~Finding a timeless song in an unexpected place

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰  

A while ago, in May 2020, my friends made me a playlist consisting of all of the songs they thought I’d like, put into a CD and got it delivered to my house...in the middle of a pandemic.  
 
This was absolutely amazing as I didn’t expect I would get a b-day gift at all heh.  
 
But this gift got me questioning myself, what is THE song that just...does it for me?  
It’s a weird way of phrasing it, but lemme explain.  
 
One might notice this question isn’t “What is my favourite song?” Because, I don’t have a favourite, frankly. How each song ranks to me, despite the technicality of each, doesn’t depend on pure objectivity.  
 
It also depends on what I’m feeling, who is singing, what I learned, what’s trending (if it’s too generic, I may not like it...and vice versa), what circumstances I’m in, etc.  
 
My evaluation of a song doesn’t represent the song’s intended purpose per se, it represents my feelings and everyday experience projected on the song.  
 
Besides, every song is special to someone, and my experience (which changes 24/7) isn’t the only valid one. So, with these two points in mind, I should be open minded to having new favourites in new places, if you ask me.  
 
But, what if there is a song that despite what one feels that day, despite what one believes in at that moment, despite the subjective experience or musical taste of the person, makes them feel so much more alive than they could ever be?  
 
What if there is a song out there for me that creates a feeling that is unrivalled that it never changes?  
 
Well, maybe, it turns out, there could be a song like that for me.  
 
Again, it’s not really my favourite song in all respects. There are more technically mastered songs, cooler songs, more innovative  songs, and more meaningful songs, I think, than this one.  
 
But despite all of that, this song still remains the same in my lil’ heart. Even when I listened to it almost ten years later, I instantly become the same girl I was in the moment I first heard it.  
 
So weird, huh?  
 
Frankly, this song, by no means, was intended to be a timeless song to anyone. It’s not a title track, it doesn’t have much lyrical meaning, it isn’t the song the artist is most known for, but it’s as timeless to me as a flower forever blossomed in sticky nectar.  
 
This song is,  
“C’mon C’mon” by One Direction  
 
I will admit, this song is your standard bubblegum pop, boots n’ cats type beat that keeps your head bopping. It’s also a  great song to dance to, and I love dancing.  
 
But besides being simple, and good at occupying its own lane, it doesn’t really do much for other people, I guess.  
 
So what is so special about it?  
 
Has my musical taste gotten sour?  
 
Hahaha, many people might think so if they listen to it, but, it’s so weird...  
 
To another person it might be just a bland boyband song with some adrenaline. For me, it’s an entire experience in 3D, a flashback to a, I guess, “significant” part of my past.  
 
When this song was released in November of 2012, I had just left elementary and was starting junior high.  
 
However, when One Direction’s first album came out back in elementary, I actually thought it was pretty whack.  
 
It sounded like someone threw 30 pounds of white sugar, some autotune and CD’s into an ice cream machine and called it ‘edible’.  
I hated how so many popular girls loved them and they just seemed superficial. I was fine being separated from the mainstream crowd.  
 
So what changed in me with the second album? Pretty much everything. (To a 13 year old).  
 
In junior high, struggling with making (good) friends, accepting my parents temperament, maintaining high grades, finding a shred of self-worth and becoming more independent frightened me so much, as it does with every 13 year old.  
 
All I really needed at the time was someone to say that they would choose me, despite of all my flaws, and “C’mon C’mon” did all that for younger me.  
 
So, what is it about exactly?  
 
The song describes a man that got abandoned by his date, but then, in the midst of all of the clogged up crowds, he sees another person, the song’s listener, and chooses her, despite all of the other pretty girls in the venue.  
 
Just think about it: in a crowd full of people, the cool, famous guys of 1D are asking me to dance—that  invisible, timid, pimply hermit at the back of the classroom, me.  
 
In my mind, it was basically like, the fireworks show had only just begun.  
 
Also, “C’mon, C’mon” has nice long high notes and an uptempo beat that helps give it a love at first sight, whirlwind romance feel. So when 1D spots the girl, it never sounds too, too creepy at any point, which any person can respect, y’know?  
 
Thus, for the longest time, “C’mon, C’mon” became a wonderful dreamscape free from worries, where I could be seen, accepted and, dance the night away.  
 
This is before I knew what actual dance clubs are like, so, you could just tell how naive I was lol.  
 
Regardless, every single time I listen to “C’mon, C’mon”, I feel the same as I felt back then. Even after I changed over the course of a decade, I fangirl and gush over like an innocent, free, and youthful pre-teen again...without cringing.  
 
Actually, this is unlike my reaction to other 1D songs from their second album, which I don’t find that appealing anymore.  
 
With my personal endeavours in other genres like Citypop, K-pop, KRnB and  Japanese Indie music, I can still come back to “C’mon, C’mon” and feel the same. It just proves that it transcends my changes in taste, changes in my history and my current circumstances.  
 
It reveals that, at the core of my identity, I’m probably just a girl who loves to dance, who leaves it all to chance and who wants to believe she’s accepted.  
 
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰  
 
So, a question for you to reflect on: what do you think is your go-to timeless song?