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Kiss The Scientist Captures the Rite of Passage of Young Love in "Life You Want"
- Brooke Dougherty
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
Drawing from the emotional pull of Midwest emo and early-2000s pop punk, "Life You Want" channels the exhilarating highs and crushing lows of love in your early twenties by Kiss the Scientist.
Contributed by Brooke Dougherty
With their newest single, Life You Want, the Los Angeles-based trio Kiss The Scientist captures the all-consuming feeling of navigating love in your early 20s.
Everybody has been there. The person you were enraptured with before you were too old to know better. The relationship that consumed your every waking moment. Life You Want brings you back to a simpler time in life when all that mattered was whether they loved you back.
“Thinking about you every waking minute. Wasting away, so I’ll finally admit it. I love you. Drowning in doubts that we’re far too different. But I’m too impatient, I’m reaching my limit. I need this.”
Life You Want opens with quiet contemplation, introducing a narrator desperately yearning for someone who probably isn't right for them. It's vulnerable, painfully relatable, and the kind of emotional clusterfuck almost everyone has to experience at least once.
“The pillow’s so cold, I need you in my house. You’re all that I think about. I need to figure you out.”
Smooth, rock-tinged guitars and understated midwest emo influences frame lyrics overflowing with longing. Whether it ends well almost doesn’t seem to matter. The narrator is consumed by the present, unable to imagine a life beyond this relationship. The lyrics describe someone who is aimless without this other person and is willing to uproot everything if it would mean they stay together.
“I need to feel your love. I just feel so out of touch without your breath in my lungs. It’s like I don’t give a fuck about the world that I’m from. I’d pack our shit up and run. If that’s the life that you want.”
This type of relationship feels like a youthful rite of passage. A relationship trainwreck that even your closest friends can’t derail you from because it’s something you have to experience for yourself.
By verse two, it’s clear that this is no healthy connection. The narrator battles his own insecurities and fears that he may come across too much.
“I think I should call you again. (But I’m so scared) That you’re not there. That you left me again. I miss your voice, your hands on my chest. (But I’m so scared) That you’re not there. That you left me alone. Left to count the pieces left out.”
Kiss The Scientist Draws From Familiar Influences to Create Something Fresh
Life You Want is perfectly nostalgic. It's one of those songs you feel like you’ve heard before but just can’t put your finger on it. It may feel immediately familiar, but Californian-based Kiss The Scientist isn’t interested in recreating the past. With Life You Want, the trio builds on those influences while softening the edges with cleaner production and a more modern approach to songwriting.
Life You Want has the ache of midwest emo and the angst of early 2000s pop punk, all while delivering a lighter, more contemporary sound that isn’t weighed down by heavier production. The sunny alternative guitar riffs complement the vulnerable, lovesick lyrics, creating a timeless and modern love anthem. The result is something that will resonate with longtime emo fans while remaining accessible to a younger audience discovering these influences for the first time.
Life You Want is for the yearners and the romantics, reminding us that some experiences never really change. If you love the likes of Manchester Orchestra, All Get Out, Microwave, and Hot Mulligan, this one's for you.
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