The Alchemy
- The Alchemy / Treacherous (Eras Tour, Paris)
- King of My Heart / The Alchemy (Eras Tour, London (Aug))
“Beer sticking to the floor, cheers chanted 'cause they said there was no chance”
love rated in lifetimes
“This happens once every few lifetimes”
“Once in twenty lifetimes” — cardigan
The rare-event register of love, claimed twice across the catalogue: cardigan's "once in twenty lifetimes" at seventeen, and The Alchemy's "this happens once every few lifetimes" years on. The unit of measurement survives the years between the songs, love still priced in lifetimes.
the chemistry of a love outsiders try to neutralise
“And counteract the chemistry and undo the destiny” — But Daddy I Love Him
Community readers connect the speaker's defiance that no one can "counteract the chemistry" of this love to The Alchemy later on the same album, where that same governing metaphor becomes the relationship's whole conceit. What the disapproving public here tries to neutralise as mere chemistry, the album elsewhere elevates into alchemy - transformation rather than a reaction to be cancelled out.