i'm gonna make you love me?

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

In November of 1968 Diana Ross and the Supremes joined forces with the Temptations to release the classic love song "I'm gonna make you love me". The song became a success shooting to the top of the charts and landing in the #2 spot on the Billboard 100. I first heard the song when I was 8 years old. It happened to be number 10 on the Now and Then soundtrack, a movie and cassette tape my sister, cousin, and I became obsessed with. Not only did the twelve simple songs on the tape become a staple on road trips, but the soundtrack to our childhood.

Most recently I popped the CD (we had to break down a few years ago and buy the compact disk, as we no longer owned a car that played cassette tapes) to brighten up my day. It was possibly the first time I have ever listened to the words I have belted at the top of my lungs for the last 13 years. I contemplated the meaning behind these short and seemingly simple tunes I had allowed to guide my adolescence. Driving down Pecos Road with sweat dripping down my face and hot air rustling my hair I wondered, can you really make someone love you?

Music legendaries Diana Ross, Eddie Kendricks, and Otis Williams uttered the phrase with such confidence that it seems not only possible, but effortless. Forty one years after the original release of the song I am attempting to answer the inane question of whether love can be forced from an individual.

Being a romantic at heart, I can't help but adore the promising lyrics and hope for a happy ending. I am quickly brought back to earth when considering the logistics of making one fall in love. Was the song simply referring to the process of two people falling for each other through small romantic acts of affection, or does it apply to one individual consciously targeting another?

Either way I was sucked back into the 7th grade once I heard Ms. Ross coo "I'm gonna use every trick in the book, Ill try my best to get you hooked". For it was in junior high that I developed a crush on Ryan Estrada, an unobtainable love; for he had feelings for another girl in the class below us. Despite how much time I spent on my ponytail or that I was allowed to wear clear mascara he never reciprocated my feelings. Painful at first, I slowly mended my broken heart and learned that I couldn't make Ryan love me. Embarrassingly so, I still have a crush on him to this day, something that I will probably never fully get over.

Perhaps the dynamic duo of The Temptations and Diana Ross and the Supremes sang to characterize the uncontrollable feeling of intense emotion felt when two people fall in love. For instance, Ryan made me fall in love with his goofy smile and corny jokes. He didn't purposely or maliciously tempt my heart.

Just recently I experienced yet another unsuccessful attempt at love. Just as my futile tactics failed me in 7th grade, my homework help and baked goods this time around did not win my way to his heart. I guess it's my turn to sit back and let someone else attempt the seemingly impossible. One of these days a boy will come along and sing to my heart....

I'm gonna make you love me. And I just might let him.