DEAR KODALINE,

Time and again, I have Dufresne’s words to Red, in The Shawshank Redemption, echo in my head- one of the better things in life is hope because hope can be your driving factor to help you escape places, physical or mental. And there comes a point in life, when you realize that hope can have varied sources. You feel the need to have stability in life, to have a small set of constants that you can run to, find a shelter in and grow old with. I want you to know that it’s okay if that shelter is not in the form of a human being and it’s okay if you find refuge in something as basic and yet as powerful as music.

So, here goes an open letter to one of those shelters I can run to when it’s pouring too hard for me.

Dear Kodaline,

It’s been about three years since I’ve discovered your songs, fiddling through YouTube tracks, letting the autoplay do its charm. Being a person who sees the glass half empty rather than half full, I have always been attracted to anything sad and lonely, trying to find its way in this selfish world where nobody stops to look back. On blue nights and lonely afternoons, I’ve found refuge in High Hopes whereas the feeling of being in love has only been aggravated by the live version of The One.

With such simple yet powerful lyrics, breath taking keys, basic drum beats and Steve’s hauntingly beautiful voice, the music wins my heart better than most people in my life have the ability to. Given an option, I’d spend my best vacation staying in pajamas, attacking the 300-rupee jar of Nutella and listening to Kodaline all day.

So today, I’d like to confide in you that I love your music to the bottom of the sea. Thank you for being there when I was repeatedly seeing myself through the eyes of someone else, for being by my side every time I shed tears, for being someone who can swish the wand and show me the  reality, why it is how it is. Through your songs, I have found perspectives and I know how to heal better, how to help better, how to love better, for more often than not we all are too shy to ask for help. Maybe it’s too late to fix a few things, maybe I’ll keep pondering over whether my love was not enough for some and keep on moving on, but like Andy Dufresne said, hope is a very good thing, probably the best. So I’ll wait on the Brand New Day when I find someone who makes my heart feel like it’s summer. Because at the end of the day love will always set us free, right?

Thank you for many, many closures, for the tangles that came off loose through your lyrics and for telling me time and again, you needn’t always run back to something toxic just because it’s familiar. Know that you took my soul and wiped it clean. Thank you for reasons more than one.

Yours truly,
Someone digging up the will to live because of your music.

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