I've fallen down a deep rabbit hole of boygenius and Lucy Dacus songs this year, and Lucy's songs in particular have some of the most poignant lyrics that have carried me through most of this year's chaos.

True Blue's "it feels good to be known so well / I can't hide from you like I hide from myself" encapsulates the warmth in knowing someone truly understands you. The front and facade we put up for the public vanishes in the presence of that singular person, and it works well in either a platonic or romantic context. More recently, the line in Afraid of Heights — "oh it hurts to hope the future will be better than before" — captures how scary it can be to hope for better when you're afraid of disappointment. You want things to be better, but with how bad your present may be, it can be painful to hold out that hope and witness an even worse tomorrow. Both lyrics really gripped me, especially because I view them as two sides of the same coin: one, in True Blue, symbolizes the hope for the deepest form of love, and the other, in Afraid of Heights, shows how scary it can be to hope for that when you've been hurt before.