Words fail

Kate Nash’s Foundations is an irksome song, not only because of its faux-naive, chipper delivery, but also because despite being heavy on lyrics, it has absolutely nothing to say.

Nash is not afraid to use plenty of words to describe a fraught and possibly violent relationship. We learn how her boyfriend calls her a “bitch” in front of friends; how he gets “aggressive” and makes her “scared” when she winds him up; how she prays she’s not stuck with him. We also get bafflingly useless kitchen-sink detail about trainers, sick and the central heating (clunkily, the promotional video even opens on a shot of a sink). But what we don’t get – and what the song is crying out for – is an explanation of why she stays with him.

All we get is Nash whimpering: “And I know that I should let go,
but I can't”. Why not? If you’re scared, or broke, or dependent on him in some other way, then fine, just tell us. Even if you’re unable to explain why, tell us that so we can listen and learn. But for crying out loud, articulate something.

This feeble-mindedness bothers me not because I care about what happens to the dismal couple in the song. It would be easy enough to claim that none of this matters, but the song’s failings are important because Nash owes her audience – mostly awe-struck young women – a more articulate explanation for why she “can’t” flee a life of disappointment. She owes us because she's chosen a violent relationship as her subject matter. Without it, she lets her audience down, expecially young women with aggressive boyfriends.