost single-handedly catapulted this damn thing up to c. #3 on my list. And this is despite my having listened to it a good four or five times before the album came out without having any clue as to what it was about.

[info]koganbot

November 20 2009, 05:59:10 UTC 2 years ago

You've probably answered this to your own satisfactions already, but anyway [info]weasel_seeker asked over on the Iko Iko thread:

I also can't decide if the line in Te Amo is "I tell I'm not gon' run away, but let me go" or "I tell her I not go 'round that way, just let me go"

I hear, "I told her I never run away, but lemme go."

[info]edgeofwhatever

November 20 2009, 14:43:40 UTC 2 years ago

I hear "not gonna run away."

[info]skyecaptain

November 20 2009, 15:59:16 UTC 2 years ago

Yeah "not gonna run away" seems to be the one that makes more sense.

[info]koganbot

2 years ago

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[info]koganbot

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[info]skyecaptain

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

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[info]koganbot

2 years ago

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[info]weasel_seeker

November 20 2009, 18:40:12 UTC 2 years ago

I definitely heard "I told her I'm not gon' run away" but I mistyped the first time I posted a comment in the Iko Iko thread. It's slurred and elided because of the Bajan accent, but it's fairly evident.

The one interesting thing about this is that it was written by James Fauntleroy, apppparently originally as a song for him before he gave it to Rihanna.

His version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7om4wlrDBI

So it wasn't written with the lesbian angle in mind, I don't think. It's a song about meeting a girl in a club who falls in love with him and then they go to a beach and he keeps trying to let her down easily because he likes her and his "soul hears her cry" but he doesn't want to/can't acknowledge what "te amo" means because then he has to actively confront the awkward "you're cool but i'm just not that into you conversaton." by virtue of both leaving the song with its originally gendered lyrics and by virtue of the fact that she's simply a better performer, rihanna injects a great deal more nuance and emotion and complexity into the piece. Especially given that she didn't originally write it, the decision to present this as an incident between two women is very clearly intentional, i think.

also, the beat to this is great. it's somehow both up at the front of the track and a million miles away, lost in a jungle.

Anonymous

November 20 2009, 19:43:12 UTC 2 years ago

she's credited as co-writer and there's a verse added to the demo

[info]weasel_seeker

2 years ago

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[info]koganbot

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

2 years ago

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[info]skyecaptain

November 20 2009, 22:25:28 UTC 2 years ago

Last thought on the lyrics, there are two interpretations depending on how you read the reciprocating "te amo" from Rihanna. "And her (my?) soul [something], without asking why, I said 'te amo' -- wish somebody tell me what she said" could mean either (1) Rihanna says "'te amo' -- wish somebody tell me what she said" as in "what does 'te amo' mean" or (2) Rihanna says "without asking why, I said 'te amo' [in return]. Wish somebody tell me what she said."

The second interpretation is the one I'm hearing in the song's melancholy, even though the first one might make more sense to the narrative. Though both "make sense" strictly speaking and I love the idea that she, almost automatically, says "te amo" back without totally knowing what it means (literally or metaphorically).

[info]weasel_seeker

November 21 2009, 01:58:22 UTC 2 years ago

My soul hears her cry. Without asking why.

[info]skyecaptain

November 21 2009, 03:43:06 UTC 2 years ago

I hear that clearly in the other version, but I still can't make out what Rihanna herself is saying as clearly. But I'll take yer word for it. Still think the two interpretation thing stands tho.

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