The “Look of Love” in Music

by Nina Pierce 

Image by Shangshang Shen

Love at first sight is one of the most timeless themes in music, showing up everywhere from sweeping classical pieces to modern indie ballads. Whether it’s the rush of a new romance or the quiet realization that someone has changed your life forever, artists have been capturing that “look of love” moment for centuries, trying to put that indescribable feeling into words. 

Last summer, I got two tickets to watch Lana Del Rey on her tour at Fenway Park. The night was reshaped by some of Boston’s sporadic downpours, but her performance shone through and made the experience all the more memorable. Del Rey brought on many performers, ranging from Quavo of Migos to a more random pick—the Walmart yodeling kid, better known as Mason Ramsey. The performance that truly captivated me was her collaboration with Stephen Sanchez. The two performed a duet to Sanchez’s beloved hit, “Until I Found You,” a song that gained widespread attention for its nostalgic and bluesy Elvis-style charm.

Sanchez wanted to capture that first look, first date feeling through his storytelling of the couple in the music video, paired with charming old-timey stereotypes like the Marilyn Monroe skirt joke. He drives home lyrics about finding his lover for the first time: 

I would never fall in love again until I found her

I said, "I would never fall unless it's you I fall into"

I was lost within the darkness, but then I found her

I found you

using a lush sound driven by guitars, dampened by reverb. Through a modern lens, Sanchez revives a timeless love language, expressing his falling for one person in a way that resonates across generations. 

As Sanchez covers our bases from the 1950s onward, thinking about his employment of allegorical lyrics and different musical eras in his songs’ narrative reminded me of how artists would begin to explain the look of love without the way of music videos, or even lyrics at all. These days, I’m humbly reduced to playing piano covers in the CFA basement, but musicianship-wise, my roots are in classical music. 

Sergei Rachmaninoff, a Russian composer and pianist, devoted his life to powerful symphonies and concertos. His “Piano Concerto No. 2,” popularized by TikTok and romance films, peaks in the second movement as the built-up musical tension bursts, carried by the sustained and released notes of the string arrangement. The hopeful yet cautious piano treads carefully, creating an atmosphere where the symphony unfolds into a richer, fuller sound that deepens with every measure. And then, just as the piano’s sound lowers and deepens with the violins maintaining their steady hum, you’re slammed into a cascade of ascending and descending arpeggios that are given life across the keys. 

The contrast between the flute and the rolling motion of the lower piano, with the strings soaring above like a bristle of wind, creates a sensation of being swept away like autumn leaves. The rush of movement carrying you and the way it tightens in your chest before releasing feels almost like the dizzying, weightless moment of falling in love. 

The entire concerto, beyond that brief segment, is a masterpiece if you’re willing to listen; it's a rich musical journey through dynamic instrumentation and melodic runs that weave together with this truly raw intensity. Love in music transcends words, from lyrical storytelling to orchestral movements, and artists across generations have captured that breathtaking moment of falling in love, proving that the "look of love" is just as powerful when heard as when seen.