#i just rewatched s4 for the first time and i am in shambles

[magicwithineleteo]

hi, just wanted to give some thoughts on love you forever, this is my most streamed song from season 4 and i cry every time and the lyrics are beautiful and i wanted to share my thoughts on some of them <3 i may skip some of them but yeah (the bold and italicized ones are the lyrics i’ll be talking about)

welcome to genius lyrics

i’ve been wishing on a fallen star for too long,

i’ve been running i don’t know what from

but you and i’ve become a sacred kinda home

this lyric is so perfect for both ricky and gina. all of this may sound obvious but gina’s never had a home before and the idea of a home is something ricky’s been clinging onto for so long.

gina’s always moving because of her mom’s job so she’s never had one. her life is all about change. she can’t get emotionally attached to people or places because next thing she knows, she’s packing up and moving elsewhere.

and we see ricky “finding a home” in nini. i say this because that doesn’t work out in the slightest. nini represented his childhood, his comfort zone. something that doesn’t change. nini certainly didn’t like being this for ricky, feeling confined. ricky’s world was changing with his parents divorcing and lynne moving and dating todd, while his dad started having a thing with his teacher. he looked for a home in nini, which didn’t last. his world crumbled and he hated change. until he started talking to gina again in season 3.

that’s another reason why portwell was never meant to work out. gina needed someone to stay, to be her constant, and ej was entering a new chapter of his life. similarly, ricky needed someone to understand the struggle of change. nini moreso appreciated change, or rather, never really had an adverse reaction to it like ricky. ricky needed someone like gina who also longed for stability.

in their own words, they got each other. they told each other things they would never tell anyone else, because they knew the other would be able to relate and validate them. they became each others homes, when gina didn’t have one and ricky lost his.

i’m in love, i’m in love, i’m in love and i know it

no net, no fear right here in this moment

i loveeee this line. we see how ricky has grown so much here. “no net” shows how ricky is putting himself out there, without anything holding him back. he’s standing on the edge of a cliff, taking a leap of faith. he’s telling gina he loves her, something he has struggled with saying in the past. bro couldn’t say it back to nini, and barely said it to the people he did love. he was so scared of being vulnerable, to now being able to freely express his feelings without being afraid of what may happen.

which goes into “no fear right here in this moment.” ricky is so sure of his relationship with gina, and with his love. he won’t regret saying this to her. he’s not afraid, he has no safety net. he is willing to trip and fall with nothing catching him because his love is real and genuine, and he’s not worried about the consequences. all he knows is that he loves gina, and needs to tell her that before she goes.

and this kind of reminds me of in season 2, when ricky tells nini “i’m a little scared right now, does that count?” in regards to her becoming viral. now, with gina, even though she’s about to leave and start a new chapter in her life, becoming a superstar, yes he’s sad about that. but he’s not scared for their relationship. he knows it’s solid.

i’ve never been more sure of what i’ve got

cause this is so much more then puppy love

aah!! like i said before, ricky is so solid in this relationship. it’s not a question of if he loves her, he does. he’s sure. he’s firm. he’s in love. and it’s bigger and more beautiful than anything he’s known before.

i’ll say it first no matter what the cost is

here i am, full heart full stop. i love you

he said the thing! i love this line because it shows that both gina and ricky knew they were in love. it was never a question on if they love each other. it was a matter of who would say it first. they both knew they were in love. the only thing was was that gina wanted him to say it first, and ricky also wanted to say it first. she’s tired of always putting herself out there first, and he’s ready to begin to put himself out there with no regrets.

i never knew that i could feel so sure and so strong

how can three old words feel so brand new?

this reminds me of kristoff’s lullaby. “what do i know about love? anything i thought i did, you’ve gone and changed it, kid. you’re what i know about love.”

gina changed ricky’s view of love. his relationship with nini was so shaky and unstable, they didn’t have a strong foundation. gina and ricky have a strong foundation, initially a friendship full of understanding. they were both outsiders, they both had hard family lives, they both understood each other.

“i thought we sort of got each other.”

“i’m an outsider to theater and you’re an outsider to east high.”

“sorry, there are just some things i tell you that i don’t really tell anyone else.” “yeah, i think we do that for each other.”

“but with you, i feel so seen and so understood and so known.”

there are a million reasons why ricky and gina are soulmates. this is just one.

i wanna finish what we started in the stairwell where we met

i wanna live like i have never even heard the word regret

i wanna scream what’s in my heart and i won’t ever take it back

cause i love you feels a lot like high school

and forever after that

firstly, gina defined ricky’s perspective on love and on high school.

secondly, this reminds me of in season 3, when ricky said “it’s hard to not say what you feel” in regards to gina. ricky went from not being able to say i love you to a girl he supposedly was in love with, to wanting to shout from the rooftops that he’s in love with gina. he no longer wants to be held back by fear and just live. live with gina. just be with gina. that’s when their relationship really blossomed, when they’re just being together.

beforehand, miss jenn says to not promise forever. but ricky is so sure in his love with gina that he takes that risk of forever. because he knows it’s forever. gina is ricky’s forever and there’s no doubt on his mind about that.