"Just a Kiss" by Lady Antebellum SA2

 Love is difficult to find, but once found people are never happier. Some might take it to fast when falling for someone who might end the relationship, while others take it to slow and end up in the “friend zone”. One needs to find a balance between the two, and once found with the right person, love will be cast upon them. In “Just a Kiss” Lady Antebellum depicts passionate imagery in order to explore affectionate allegory, yearning mood, and intense understatement to show that when given time “It’ll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find”.



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Antebellum conveys affectionate allegory to show the extent of how two people feel about each other. This song is sung by two people, male and female, both preaching the same message. The person is on a date and has very strong feelings towards the other, but doesn’t want to fall to fast. She is trying “to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe” when she in on this date. She cannot actually “fight” the feelings she had, which is personification. She can also breathe fine, but she wants to show the listener the affect this man is having on her, he is simply taking her breath away. She goes on to say, “I’ve never opened up to anyone”; inquiring that she feels remarkably close to him instantly. One might perceive that she meant she opened up her actual body to this man. She knows she is starting to fall for this boy, and she doesn’t know what to do. She is “caught up in this moment” and” in your smile”; she doesn’t know how to react. There is no net or arms that the man is using to “catch” her smile and the moment, but rather she is saying that she is enjoying this moment and likes these things about him.

Antebellum portrays a yearning mood throughout the song. The song is talking about two people falling in love, but don’t want to take it too fast yet they want to because they love each other’s company. The mood is yearning because they want to be with each other, but also to “take is slow” by only giving each other “just a kiss goodnight”. The feelings are growing throughout the night, but she feels that if she goes to fast things can be lost. This is where the tone of the song comes in. She seems a little nervous throughout her date with him. She has these feelings that she cannot help yet she only wants “a kiss goodnight”. She decides that time will tell if they will have something special, so she says “No I don’t want to say goodnight, I know it’s time to leave, but you’ll be in my dreams”. The tone and mood of the song is that she is falling in love, but is going to take her time and not rush into anything to make sure that he is going to be the real deal.

Throughout “Just a Kiss” understatement is used to describe their night; it is lessening the effect it actually had. She starts by saying, “Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight”. Many people who have their first kiss with their boyfriend are very excited, especially if it is as romantic as under the night moon and stars. She goes to make it sound that it is nothing, and not a big deal to her. The chorus is filled with understatement:

“Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight

Just a touch on the first burning so bright

No I don’t want to mess this thing up

I don’t want to push to far

Just a shot in the dark that you just might

Be the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life

So baby I’m alright, with just a kiss goodnight.”

When one touches a fire, it is very hot and is excruciating pain. Antebellum makes it seem nonchalant as with “Just a shot in the ark that you just might- Be the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life”. When someone finds their sole mate it is one of the best moments in their life. She makes it sound that it is just another thing that happened to her; neither happy or sad. She makes these events sound average using understatement.

People search for their soul mate all their life.  In “Just a Kiss” she has found her soul mate, and decides that time will tell if they will last. By using allegory, mood, and understatement, she makes the listener feel that they are there that night going through what she went through using explicit imagery.