the (un)gloved hand is important. here's why
right at the beginning of the second TLSP2 teaser, we see it for the first time:
then at the very end miles pulls the glove off a woman's hand. the shot is deliberately placed after the release date announcement, making it impossible to ignore:
bad habits gives us slightly extended scenes with the (un)gloved hand, and from what's going on around it, the glove miles wears promises nothing but filthy fun as if that wasn't always on the menu with those two:
keep this in mind: miles pulls a man's glove off a woman's left hand and puts it on his right.
i found no mentions of the glove in miles's lyrics. the closest thing was a tune he released in 2024 called fingerless gloves, but there are no lyrics in it, none at all, let alone the kind i'd love to sink my teeth into. alex's lyrics, on the other hand, brought the glove back twice more.
chronologically, the (un)gloved hand next appears in science fiction where it acts as an outside intrusion. and alex is determined to protect himself and his love from it.
but the hand of harsh reality's un-gloved
the last time we saw the glove, miles pulled it off
and it's on its way back here to scoop you up
most likely, the (un)gloved hand is a reference to the left hand of darkness by ursula k. le guin. many people consider it one of the most influential pieces of science fiction writing. the novel presents a world where people are not defined by their gender, as anyone can take on a sexual role depending on who they're with, and even grow the necessary sex organs if they want to reproduce. this whole way of being is completely alien to the main character, and he himself becomes an outsider because of his permanent sex characteristics. as he explores the planet, he's forced to confront his own rigid beliefs about sex and gender. he learns to look past some of his preconceptions, but something in him refuses to let them go entirely. if you were looking for reflections in the silver screen of strange societies, this book is exactly that. besides, it was published and won the two most prestigious science fiction literary awards in 1969 and 1970 respectively. remember which musical era EYCTE is inspired by? and maybe we know who was a little too wild in the '70s.
i want to stay with you, my love
the way some science fiction does
science fiction is alex's vision of escape, wrapped in sci-fi imagery. he himself admits the whole thing may well just end up too clever for its own good, and that he just tried to write a song to make you miles blush. i bet miles did go red the moment he heard alex dreaming of a world they could stay together, where prejudice counts for nothing. and the world alex has in mind is ursula's, which makes perfect sense once you know the novel. throughout the song, alex doesn't forget to highlight dangers and send out hidden messages, the way some science fiction does, because those dangers are exactly why the messages have to stay hidden. even so, at the time of writing, alex still believes that world is possible for them. isn't that a simple point about peace and love, but in a sexy way where it's not obvious?
i've come to see the (un)gloved hand as alex's private metaphor for the constant pressure to hide in the closet. every time it appears, the message is the same: the real you must be buried. so must your male lovers. earlier i pointed out that the glove sits on a woman's left hand, and in this context, the woman's hand represents heteronormativity, the role alex is forced to perform.
in science fiction, alex still fights back. but the next time the (un)gloved hand appears, in mr schwartz, the hope for that other world is gone. the tone shifts into something far heavier. after coming to terms with having attempted twice, both incorrectly, alex wonders whether they'll get a third try, but he doesn't lift a finger to stop what happens next.
the gloved hand's reachin' in to hit the switch
turner/schwartz
there's no one goddamn thing that you can do about it
here's where it gets ugly: mr schwartz is a performatively heterosexual, deeply homophobic subpersonality of alex, which hates and despises him for every free expression of the real him, because it's primarily concerned with alex's selling playboy image and the financial gain of the people behind it. another spiral, another post. for mr schwartz miles is a threat to his very existence and so a highly undesirable element. that's why after the switch from turner to schwartz clicks, miles must disappear, as it has happened repeatedly in real life.
seriously, listen to the bourne identity again and try to convince me that alex hadn't sorely needed therapy long before those thoughts and self-perceptions were expressed through the lyrics. the bourne identity made it painfully clear that mr schwartz was already a hell of a force in alex's head, but not yet powerful enough to cut miles out entirely. back then, mr schwartz was too busy convincing alex that by the time he's done fucking beating alex up there'll be nothing left to love to bother with miles. obviously, there was no therapy. time passed. mr schwartz matured. he levelled up from self‑destruction to full‑scale sabotage of everything alex cared about, so we had to witness the madness of tbh&c and the car tours, miles and alex's messy relationship after 2016 and alex's terrible appearance in 2025-26.
mr schwartz ends with havin' tea with the grips, the ones making sure, from the shadows, that the performance runs smoothly, and askin' after all the wives and the kids, which is about the most straight and pointedly polite activity known to man. the world where mr schwartz could never have formed for lack of any need of him is replaced by the reality of business coming first, and that replacement of the one thing alex actually wanted with commerce is exactly what lies at the heart of what the business is.
and here's another queer artist whose straight persona makes a shitload of cash, so he's trapped forever in the closet, and the left hand of darkness is right there on the cover of his album:
but back to our two sheep. to understand why miles puts the glove specifically on the right hand, google the original cover of is this it by the strokes, a band alex adores, or if it's already etched into your brain accept this tiny kitten as your reward:
the original cover features a woman's right hand in a glove, and according to the strokes and the photographer who took the shot, the glove adds a kinky edge, and it's just sexy and a bit dangerous. no wonder it was deemed too risqué for the conservative US market, so it got replaced with a sanitised one. what makes the pairing of a glove and a naked body so promising is something i'll leave to the depravity of your imagination. it's worth remembering that alex, a dirty-minded creature, never hesitated to slip into his songs the tell-all breakdown of who did what, in which position, and the morning after. truth be told, by 2013 both of them abandoned any illusion of being proper around each other, so i'd say the glove on miles's right hand is a guarantee of pleasures to come.
the most recent appearance of the (un)gloved hand, at least for the time being, is in a video miles posted for the tenth anniversary of EYCTE. and there it is, near the end, right before that gorgeous rose-petal shot:
seriously, i cannot imagine a gayer nod at a possible happily ever after. watch closely: the glove is on, we get alex's intense stare, miles screaming, and then it all melts into a scene of two beautiful lovebirds about to perform their mating dance. the transition is so flawless i will never stop screeching about it! chances are slim that miles edited the video himself, but it was miles who posted the anniversary tribute, not the puppets' official account! honestly, what was stopping them? and since nothing stopped miles i take the video as his own reflection. and what he chose to show us includes a shot of him putting the glove on, a detail i find telling.
judging by the recent photos of alex and the state he's in, the (un)gloved hand hit the switch so fucking hard it got stuck on schwartz. this would be genuinely depressing except alex, being alex, has this lovely habit of reaching out for miles when he feels like shit, and then the mask slips, mr schwartz can go fuck himself, and alex turns into a needy, sobbing mess, and i mean it as a compliment! dublin 2023 gave us a front-row seat to exactly that, and i truly hope the habit's still going strong.
