Ah, human drama at its finest. Here I am, procrastinating… (“philosophizing”) just because I got stuck thinking about these lines from two songs that just played, and somehow, they seemed to be having a conversation with each other.

Cause I'm not ready
To find out you know how to forget me
I'd rather hear how much you regret me
And pray to God that you never met me
Than forget me

I don't wanna be just a memory, baby

Lady Gaga doesn’t want to be “just another memory,” and Lewis Capaldi would rather be passionately hated than forgotten. Why? Because, of course, being forgotten is the emotional equivalent of vanishing from the universe. How horrifying! How dare someone move on without us? It’s as if our very existence depends on someone remembering us while they cry to sad ballads in the shower.

The truth is, we don’t like being a memory because that means we’re no longer the center of someone’s world. And let’s be honest, we all love being the center of the world, even if it’s just for a little while. Being forgotten hurts because it makes us feel insignificant, as if everything we shared with that person didn’t matter. It’s like screaming into the void and having no one hear you. How poetic and depressing at the same time!

From a philosophical perspective, the fear of being forgotten is basically our way of rebelling against impermanence. Everything in life is temporary: relationships, moments, even that hot coffee that cools down way too fast on a winter morning in Lima. But we, stubborn as we are, want something of us to last forever. We want to be remembered because it gives us the illusion that our existence had a purpose. It’s like saying, “Hey, I was here! I mattered!”

The mustachioed German, Heidegger, would say that this fear of being forgotten is part of our “existential angst.” We’re terrified of facing the idea that we’re finite, that one day there will be nothing left of us—not even in someone’s memory. On the other hand, Jean-Paul Sartre would probably laugh at us and say, “Why do you care so much about what others think? “Live your life and don’t let life live you…” Excuse me a local joke. Once again, Sartre would say, ‘Live your life and stop seeking external validation.’” But of course, that’s easier said than done, because we all like to feel important, even if it’s just in someone’s playlist.

In summary, we don’t like being forgotten because it makes us feel small, insignificant, and, well, human. But maybe the trick is to accept that we don’t need to be remembered for our lives to have meaning. Although, let’s be honest, if someone forgets us, at least let them do it while skipping our favorite song on their playlist… and feeling just a tiny bit guilty about it.