YMMV / She Will Be Loved

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Many by the fanbase on the music video.
  • The daughter. Did she not know about the affair between her boyfriend and her mother, or did she know all along but chose to be oblivious about it for whatever reasons?
  • The mother, a Sympathetic Adulterer, or a Rich Bitch with no regards to whoever gets hurt?
  • The young man, did he really love his girlfriend, or was he just using her to get closer to her mother?
  • "She Will Be Loved" could be referring to either the daughter or her mother. Or both, as things become complicated.
  • Some fans like to interpret the mother as being actually the daughter's more beautiful looking stepmother. Which would explain their close bond and the woman's youthful appearance. But it doesn't make the heartache any easier.
  • Some people theorized that the song is about a prostitute, which would fit with the meaning of these lyrics. The girl is young and beautiful, but because of her troubles, she’s had to face adult realities that make her feel worthless and insecure.
  • Like many other videos, many assume it matches the song, but this one opens with the line 'Beauty queen of only 18' and then the video shows how the singer has a crush on a woman in her 40s. Although it can be interpreted as saying that the woman feels like she is 18 years old, young and energetic, and yet she does not receive appreciation from her husband, which makes her unhappy.
• Fanfic Fuel: What happens after the daughter, the boyfriend and the mother are left standing and looking at one another after the affair is discovered?
• Fridge Logic: The ending of the video for "She Will Be Loved". Why did it take the girlfriend so long to go after them? Wouldn't you realize that there was something weird between your boyfriend and your mother once he got up to go after her?
• Harsher in Hindsight: Kelly Preston's appearance in the music video becomes this in light of her passing in July 2020, especially with words in the chorus ("I don't mind spending every day..." "Look for the girl with the broken smile...^note Considering Preston still made public appearances following her cancer diagnosis, it's easy to interpret this to her making herself appear fine during those times Ask her if she wants to stay a while") and the outro ("Please don't try so hard to say goodbye").
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many viewers tuned into the music video to watch Kelly Preston.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The brief domestic abuse scenes between the mother and her rich husband are quite unnerving.
  • When the husband finally takes notice of his wife at the party — he sees what a scene she's making by dancing around and flirting at some of the younger gentlemen present. He gets up to leave quietly with a alcoholic drink in hand. Then Smash Cut to the mother found lying passed out on the floor in the dark. And another Smash Cut showing her husband just grabbing her forcefully and shaking her and tossing her around.
  • During their fight, the mother is in tears, mouthing for him to "stop". When it looks as if an apology or reconciliation might take place, the husband then cruelly smears his wife's lipstick across her mouth with his thumb — then violently slapping her across the face for pure Kick the Dog moment.
  • Worst part is that only the young man knows about this abuse. As he finds out when he discovers the girlfriend's mother lying unconscious in a dark room after the party/altercation.
  • It's left ambiguous how the mother was put into an unconscious state. From either the physical abuse or the alcohol.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The mother getting rejected by her husband at the party when she goes in for a kiss.
  • The mother getting slapped around by her husband during a fight and leaving in tears.
  • The mother being found passed out on the basement floor.
  • The mother and the young man looking at one another as she watches him from outside his apartment.
  • The young man seeing the mother's face in the place of his girlfriend's and looks guilty about it.
  • The mother attempting to gain affection from her husband only to be rejected again.
  • The mother becoming more and more emotional as she watches the young couple look happily in love.
  • The mother walking off crying after watching the young couple together and still getting no attention from her deadbeat husband.
  • The young man running after the mother.
  • The mother throwing a fit as the young man calms her down. Followed by a hug.
  • The mother and the young man almost kiss. Then the girlfriend caught up to them and sees them.
  • The close up shots of the trio's eyes.
  • The flashbacks showing the girlfriend actually walking in on her boyfriend and her mother kissing in the basement that one night.
• The Woobie:
  • The Mother, whose life consists of domestic abuse and emotional anxiety behind closed doors when no one is looking.
  • The Daughter, who loves her boyfriend and is clearly hurt when she stumbles upon the sight of her boyfriend and her mother about to kiss. And again when she walked into a room late at night and found them together. Imagine her confusion, heartbreak and betrayal she must be feeling.