Time has flown so fast this year; December is already here! You can no longer escape the lights, the wreaths, the snow, the stockings. There’s no denying it’s finally Christmas… but it’s also cuffing season.

Cuffing season is when we’re tortured with mistletoe at every corner. When the weather that forces us under the blankets only makes us want someone to hold. The month long period us single people have to find a lover quick so we don’t have the spend Christmas alone. Love is the one thing we all want during the holidays (besides presents and baked goods).

Honestly, love is the one thing we all want all year round, and why wouldn’t we? Love is one the best feelings and experiences that we humans get to experience in our lifetime. If you’re looking for some sparks to fly in this cold, cold winter, it may be time to turn the Bing Crosby off and turn on some sappy love songs. You have to get motivated somehow! If you’re looking to add songs to your playlist that just make your heart melt, make you love sick, look no further than CLARA-NOVA’s “Electric”.

CLARA-NOVA, a stage name for the French-American singer Sydney Wayser, is an indie rock artist, often blending elements of classical and rock to make her own unique sound. Her newest work, on the other hand, has taken more of an indie pop/electronic turn. She is currently based in California and takes a lot of inspiration from the city, aiming to create charming, youthful songs. Her musical influences range from Joni Mitchell and Feist to Rufus Wainwright and Radiohead. She collaborated with hit indie producer, Shawn Everett, to release her first EP, The Iron Age, in March of 2018. Since then she has released a couple singles and toured with big indie artists like Blitzen Trapper, The Kooks, Sarah Blasko, and Polica. Her latest EP, The Golden Age, is said to be all about the idea of hopefulness and her song “Electric” most definitely reflects this. In an interview with Atwood Magazine, she said “Electric” is “unabashedly about love. It is about the sparks you feel at first blush. That moment that stops you in your tracks. That feeling when the wind is knocked out of your lungs because someone is so interesting and commanding that you almost forget how to speak”.

Falling in love is all-consuming, exhilarating, euphoric, like a roller coaster ride you never want to get off of. It makes you happy, excited, confident. These are all the emotions that CLARA- NOVA wanted to emulate through her music, and I felt it with each beat and melody.

The song begins with a synth beat that ultimately makes up a lower bass melody and snapping. You can tell it’s going to be an upbeat song right off the bat. She begins singing, her lower range shining and her voice commanding your attention. There’s a cool radio frequency filter over her vocals that make it sound like you’re listening to the song on a sunny drive with the windows down all the way. The song is made even more unique by the sharp cuts on her vocals, sometimes before the note being held is even finished. When the chorus hits, and that dream pop guitar and drum kit jump in on the fun, all you want to do is dance. A small high pitched melody reminiscent of a carnival ride sound is added in the chorus too, which only adds to the summery vibe “Electric” possesses. At times, nearer to the bridge, the music will cut back to reveal a more vulnerable vocal or lyric, paralleling the vulnerability of love, how frightening it can be simply because you could lose it so easily. But a majority of the song is warm and energetic.

All I saw was red from the head rush

like a breaking glass from the burning flame.

There’s no going back after first blush.

There’s no going back.

Red is often associated with two polar opposite feelings: anger and love. In the case of Electric, red is all about love. She’s seeing red from the fast rush of utter bliss that this love brings her. It’s like glass breaking in a fire, explosive and unavoidable. There’s no way she can go back to how things were before this person. There is no way she can forget this feeling.

I feel the stillness taking over my lungs,

all those broken parts.

Now we’re floating high over oceans,

eyes blurring.

Her chest is frozen, her breath taken away by this person. Every scar, all the unfixed damage from her past relationships don’t matter now. The love is so good it feels like they’re flying, soaring high above everything else. They’re on top of the world.

Let me count the ways that you haunt me.

Let me count the places you stop me in my tracks,

attacking every part of me.

There are so many things about this person that never leave her mind. They are constantly surprising them in the most positive of ways. Their love is so strong, it’s almost like an attack on her heart.

You woke me up when the storm came,

and it’ll never be the same again.

I feel electric, electric, electric love.

When all seemed to be falling apart or heading for the worst, this person shook her out of her gloom and doom and made everything okay again. Because of this, she is forever changed.

We all started somewhere – we were strangers,

making sounds and turning them into smoke signs.

Now we build layers on layers on layers.

She is recalling back to when she and her lover did not know each other at all. At this time, they were just getting to know each other but their words were like smoke signals, sending a message without having to speak, telling the other person they needed or wanted each other. Now, in the present, they are building a stronger and stronger relationship every day.

I’ll magnify my thoughts and open my heart,

’cause my world changed .

Will you let me in?

I’ll do my part, I’ll keep trying.

She promises to make her thoughts bigger and more important, to share her thoughts and feelings openly without fear. She wants this person to let her become a part of his world, to let her see the hidden parts of him. She promises to continue to work and fight to keep their love strong.

‘Cause I’d been hardwired shut, but you broke that down.

Show me the highlights, send me out of my mind,

’cause I’m hard-headed and I’m warm-blooded.

Before this person entered her life, she had walls up protecting her from getting hurt, blocking anyone from truly getting to know her. Those walls are gone now. She is allowing him to drive her crazy in love. She’s always been stubborn and quick to fight, but she wants to give that up now.