If there's one thing we know about heartbreak, it's that it has at least as many colours as love. With Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, Adele's 21 and Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago all inspired by personal experiences with Cupid's failure, some of the most resonant songs about love gone wrong turn personal pain into something universal.
Jimmy Ruffin's 1966 version of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted is a dazzling case in point. Yes, the song's narrator is heart-broken, but he also has an affecting understanding of a much wider social malaise, namely the intense loneliness and vulnerability of the millions of people for whom "all that's left is an unhappy ending".
Though it's not a heartache song as such, Ervin Drake's wistful, strangely structured masterpiece It Was a Very Good Year, made famous by Frank Sinatra and later covered by The Flaming Lips, also has universal appeal. It's not so much the loves lost that the narrator is mourning, but rather the years that have passed. Life itself, not love, is slipping away, yet the narrator raises a grateful glass to all that life has brought him.
With bruised hearts being such a ubiquitous topic of popular song, honesty and originality go a long way. It is hard to think of a more stark summation of dying romance than The Waterboys' 1984 ballad The Thrill is Gone, while Carole Bayer Sager's 1977 hit You're Moving Out Today brings rare laughs to the break-up song, its female narrator listing all the things she isn't going to miss about her boyfriend.
Of course, the heartache or break-up song can easily succumb to glibness, but there's no danger of that in the brilliant opening lines of A Good Year for the Roses, the country classic made famous by George Jones and covered by Elvis Costello: "I can hardly bare the sight of lipstick / On the cigarettes there in the ashtray / Lyin' cold the way you left them / But at least yours lips caressed them while you packed." The poor narrator's doomed love for the woman who is leaving him is so strong that he is envious of the attention she lavished over a cigarette.
Long before her current album Lemonade, Beyoncé's songs offered a perspective on the predicament of women wronged. Take If I were a Boy, for example, the singer's 2008 single.
Verse three runs: “If I were a boy / I would turn off my phone / Tell everyone it’s broken / So they’d think that I was sleeping alone.” The first time I heard that I remember thinking, “Bey, if I were a girl, and I was one of your friends, I’d tell you to ditch that guy pronto. Either that or electronic tag him”.
It's easy to poke fun at If I were a Boy, but in truth, it's an extraordinarily moving song that really gets you thinking about gender differences. It also has a universal truth about love sewed into its mighty final choruses: only when you have been burnt yourself do you begin to understand the depth of the hurt you might have caused someone else.
artslife@thenational.ae
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz