Ophelia by The Lumineers Song Review
“Ah I when I was younger, I should have known better.”
The path to fame isn’t all that sweet, but it is all the more challenging to have a stable relationship with the concept of fame. The Lumineers wrote the song Ophelia, where Ophelia represents fame and their relationship with her.
The dreamy false and temporary pleasures that fame brings, and moves on to the next person, the competitiveness among people on the basis of their achievements that validates them in terms of fame.
The entire song is a narrative of the band in relationship with fame, what they felt, what anyone feels when they are a part of the fame, and how much it is temporary and fragile. Ophelia, the fame is quick and easy to move on to others, and give them the fame they are working for, then immediately move on to the next.
“Ah I when I was younger, I should have known better.”
The first verse shows the band forming together and extending their songs to the world, their first introduction to fame. The first phase of having fame is all rainbows and a glittery lifestyle until it leaves one exhausted and drained to produce anything more, then it fades away as quickly as it comes.
Even though they know that they are fools who fall in love with fame and are in for a massive heartbreak, inevitably they are the part of the fool as well who believe their fame and blindly fall in love with fame.
In the second verse, the speaker gets a paycheck, but Ophelia has bigger plans to move. The fragility of fame and its inconsistency in being with just one person is shown in these lines. Fame is always looking for something big and rewarding them with it.