What is life without the highs and lows? After all, you can’t truly experience one without the other, you need both for either of them to matter. All we want in life is to be successful and to fulfill our purpose, and we constantly wonder what our purpose is in life, but what if it's much more simple than that, and our true goals should be to embrace all the little moments and find joy in contentment. Fine Line. I’ll begin that by saying that more than any other track I have a personal connection to this song. Track 12 tells us not to be afraid of vulnerability, but rather to embrace the wave of emotions that may sometimes feel nonexistent or like they’re drowning you, and it teaches you how to float.
Fine Line has a simple beauty to it, as it begins with a symphony of ethereal harmonies which then fade into the gentle strumming of a guitar which continues throughout the track, slowly building until the song gets to the point where it is a cacophony of horns, guitars, drums, piano, and harmonies and feels like it can’t do anything but release. Just as the song builds, emotions swells and before you know it you are laying on the floor staring at the ceiling. All the while you feel as if you are sinking further and further into the abyss that can be emotions and vulnerability, the track does the same as the background vocals and instrumentation sound as if they are underwater. Fine Line is Harry telling us that it is ok to feel like you feel too much for one human and that you can’t bottle everything up. You have to find some sort of release for your emotions in order to find that line of contentment. The beauty to this song is that just as Harry is telling us this and is encouraging us to let our emotions release, the track builds and releases and the two acts happen simultaneously. The moment the track releases is the same moment that your emotions release and the tears come streaming down your face. This track will leave you shaking and gasping for air, but as the track ends you find yourself sitting in a rush of contentment. It feels as though you are sitting in an empty field surrounded by a sky full of stars, you feel raw and untouchable in the most human way possible.
Since this track was released I fell in love with it and it became my comfort song. Any time that I feel lost, confused, lonely, and need something to bring me back to the ground or keep my mind from drifting too far or to stop me when I feel like I’m sinking, I go back to this track. I can only describe this track as being an anchor or a lifeboat. It keeps me afloat. From listening to this song in a room full of 20,000 people to listening to it while laying on my bedroom floor, this song never fails to hold me close. Fine Line feels like hugging your mom or dad after a long day, it feels like home. It embraces you and doesn’t let go until you are ok. Fine Line shows you that it's ok to not be at your best and to be jealous, sad, angry even, but that it's also ok to ride the highs of life and devour every euphoric moment of pure bliss. More than anything it tells us to open up and allow ourselves to be seen as who we are. Fine Line is unmatched on the level of vulnerability and emotion that it expresses.
I’ll end here by saying, it's ok to be scared and to have fear well up inside, but its not ok to let that fear hold you back. You may feel as if you are folding or that the shaking will never stop, that you will never cease falling, but if you allow yourself to be opened up and you embrace all the little moments of good and bad and everything in-between, it will be alright. So dive in and learn to float, and remember we’ll be alright.
Liv’s take-
What a curse it is to feel so much, but what blessing it is to feel so much. All our lives we are searching for a way to be alright, someone to hold and tell us that we’ll be fine. Life wouldn’t be life without the constant swing of our own emotions. Sometimes the ever-changing rush of our emotions can become so much that we push them all away, but then it becomes nearly impossible to gain them all back. Fine Line is Harry telling us to revel in our emotions, the highs, and the lows. To know that in those moments where it feels like you’ll never make your way out of the hurt and uncertainty that you’ll be alright.
We are all constantly looking for ways to temporarily be alright. Whether that be through music, books, substances, or writing, we are always trying to find ways to distract ourselves from our emotions. As though if for one moment we were to dwell on our emotions we would fall apart. Fine Line expresses to us that the vulnerability we feel when we unleash all that we feel is okay, and that it is healthy for us to feel all that we do. Hiding the way that you truly feel from yourself will do nothing but hinder you from finding the ability to be okay. It is important to feel all these things because that is what life is all about. The happiness you feel when you see the person who changed your life, to the hurt you feel when the person who said they would always be there is nowhere to be found. All of this is what it means to be human, sometimes you’re not alright and that’s fine. It's what you learn to do with all these emotions that matters. Don’t conceal them to the point where it hurts no one but you, but don’t dwell on them. Acknowledge them, accept them as part of life, and that things won’t always be so dark. Know that someday you’ll look back on where you are, knowing all that you got through to have the resilience and admiration for yourself that you will gain.
The peace that comes over any listener of this song is unmatched. The trumpets to the repetition of Harry telling us “we’ll be alright” is something none of us knew we needed, but I’m not sure how we would’ve made it without it. Sitting in an arena with 20,000 people as the lyrics and serene strumming of Harry’s guitar wash over your soul is a feeling I’ll be reaching for as long as I live. It was a moment where we were all allowed to take a deep breath and revel in all we have overcome, and how beautifully strong we all are. Sisters were crying, strangers were hugging, best friends were swaying, and parents were in awe.
When you press play on track twelve, you are preparing to unleash a swell of emotions that are begging to be released. So let the melody rake through your soul and tug on your heartstrings. Take a deep breath and know that we’ll be a fine line, we’ll be alright.
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