Tove Lo’s “Like Em Young” Lyrics Meaning

“Like Em Young” has two different ways it can be understood. A surface listen reveals that the singer (Tove Lo) indeed prefers her boyfriends to be young, with the insinuation being she likes them younger than herself.  For example, when she states at the beginning that a certain romantic interest is “too young” for her, yet she ‘doesn’t care’, then instantly the mind would think she is referring to a ‘wide-eyed’, “naïve” individual who is in fact her junior.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Tove Lo's Like Em Young at Lyrics.org.

But later in the song its meaning sort of changes. Then she goes on to state that she prioritizes men ‘young like her’, with the implication now being that she favors guys her same age. This idea is further buttressed by Tove Lo criticizing ladies who rather prefer to date men who are well their seniors. Indeed she makes fun of younger women dating older men. So in this context, when she says she “likes them young”, she means younger than an elder gentleman.

But in its entirety this song is intended to be an exercise in role reversal, if you will. The singer understands that there’s something like a taboo concerning older ladies dating younger guys. So rather what the ideas presented are really supposed to represent is a person’s ideological freedom to date whatever age group they prefer.

Lyrics of “Like Em Young”

Facts about “Love Em Young”

“Like ‘Em Young” is part of Tove Lo’s debut album, “Queen of the Clouds”.And Island Records put the song out on 30 September 2014.

This track was produced by The Struts, a musical duo consisting of Ludvig Söderberg and Jakob Jerlström. And they both contributed to writing the song also alongside Tove Lo.

FYI: Other notable tracks from Tove’s “Queen of the Clouds” album include “Talking Body” and “Habits“.

What Tove Lo has said about “Like Em Young”?

Despite the sentiment expressed in this song, in terms of dating Tove Lo actually espouses the idea of individuals being able to ‘do whatever they want’. Or stated differently if someone decides to date a person who is significantly older or younger than they are, so be it. Rather it seems, once again from her own personal standpoint, that she perceived this track more as addressing the taboo that exists between older women dating younger guys. In other words, it is generally perceived as being okay for an elder man to date a young lady. However, when the converse occurs, it is viewed as being kind of being prohibited. So you can say that she was looking to elicit a specific response, sort of like shock, from the audience due to her bold claim of liking younger guys.

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