As a teenager, I used to have very passionate crushes on pop songs of the moment. These would be then contemporary tunes that were circulating in the top 40. I would become obsessed with them, driven by an almost addictive need to hear them. “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles was one such song. I think “Material Girl” by Madonna was another.

As I’ve gotten older, the time in between song crushes has grown longer and longer. I will confess that my latest crush is this Sarah Bareilles’ song, “King of Everything.”

As I was listening to the song last night, it occurred to me that this language referring to the relationship with such songs as a “crush” is really quite apt. You develop an all-consuming fetish for the music, but after a certain number of listens, you tire of it, perhaps even grow to loathe it. And it’s the same with teenage romantic crushes. You fixate on the object of your affection, but after several nights spent peering into her bedroom window with binoculars, or actually breaking into her room and standing over her sleeping form while touching yourself, you grow weary of her charms.

This idea, this concept that we can have the kind of emotional relationships normally reserved for people, with objects, or sounds, is interesting and should be explored further.