Sometimes we want something so badly that it’s terrifying, and we blow the thing up in our fear—of disappointment, of our own unworthiness, of ecstatic success. It is easier to spend decades in self-defeat—carrying those marks one’s taken hard for a long, long time—than to summon the courage to cut through the crap. Easier to yearn than to consummate. Easier to fantasize, to inflict damage and take damage oneself, than to say YES. This song slowly builds up to a vulnerable confession that ends in a kind of hopeful incantation: “I’m thinking maybe, you know just maybe.”

“Shatter,” written and performed by Liz Phair, 1993.

This post is part of Music 100, a love letter to songs. 100 words on 100 songs in 100 days, running from Groundhog Day to early June, 2025.

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