In ‘The soultunes of…’ we share stories about people who have a particular song which seems to just fit in their life. This week, Anieke Lamers tells us about Let Her Go by Passenger. You may expect that this might be her ultimate breakup song, but nothing could be further from the truth. ‘Everybody who is concerned with having a perfect image should listen to this’ she says.

What role does music play in your life?

‘I think that music is fantastic when I’m feeling great, but it has even more impact when I’m feeling down. I’m a naturally cheerful person, but somehow I just love ‘sad’ songs. Those songs play a huge role in processing my emotions.’

Why is Let Her Go by Passenger your ‘soultune’?

‘Let Her Go’ fits well with different moments in my life and touches me on many levels. I think that the general theme is ‘letting go’. I felt like the song was about me when I went to study in Australia. At that moment, my mother had to let me go.

Only know you love her when you let her go

To me, it can be compared to holding a handful of sand. If you grip it too tightly it rolls out of your hand and disappears, but if you just relax, it stays put. This contradiction is also very clear in the song; if you really love someone, you have to let them go.

Well, you only need the light when it’s burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Let Her Go- Passenger

I interpret this line as meaning: you only miss something once it’s gone. In the past, I would often argue with my mother and my sister, my sister and I were like fire and ice.

In Australia, I had an epiphany; I realised how important they actually were to me. I thought: ‘my mother did everything for me when I was a kid, I should be more thankful’. I also realised that my sister is the only person in the world who’s gone through the same sh*t as me. I started to value that a lot more. My sister recently married an Australian and immigrated to be with him, but before she and her husband moved, they spent two years living in The Netherlands. Those were two invaluable years where we were consciously extra nice to each other because we both knew that she would only be around for a short while.

People used to see her as the perfect daughter, while I was the rebel of the family. I always thought I had it hard as the rebel, but it also wasn’t easy for her to always play the angel. She showed much more of her personality during those two years and also showed me ‘I’m not so perfect, and I don’t need to be’. This helped me understand her a lot better, which brought us closer together.
Finally, I also got the message ‘let it go’ from this song. I always placed a lot of value on what other people thought of me. Passenger doesn’t say it outright, but I also get this meaning out of it: Let go of what others think of you, just do what makes you happy.

What do you feel when you listen to ‘Let Her Go’?

‘It brings up a lot of emotions, sometimes it even makes me cry, haha! I am a very cheerful person, so you might not think that this is the soundtrack to my life. But this is a song which really helped me to give a place in my heart to sad moments. Sometimes you just have to give into sadness, that’s when I put on this song. Do you know the film Inside Out? It’s a Disney film that shows what I mean in a really beautiful way. The five emotions- sadness, happiness, anger, aversion, and fear- are all shown as five characters in your mind who are pushing the buttons. Happiness is the main character, in the film as well as in our society. If you look on Facebook, you almost exclusively see positive posts: ‘Look how cool I am!’ In this film, the character sadness goes missing- in fact, sadness goes for a walk around the body because she doesn’t feels invisible. She leaves pain and decay behind her. The moral of the story is that if you give your sadness attention, if you just give in, you can give it its rightful place. And that is much better for you.’

Are there specific people who you would recommend this song to?

‘Anyone who is concerned with having a perfect image. Listen to deeper music and just give into sadness every once in a while.’

About Anieke

Anieke (27) is from Amsterdam and works for RTL Ventures as an investment advisor. In this role, she advises RTL when selecting start-ups for investments, and further guides them. She comes from a family with five sisters. She lives with her boyfriend Ronald, does yoga, runs, takes part in bootcamps, swims, and sings in a band. Music plays an important role in her life and she has a wide array of tastes. She listens to all kinds of artists from Bon Iver to Cyndi Lauper to AC/DC.

More Soultunes?

Want to read more beautiful Soultunes stories? You can find them here. Or do you have a story of your own that simply MUST be heard? Leave us a comment or send an email to marjolijn@nolala.com and we’ll contact you!

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– Let Her Go is written by Michael David Rosenberg © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.
📸: XaouX