If It's Magic by Stevie Wonder

The GOAT of songwriting has so many albums that even great songs may fall through the mainstream cracks. This is one of them.

Transcript

If it’s Magic – Stevie Wonder

Greeting

Happy New Year and welcome to season two of love lines. There is so much optimism that comes with resetting our calendars to January. We have twelve months again ahead of us—and anything can happen. Your business idea could finally take off. You could travel to that place you’ve been wanting to visit for forever. You could land that big book deal or recording contract you’ve been hoping for. You could meet the person who makes your heart smile and your toes tingle. The person who makes you feel safe, and seen, and less alone in this great big world. My dear, you could fall in love. What a wonderful thought to begin the year.

Body

I decided to premiere this season with If it’s Magic by the incomparable Stevie Wonder. Get this, Stevie has released 23 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, four live albums, 11 compilations, one box set, and 91 singles. This man produces music at a ridiculous clip. GOOD. No GREAT MUSIC at that! Just one reasons he is rightfully categorized as an artistic genius. Stevie Wonder is doing what he was put on this earth to do. He also plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bongos, organ, melodica and Clavinet. 

And here I’ve been trying to learn piano for over a decade.

Stevie Wonder has produced so many songs that unless you’re a diehard fan or a music historian, there are probably more you haven’t heard than those you have. When an artist releases 23 albums, it’s unlikely every song will be given equal attention, even if they’re all worthy. There are the bangers, the popular tunes like As, Superstition, and his best-selling single, I Just Called to Say I Love You. Then there are the deeper cuts. Or those that just don’t get as much air play but are no less mesmerizing. Like, If it’s Magic.

Stevie does not mention the word “love” one time on If it’s Magic. Yet, in listening to the track you feel certain that’s the topic. What else holds the key to every heart? Is there something more that can fill you up without a bite and quench every thirst? What other enigmatic sensation might we even refer to as magic?

This ballad is somehow, simultaneously soul stirring and soothing. It evokes both joy and nostalgia—making you want to cry or smile, maybe both, depending on the day you listen. But there will be bliss even in the tears. Because the melody is so peaceful, and the lyrics so pure, the song is resonant in a way that evokes surrender.

On If it’s Magic, Stevie Wonder asks a series of questions seemingly tied to our idealistic portrayal of love. 

Love has been referred to as a drug—likened to an addictive substance some can never get enough of once tasted. It can be abused, overindulged, acquired recklessly, and induce withdrawal symptoms when withheld. It is often presented as something over which we are powerless, and called to chase even against our conscious will. Like that saying, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” 

Love has been described as an illusion. A fantastical concept that exists only in our minds. As though it is not real but something we like to believe in—like children and Santa Clause. 

But if love is all these otherworldly things.. so precious… so amazing… so…. Enchanting—why doesn’t it behave as such? Why don’t we always treat it accordingly is what Stevie Wonder asks on If it’s Magic. Especially with these lines:

If it’s special
 Then with it why aren’t we as careful
 As making sure we dress in style
 Posing pictures with a smile

Why aren’t we more intentional with something we consider so valuable? Why do we taint love with lies and deceit? Why do we weaken its power with false expression and manipulation, weaponizing love as a means to an end. Why don’t we cherish it more? Show greater appreciation when it is given to us? Why don’t we protect it more fiercely?

Why don’t we always handle love as the gem we claim it to be?

Maybe love is only love. It is a feeling, the most potent of them all but a very tangible emotion nonetheless. It is us—in our demonstration, in our distribution, in our handling of love that supplies its magic.