By Julia Pearl | Reporter
With a vaccine in sight, and optimistically, the end of the pandemic following afterward, Alec Benjamin’s song “Six Feet Apart,” although released in early April, still speaks volumes.
“Six Feet Apart” was written about the loneliness that accompanies social distancing. In his lyrics, Benjamin clearly conveys the sadness he feels at not being able to be near family members.
“And it hurts to know just how lovely you are / And be too far away to hold you but close enough to break my heart / I miss your smile / Feels like miles / Six feet apart.”
After hearing the song, I thought Benjamin was singing about losing a loved one who had been buried six feet underground. I later learned that he was singing about people who are very much alive but standing six feet away because of the pandemic.
The fact that a song about social distancing can be interpreted as a song about death gives insight to the difficulties this pandemic has presented to people’s mental health and social relationships.
Benjamin reminisces about a time before the pandemic with the lyrics, “So I think I’ll build a time machine and go back to a time / When we didn’t need to measure six feet on the ground / When I came around / That’s not allowed / I can’t go back now.”
Benjamin shared that the song was created from his home. The environment this song was produced in contributed to the sincerity in Benjamin’s lyrics. While Benjamin tackles serious topics like psychological disorders in his song “Mind Is A Prison” and domestic abuse in the song “Must Have Been The Wind,” neither of them resonate with as broad an audience as “Six Feet Apart” is able to.
“I’d say I’m relatively close / To breaking down / Because right now / I feel so alone.”
A lot of people relate to Benjamin’s lyrics, especially as the end to COVID-19 restrictions could be a possibility. Although campus cases are relatively stable, and Baylor students have now entered the eighth month since originally being sent home, many of us will soon be returning home to parts of the country where cases are climbing.
While this song is a perfect addition to my “Sad Girl Hours” playlist, it’s also an important reminder. While social distancing, wearing masks and missing group events is difficult, the purpose behind it, as Benjamin points out, is to keep those you love safe.
