It Was Love

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of a deeply felt, albeit unfulfilled, teenage romance that lingers long into adulthood. The narrator recalls a connection that began in childhood, evolving from best friends to something more, marked by secret gestures like passing notes with hearts and late-night drives in a beat-up car. This early intimacy is framed as a pure, foundational love, a stark contrast to the complicated present. The central tension arises from the irreversible passage of time and the diverging paths taken. The narrator acknowledges the relationship ended, but the sting is amplified by the fact that the object of affection quickly moved on with their best friend. This betrayal, coupled with the knowledge that the person is now married, creates a profound sense of regret and a yearning for a past that felt more authentic and full of promise. The most striking aspect is the persistent, almost defiant, assertion of the past relationship's validity: "It was love, I know you know that, it was us." This refrain, repeated throughout, acts as a desperate plea to validate a shared history that the narrator believes was unequivocally real, even if it couldn't last. The lyrics suggest this conviction is a coping mechanism against the pain of what is and the longing for what was. This song hits hard because it taps into the universal ache of lost first love and the specific sting of seeing that love move on to someone else, leaving you with only memories and a lingering question of 'what if.' The raw honesty of admitting to still thinking about the person daily, despite their marriage, grounds the nostalgic longing in a palpable, present-day melancholy.