“NYMPHOLOGY.” This word sounds like a scientific term like “philology” or “zoology,” though it is not found in any explanatory dictionary. It is easier to refer to the retelling of ancient myths, which say that the nymphs are the spirits of trees, rivers and other natural phenomena, taking the form of beautiful young girls. But beauty does not bring shy nymphs happy – they are constantly haunted by the mischievous satyrs and fauns, or goat-footed god Pan, or the beautiful Apollo himself, until the poor girls are not turned into a reed, or a laurel tree, or anything else, invulnerable to violent passion. Wise psychologists call these myths a metaphor for the war of the sexes, in which the man is always the pursuer and tyrant and the woman the helpless victim. And singer Melanie Martinez decided to stand up for the unhappy nymphs and at the same time explain to the whole male sex how a girl feels when she is pursued by an unwanted suitor.
The Story of the Song “NYMPHOLOGY”
Melanie Martinez says that the song was inspired by her experiences in her younger years, when she was constantly being hit on by boys her age and adult men who sincerely believed that she didn’t mind responding to their ardent proposals and simple flirtations. When she tried to resist or simply answered “no,” the intrusive suitors met this natural human reaction with a look as if they were objecting not to the girl, but to a sweet candy designed to be eaten. Or a toy to be amused with, or perhaps the object of men’s hidden fantasies, the ideal lover who is always submissive, never complains of malaise or fatigue, never changes, never ages, and never exists.
However, according to Melanie, she was hardly more often seen as a loving mommy who would blow on a bruised and abrasioned adult boy, comfort him, stroke his head, promise to deal with his abusers, and repeat a hundred times that her unlucky son was the most beautiful, intelligent, brave, and the best. “I knew I wasn’t fit for the role,” she recalls. – But when I started to say, ‘I’m not your mother, your nanny, or your good fairy healer,’ the man would immediately start playing gaslighting, pretending that I was repeating nonsense I’d read out of books, or that I was just trying to make myself look good. Not surprisingly, “Nymphology” appealed to many girls from 13 to 30 and older who recognized herself in the heroine of the song, and it provoked a negative reaction from some men, who immediately accused the author of “feminist”, hatred of men and other unforgivable crimes. It is not surprising that this song, included in the 2023 album “Portals”, immediately hit the world charts and remains in them now, a few months after its release.
The meaning of the song “NYMPHOLOGY”
This song is a confession, a cry from the girl’s soul, who hates pretensions of a selfish man who thinks that he captured a forest fairy or just bought a beauty at an auction and that he can do anything with her, but more important, demand love and inexhaustible empathy from her, calling her his muse, a cute elf and other flattering names. But the charming captive turns out not to be timid and behaves not like the doomed Little Mermaid from Andersen’s fairy tales, but like a real daring fairy from fairy tales.
At first she bluntly tells her beau that she hates his pretensions and his advances, and that she has long since figured out what is lurking in his heart. And then she simply returns to her tormentor the pain he has caused her, using techniques suitable not for harmless children’s tales, but for adult fantasy or completely intolerant works of folklore. In short, it is not for nothing that she repeats the word “nymphology” over and over again, inviting her pursuer to figure out its true meaning before her tormentor becomes a victim. So any man who calls a young enchantress a fairy should remember how real fairies from fairy tales behave! Or listen and remember this song, which clearly shows that even a fragile fairy can wield deadly magic and take vicious revenge on those who try to put her on a gold chain and force her to do their whims!
