Syncopation of Vulnerability and Survival in Asa's ''You Found Me''
By Olumide Labulo
Matter of factly, some songs aren’t just songs; they’re confessions whispered into the dark like the ''Alabi ni wo'' thingy. When you read the lyrics of Asa's ''You Found Me'', you might think it's a quiet diary entry or a prayer half-murmured into a pillow because the lines transcend romance. They are exactly what happens when survival mode finally meets grace; when someone whose heart has been broken multiple times finally finds love; when an expectation comes unexpectedly.
''...Whisper a prayer
Something's happening
I’m so scared
What I waited so long for is finally here…”That opening is pure tension. The narrator has been waiting for love or relief, but when it finally arrives, fear creeps in. Anyone who’s clawed their way out of hardship knows this feeling: when the good thing you’ve prayed for finally shows up, you’re almost too suspicious to enjoy it. Like in many of our folktales, where the hunter begs the gods for a blessing but then trembles when the deity actually appears.
By Olumide Labulo
Matter of factly, some songs aren’t just songs; they’re confessions whispered into the dark like the ''Alabi ni wo'' thingy. When you read the lyrics of Asa's ''You Found Me'', you might think it's a quiet diary entry or a prayer half-murmured into a pillow because the lines transcend romance. They are exactly what happens when survival mode finally meets grace; when someone whose heart has been broken multiple times finally finds love; when an expectation comes unexpectedly.
Something's happening
I’m so scared
What I waited so long for is finally here…”
That opening is pure tension. The narrator has been waiting for love or relief, but when it finally arrives, fear creeps in. Anyone who’s clawed their way out of hardship knows this feeling: when the good thing you’ve prayed for finally shows up, you’re almost too suspicious to enjoy it. Like in many of our folktales, where the hunter begs the gods for a blessing but then trembles when the deity actually appears.
You know, love is survival. The metaphors here are visceral:
“I was trying to live
Without any water
I was trying to breathe
Without any air…”This isn’t the soft-focus love song of someone who’s had everything handed to them. This is someone narrating a drought of affection, a famine of trust. The language is elemental: water and air, suggesting that love isn’t extra; it’s necessary for life. It also echoes a long tradition in African storytelling where hunger, thirst, and storms symbolize emotional states. Likewise, drought stands for both literal and spiritual desolation. And the resultant effect of this imagery of emotional deprivation is a locked heart to keep love out and avoid pain. It hasn't given up, but it is completely drained of strength:
“So I locked my heart away
Didn't need it anyway…”
You know, love is survival. The metaphors here are visceral:
Without any water
I was trying to breathe
Without any air…”
This isn’t the soft-focus love song of someone who’s had everything handed to them. This is someone narrating a drought of affection, a famine of trust. The language is elemental: water and air, suggesting that love isn’t extra; it’s necessary for life. It also echoes a long tradition in African storytelling where hunger, thirst, and storms symbolize emotional states. Likewise, drought stands for both literal and spiritual desolation. And the resultant effect of this imagery of emotional deprivation is a locked heart to keep love out and avoid pain. It hasn't given up, but it is completely drained of strength:
Didn't need it anyway…”
But the ironies of life are so incomprehensible. It always attests to the fact that mortals will always remain controlled instruments in the hand of the creator. Just when she has lost her strength and will, love comes knocking.
“Over mountains over sea
Where I thought no man could reach
How did love find me…”
The repetition of the line ''...I locked my heart away'' later in the song is significant. In music, a repeated phrase becomes a hook; in prose, it becomes a refrain, a heartbeat under the words. It’s like the way a griot circles back to the same line in a performance, deepening its meaning with each retelling.
“Love finally found me My love, you have found me You found me I’m so glad you found me…” This awakening of the singer's soul is a syncopation of life itself.
But the ironies of life are so incomprehensible. It always attests to the fact that mortals will always remain controlled instruments in the hand of the creator. Just when she has lost her strength and will, love comes knocking.
Where I thought no man could reach
How did love find me…”
The repetition of the line ''...I locked my heart away'' later in the song is significant. In music, a repeated phrase becomes a hook; in prose, it becomes a refrain, a heartbeat under the words. It’s like the way a griot circles back to the same line in a performance, deepening its meaning with each retelling.
“I was losing the fight
And now I realize
That I wasn’t even alive…”
Like it is in music, love here disrupts the steady beat of numb survival. Suddenly, the singer sees she wasn’t alive at all; she was just moving through motions. Another good reason the lyrics resonate with people's everyday lives: self-protection, isolation, mistrust, and then the shock of genuine care breaking through. It’s the young Nigerian in a new city learning to trust again. It’s the single mother who’s been “doing it all” suddenly receiving kindness. It’s the migrant who finally feels at home somewhere.
“I was losing the fight
And now I realize
That I wasn’t even alive…”
Like it is in music, love here disrupts the steady beat of numb survival. Suddenly, the singer sees she wasn’t alive at all; she was just moving through motions. Another good reason the lyrics resonate with people's everyday lives: self-protection, isolation, mistrust, and then the shock of genuine care breaking through. It’s the young Nigerian in a new city learning to trust again. It’s the single mother who’s been “doing it all” suddenly receiving kindness. It’s the migrant who finally feels at home somewhere.
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