Love Who We Are Meant To

Song Meaning

Feist's "Love Who We Are Meant To" isn't a straightforward love song; it's a delicate dissection of longing, acceptance, and the chasm between idealized romance and the messy reality of human connection. The opening lines, "Make it up as I go / That's all I can do when / Haven't got a clue when / I'll see you again," immediately establish a sense of uncertainty and improvisation, as if the narrator is navigating a relationship without a map. This feeling of being adrift is further emphasized in the lines, "Drafting as I drift / I cannot write nor reckon it." The core of the song's meaning lies in the repeated phrase, "That sometimes we don't get to / Love who we are meant to." This isn't necessarily a lament about unrequited love, but a more nuanced acknowledgment that compatibility and destiny don't always align. The lyrics suggest a conflict between the narrator's idealized vision of love and the tangible limitations of the relationship. She wrestles with the idea that perhaps the object of her affection, by simply being "a real man," is somehow an obstacle to the fantasy she's constructed. The line, "Even denial is romantic / And that's romance's disadvantage," hints at the seductive allure of clinging to an illusion, even when it's detrimental. Ultimately, "Love Who We Are Meant To" explores the solitary nature of longing. The narrator grapples with whether to "let it wreck me / Or wreck my dream of family?" This paints a picture of a woman at a crossroads, contemplating the sacrifices and compromises inherent in any relationship. The song's final lines, "What I can feel from my ideal, Love / Is also love / In a lonely way," offer a bittersweet resolution. It's a recognition that even in the absence of reciprocation or fulfillment, the capacity to love, even in its idealized form, holds its own intrinsic value. This is a song about the quiet, internal work of redefining love on one's own terms.