Last night we got a YouTube recommendation for a wonderful video called “Bend Your Knees” by Henry Mansfield and Digital Velvet. It’s a joyful song about falling in love at a roller rink, with a joyful video filmed at a roller rink, all of the horns and percussion and singers weaving in and out of each other as they circle the camera (and include the keyboardist, because they’re not rude).
It’s the kind of thing that made me instantly nostalgic for the days when it was more common to just randomly stumble onto people on the internet making something delightful. I really hope it becomes a big hit.
Looking more into Mansfield’s music, he describes himself1He/they, but I’m using “he” for convenience as a queer musician living in Seattle. I’ve only heard five or six songs at this point, but I’m liking what seems to be a mash-up of contemporary musical theater sensibilities with pop and rock. His clear and heartfelt voice is what makes me think of musical theater, and his experimentation with finding just the right style and the right hook is what makes me think of genreless pop and rock.
And his lyrics add on to that sense of modern theater — romantic and contemporary, using something topical and occasionally mundane to spin off into a metaphor about new love, ended relationships, or just being with people you love. Using learning to skate as an analogy for not over-thinking or stressing about falling in love, and instead just relaxing and allowing yourself to enjoy the moment, is ingenious.
It’s a similar sentiment to his song “Now vs. Forever” from 2021. It’s about waking up with someone after a good night together early in a relationship, and your mind spinning off into all the possibilities of your future together.
I think it’s wonderful because that’s something I always associated with embarrassment and anxiety. Isn’t the early part of a relationship supposed to be nerve-wracking? Don’t get too attached so quickly! Slow down! Stop being weird! You’re setting yourself up for heartbreak! What I like so much about this song — and I wish I’d learned when I was closer to Mansfield’s age — is that it’s all ephemeral.
It’s not just that infatuation is fleeting, but the heartbreak (if it happens) is as well. How many times have we stifled that euphoria for ourselves, in a vain attempt to soften the heartbreak later. (Which never works; it always sucks). Wouldn’t it be better to let ourselves be fully in the moment, enjoying the excitement of everything that could happen, instead of the fear of what might? Why not let ourselves enjoy that elation to the fullest?
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