The singer and songwriter, Christina Perri, hails from the United States and is of Italian ancestry. Her first foray into music was in the musical theater, where she sang and performed at a young age. She is an accomplished musician who taught herself to play the piano and guitar.
In 2010, her song “Jar of Hearts” was used on the reality dance show “So You Think You Can Dance,” which gave her a small taste of fame and success. It was pure chance that led to this result, as her buddy fortuitously passed on the music to a choreographer. Atlantic Records was the label she signed with for the first time in 2010.
The single “A Thousand Years,” released in 2011, catapulted her into the music industry. In 2013, it took the Song of the Year and Award-Winning Song at the BMI Pop Awards. It has sold over 5 million copies in the United States, making it her best-selling single. Furthermore, it can also be heard in a wide variety of different movies and TV shows such as Love Island, Scream Queens, Superstore, and the Twilight Saga.
The Title Meaning of this Song Lyrics
Beginning with the title, “A Thousand Years,” alludes to an eternal period. Humans have a maximum lifespan of one hundred years. In the film, vampires possess an unnatural ability to stay alive indefinitely.
You can get glimpses of the movie in the music video. The main event is the wedding of Edward and Bella. Love each other forever, whether that’s a thousand years or permanently. When talking about this song in an interview, Christina Perri said:
“This song is the most romantic pure love song I have ever written cause I don’t have good luck with love, so it’s not about me, and I wanted to just literally take Edward and Bella’s honeymoon and their relationship and just put it in a song, and I think I’m happy and achieved that.”
All romantics will find a resonant chord in this song. Finding a partner who will love and commit to you forever is not a thing of the past. Love has been with us for generations, and it will be with us long after we’re gone. Let us examine the meaning of the “A Thousand Years” song lyrics.
Verse 1 Song Lyrics Meaning
The opening line of A Thousand Years means you are filled with expectation and excitement—a surge of energy that prepares you to take action. The following statement, “Colours and promises,” may allude to the flush of joy and excitement you feel when you finally look at your soul mate. One interpretation of the word “colors” is how one’s thoughts shape or color one’s perceptions of the environment. One interpretation of the word “promises” is positive emotional anticipation of future events.
The Pre-Chorus and Chorus Meaning
A song’s pre-chorus is the transitional passage between the verse and the chorus. This element is included when the chorus’s tempo has to be cranked up when the final note of a verse is significantly lower than the first note of the chorus.
That line in the pre-chorus, “a thousand years songs meaning,” is concise and powerful. It adds suspense to the plot. The motion and forward development towards one another is made clear. The hope of finally being together has moved forward. A song’s chorus is its most repeating section. They constitute the story’s central theme. In Christina Perri’s words: “The producers came to me in 2011 and said, ‘can you write a song for Breaking Dawn – Part 1?’ So I went and saw the film six months before it came out and wrote ‘A Thousand Years’ for Edward and Bella. I’m not a vampire, even though I wish I were, but I tried to step into their love story.”
Verse 2 Song Lyrics Meaning
In the second stanza, the appeal of a true soul mate is praised. She is so captivating that it seems time itself is stopping. Everything seems to stop, and the lover’s attention is riveted on nothing else. The compliment is meant to cover all her admirable traits, not only her physical appearance.
“What’s in front of me” is a metaphor for eternal love, the total of all that is good and beautiful in the world. In the end, the verse defends his existence with its final two lines. He realizes that everything up to this point in his life has been building up to this one decisive moment.
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I’m afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What’s standing in front of me
Every breath, every hour has come to this
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
One step closer
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: David Hodges
A Thousand Years lyrics © Emi Blackwood Music Inc., 12.06 Publishing, Hipgnosis Sfh I Limited, Hifi Music Ip Issuer L.p.
Listeners that enjoy this song in the Pop genre may also be interested in the song Break my Soul by Beyonce.
This article was first published Oct. 17th 2022 and last updated May 19th 2023
