September 6, 2014: “Never” is my favorite track of the year. If anything comes along and dethrones it, I will be more than positively surprised. In a paradoxical manner, I often can’t pinpoint why a certain song or an album resonates with me the way it does. That’s because as a person, I’m more adept at feeling and experiencing than sharing my exact thoughts in a coherent piece of writing. I know what I like, but can’t necessarily explain why every time. In conversing, I’m more often than not a stream of consciousness type of talker – something that I find hard to translate over into writing. I know exactly why I like “Never” though: it speaks to me about as much as it speaks of me, and that is a lot.


“Never” is barefaced as much as it is multifaceted. Structurally, both instrumentally and rapping-wise, it is a relatively straightforward track. Inversely, its message can be interpreted in many ways. To take it in the context of the full album it originates from, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, it’s part of a narrative, part of a story. I like to be self-centered with the track though – I like taking it out of context, pulling it apart from the rest of the record, because while I enjoy &TYSYC very much as a full-length offering, no other song on the album digs as deep as “Never” does when I forget what The Roots might have wanted to say with it and concentrate on the meaning I myself give it. As a standalone cut, “Never” represents polarity to me (more precisely, familiarity in confusion and/or uneasiness), as well a certain everyday struggle for identity and sanity – something I myself deal with on a regular basis. Thoughts of what I want to be colliding with thoughts of what I am and what I am not, which tend to be in a negative equation, are something I stumble upon again and again. Thoughts of future, the present, now, then, why, if, how, when. It’s inevitable to love songs that sound like they were written for you alone, and that’s what “Never” feels like for me. It might have been it from the get-go, or I may have forced it into that frame, but to me the song is (or at least possesses the ability to be) a fantastic take on inner demons and struggles to find yourself in the 21st century; on struggles to feel worthwhile. Of course, my rambling about the track might be very different compared to what The Roots originally sought to tell with it, but that’s where the beauty of interpretation lies.


More on the subject of its polarity, I usually find myself clicking “play” on “Never” when I’m in a darker, reflective mood, yet I am boasting a certain “I got this” grin already when the cut fades. “Never” expresses my inner angst better than I myself manage to, while also introducing resolve and composure into my system. Its lyrics, though drab, are constructed in a way that let’s you see them as motivational, instead of damaging. The song gives you the option to swing both ways: it allows you to take the role of a passenger and witness an individual’s commentary on a life without much joy, but it also pushes you to dwell on the subject matter and search for a resolution to your own uncertainties. In its own dark and non-linear way, adding to the whole polarity theme, I find “Never” also encourages the feeling of acceptance. It’s borderline impossible to escape from existential problems and thoughts pertaining to one’s identity, but you can try to deal with them and find a way to live with them, and more importantly, with yourself. Or at the very least, find fuel for life in moments and settings that are clearer and feel more “right.” It’s always okay to question and to dwell; you shouldn’t let that consume you though. Just as there’s beauty in simplicity, and simplicity in beauty, there’s confusion about clarity, and clarity in confusion. Sometimes, I think feeling messed up is the most natural and sincere state to be in, just as sometimes I think “never” is the most motivational word of all. All I know is all I know…