“Love is Pain” by FINNEAS

The simplest way of describing “Love is Pain” is as Finneas depicting love as not being all gravy. As implied in the first verse, we usually embark on romantic relationships full of optimism, looking forward to finally having someone to call our own. But alas, the reality rarely, if ever, conforms to the fantasy. And that is the conclusion the vocalist ultimately comes to.

And to note, Finneas doesn’t relay these sentiments from a first-person perspective. Rather, what he is basically doing is noticing all of the discontent in relationships around him, including beef his parents had back in the days. 

And again, him concluding that falling in “love is pain”, as in the more you love a person, the more power that individual has over your heart. So for instance, as insinuated later in the song, if your girlfriend does something as potentially innocent as fraternizing with some dude, stuff like that wouldn’t have bothered you before the relationship began. 

But now it can end up having devastating emotional consequences. So perhaps we can end this analysis by saying that Finneas is issuing this song as a warning, that individuals should be aware that emotional “pain” is part of the overall package of falling in “love”.

FINNEAS

Finneas made a name for himself as pretty much the only producer/musician behind the rise of his little sister, Billie Eilish. As such when Eilish’s debut album, 2019’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go”, totally blew up, Finneas, who was unheard of at the time, ended up taking home more Grammy Awards in 2020 than any other musician. 

But that said Billie’s second album, “Happier Than Ever” (2021), proved to be a massive chart success as expected but hasn’t sold a gazillion copies like the first. So by the time all is said and done, for all we know Finneas may even experience greater longevity in the game than his junior sis since, considering that he is a behind-the-scenes’ man who regularly works with other popular musicians. 

In fact the last time we’ve mentioned Finneas on this blog was due to his recent appearance on James Blake’s Famous Last Words (2021) music video.

But as a soloist, thus far Finneas hasn’t been nearly as successful as Billie. For instance, his own debut album, an EP entitled Blood Harmony, also came out in 2019 but failed to make the Billboard 200. And this track we’re covering today was released as part of his second album and first LP, Optimist, a product of the vocalist’s own label, OYOY.

As expected, Finneas acted as the sole writer and producer of “Love Is Pain”.