Song 18:
"Adia” by Sarah McLaughlan
Peak: 3
Year: 1998
Year end position: 20
Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/4
Chronological Songs by Artist: 2/4
Video?: Yes
Spotify?: Yes
Today marks the
third time we've heard from a solo female singer in this blog. Unlike the previous two (Orianthi, Truth
Hurts), today's singer wasn't a one-hit wonder.
This is the first of four songs we will hear from Sarah McLaughlin, and
her biggest hit, reaching #3 on the charts.
I also believe this is the first song we have heard from a
Canadian. I was looking up similar acts
as far as similar careers goes, and there are a few acts that are similar to
Sarah McLaughlin. She actually had a
relatively short peak career. All four
of her songs peaked between 1997 and 1999, giving her a three year chart
run. Other acts that had that type of
run were Tommy Edwards in the 50s, Percy Sledge in the 60s, Mac Davis in the
70s, fellow Canadian Corey Hart in the 80s, Savage Garden in the 90s, and Creed
in the 2000s. Perhaps the most similar
act as far as chart profile to Sarah McLaughlin's is none other than Lil
Kim. It seems strange, but they are both
solo female artists who had exactly 4 top 20 songs with the highest charting
song reaching a peak of #3 ("Magic Stick" for Lil Kim,
"Adia" for Sarah McLaughlin).
This seems like a strange pairing of acts, since I doubt they will or
have ever shared the same stage, but their careers were at least a little bit
comparable. They were even active around
the same time (1996-2003 for Lil Kim).
That's the kind of interesting analysis you'll get from this blog.
Speaking of
which, I looked it up, and there are a grand total of 15 words in the English
language that have 4 letters and 3 syllables.
"Adia" isn't really one of them, since it's not a word so much
as it is a proper noun. Then again, so
are "Oreo", "Ohio", "Iowa" and "Oahu"
and they were on the list.
This song was
nominated for a Grammy award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1999, but
eventually lost to fellow Canadian Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go
On" in what must have been a banner year for female Canadian singers on
the American pop charts.
I was able to
track down a few meanings to this song, although there doesn't seem to be any
consensus on what it means. The first
time I listened to it, it seemed like a break up song. After listening to it a few more times, it
seemed like the song is more about apologizing for causing a break up of some
kind. I'm not even sure that it has to
be the end of a romantic relationship, just some kind of parting between two
people. I think that's what gives the
song its universality. If you want a
song that sounds like it understands when you and a friend of yours had a
falling out, this song works. If you
want a break-up song, this song works for that as well. I think this song is vague on purpose.
I read a rumor
that Sarah wrote this song after she started dating the man who would be her
future husband. A friend of hers had
dated him before, and their friendship suffered. I could see where that would be a little
strange. I have no idea if that story is
true or not, but it definitely seems like good fodder for a song (maybe even
this song).
There is a video
for this song, but there isn't much to it.
It is Sarah singing in various spots around town as people walk around
her. Then, suddenly the people are all
gone for some unexplained reason.
Finally, she's singing where everyone is slow dancing. Maybe the people all disappearing symbolizes
the loss of the friendship that the song may or may not be about. Regardless, this song seems like a good
all-purpose song to play on a rainy day when you feel like being
introspective.
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