Friday 8/14: Lydia Loveless—"Love Is Not Enough"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the Ohio country artist Lydia Loveless.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the Ohio country artist Lydia Loveless.
Lydia Loveless—"Love Is Not Enough"
Eric Bennett:
Lydia Loveless has a voice that feels in line with things I’ve loved throughout my lifetime. As a tiny gay child being raised by country fans, I took to the genre’s divas. Reba, Shania, and Jo Dee Messina’s pop elements shaped my taste. Then, years later, I discovered Jenny Lewis, who, while not making country music, clearly understands and appreciates it. Loveless’s music, and this new single in particular, moves at the same pace as some of Lewis’s sprawling gems on The Voyager. It’s catchy, heartfelt, and bolstered by lovely guitar arrangements. It feels like an indie rock touch up to those country queens I worshiped as a child.
Eli Enis:
There are too many great lyrics on “Love Is Not Enough” to quote. The comeback single from Ohio’s undersung alt-country hero Lydia Loveless is likely about her ex-husband and former bassist, which makes each “oof”-inducing line all the more biting. “Tell me how it feels to always see everything in a major key” is clever, and “Cuz being kind is just a phrase you wear on a t-shirt” is even more clever. But this is the shot: “I can’t believe the worst kinds of people achieve / Everything they want / But it takes medication to get me off.” And the hook is the chaser: “Love is not enough / I wonder if it ever was?” Loveless is a brilliant lyricist but she’s also a tremendous vocalist who makes full use of her range on here without being showy about it. Eric hears Jenny Lewis, and I hear Laura Stevenson. I also hear the main lick from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son”, which is just a great fuckin’ lick so I’m not mad. I’m not familiar enough with Lydia Loveless to know if she’s tackled the futility of love so head-on in previous songs, but either way she’s now an authority figure on that subject as far as I’m concerned. It was right in her name, after all.