Very few series have embodied a multi-dimensional exploration of healthy love as ‘Forever’ has. All American & Black-ish are among the few that match up, but Forever stands out as a love story of legendary quality that translates the arena of romantic love in the 2020s. Created by Mara Brock Akli, Forever is a raw story of teenage love that cuts through the vulnerability and honesty of a first love experience. The 8-episode masterpiece peels open Justin and Keisha’s hearts as we see them navigate an intense but freeing connection.
It’s one of those objectively exceptional pieces of work that need no improvements – from the cinematography, the casting, the wardrobe, the storyline depth, all the way to the music – everything was done to near-perfection. The series boasts a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating and 7.7/10 IMDb rating for good reason! Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the music chosen for this series, but it also got my creative juices flowing, and I re-imagined the soundtrack to suit my taste to perfection.
Here are a few of my favourite scenes and themes, matched to some of my favourite songs 🙂 Enjoy!
Theme 1: Ghosting & Blocking as a communication currency
For this theme, I dedicate Frank Ocean’s – Thinking about you.
Many of us can relate to Keisha’s frustration in Episode 2 as she waited for what felt like an eternity to be texted back, after she had bared her soul and confessed her love (/interest) for Justin. We can also relate to Justin’s delay in responding due to ‘having a life’ that doesn’t orbit around the magnetic force of a love life. Within a communication and romantic culture that is riddled with anxiety, it’s difficult to grow a new connection when trust is traded based on tested sincerity. What constitutes “tried and tested sincerity” may differ from person to person, but usually it’s about who will play their cards openly first. Trusting someone with your heart or your truth is no easy task, and often, the occasional levers of power in ghosting or blocking will be pulled, but Frank Ocean’s ‘Thinking about you’ invites us into a child-like honesty, to admit thinking about someone & to tell them what it is we think about them. In doing this, it is a revolutionary act that does not cheat your heart out of a real chance at connection. Keisha and Justin learn this later on, but raw honesty and being patient with the other person as they figure their thoughts out is a key ingredient to making love work.
Theme 2: You’ll Know it’s True Love When It Calls You Out
For this theme, I dedicate Madison Ryann Ward’s “The Key”
In a scene that’s dubbed one of the best TV scenes of 2025, Justin sits with his Dad discussing Keisha, who had traveled to a different city to follow her heart and to try win Justin back (Ep 5). The magic of this scene is not only in the beautiful display of masculinity modeled through a rare conversation among black men about feelings, love & emotions – part of the magic is in Justin and his dad sharing a moment of relatability in that, in the same way Justin has to be courageous in the face of a love that requires a depth of emotions, Eric (Justin’s Dad) had to overcome himself as well for Dawn (Justin’s Mom). Keisha and Justin’s love story wasn’t only beautiful to watch, but it was also an uncomfortable and triggering watch. A connection that began so innocently grew into a grandstanding force of transformational pressure, where both Keisha and Justin constantly demanded that the other step up in pursuit of the best versions of themselves. Just like Madison’s “The Key”, when love is really true (friendship/ romantic), it becomes the thing that unlocks the versions of you that you’ve been trying to access on your own.
Theme 3: The sanctity of romantic love & why it is a legitimate dream/ambition
For this theme, I dedicate Snoh Alegra’s “Sweet Tea”
My favourite scene of the series is when Justin and Keisha run towards each other as they reconcile after having fought so hard for their love.. Snoh Alegra’s Sweet Tea not only fits because of the sweetness of the moment they shared, it fits because a romantic connection/ romantic love is undoubtedly one of the best things a human being can experience. In the age where singleness is on the rise and the value of true love has been shaved down to almost insignificance, the series stands in stark opposition to this in how Keisha and Justin are portrayed to be experiencing this love that sweeps right through their entire lives, showing us how they, and everyone around them is treating their relationship as a sort of dream come true or an ambition that has been achieved. The world treats the gentleness and vulnerability of being a true lover/yearner as something to be shunned or seen as a weakness. This is because the popular choice in modern romance would be to rather have a roster/options. Putting this modern view in contrast to historical displays of romantic desire where romance and love were seen as one of the worthiest experiences for a human being, think Bridgerton or Harriet Tubman’s love story in the biopic and the countless other movies on slavery where love was seen/used as the saving grace to sedate and/or offer fulfillment to people amidst the ‘hell’ they lived in. I think ‘Forever’ does a great job at treating romantic love with the sanctity and legitimacy of old. As Snoh Alegra puts it Keisha and Justin “felt so free, so surreal whenever they were with each other… it felt like they were dreaming” and we got to live their dream with them. ❤
Have you watched Forever yet? What were your favourite scenes/ themes?
xo
Muse Journal 
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