Music Review: Tove Lo "Talking Body"

Tove Lo

Talking Body

Album: Queen of the Clouds

Year: 2015

            Tove Lo uses sex to forget her insecurities in the cynical “Talking Body.”

            Hardened synths open the single, setting a dulled tone. He sits up in bed and reaches for his underwear. She puts her head on his shoulder and wraps her arms around him. She asks him for one more time before he leaves for work. Once he goes, it’ll leave her to think and she can’t allow it. (“Bed, stay in bed/he feeling of your skin locked in my headSmoke, smoke me broke/ don't care I'm down for what you want.”)

            In the pre-chorus, once he leaves for work, she puts music on and gets dressed, letting her thoughts be drowned out. It’s not an ideal relationship: they fight a lot and mostly have sex. However, it works for her. (“Day drunk into the night, wanna keep you here/ause you dry my tears, yeahSummer lovin' and fights, how it is for us/nd it's all because.”)

             In the chorus, he’s handsome and it’s enough for her. She doesn’t care about conversation or common interests. (“Now if we're talking body/ou got a perfect one so put it on me/Swear it won't take you long/f you love me right, we fuck for life/n and on and on/Now if we're talking body/You got a perfect one so put it on meSwear it won't take you long/f you love me right, we fuck for life/On and on and on.”)

             He could ask her to call into work. He could ask her to cancel her plans. She’ll do if it means staying with him longer. (“Love, give me love/Anything you want I'll give it up/Lips, lips I kiss/Bite me while I taste your finger tips.”)

              The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

             In the bridge, she says sex is natural and it’s what they are supposed to do. (“Bodies!/Our baby making bodies we just use for fun/Bodies!/Let's use 'em up 'til every little piece is gone (Let's go)/On and on and on (Let's go)/On and on (Let's go)”

                   The chorus is sung three times to end the single.

                    Lo is disillusioned when it comes to relationships. She doesn’t care about much. She’s perfectly happy (or the version of happy she can handle) with her situation. Whereas, in “Stay High (Habits),” she was sympathetic. However, here she regulates herself to being a hook up girl without any substance.

                   The  inarticulate  “Talking Body” is an unimaginative retread of the far more interesting previous single.