'I Hate Love Songs' by Miranda Lambert – Lyrics & Meaning

Earlier this year, Miranda Lambert ushered in a new era. Having inked a deal with Republic Records – with the new label, she explains she's found a home where her desires and her vision were understood – the 'Tequila Does' hitmaker found herself refreshed, newly empowered and inspired to create the music she has always strived for.

What has resulted since has been a string of well-received singles, like 'Wranglers', 'Dammit Randy' and 'No Man's Land', all eventually, paving the way for her tenth solo studio release, Postcards From Texas.

The new album is full of Lambert's trademark fire and sass, but it is also fueled by her vulnerability and her willingness to look inward. The record's sparkling ballad, 'I Hate Love Songs', is the perfect example of the artist's ability to be honest and unguarded.

'I Hate Love Songs' is a glittery acoustic number, carried on bright strings and weightless harmonies. The tune starts off soft and pensive, with delicate steel pattering across the emptiness. It is soon joined by the hollow thump of an insistent beat before the song builds into a racing symphony of rhythm, steel and effervescent vocals.

What the song lacks in variety and excitement, it makes up for in its incisive and penetrating words.

"Have you ever loved somebody
Like a preacher loves Sundays
From the deepest part
Of your tattered heart"

'I Hate Love Songs' comes to life with several vulnerable questions: Have you ever loved somebody...? Have you ever needed someone...? With these, she opens up a dialogue, reflecting on what it really means to let someone in.

Lambert did, but it wasn't something that ended happily. "I did one time," she sings in the song's pre-chorus, "And it ruined my life / Everything went wrong."

The song suggests a breakup or a falling out. Now, with her loved one no longer by her side, she punctuates the melodrama with the titular line, "I hate love songs"

She attributes this bitter end to "runnin’ right off the rails" and "chasin’ demons / For no good reason".

While she spends much of the tune detesting love songs, she also lays bare the reality of relationships: sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. Everlasting love isn't a sure thing, she notes, singing:

"There’s no evidence
Of how the story ends
Sometimes it’s meant to be
That wasn’t you and me"

While Lambert hasn't explicitly shared anything about 'I Hate Love Songs', she has explained that Postcards from Texas is meant to serve as a love letter of sorts from her to her listeners.

From commenting on toxic relationships and the need to be free, to more profound sentiments on life and love, the 14-song album is full of lessons learned and words of wisdom.

“There’s a lot of bad decisions on this record, but that’s part of growing up," she offered. "It’s part of the experience, that human experience is figuring it out. You don’t learn from things going great. Throughout this record, there’s a lot of tenderness and living in the moment of the pain. It’s not glorifying it, but explaining."

Have you ever loved somebody
Like a preacher loves Sundays
From the deepest part
Of your tattered heart

Have you ever needed someone
Like you might come undone
Like you might just die
If they said goodbye

I did one time
And it ruined my life
Everything went wrong
Now that he’s gone

I hate love songs
I hate love songs

Have you ever hated yourself
For runnin’ right off the rails
For chasin’ demons
For no good reason

I did one time
And it wrecked my life
Everything went wrong
Now that I’m gone

I hate love songs
I hate love songs
I hate love songs
I hate love songs

There’s no evidence
Of how the story ends
Sometimes it’s meant to be
That wasn’t you and me

--

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