Song Analysis: Bad Kind of Butterflies
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Bad Kind of Butterflies is the sixth song out of Romance and it’s the most controversial one because it’s supposedly about the Ewmila/ Shitmila love triangle. Or is it?
Come here and sit next to me
Don’t look at me while I’m breaking
After what I’m gonna say
I understand if you hate me
So, Camila is meeting this person and wants to tell them something important. People immediately associated it with Camila telling Matthew about Shawn, but that isn’t the case here.
Camila will understand if they hate her once they hear the news. But when it comes to cheating, the first reaction would be hurt. Hate might be a secondary reaction, but it’s not always the case since some couples try to work it out and sometimes they do.
So what is Camila telling them? There are two possibilities:
Camila is telling her parents about Lauren and her sexuality. She is afraid they will hate her because some parents don’t accept their kids’ sexualities.
Camila is confessing her feelings to Lauren. She is afraid L will hate her because, well, Lauren swears she’s straight.
I’m going with the first one, since it fits more the timeline presented in Romance.
What do I do when I love you and want somebody else?
What do I lose if I don’t choose and keep it to myself?
Well, the simple debunk here: if you love someone, you won’t cheat on them. Period. And, if you want somebody else and don’t get out of your current relationship, you’re holding of your life, your SO’s, and your crush’s. So those might not be the smartest lyrics at all.
But… if you apply the correct context:
Camila loves her parents, but she’s not who they expect her to be and she’s wondering if it’s worth telling them.
Camila loves Lauren as a friend, but she wants more. So she wonders if she should keep it quiet and just enjoy the ride.
Both interpretations fit here. But the symbols evoked in these lines are often related to Camila’s sexuality.Hesitation and Secret also come in Only Told the Moon (silence, too loud, say it, not now) and Shameless (Don’t speak, no, don’t try, it’s been a secret for the longest time).
I got bad, bad, bad kind of butterflies
Like when you got something to hide
Lies, tellin’ you that I’m alright
Tonight, tonight
Bad, bad butterflies in my chest
There’s something I gotta confess
Yes, somebody’s stuck in my head
And I, and I
Camila’s got the bad kind of butterflies because she’s anxious about what she has to say to this person. Her anxiety might have played a role in here, but that’s not explicit within the song. And what does she want to say? That someone is stuck in her head.
Again, saying that someone is stuck in your head isn’t the way of breaking up with your bf/gf. You usually say: I like someone else. Or you don’t even go into that detail. So the fake love triangle doesn’t fit here.
The “somebody’s stuck in my head” implies a certain distance from the subject and the person you’re talking to. It could be because she’s not talking to Lauren, but about Lauren. Or it could be a structure she found to conceal the true meaning of the song.
I know I said we were friends
And when I said that, I meant it (swear, I meant it)
Somewhere between now and then
It became more than just a friendship
This is supposed to allude to Shitmila, but it doesn’t make sense because the timeline is just too short. Plus, them bonding over Cenorita means that Cenorita isn’t about them, which contradicts their overall timeline. As Lauren would say: loop hole!
It doesn’t make much sense for her to be telling Lauren that it became more than a friendship because, well, Lauren knows it.
But what if Sinu had already questioned Camila about Camren because she felt the girls were too close for just friendship? And Camila denied it at the time, but now she’s confessing that it was more than just a friendship!
Either way, this line fits Camren’s FWB relationship back then, as shown in Señorita (you say we’re just friends, but friends don’t know the way you taste) and in My Oh My (I don’t be kissing on little shawty, she don’t be kissing on me either). More interestingly, it means that Sinu already suspected of them.
Come here and sit next to me
You tell me: Baby, just say it (say it, say it)
Warnin’ me it’s a mistake
I just know I gotta make it
Sinu and Ale are waiting for Camila to finally spill the beans and, well, she does! And how does that resolve?
It seems like Camila’s parents had nothing against her sexuality, but they were wary of Lauren. In My Oh My, it is revealed that Sinu “didn’t trust” L and Ale “didn’t love her”. Also, in Havana, Camila mentioned that Papa C had said that Lauren’s got “malo in her”. Yup, not a very good impression, Lauren.
Well, Sinu and Ale might have told Camila that she deserved better and that there were healthier forms of relationship out there. And that’s exactly what Camila sought before Lauren came running back.
Bad Kind of Butterflies sure gives room for interpretation. But, within the narrative of Romance, it fits right after Shameless, when Camila decides to come out to her parents, and right before My Oh My.
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