Janus’ playlist: a thin line between melancholy and cynicism (part 1)
I keep fooling myself into thinking that one post will be enough, that yes, of course I can manage to talk about 20 songs into one single post, even if the songs are from Janus’ playlist and he’s a cryptic snake boi.
Well, I am a fool. So here we are with the analysis of the first ten songs. And this post will be long enough already.
Before starting: everything written here is just my interpretation, so I can be 100% right as well as 100% wrong. If you have another good opinion, please feel free to share, so we can have a nice discussion :D
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Janus’ playlist is dominated by five big recurring themes:
I love you, Thomas. I adore you. You have no idea how much I care about you. I will do anything for you and by anything I mean ANYTHING
Society is awful and men are evil: “Lord of the Flies” Extended Edition
Have you ever heard about my connections with Christianity?
Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing everywhere (Janus Bifrons, anyone?)
The first ten songs encompass the first four themes, so we’ll ignore the last one for now.
Just a word about the first theme: it baffles me the sheer amount of love in this playlist. For someone who is so cold, cynical and sharp, Janus’ playlist is literally overflowing with love. He cares about Thomas in a way that’s almost painful to see - but at the same time it makes completely sense, because he’s self-preservation and if there’s someone who should care this much about Thomas, is definitely him.
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BLACK HOLE SUN: So you know what to expect
Janus’ playlist is a heaven for theorists: every single song is full of metaphors, interpretations, allegories, emotions, themes, connections, everything and even more, if you dig deep enough.
And Black Hole Sun, by being the first song of this playlist, is the perfect warning: this playlist won’t be easy to understand. Some meanings will be obvious, others well hidden behind metaphors and allegories. Or maybe they’re all hidden and you’ve got them wrong. Or they’re all very obvious. Who knows. Everything can be a lie, everything can be a truth.
It fits so damn well with Janus’ essence. He literally has two faces, like his logo and the God whose name he bears. Of course his playlist will be just like him.
So what better way to start this journey, than with a song that, apparently, has no hidden meaning at all?
In fact, according to the author, he wrote this song just for the sake of playing around with words. Black Hole Sun doesn’t really carry a message, but it’s just a mix of imagery and surrealism.
Yet, the huge amount of images used in this song is basically an invitation to find themes and connections. And some of them are so obvious that this must be the correct interpretation, isn’t it? It’s so clear! And yet, it may be all wrong.
Some images and words are just begging to be connected to this theme. I’ll just quote three examples to give you an idea:
Snakes, snakes everywhere: the snake from the garden of Eden, the devil as the snake, snakes as metaphor of bad people. You want a snake, here’s a snake. I have never heard a song with so many references to snakes. It’s perfect for someone who is literally half snake.
Heaven and hell: these two words keep appearing everywhere in this playlist. Remus may be the Side connected with Thomas’ Catholic upbringing, but Janus embraces this theme SO MUCH it’s not even funny.
Praying: what was I saying about the christian references? And the verb “to pray” is basically the “religious-related” verb that recurs more often.
2. Dualism and melancholy
Dualism comes up from the title: Black Hole Sun.
Interesting combination, isn’t it? A black hole is a stupidly huge and dense region of spacetime where gravity is so strong nothing can escape from it, not even light. While the sun is the star that gives us life. We look at the sun for life, without sun we would be doomed. And the black hole is the quintessential of being doomed.
So we have this giant circle of nothing, fused with the thing that made life bloom on our planet. It’s the perfect dualism between life and death, everything and nothingness, light and dark.
And not only this first PERFECTLY with Janus because of the whole dualism/having two faces, but also because the image of a black hole sun gives a lot of feelings that can be associated with Janus, first of all melancholy.
Melancholy is a very interesting (and complicated) emotion. It’s often associated with depression, but those are actually very different. Depression is more about resignation: when you’re depressed, you are unmotivated, you can’t do the simplest tasks, you can’t see anything, nor think about anything. You just feel empty.
Melancholy, on the other hand, involves the pleasure of reflecting and contemplating things we love or we want to have. It can be seen as a desire, deep down into the soul, of something or someone which we long for and it’s sorely missed. It can be evoked by people or places, it can be linked to sadness, pleasure, love, nostalgia, yearning. It’s not a happy emotion, yet you may want to experience it, from time to time, because its nature implies a deep self-reflection.
And Janus’ playlist is full of melancholy. It makes sense, considering that he’s a dark, cynical, philosophical thinker, more prone to reflection, rather than action. Melancholy is definitely right up his alley.
3. The Thomas theme and childhood’s hopes
Times are gone for honest men
And sometimes far too long for snakes
In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my soul I pray to keep
Heaven sent hell away
No one sings like you anymore
When asked about the line, “Times are gone for honest men”, the author said (and I quote): “It’s really difficult for a person to create their own life and their own freedom. It’s going to become more and more difficult, and it’s going to create more and more disillusioned people who become dishonest and angry and are willing to fuck the next guy to get what they want.”
Well, isn’t that a perfect Janus’ mood? The world is a cold, unforgiving place, no one will give you anything for free and other people will step on you. It perfectly links with Lord of the Flies and man’s inherent evil. Everyone is a snake, people are bad, men are all evil…
Except for Thomas. He may not be a 100% good person, but he’s definitely better than the rest of the world. Maybe even too good, for such a cruel world.
“No one sings like you anymore”: there’s no one left that is as good as him. Thomas is literally the only pure person left, the one who sings differently from all others.
That’s why he needs to be protected. Janus had to be a snake, figuratively and literally, in order to protect him from other cruel snakes.
We also have another interesting detail here: an hopeful prayer. “Heaven sent hell away”. Hell is on earth, in this bad world where there’s no time for honest people anymore. But if hell is sent away, then the good people will be saved. Especially one good person, the one Janus cares the most. The one who sings differently, the only one that is still good in the whole world: Thomas.
And this hope is expressed again, in the same song:
Black hole sun
Won’t you come
And wash away the rain?
If the black hole sun, this incredible destroyer, comes and wipes everything out, then Thomas will be saved. Rain/bad things will be washed away. And not “gently brushed away”, but annihilated by the darkest, most dangerous thing in the universe. It shows how dark Janus is willing to be, how far he’s willing to go, in order to protect Thomas.
You see what I meant, by saying that Janus REALLY cares about Thomas?
And that’s just the beginning.
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