Ferris wheels spin.

Like a Ferris wheel, you can feel your head start to spin when thinking of a lover or crush. When you’re madly in love, or even just enjoying a soft, subtle love, thoughts of your affection spin through your head constantly, whether you wish it or not. Jessamyn Day sings of this phenomenon in an adorable, honey-sweet way, in her song, “Spinning.”

The metaphor of someone’s object of affection spinning around their head is a simple, yet powerful, concept. As I listened to the chorus of Jessamyn Day’s “Spinning”, various images of spinning ran through my mind: the Ferris wheel, a frisbee, the tea cup ride at Disney World, the spinning in your head when you’re a bit too tipsy, and the moon spinning around the Earth.

This world is dark my dear

I know that it feels

Like I haven’t been here.

I have seen every tear

Jessamyn Day tribulates an existential love song within the framework of her lyrics for “Spinning.” Day gets away with being both chillingly depressing and sweetly sappy because her soft, ethereal voice pops into the melody in such a way that evokes a whimsical fairy tale ethos. This is a song for anyone who’s ever been in love, heart-broken, or anything in between. It’s for the sad girls, the happy couples, the depressed guys- anyone can relate to the message within this song because it’s grounded in a relatable issue.

The way Day weaves the story of “Spinning” together is a fresh, imaginative take on the centuries-old matter of love. We’ve all experienced the rush of falling in love with someone, and we love hearing songs about it.

I have been waiting to say,

You are lovely

The way that you are.

You’re spinning

Around

Around me.

Do you remember the tea cup ride at Disney World? Childhood memories of that ride drifted through my mind as I listened to this song. Spinning in joy, and sometimes fear, as the ride takes you on a journey. Jessamyn Day possesses a delicate genius about her in the way she reminds her listeners of such memories. “Spinning” is a wonderful song in its own right- so soft and sweet, with a hint of sadness- but the emotions it paints within its listeners allows it to hold its own as a piece of art. The sincere emotions contrast with the straightforward, whole-hearted love Day sings of.

This is just a simple song,

A list of how I love you,

It’d be light years long.

I love the minimalistic use of imagery in “Spinning.” Day compares the breadth of her love to light years, evoking space, astronomy, or even cosmological astrology. This is where the spinning of the moon revolution captured my imagination once again. In a way, the combination of the moon’s rotation on its axis and revolution around the Earth is symbolic of the kind of love Day sings about. The combination of the moon’s rotation and revolution creates the illusion that the moon appears to keep almost perfectly still, rather than spinning.

Like this astronomical phenomenon, when spending time with a loved one, time seems to stand perfectly still, until your time is up, and you don’t know how it went so fast. The illusion of time, like the illusion of the still moon, dissipates to reveal how both spin their own revolution- one around the Earth, and the other around the mind. Of course, this is just an observation of comparisons to Day’s song, but that’s the beautiful thing about brilliantly fresh art- it causes you to think imaginatively, creating your own cross-connections within the universe.

That’s what I particularly love about this song; as seemingly simplistic the lyrics are, in a beautiful, fanciful sense, Day’s choice of imagery is powerful enough to conjure picturesque images and emotions she doesn’t necessarily bring up.

One day it’ll all be clear

And you will see why

I have loved you every day.

Jessamyn Day’s “Spinning” is modest, sweet, and to the point, in the most innocent sense. It’s the kind of song you need to calm your mind, perhaps when your head is spinning over your significant other, or an unrequited crush.

Whether you delve into its emotional imagery, or simply take a few minutes to revel in love, this song will be a little spark of joy in your day.