No One Is Amazed

“Big Tears” is a gaping wound of a song, a howl of despair that starts at a high pitch of emotional turmoil and never really calms down. From the jump, it has this echoing big beat feel that just pummels its way down the road. Everyone means business. 

It’s interesting that it made the cut for the 2021 remaster release of This Year’s Model; it’s a tremendous song, but it’s so naked and raw that it tends to draw focus. It’s a great single or B-side, but as part of an album’s flow, it stands out. 

There’s incredible imagery here, all of it leading to the same numbing conclusion, “Big tears/mean nothing.” It doesn’t matter how hopeless life seems; in fact, nothing seems to matter. No one seems to care. The sniper just takes his aim. 

I love the shift in emotional POV that happens around the middle of the second verse; the singer starts by peering into universal despair, but then starts addressing an unidentified “you,” presumably a romantic interest. 

A sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you hear someone you don’t know slagging off on someone you love. But you don’t have the backbone to stand up for her, you don’t have much of a backbone at all; so you laugh along and try to dismiss it. By the final verse, you’ve had a minor revelation–it’s suddenly clear that it’s not her who doesn’t deserve you, but you who doesn’t deserve her. 

Throughout the song, EC continues to ask, “Tell me who’s been taken in?” It may be more helpful to ask who hasn’t. We’re all taken in at some point, by someone, and however we get there, the destination is the same. 

BONUS: Sebastian Yatra fronts the OG Attractions for this version off 2021’s Spanish Model.