When the love is sus | The Treachery of Don Giovanni

You feel the intuition prickling at the back of your neck. The words are sweet, the melody is beautiful, but the undercurrent is dissonant.

In opera, "sus" love is our bread and butter. Consider Don Giovanni. He sings the most beautiful serenade ("Deh vieni a la finestra") to a maid, but we the audience know it is a trap. He uses beauty as a weapon. In music, we hear this in the "Deceptive Cadence"—the chord progression that sets you up for home, but lands you in a minor key.

The Sovereign Solution:

1.  Listen to the Accompaniment: In life, people's words are the melody. Their actions are the orchestra. If the melody is major but the orchestra is minor, trust the orchestra.

2.  Trust the Dissonance: If something feels "off," it is usually because your subconscious has detected a pattern break.

3.  Exit the Stage: Don Giovanni drags everyone down with him. You do not need to wait for the Commendatore (the stone statue) to drag him to hell. You can just leave the opera.

This insight is just the overture. To build the full set of your own sovereignty, enter the studio. Your stage is waiting at passagg.io.