That Same Story Over And Over

Carlos Truly “Why Suffer??”

“Why Suffer??” is an odd mutant R&B song that nevertheless moves with a lot of grace, slinking and gliding and floating around and giving Carlos Truly a lot of space to exude sensativity and sensuality. The music is cozy and sexy, but…what the hell is this guy singing about? As far as I can parse this it sounds like he’s encountered some woman he’s attracted to after a minor car accident, learns she has a husband, and then he’s just like “this guy seems gross, why suffer the indignity of being with him when you could be with me?” The song positions it all like maybe there’s some abuse going on but all you really get in the lyrics about the husband is that he’s naked and sweaty at some point. Songs don’t really need to tell complete stories to work and this one certainly gets by just fine on purely musical charms, but there’s so many missing or vague details in this one that it’s hard to even tell where this song is coming from. Is this a song about a guy with a crush who develops an unreasonable grudge on this lady’s husband, and he’s meant to be an unreliable narrator? Or is this more like a song about a guy we’re meant to understand as a hero and his judgment of this husband is meant to carry more weight? I like it better if it’s the former.

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