Do you ever listen to a song over and over and get tired of it after a couple days, weeks, maybe months? Well, "Shelter" is a song that has been out for a while now and I'm still listening to it like it is the first time.
Porter Robinson and Madeon's "Shelter" has been released since August 11, 2016, and the instinct to hit the skip button still hasn't hit me 8 months later. With the closing of Porter Robinson and Madeon's Shelter Live Tour at Weekend 2 of Coachella, I feel the need to address my obsession with this masterpiece. Just as a heads up, I could never find the right way to tell you what this song really means to me, but it won't be a long way forward, I promise.
The animated music video (AMV) tells the story of seventeen-year-old Rin who lives in a virtual simulation. In this world, she is able to control and create every feature that she desires. The video displays a plethora of dreamlike, colorful and vibrant qualities. However, Rin inhabits this world in loneliness. As the AMV goes along, the viewer and Rin discover that her father had created the machine to which she could live in this world because of a threat that was to destroy the world in which both of them occupy. In an attempt to save his daughter, the father sends Rin into space, sacrificing himself so that she could survive.
After this realization, Rin does not hate her father. Despite her loneliness, she declares that her new-found memories make her stronger. It is because of these memories that she is not truly alone.
The AMV alone already makes the song amazing, but really, the song itself is a masterpiece on it's own.
I'll find myself listening to it and at one moment I'll feel ecstatic with the up-tempo beat. Another lost in my feelings with the lyrics. Another circling my memories remembering that I'm truly not alone. Another feeling the need to thank the people that mean most to me for being a part of my life. The potential range of emotions that the song exhibits alone is outstanding. It's like listening to a different song every other time that it is heard.
More than anything else though, "Shelter" reminds me that it is okay to struggle and feel alone. It's natural and it's going to happen, but that doesn't mean that we're truly alone. In our moments of hopelessness, there are several different ways to find comfort. For Rin, it is her father's love and sacrifice. For me, that's my family and friends. For others, it can be anything from the emotions that a song may evoke to the gentle breeze of the afternoon wind.
We find shelter, find home, through living. Life itself is a blessing and serves as a reminder that we're worth something. That feeling of worth is everything. Even Porter himself struggled with this feeling of self-worth and fell into a sort of depression in 2015. This comes to show you the power in feeling self-worth.
If you ever feel like you're alone, there are numerous things and people to turn to for solace. "Shelter" just reminds me of that, which is why it resonates so much for me. Everybody at some time hits a low-point in life, which makes this song so relatable. It takes that concept of loneliness and flips it to send a positive message.
There's hope in the world people, just take the time to find what that hope is to you.
