"Sweet Caroline" is a song that feels impossible to escape. Weddings, ballparks, karaoke nights—it’s everywhere, a fixture of public life, a cultural touchstone that connects people effortlessly. The second the crowd belts out "Bom! Bom! Bom!" you can feel the collective energy. But is Caroline really sweet?
Maybe she’s not. Maybe "sweet" isn’t even what we should want. This isn’t about criticizing the song or the people who love it—it’s about what it represents. A culture that defaults to the safe, the familiar, the easy.
Take Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses—another song that’s everywhere. Fans of these artists might tell you that these aren’t their best songs. In fact, they might not even like them. If you’re a Neil Diamond fan, you might prefer something deeper, like "I Am...I Said," or something unexpected, like "Soolaimon." Guns N’ Roses fans might lean toward "Estranged" or "Rocket Queen."
So why do these songs keep showing up everywhere? Because they’re easy to put on repeat. They feel safe, nostalgic, and familiar. But when we keep circling back to what’s easy, we stop ourselves from growing.
Look at how these songs even rhyme: "Sweet Caroline" and "Sweet Child O’ Mine." It’s almost poetic, like the culture itself is stuck on a loop of what feels comfortable. We know the words. We know the melodies. We know how they make us feel. But do they challenge us? Do they take us anywhere new?
🦁We R AI is about breaking that loop. It’s about using music to explore patterns in ourselves, our culture, and our world. This project invites us to notice the connections beneath the surface, to explore what’s just beyond the default, to ask: What else is out there?
So, listen to the song. Listen to both songs. And see what they bring up for you. What do they mean to you? And what could they mean if we let them go?