A British singer's hit ballad has become a morale-boosting comfort blanket for many in Ukraine.
When Tom Odell wrote the song Another Love in 2012, he couldn’t have known it would play a role in boosting morale during a devastating war in Europe a decade later. But Odell’s song has, somewhat surprisingly, become a symbol of solidarity with and between the people of Ukraine on social media.
Hundreds of short videos have appeared on TikTok that either set Odell’s song to images from the war or show users – Ukrainian and otherwise – singing it. One montage comprising clips of a moved yet defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky has been liked over half a million times.
Music, especially the Ukrainian national anthem, has recently been sung to rousing effect in parliament, in subway stations and on the streets of Kyiv. But Odell’s song has nothing to do with Ukraine, or warfare. Rather, it’s a piano ballad with a rowdy ending about fighting for someone you love. “I wanna take you somewhere so you know I care/ But it’s so cold and I don’t know where,” it starts. The spring daffodils, Odell tells us, won’t flower like they did last year.
It’s easy to see why the song has taken off. Odell himself took to TikTok to say he’s “humbled and honoured” that his track is being used. “Long live Ukraine. I shall come and we shall sing it together soon,” he said.
Here's his official video of Another Love from 2012. It has been watched nearly 400 million times!