“The Love that Carries Me” by Jonezetta, Sunday, December 4, 2022

The season 2 Labeled podcasts finale concluded the story arc of Tooth & Nail Records’ start from collecting likeminded, DIY-spirited bands to a marketably lucrative record business backed by major- label distribution, a slowing in the market and uncertain times, then back to a purely indie label. As the story goes, the label had signed two bands for general rock radio, The Classic Crime and Jonezetta. These bands were not intended for Christian radio, like how The Juliana Theory had been half a decade before. In 2006, at the time of this marketing strategy, the label was losing some of its most successful acts to major labels. Could the new signees save the label?

WHEN THE CHORUS DIES, DOES IT KILL YOU TO BE ALONE? Neither bands reached the level Tooth & Nail had planned for them. The Classic Crime has had a successful career, but mostly because the label accidentally marketed them to Christian radio. Jonezetta, however, wasn’t played on RadioU, but I think I bought their first album Popularity in the Family Christian Bookstore after listening to the sample CD that sample CD player in their stores is the reason why I listened to more Christian Rock when I was a teenager because CDs were expensive and it was always disappointing to buy a record and only like one track). Jonezetta was marketed as the Tooth & Nail version of The Killers, Jonezetta got on tours with Anberlin, MuteMath, Shiny Toy Guns, and Family Force 5. The record Popularity was filled with fun hooks and ‘80s styled dance rock tracks, but “The Love that Carries Me” is in the center of the record, setting a calmer tone on the record. The keyboard and groove of the song seems to be a transition to the sound the band achieved on their next record, Cruel to Be Young. 

SORRY, SORRY BUT MY WORDS MEAN NOTHING. “The Love that Carries Me” is a song about a misinterpreted song. In the vein of the title track, “Popularity,” many songs on the album deal with the superficiality of popularity. It’s a hipster irony of being “too cool for radio,” but secretly chasing it. The speaker states that “words mean nothing” and that the song is nothing more than an addictive ear worm for kids until they move on to the next thing. But “The Love that Carries” is much more than a trend; it is not a commodity; it is not fast fashion. The album examines popularity from a mid-2000s emo band perspective in ways that groups like The All-American Rejects and Taking Back Sunday arguably did better in their lyrics. "The Love that Carries Me" criticizes the popular kids who keep friendships and relationships to the surface and cast friends aside when things get difficult, and there's a subtle comparison in the lyrics to people who do that to those who buy records and only scan for the catchy tracks. We cannot regard friends in the way that they are fleeting, otherwise we won’t be loved in the hard times and we will miss out on the deep connections that make us human. I certainly could try to be better friend, to pay back those who have pushed me along. So let’s all think of ways to be a better friend.

Read the lyrics on Genius.