Song 17 // Suki Waterhouse - "Johanna"
Can't find you, can't find you
Where are you? Where are you?
I was drinking hard, acting tough
But it was just a crush, just a crush
On Johanna, Johanna
Only want her 'cause I can't have her
A sense of intense longing is established from the first few notes of Suki Waterhouse’s “Johanna.” Like a daydream that seems too vivid, the melody aches us closer but ultimately, like all reveries, it disappears leaving us alone with only our thoughts.
Waterhouse, better known as a model and for her roles in films such as Assassination Nation (2018), creates this catchy dream pop song that weaves together the feelings of an intense unrequited love. In a short two minutes and thirty-six seconds we follow the journey of romantic passion that leads from a chance breakfast encounter to a night filled of dancing.
The music video for the song further plays out the story in the song featuring the iconic transgender model Amanda Lepore playing the lead role of Johanna as a glamorous Hollywood star.
Who am I? Who am I?
Couldn't tell ya, couldn't tell ya
I was feeling love, being used
Now I'm so confused, so confused
Electric lights, lucky strikes
We danced all night and then I looked in your eyes
And said Johanna, Johanna
Only want ya 'cause I can't have ya
The song makes us lose perspective of ourselves and abandon who we are in the name of a mysterious person. Johanna can be anybody. And yet Johanna is always someone that enters our lives, ever briefly, but leaves such an impression that they become someone larger than life.
And just like that, Johanna and the song ends with only a crushing memory.
Oh, Johanna, Johanna
Only want you 'cause I can't have ya
// press play
View past songs here. Share this song with your own Johanna.