“Seeing Angels”
Love in Khalid’s American Teen and Romeo and Juliet
In Romeo and Juliet, the main theme is love. The love between the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet is so strong and they would do anything for each other but love also has its perks and complications. For example, Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, meaning that they are enemy families. Even though Romeo and Juliet are enemy families, it doesn’t matter to them. They pushed through all of their issues and fell in love as young kids. In the album, American Teen by Khalid, he talks a lot about young love and falling in love in the moment. In multiple of his songs, he explains how it is ok to fall in love no matter how old you are. Khalid says that young kids shouldn’t stress and worry about relationships ending, they should just live in the moment and worry about that when you get there.
Love and emotion is shown a lot in scene 2.2 in Romeo and Juliet. In 2.2, there are many instances where they really show how they fall in love when they look at each other. Romeo and Juliet are kissing and really enjoying each other’s company. They are being teenagers and living in the moment. Romeo and Juliet know the risks that they are taking just by being together, but they still live like young teens. Romeo knows that they are a part of completely different families but he doesn’t care at all. The Capulet’s and the Montague’s don’t talk to each other, they don’t interact, they just aren’t involved with each other at all. Even seeing a Montague and a Capulet together could get both of you killed. The fact that Romeo and Juliet are now married means that they truly love each other and their relationship is really something special. Every day, they choose to be together meaning that they are risking their lives for each other just because they are in love. For example, in 2.2, Romeo shows up at the Capulet house. Romeo is a Montague and he showed up to his enemy families house. Romeo and Juliet are so excited about their very new relationship and they are so thrilled to see where this young love will take them. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” (2.2.140–142) Juliet is explained how she has so much love left in her and she is going to spend it on Romeo. The best thing about young love is that if it lasts, then you will have so much time together in the future. At the end of the book, Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves because they are so in love and they can’t live without each other. Juliet is the reason that Romeo is still alive and Romeo is the reason that Juliet is still alive. When Romeo finds Juliet “dead”, Romeo takes a poison potion because he can’t live without Romeo. If he takes the potion and kills himself, then he would still have Juliet in heaven. Juliet was never dead so she wakes up and finds Romeo dead, so she stabs herself. This shows the true love between these two people.
One of Khalid’s songs is Angels. The first line of the song is “I’ve been seeing angels.” In the very beginning of the book, Romeo refers to Juliet as an angel. In 2.2, Romeo says “O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head.” Also in 2.2, Romeo makes comparisons to Juliet as the sun, moon and stars. Khalid says “That have walked the son and have slept on the moon.” In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun and kill the envious moon.” The sun, the moon, the stars are such big things and he is telling Juliet that she is such a big thing in Romeo’s life. Some of the last lyrics in the song are “The angels give me strength and I’m not giving up, so wipe away my tears.” Romeo worship’s Juliet.
American Teen by Khalid talks about young love, the huge impact and the way it can change someone. The first song on the album, American Teen, he mentions in the song that there was a really big party, where all of the girls are really pretty, and they are down to have fun and get hype. In Romeo and Juliet, the book, there is a party for Capulet’s and Romeo and some of his Montague buddies went and crashed it. There were a lot of pretty girls, including Juliet. Khalid also does a great job of explaining how and why you should live your life as a young kid and fall in love and do what you want. He sings, “It’s the life of an American teen.” He is saying that they should just live their life as young teenagers and not let anything bother them or tell them how to live their life. Another one of Khalid’s songs is Young Dumb & Broke. The first line of the song is “So you’re still thinking of me, just like I know you should. I cannot give you everything, you know I wish I could… … … Yeah, we’re young, dumb and broke, but we still got love to live.” These lyrics relate to Romeo and Juliet because they are thinking of each other because they are in love. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet meaning that they are enemy families. These two families have had feud’s for years which makes Romeo and Juliet’s love story so hard. They can’t give each other everything that they want because they are enemy families. Also, when Khalid sings “we’re young, dumb and broke, but we still got love to live,” this explains that Romeo doesn’t care who old he is or how old Juliet is, they are literally in love and they have so much love to give to each other because they are so young. Romeo and Juliet are young, dumb and falling in love and that is what makes their story so special. Another song on American Teen is Coaster. This song really explains how love and relationships have their ups and downs, but at the end of the day, you are in love with this person and that is all that matters.
In conclusion, Romeo and Juliet and Khalid’s album, American Teen, have many similarities and many things that connect these two stories. In Romeo and Juliet, they have this amazing and special love story. Even though it was short because they both killed themselves, they made the time that they had last. The songs in American Teen really nailed the idea of young love and how it is ok to love someone. He says that no matter what age you are, you can fall in love.
Abstract
Romeo and Juliet and the songs on Khalid’s album American Teen both explain young love. These songs and this book both do excellent jobs at getting into the true meaning of young love and just love in general. I first started with printing out the lyrics of the songs that I wanted to focus on and I highlighted and annotated on things that stood out and things that could possibly relate to Romeo and Juliet. I also took general notes about the songs and scene 2.2. I choose the scene 2.2 because it shows the true love between Romeo and Juliet and how Romeo sneaks into the Capulet house and risks his life to love Juliet. To conclude, Romeo and Juliet and the songs on American Teen both explain how it is ok to love someone because usually it will turn out really great.
