Missing You

Album: Stranger Songs (2019)
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Songfacts®:

  • The lead single from Ingrid Michaelson's Stranger Things-inspired album is about the love triangle between Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), and Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton). "It's the concept of being with one person, but knowing you should be with somebody else," she told Billboard in 2019. "I think a lot of people have felt that, in one way or another."

    The single peaked at #21 on the US Adult Top 40 chart.
  • In season 1 of Stranger Things, studious Nancy is dating the popular jock Steve but things go downhill after her best friend disappears during a party at Steve's house. Nancy teams up with Jonathan, a social outcast whose brother is also missing, to confront the nefarious force responsible for snatching their loved ones. The pair form a strong bond that carries into the second season, which finds Nancy trying to stay loyal to Steve while pining for Jonathan.

    Michaelson sings the tune from Nancy's perspective. The second verse recalls a moment between Nancy and Jonathan from season 1 after Nancy nearly gets lost in an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. Jonathan comforts her by staying the night in her bedroom but nothing romantic occurs - to Nancy's disappointment:

    You lay beside me in my bedroom
    Never made a move but I wanted to
    You sleep and I stare at the ceiling
    Counting my feelings, they were all for you
  • Michaelson also took sonic inspiration from the show's '80s setting. Produced by Sam de Jong, it has a synth-pop beat and pulsating bassline that's reminiscent of the era. But the singer was careful not to go overboard with the throwback influences on the album. "I didn't want to go full '80s," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. "It didn't seem like the right vibe. A lot of artists are using sounds from the '80s and the '90s, kind of recycling that, which is nothing new. But I've never really done it, so I thought this is a fun way to enter that world. There's definitely some '80s synth work and certain drum fills and electric guitar solos, and even certain harmony arrangements."
  • Michaelson, who was born in 1979, was drawn to Stranger Things because it evoked the nostalgia of her childhood, especially in the wake of personal loss.

    "I've lost both of my parents and I've always had a very strong nostalgia streak," she explained to Entertainment Weekly. "I've always longed to re-live childhood memories. There's no word in the English language to describe what it is that I'm feeling. But it goes deeper than nostalgia - this desire to quite literally be able to go back in time and re-live those moments again because the memories are so wonderful and wrap you up with a warm feeling."
  • You don't have to be a Stranger Things fan to enjoy the album or relate to its songs. In a 2019 interview with Bustle, Michaelson explained that she didn't "want to alienate anybody" and used broad strokes when writing about the characters' stories so the songs would have universal appeal. "I chose to write about things that everybody experiences in some way, and everything can be a metaphor if you look at it a certain way," she said.
  • Three music videos were made, with the first being a Pac-Man-themed lyric video by Kelly Ford. The popular maze game can be spotted among other retro favorites at the arcade in season 2 of the show.

    The second clip, directed by Daniel Carberry (Rise Against, Dua Lipa), was filmed in one take (although it took many tries to achieve). It features Michaelson singing in the middle of a turning platform as black-clad dancers perform in a circle around her.

    The third video takes the form of a graphic novel, animated by comic book artist Kevin Wada. Michaelson wanted to keep the protagonist's gender ambiguous "to be open to interpretation in terms of sexuality." She told Pride in 2019, "I wanted to open the song up to everyone's experience. Kevin Wada is such an amazing artist and truly brought the song into its own world."

    In the clip, we watch the relationship unfold through the memories of the main character, as they lie awake at night next to the guy they love. Wada told Pride that inspiration struck upon hearing the intro.

    "The beginning beats of the song captured me immediately," he recalled. "The song has this deliciously slow build that by the time the chorus blasts off ("You're in my head again") you feel like you're taking a ride through the map of someone's memories. Zipping through the connection of a phone cord as two friends relive their almost-romantic history came to me almost immediately - phone cord in '80s hot pink, of course."

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