Just a few moments ago, as I was writing about “something new” in Triumphs & Tribulations XIV, a little bit of a tingling feeling overcame me for a second…a butterflies kind of tingling feeling. It had me playing love songs from my Windows Media Player library on shuffle. The very first song was one that I had not heard in several years. And after so much time buried in my music library, it’s the centerpiece of this week’s moment in the Flashback Friday series. I’m referring to Corrine Bailey Rae’s “Breathless”.
How I first came across this moment? I first came across the track when I listened to Corrine’s self-titled debut album. I was gifted the album by a woman I was seriously dating at the time. My first few weeks of having the album, I never got past “Enchantment”, which was Track 2. When I finally did decide to listen to the rest of the album, I found that there were 2 other tracks that captured my soul, so to speak: “Trouble Sleeping” and “Breathless”. Both were fantastic love songs. While “Trouble Sleeping” eventually ended up being my favorite track on the album—I’ll share why if I ever do an album review on Corrine Bailey Rae—the flow of “Breathless” hit me in a different place that makes stuff special to me.
What it meant to me then? It was way back in Summer of 2006 that I was introduced to the track. That was around the time I had become really invested into British soul outside of Craig David and Joss Stone. It was around the time I discovered Amy Winehouse and The Brand New Heavies. Leona Lewis was doing her thing on The X Factor and Duffy was blowing up the underground scene. The British soul sound was deep and somewhat edgy. It sort of personified everything I was going through at that point in the Lost Decade of Dating. “Breathless” reminded me of a promising situation I was in at the time. That particular woman would send what felt like jolts of lightning through my body when she said my name. Too bad that whole thing fizzled out the way it did.
What it means to me now? Today, I’m reminded of the song because of the “something new” I alluded to at the outset of this post. For the past few weeks, I’ve been talking to and going out with somebody new and the way she says “Hey Juan” does something to me. It literally has me breathless for a quick second. Maybe it’s her accent…she is Canadian, after all. Maybe it’s that trademark smile of hers as she’s saying “Hey Juan”. Maybe it’s certain love songs that float around in my head when I’m thinking of her…like that Michael Jackson and Eve “Butterflies” remix or “Crazy” by Javier. I can’t quite put a finger on whatever it is about her that has me all mesmerized, which is actually quite unusual for me in such situations. Nevertheless, as I now take stock of the lyrics in that track after maybe 3-4 years of not hearing it, they fit the situation perfectly. From what I understand about the track, it’s about a person who obviously has some feelings for another person but wonders if that other person even notices. With the Canadian Cutie—I’ll keep her a secret until something more concrete materializes—I kinda feel the same way.
