“Afraid of Love” by Beta Radio - A Song Feature

     Vocally engaging, lyrically intelligent, and instrumentally enchanting - “Afraid of Love” delivers on all three. The song by Beta Radio capitalizes on vocal skills in multiple registers. But the falsetto and lower register vocals both expose vulnerability. The inflections caress the lyrics that admit both the desire for and the fear of love, that request patience, and that conclude with the question, “Is that alright?”.  Beta Radio is the Wilmington, North Carolina, duo of Benjamin Mabry and Brent Holloman.
 
     The instruments are also carefully tailored to the message. Perhaps the best example occurs at 1:49, when the sound of strings transitions from being mere atmospheric support to an important contributor to the emotion in the lyric “I woke up with that song of love you sang humming in my brain.” The second half of “Afraid of Love” is more orchestral than the first, particularly during the instrumental bridge that begins at 3:06.
 
     The song’s message is clear, but the lyrics are poetic and not immediately grasped. Instead, “Afraid of Love” invites the listener to give attention to the verses and to personalize the interpretation. The full lyrics are included at the bottom of this post, but an example of the thoughtful poetry is found in the first verse:

But I’m not here at all

I’m too afraid I’ll fall

From the cloud of my distractions

To the lowlands of my soul

 
     While talking about “Afraid of Love,” Benjamin Mabry said:
  "I’ve spent most of my recent songwriting career trying NOT to write about love. It’s done so much, (we’ve done it so much), and I was tired of it. It got to the point that when I would sit to write song lyrics, I would try to be intentional to not use the word ‘love’ because it was already everywhere my ear turned. But then the new year arrived. And then the world got sick. And then we all saw again how broken our system(s) of justice are. And so, it seemed that love was all that I could write about. Even if I am sometimes afraid of it."

      “Afraid of Love” by Beta Radio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betaradio/
Website: http://betaradio.com/

     “The video was actually shot and completed prior to the song being finished in the studio,” Benjamin adds. “Although the lyrics were solidified after the video, that is what I love about songwriting... the sense of place the video conveys totally still works for the song, even though they ultimately took form separately. I love how music works that way. Visually, linguistically and audibly. All these senses are speaking to the same narrative, which is ultimately open to the interpretation of the viewer or listener.”

Lyrics of “Afraid of Love” by Beta Radio 
In my soul, there’s something that I want to say
 
We laughed until we cried
We cried until I changed
I changed until I thought
Maybe now I can come back again
But I’m not here at all
I’m too afraid I’ll fall
From the cloud of my distractions
To the lowlands of my soul
 
Was it a dream?
Then what does it mean?
When all my self-indulgence
All falls back down on me
I’m out on a limb
I wanna fall in
There’s all the ways I’m afraid of love
But I still wanna be
Here with you
 
Do you mind? For a moment I want to stay
 
We laughed until we cried
In my mind you remained
I woke up with that song of love you sang
Humming in my brain
But I forgot the words
Do they sting when they are heard?
Or do they sing, the way to rain
A heavy peace down on my heart?
 
Sometimes I, I feel like, I didn’t want it, I didn’t want it this way
 
Was it a dream?
Then what does it mean?
When all my self-indulgence
All falls back down on me
I’m out on a limb
I wanna begin
There’s all the ways I’m afraid of love
But I still wanna be
Here with you
 
So I’m not feeling around to being brave?
What is love, if not forever, is it love?
 
You broke me open, when you cut me up
I’m afraid of love, but I can never have enough
It takes me over, but it takes time
Is that alright?