It starts with a steady heartbeat. Then a harp and keyboard introduce themselves softly in the background, leading into the singer’s voice entrancing listeners with its ethereal qualities. Then the chorus hits and she comes to life, emotion evident in the power of her voice. Florence and the Machine’s song Cosmic Love begins, appropriately, with the narrator falling in love. “A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes. I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it’s left me blind.” The “falling star” is the love she feels for the other person and it’s blinded her with the intensity of its metaphorical light. This love is so powerful and overwhelming that no other can compare, hence the lyrics “The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out. You left me in the dark. No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight. In the shadow of your heart.” These lyrics are fittingly sung in a way that feels like the singer is screaming with the intensity of her feelings despite still being melodic and ethereal. The drums in the background gives this an orchestral, dramatic quality, made even more emotional by beating to a similar rhythm as a heartbeat. The narrator then becomes quiet and soft once again, preparing herself for disappointment, or perhaps for the feelings to fade unresolved, with the lyrics “I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map. And knew that somehow I could find my way back.” But then she seems to realize that her feelings are reciprocated, and the person she’s in love with is just as blinded by love for her as she is for them, as she softly sings “Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too. So I stayed in the darkness with you.” This leads into the chorus again, but with the new context it feels less despairing and more triumphant, as though saying yes, she was in the darkness caused by the blindness of love, and it was wonderful.
This song is incredibly powerful and thick with emotion. As a child, I had no friends for over a decade. It wasn’t until high school that I was able to make any kind of connection to other people, and even then it almost never lasted. On those rare occasions that the friendship lasted, it was because they clung just as tightly to me as I did to them. To me this song is an excellent representation of the way it feels to shed those feelings of loneliness and hold tight to a relationship, especially when you aren’t sure if the other person even cares about you the way you care about them. For someone who has troubles with keeping friendships, those feelings of uncertainty can be pervasive and ultimately poison the relationship with one or both people’s insecurities. Cosmic Love evokes the feeling of uncertainty that can be typical of starting a new relationship, whether platonic or romantic, while still demonstrating the feelings of love that make us want to take the risk in the first place.
