FAVOURITE SONGS: 'See I'm Smiling', THE LAST FIVE YEARS

The Last Five Years recounts Cathy and Jamie's five-year long relationship. With music, lyrics, and book by Jason Robert Brown, it's an intricate work: while Jamie narrates his side of the tale in chronological order, Cathy's is flipped, going from the end to the start of their happiness together. The characters interact only once in the middle of the show, when their timelines converge for the span of their wedding song ("The Next Ten Minutes").

Though the third number in the show, Cathy's second solo "See I'm Smiling" sees the couple at the end of their relationship, as she comes to the realisation that it is a lost cause. Rather than continuing to excuse her husband's behaviour, she sees him as the self-absorbed writer that he is.

After five years of following around in his shadow, she isn't seeking his validation but calling him out on his mistakes (for instance, she brings up his multiple affairs), unmasking his selfishness and ruthlessness to get to the top.

The structure of the song mirrors the architecture of the whole musical, with a fixed turning point right in the middle where things change drastically. While the beginning of the song introduces Cathy's willingness to save their relationship, the second half displays all the pain and envy she has to endure in her life with Jamie, while hinting for the first time at how wrong they are for each other.

We can pinpoint fame and resentment as a major reason for the failure of their marriage in the moment the mood of the number changes and Cathy starts to speak out against him. Jamie started his rise to fame before he was even 24; at 28, he's an author with a best-selling book under his belt, while she is still a struggling theatre actress forced to take summer engagements in Ohio, where the song is set.

The number begins with her attempts to make small talk, almost trying to break the ice with her own husband - they probably haven't seen each other for quite some time. We understand that things aren't going too well for the couple, but there is a willingness to try to mend their marriage, at least on her behalf. Her hope is to reconnect after a rough period, but it turns out that Jamie has other plans. He is not staying with her for her birthday weekend after all, as he has an event to attend.

Cathy's "you and you and nothing but you" comes back later in the show during "I Can Do Better Than That", the third to last song, which places the characters at the beginning of their relationship. There her words convey all her infatuation for her boyfriend, which is in striking opposition to the frustration she feels near the end of her marriage.

It's also worth mentioning that before she turns the conversation upside down, she feels the need to apologise, which is indicative of the power imbalance in their relationship and underlines the position of deferment she involuntarily and subconsciously puts herself in.

While her focus is on Jamie and his faults in "See I'm Smiling", she still feels the need to be the core of everything, which is clearly established by her "and I..." at the end of the verse. This expedient is used by Brown throughout the work to showcase Cathy's selfishness and determination, which are as strong and resolute as her husband's, and are highlighted by the frustration caused by the envy she feels towards him.

As the third song in the musical, "See I'm Smiling" makes the audience brutally face the foundation of the musical and starts to explain how the couple got to the first song ("Still Hurting") right after walking them through the upbeat and playful "Shiksa Goddess".

The Last Five Years is honest and raw, and "See I'm Smiling" is just one example of its brilliance. Its structure and time jumps make it a singular and outstanding work, inhabited by characters who actually feel plucked from the real world.

Watch Anna Kendrick perform 'See I'm Smiling' below!

Photo credit: Thomas Concordia/Radius-TWC