Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
You Knew But Not So Eloquently
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2003 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
An analysis of the genius of the first *NSYNC album.
... Fantasy #3: He'll be sorry he left you, girl.Read the comments for the author's praise of New Kids On the Block for exemplifying the form and for tips on boy band parodies.Probably the most shameless and impressive gambit this album plays is presenting a whopping THREE consecutive songs expressing breakup regret. Again, the genius lies in the fact that a young listener has probably had more experience with the confusion and crushed self-esteem of being dumped than with the above mentioned undying love or cherishing. The fantasy of the tortured dumper, then, is a gratifying defense-mechanism for the dumpee. The existence of this fantasy is evident in that almost any girl who has experienced a painful breakup will be greeted with a barrage of sentiments from her friends stating, essentially "Someday he'll be sorry when he realizes what he lost." The prevalence of this fantasy is most bizarre simply because it is, with very few exceptions, never, ever true. While it is highly likely that he's playing video games, contemplating what his favorite brand of macaroni and cheese is, telling his friends what a psycho you were or giddily planning his next conquest, the odds that he's crying into his pillow wishing he could turn back the hands of time and right all the wrongs is almost infinitessimal. *NSYNC, however, boldly goes there...THREE TIMES....
