If you are an avid or even casual watcher of New Girl, you surely are familiar with everyone’s favorite lovable self-loather: Nick Miller. He’s a man of many trades: lawyer, bartender, author, avid panic-moonwalker…The list goes on, yet what makes him so captivating to me is that he never knows what he’s actually doing. He displays a love for Jess that puts Romeo and Juliet and any other classic romance novels to shame. Despite their aggravating slow-burn relationship and heavy emotional baggage, his passion for her never wavers. This is what makes his character so enthralling; he has nothing to hide and so much to give. He is so real.
If there are two things you should know about me, I love Nick Miller and I love indie-pop. So any synthesis of the two is something I absolutely want to write about and share. Here are all of the songs that remind me of Nick Miller in some way, shape, or form. You are welcome.
“Like or like like” By the miniature tigers
“… I couldn’t stand to face you / ‘Cause I liked what I saw / And maybe we should just stay friends”
“Tell me how you feel about me / Do you like or like-like me?”
Funnily enough, I first found this indie-pop song through a Spotify playlist called something along the lines of “Songs Nick Miller would fist-bump to in the car.” I remember thinking to myself, “yeah, this is absolutely something Nick Miller would fist-bump to in his car”. The song itself has a childish, playful mood to it that makes me want to skip around my room, and it embodies Jess and Nick’s infuriatingly slow burn perfectly. The passion they harbor for one another is strong, but their apprehension to jump into things in fear of destroying their friendship is stronger. Everything about this song reminds me of the question Jess poses to him: “should we just call it?”
“Oh caroline” by The 1975
“Oh Caroline / I wanna get it right this time / ‘Cause you’re always on my mind / Oh Caroline”
“Getting suicidal? It’s honestly not for me / I’m getting on my nerves / By getting on my knees”
I mean, the name says it all. This is, in my opinion, a criminally underrated bop from The 1975’s new album Being Funny In A Foreign Language; so if you haven’t listened yet, you’re missing out on what the band calls a “deceivingly dark melodic pop anthem”. Do you know who else is deceivingly dark? Nick Miller. Remember when he manically decided that he wanted to move in with Caroline again, and was blindly optimistic about it despite their unhealthy relationship? Yeah, this song is that. Caroline’s overall presence in the show highlights Nick’s deeply rooted fear of commitment and the comfort in toxicity we all know too well; the dude has got baggage. Particularly in season one, Nick would rather try to “get it right” by moving in with Caroline than confront his inability to be emotionally open. While this plot line is particularly infuriating to watch, we can’t help but admire him for being so real.
Side note, my favorite thing Nick does whenever something bad happens to him is to detach from everything and to start acting eerily zen, like starting a tomato garden when Julia broke up with him or becoming overwhelmingly appreciative about science and life at Jess’s middle school science fair. This is why this song stood out to me at first; the line “getting suicidal? It’s honestly not for me” is so this version of Nick Miller.
“The Benefits of Lying (with your Friend)” by The Apples in Stereo
“Everything I say falls away / Like the fade on the radio song / And everything I try passed me by / Like the tide seems to rise, then it’s gone”
How could anyone deny the benefits of lying with your friend? This hidden gem of a song tackles the struggle of unrequited love despite the temporary fix of a friends-with-benefits relationship – with emphasis on the temporary fix aspect. I think Nick would identify with this song because of Jess’s tendency to make him her “emotional fluffer”, as he calls it. She asked him on a dinner date before her real date with Dr. Sam then asked him to go to Ikea with her so he could build her a dresser. What entrances me about this song is the dual meaning of “lying” in the title and chorus; there are benefits to lying about feelings to avoid harsh truths or rejection, along with the obvious benefits of sex with no strings attached. The ambivalence of a friends-with-benefits situation is something Jess and Nick know far too well.
“Me & You Together Song” by The 1975
“I’ve been in love with her for ages / But I can’t seem to get it right / I fell in love with her in stages my whole life”
Sorry not sorry about plugging another The 1975 song – you have to understand I couldn’t not. “Me & You Together Song” encompasses the feeling of being so in love with your friend that you fantasize about a future with them instead of just telling them– all while they are clueless, preoccupied, or disinterested. It’s a bouncy song narrated by a quirky, insecure, witty speaker who essentially concludes that he fumbled the bag. Matty Healy, The 1975’s lead singer described the song in a way that was very Nick Miller-esque: “When I write about relationships, I find it quite hard to be soppy so my sincerity comes from gags.” Nick is 100% guilty of this. Remember when he panic-moonwalked away from Jess after the literal most passionate kiss scene in the history of television? Or when he decided to climb out of the window as a quirky little bit instead of kissing her for the sake of a game? Nick’s inability to “be soppy” is what drew Jess to him, but it’s also a flaw that inhibits him from expressing his love directly. Instead of tackling this and facing his feelings, he tried to move on – hence his horrible, forced, lifeless relationship with Reagan (sorry, I just really hated them together). He fell in love with her in stages before they finally met in the middle, so “Me & You Together Song” is a Nick Miller anthem.
“Davy Crochet” by The Backseat Lovers
“And then it started to snow / I didn’t think about it when I gave you my coat / I didn’t think about it when I wrote you that note / I guess there’re some things that you shouldn’t know / But I’ll tell you anyway / And you can tell me ’bout it if you’ve had a bad day / I’ll teach you how to laugh if you can teach me crochet”
“Davy Crochet” by The Backseat Lovers is, in my personal opinion, the catchiest song on their album “When We Were Friends. It’s all about the simple gestures one does when one likes someone, and it’s so playful that I couldn’t help but think of the way Nick Miller loves. If you’re a fan of the sound of “Like Or Like Like”, you’ll definitely like this. The Backseat Lovers’ sound is very reminiscent of The Miniature Tigers. This reminds me of all the special little things Nick does to show he loves Jess throughout the series, even if it makes Nick look silly. The example I always use to showcase how much he loved her from the start is from the pilot episode: Nick is the first to sing “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, Jess’s favorite song from her favorite movie, to her after she gets stood up by her first date after Spencer. While it takes a few more seasons for Nick to verbalize and confront his feelings, us as watchers can find love in the little things.
If you want to beef up your playlist even more, here are a few honorable mentions: “Stars are Blind” by Paris Hilton, “Moving Out” by Billy Joel, “What’s Up?” by Mom Jeans, and “Greatest Comedian” by Matt Maltese.
Even if you’re not a die-hard New Girl fan, be sure to keep all of these songs in mind when you craft your next playlist. Not only do they personify our problematic fave Nick Miller, but they’re just good! All of these songs will allow you to take your parasocial relationship with Nick Miller a step further – now you can listen to music and fantasize about a life with him!