1. Mitski’s song, Pink in the Night, describes infatuation. From the opening line “I glow pink in the night in my room” to the ending repetition of “and again,” Mitski captures the listener in a ballad that leaves you reeling as infatuation does not equate to love. Claudio’s love for Hero resembles more that of infatuation as he claims, “in mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on” (1.1.183-184). Claudio had time to develop an idealistic notion of Hero as he returned from war with ideas “prompting [him] how fair young Hero is, saying [he] liked her ere [he] went to wars” (1.1.299-300). This song is short, but it sets the stage for Claudio’s “love” of Hero.
2. Claudio might be portrayed as a romantic, but if that was the case, why did he ask if “Leonato [had] any son?” (1.1.288). Claudio intertwines his love for Hero in monetary values, asking “can the world buy such a jewel?” (1.1.177). Likewise, American Money seamlessly weaves capitalist language with romance, singing that a lover’s eyes are “green like American money.” This song also presents the relationship as a life-long love, which Claudio does with Hero. American money appears bold and powerful, like how Claudio’s declaration of love towards Hero is, but that is what makes both the song and his insistence of love appear unstable.
3. Although we did not have the scene in the play of Claudio seeing “Hero’s affair,” he would sympathize with Beyoncé’s perspective. He would’ve presented a front of betrayal and disbelief; he “can taste the dishonesty” when Hero said she did not sleep with another man as he believed with certainty that she had. To have his notions of Hero crumble, it would be agonizing to see her so happy at the wedding, much like how Beyoncé’s lover’s smile hurt her like “nothing else.” Claudio even said, “if there be any impediment, I pray you discover it” (3.2.86-87). The anger and hurt communicated by this song as Beyoncé discovered her husband’s affair is how Claudio would’ve felt as he discovered Hero’s.
4. The main reason this song is on this playlist is because of the line, “can’t make a wife out of a ho.” In Shakespearean language, this lyric translates to: “Not to be married, not to knit my soul to an approvèd wanton” (4.1.44-45). Going beyond a single lyric, Claudio does not appear to even care about Hero’s defense, agreeing with the attitude to “fuck all of [her] reasons.” The Kid LAROI’s track is toxic for the way he presents the relationship and speaks about women. This feeling is shared by Claudio within the play as he believes and perpetuates the slander of Hero with so little evidence.
5. As mentioned above, Claudio was quite invested in the status aspect of Hero; this song is steeped in expensive things. Swift’s track is petulant, giving the vibe of taking a serious break up as a reason to shit-talk. This was Claudio at the wedding: insincere and making a scene. Claudio felt like he was “giving [Hero] a second chance” after the first gulling, but she only “stabbed [him] in the back while shaking [his] hand.” There is even a parallel in Swift’s lyric, “I’m locking the gates” and Claudio’s lament that “for thee I’ll lock up all the gates of love” (4.1.110).
6. Musgrave’s craves going back to the days before adulting when she could “kick it at the mall like there’s nothing wrong.” She wants time with friends when they had few cares and did not have to worry about being a grown-up. After his marriage collapsed, Claudio and the Prince are searching for Benedick and the good ol’ days. When they find him, Claudio requests that Benedick “use thy wit” like he did before when he spoke against love (5.1.137). After dealing with the mature aspects of life like marriage, all Claudio wants is to go back to the simple times with his best friends.
7. This song is the moment Claudio learns that he was wrong about Hero, and that she is now dead because of him. Claudio is not convinced that he was to blame as he said, “yet sinned I not but in mistaking” (5.1.287). La Bouquet’s song manages to capture the surface-level guilt Claudio experiences in lyrics such as “(coming to terms with the fact that) I’m a loser baby.” The song depicts being able to see where one “went wrong” but still knowing that one can save face, just like how Claudio allowed Leonato to pick his punishment of marrying another woman in the family.
8. Even with Claudio being a toxic character, he can still acknowledge how good Hero was for him. Claudio is determined to “mourn with Hero,” which signals this awareness of how she was a wonderful woman who he treated horribly (5.2.346). Zucker and Cutler’s song shows this acknowledgement beautifully with the lyric: “no matter where I go, at the end of every road, you were good to me.” Their song is heartbreaking as it is about losing someone good for you, with the implication that the reason is because the singer was not good to them. This was Claudio and Hero, as he “won’t her [her] anymore, because [she] was good to [him].”
9. This version of the second half of the tomb song (5.3.12-21) is heart-wrenching. I wanted the playlist to end with this track because I felt the music encapsulates the destruction caused by Claudio, as he “slew thy virgin knight.” The harmonies layer to make one feel the weight of his words — the weight that a toxic lover leaves. I thought about giving Claudio a redemption song at the end when he gets “another Hero” (5.4.63); after everything, that feels wrong. And so, I leave it here with Death.