So I just recently got familiar with the musical Waitress, and while it's pretty consistently fun and interesting and solid all the way through, there was one song that stood out to me the most, and it's probably not any of the ones you're thinking of.
The song that most captured my attention was "You Will Still Be Mine." It's sung by our protagonist's self-centered abusive husband. It has all the earmarks of a classic love song -- a romantic line the two sing to each other, a hearkening back to the early days of their relationship -- but it's all twisted and dark to highlight his obsessive, controlling nature.
The thing that hits me the most every time I hear it is how he pushes her to say the words that will keep them together. The general overview of the first verse is him remembering back when he used to write her love songs, and he asks her, "What was that one line? Something about sunshine... I sang it every night." And he keeps guessing wrong until she corrects him: "'Til the sun don't shine, you will still be mine." He responds, "That's right!" And the first time I heard it, it sent shivers down my shine. He's doing a subtle abusive thing where he pushes her to promise to be with him, so now if she leaves him, she's the one breaking her promise and don't the wrong thing, not him. She's the one who said the words. His "That's right" in response doubles as both a, "That's right, those were the lyrics" and a "That's right, you will still be mine and I will still be yours and nothing you can do can change that."
It's just such a terrifying song about feeling trapped. I feel claustrophobic for Jenna just listening to it. It's such an incredibly well-written song that touches on the not-always-obvious ways in which abusers hold on to their victims.
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