“She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 is one of those songs that you could listen to as a teenager and as a grandparent and still enjoy alike. It is one of those timeless songs that has been around since 2002, a single from Maroon 5’s first studio album ‘Songs About Jane.’ It is fair to say that this song put the group on the map and still defines them as a band to date.
The song can be and has been interpreted in a variety of ways, as is the usual case with a great song. The woman in the subject of the song can be thought of as many people in many different situations in life. The most common interpretation being she is a girl stuck in a wrong relationship, and the singer watches from afar, loving her, and unable to rescue her from her situation.
“She Will Be Loved” is a complicated song about love. You will realize this when you read the rest of the article and watch the music video below.
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Lyrics Review and Song Meaning of “She Will Be Loved”
Some argue the song is about being stuck in between two loves as suggested by the music video. Some also sense the girl in the story is a prostitute. However, we will get into some lyrics breakdown and conclude the meaning of the song at the end.
Verse 1
Beauty queen of only eighteen
She had some trouble with herself
He was always there to help her
She always belonged to someone else
She was young and beautiful and she was already in trouble for her age. This could be referring to the lifestyle this girl lead, allowing people to take advantage of her. She might have been naive and not seen the world much. This resulted in her being used and taken advantage of at a very young age.
“He” here would be referencing to the singer of “She Will Be Loved,” and the song says he was always there for her. But little did she notice of that. She was always in a “relationship” with another. He had no chance to rescue her.
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I drove for miles and miles
And wound up at your door
I’ve had you so many times
But somehow, I want more
He tried to escape from her (because it was not working out for him?), but somehow ended at her doorstep every time. He did manage to get her at times, but she was never to be tamed. So he couldn’t have enough of her.
Looking from the angle that he is talking about a prostitute, the song makes a lot of sense too. She is young and beautiful and she had made a wrong decision in her life and is a prostitute now. She was always working and was with other men. Even when he says he has had her so many times, it could be referring to a paid sexual relationship.
Chorus of “She Will Be Loved”
I don’t mind spending every day
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Look for the girl with the broken smile
Ask her if she wants to stay a while
And she will be loved
And she will be loved
The guy confesses his love for the girl. He is willing to sacrifice his time and devote his life for her. She is broken in so many ways-even her smile says that. But he wants her. And he will love her, no matter what.
If he was talking about a prostitute, these lyrics would still refer to an undying love for a broken soul. She hates her job, but she has no choice now. She might have made some bad decisions when she was very young and those lead to her being a prostitute at 18. After sex with this guy, he wants to ask her if she wants to stay for a while with him, just talking and watching the rain.
Verse 2
Tap on my window, knock on my door
I want to make you feel beautiful
I know I tend to get so insecure
Doesn’t matter anymore
Adam Levine wants this girl to reach out to him. He wants her to visit him and he will be there to welcome her into his home and heart. He wants to make her feel beautiful again. She’s been used by so many people, that she is probably immune to love now. He wants to change that.
The singer gets insecure about her past. She has been with so many people and she has had a rough teenage life. If she was a prostitute, the singer could be referencing to being insecure about all the men she has been and is being with now. But the singer is willing to forget all of that if she gives him a chance to let him in.
It’s not always rainbows and butterflies
It’s compromise that moves us along
My heart is full and my door’s always open
You come any time you want
Life is never rainbows and butterflies–it is hardly that no matter how perfect your lives are. “She Will Be Loved” emphasizes that loving a broken soul is not going to be a smooth ride. He admits that even he is not perfect. But compromising on little things and building trust and understanding is what moves a relationship along and grows as a couple.
The singer says his heart is full of love and the door is always open for her to come in.
Bridge
I know where you hide
Alone in your car
Know all of the things that make you who you are
She is used to hiding from love, but the singer says he knows why and he is ready to make her feel loved again. He knows her life in and out-or so he thinks.
I know that goodbye means nothing at all
Comes back and makes me catch her every time she falls, yeah
These two have been on their breakups and makeups so many times that it doesn’t even mean anything now. Or the singer is trying to say that saying goodbye is useless because he always comes back to her. This agrees with the next sentence that says, that he will be there to catch her every time she falls.
Outro of “She Will Be Loved” Gives Feels
I don’t mind spending every day
Out on your corner in the pouring rain
Please don’t try so hard to say goodbye
Adam Levine’s soothing voice fades out when he sings the outro of the song. He emphasizes that he will be there for her, if she lets him in. And the last line of the song kind of wraps up her response to all of this, which is a strong rejection from her side. Maybe she feels unworthy of love, maybe she can’t love. Whichever it is, she is trying so hard to not be with him. This will be a never-ending uphill battle.
Is “She Will Be Loved” about a girlfriend or a prostitute or a girl the singer cannot have? Quite difficult to say. But if you weigh the factors on a scale, I would say “prostitute” makes the song easier to grasp. But that does not mean the song is in-fact about that.
This wraps up our lyrics annotation of “She Will Be Loved” which is one of our favorite songs from the 2000s. We enjoyed breaking down the lyrics of the song and we hope you enjoyed reading the analysis as much as we did.
Got any ideas about the song that we missed? Think the analysis should be different? Or do you have any other opinions of the lyrics of the song? Please do comment on all of them below and we will make it a discussion.
Regardless of how you think of this song it is beautifully written to the very end💙💙
I see the interpretation of this song as a young beautiful girl who happend to entangle in with the wrong men older per se… and that one guy who loved her from before they can remember… or all his life and everytime he tried it was always the wrong timing she was caught up in a relationship and usually it was an older man maybe married (my case) and he was always there to pick up thepieces … my life !! Love this song
Love this interpretation. I will throw sonething in from the video. Could he be talking about a narcissitic mother who isn’t willing to give up the privlege she has obtained to be loved?