Released: 2019
Yo, let’s roll up to this smooth and melancholic joint by Alessia Cara called “October”. At its core, this track is all about cherishing ephemeral moments of freedom and happiness, while dreading the inevitable arrival of change. It’s a deep dive into the transitional moments of life, where joy, uncertainty, and nostalgia swirls together in a poetic symphony.
The song starts off with an image of late-night adventures with friends, described by “5 a.m. the moon went to sleep / Your friends speaking in tongues in the back seat”. Cara’s painting a scene of intimate camaraderie, of youthful nights spent chasing fleeting moments. But there’s a subtle note of melancholy here too. The lyric “We’re stealing moments, moments away / Why are we just not as good in the day?” unveils a sense of ephemeral joy and the fear of reality seeping in with daylight. This ain’t about rejecting the everyday, nah, it’s about craving the magic of those ephemeral moments.
The chorus, “I’m gonna miss it when it’s over / Yeah, yeah / I hope we never see October” speaks volumes. October here is symbolic, a metaphor for change, the end of an experience, or the dawn of responsibilities. It’s like she’s caught in the bubble of the present moment, cherishing her freedom, but fully aware that the bubble’s gonna burst someday, hence “The bubble we’re living in / Setting me free again”. Oof, that’s some real talk right there.
Alessia then dives deeper into her personal perspective, with the lines “I can’t feel my hands, you laugh like you do / It happened like that according to you / It’s only a month, but doesn’t feel new somehow”. That’s her expressing the surreal nature of these lived experiences and how the passage of time can feel distorted when you’re fully immersed in euphoria.
The lyric “Paint a picture in my brain, encapsulate the fleeting feeling” evokes a sense of trying to hold on to these moments, to capture a feeling in one’s mind. It’s a poignant commentary on the transient nature of happiness and how we often wish to hold onto these feelings.
Then she brings up fall with “The nerve of autumn time days flying by, every sunrise healing me / And we’re okay, we’ll live this way ’til it’s done”, acknowledging the inevitable progression of time and the healing that every fresh day presents. Yet, there’s a sense of defiance and resilience, a desire to continue living fully in these moments until they fade away.
By the track’s end, the repetition of the chorus signifies both an acceptance of and a longing for the end, a dichotomy that’s at the heart of this song. She confesses she’ll miss this chapter when it’s over, but also realizes that every stage — every October — brings its own unique beauty and lessons.
Yo, on a real note, “October” ain’t just a song. It’s poetry. It’s a bittersweet testament to the fleeting beauty of transient moments. Cara’s got her finger on the pulse of the struggle between living fully in the moment and the inevitable, looming presence of change. And she delivers all of that with a delicate balance of emotion and introspection. Word up.
