“Mad at Disney” by Salem Ilese
On “Mad at Disney”, Salem Ilese takes a swipe at Disney for their propagated love stories which always end with a ‘happily ever after’. The writer suggests that she believed in their ideals of true love, but realized after growing up that those ideals were lies in the real world.
The singer talks about how she has had bad experiences with love including being hurt and having to give up on and not knowing what love should be like. She addresses how these fairytales as portrayed by Disney are far from the reality of relationships which require time and effort to maintain. The song ends with Salem once again blaming Disney for tricking her all these years while she resolves to no longer believe in their ‘easy true love’ fairytales. Hence she is “mad at Disney” for all the years of deceit.
Who wrote “Mad at Disney”?
Released as a single on July 24, 2020, this track was written and produced by Salem Ilese, Jason Hahs and Bendik Moller. Following its release, the track went viral on the video-sharing app TikTok.
Who is Salem Ilese?
Salem Ilese is an American singer-songwriter who rose to fame for her single titled Mad At Disney. The said song (like was mentioned above) went viral on the video-sharing app TikTok in September 2020.
Salem’s debut EP titled 757 was released in 2019. In August 2020, she signed a record deal with Homemade Projects.
Prior to pursuing her music career full-time, she had attended Berklee College of Music.
At the height of the success of “Mad at Disney”, her Instagram account had more than 170,000 followers.
Our Thoughts on a “Happily Ever After”
Is there really a “Happily Ever After”? Does “happily ever after” really exist in relationships?
“Happily Ever After” is perhaps the one love-related phrase that evokes the most cynicism, uncertainty and hopelessness while generating a sense of hope at the same time. Mostly used at the end of fairy tales, particularly after the main characters end up married or together, it has come to be thought of as an illusion because what happens in romantic relationships in reality does not fit this phrase.
As much as this phrase predicts that things will be perfect in the future, it is possible that people may have misconstrued its intention. What if the phrase as used in fairytales was not meant to suggest that the future of the said characters was flawless? What if ‘Happily Ever After’ means that the couple stayed together, working through their differences along the way and were generally content with their lives? In that case, we can say that there is after all the possibility of a “Happily Ever After” in relationships. There is this possibility if the people involved strive to live peacefully with each other, bring their dreams into reality and work through their disagreements.
Salem Ilese‘s “Mad at Disney” begs to differ
A lot of people (including the narrator of “Mad at Disney”) would like to think that this phrase is unrealistic. And why? Simply because of the rate of divorce and challenges that people often experience in their relationships. It is absolutely right to stick with this notion and disparage the fairytale idea that things can be all perfect between lovers forever to avoid being disappointed when an expectation is not met.
But at the same time, it is advisable not to embrace relationships with an it’s-going-to-fail perspective.
The “Happily Ever After” concept championed by the likes of Disney might just have been invented to push humanity towards its ideal desire. And what’s this ideal desire? We hear you ask! A desire to experience wholeness and happiness within their lifetime.
That’s just our two cents (:
Yea its true sometimes some of us have a happily ever after butt some of us experience this my parents thought they would be the perfect couple but it didn’t happen im a boy who is a little girly but I prefer Pixar I had my love he was the perfect man butt he cheated on me so we broke up 💔 it was a hard time for me
But they say love wins so i believed it but i had the same problem finding a true loves kiss 💋 is bullsht
True love is not always a happy ending. I’ve has my share of crushes that ended up being jerks, so…
same i have had that problem too