Hi! This is a blog for the collection of song analyses of 1D, Harry, and Louis' music.
Tagging system. The main song a post is about will be tagged with its name, for instance if a post is about Walls it will be tagged #walls, but additionally if it mentions We Made It plus songs by Oasis it' will be tagged #we made it mention and #artist: oasis mention as well. Posts about many songs or their songwriting in general are tagged #collection and if it's just about for instance Harry's songs #collection: harry as well. Hope this helps to find posts more easily.
There's also the following tag pages:
Index by Album, of which most links will continue to lead nowhere no matter how large this collection will get, as there simply are no posts about a bunch of these songs (especially early 1D), but, it looks cool✨
Index A-Z, which will routinely be updated to include all tags that have been used on this blog instead, in alphabetical order.
Posts, new or old, common interpretation or hot take, anything that would be considered a close reading or elaborated interpretation of their lyrics will go in the q! Enjoy!
Angels fly, BUT ALL THE LINES ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL/PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES
If every star is an eye in the sky, You'll see angels fly
This curious post was born because the first time I listened to this song I remembered the anecdote a certain Plato tells in his books: Tales the philosopher used to fall on the ground because he spent so much time looking at the sky and studying it instead of watching where he was going. This was the beginning of the proverbial “having the head in the clouds” and worked to stereotype philosophers as the distracted clumsy always in their own world kinda people. It was only later at night that this super-weird post was written. I had fun ngl!
Nothing really matters, nothing really hurts
Moderate existential Nihilism, according to which life is without intrinsic value, meaning, or purpose. Kinda surprising coming from Louis (!!!) but that should say a lot about the album from the title straight to the last note of the last song. Ah! Louis, Louis.
We can't talk about it, It'll only make it worse. There's a time for saying who did what, Where it went wrong
Critique of practical reason: now you can believe it or not but the closure to this book is literally “two things fill my mind with ever increasing wonder and awe: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me.” And only that is a reason to gasp! The mention of sky and stars AND what’s right and wrong in the same sentence? Wild! Anyway it’s a lot, but it’s quite fun to find these references. I guess Kant would be at least intrigued by the line “there’s time for saying where it we t wrong”… both the concept of time (read below) and the inevitability of making mistakes in humans agenda make this verse a splendid gem in my eyes.
I wanna hear all that, but right now All I need you to know is You'll be okay, we can talk tomorrow + One single word, it could wait till the morning
Apology of emotional procrastination: this is what I just made up because I own procrastination as a lifestyle. In a way, he’s trying to prioritise the moments and even though talking is actually a good way to learn and grow, it is also something he can postpone.
I'm on my way with some time to borrow + I'll knock on your door, it'll save me from calling
Authenticity of time: I could genuinely write en entire essay on the concept of Time in Louis’ songwriting and in Philosophy. They all wondered what time is, how we perceive it, what we can do with it. I could give you just a few names (Aristoteles, Eistein, Hegel, Nietzsche), but my favourite one will be Bergson. He talked about the interior time, non-dividable and non-ripeatable, stocked in our conscience, in which the various moments interpenetrate each other without interruption.
Look at the horizon, Just to make you feel small?
Subversion of metaphysical solipsism: big words, strong words even. But he’s basically saying the world is bigger than me (lol) and you’re not in this alone. You don’t exist on your own. It’s cool, but also sort of an impasse bc yeah world has bigger problems, but that doesn’t mean you can’t struggle for your own shit yk?
Put the pain in my heart till now, You don't need anymore
A simple Epicurean philosophy 🎶: aponia!! and ataraxia!! We going deep lol You don’t need the pain duh put it away now. He’s so cute tho to store the pain in his heart and make it easier for the other person, but it’s an interesting take as obvious as it sounds. You can’t the pain along with you if you want to heal. Easier to say than to be done.
have you been asked about the line "something about the way the light catches the mirror in my brain, it gives me shade" yet? because i'd love to know what you think of it (in reality i'm just too oblivious to lyric meanings lol)
I absolutely love the feeling it gives me. And currently that's all it's doing and for this one it's enough for me? Just. I fucking love it. But on the other what I've found with doing and reading others' analyses and seeking lyrical parallels I've only found it amplifies the feeling. So.. I can try to ramble and see where it takes me. This is just gonna be scattered thoughts sorry bout that:
Here are the verses of Saturdays to place it in the context given, although I don't necessarily think we need to do that for lyrics, like lines can stand beautifully on their own but:
[Verse 1]: I'm not supposed to be feeling dirty cheap on silver street at quarter to three. Hidden across my face in the crowd I'm counting up the days in a haze. I'm gazing at the floor, somebody's got your trainers on, The ones that you wore when you walked out the door.
[Verse 2]: Through my cigarette, a shadow of you sticks me to the carpet, try to ignore it. Something about the way the light catches the mirror in my brain, it gives me shade. I'm staring at the door, somebody's got your trainers on, the ones that you wore but you're not here anymore.
There's a running theme here of things not directly being visible. Hidden - haze - someone who looks like someone else but isn't - through the cigarette aka a cloud of smoke - a shadow - mirror - shade - staring at a door like there can be something behind it. Something you can't quite catch (the light catches as well), a memory of someone is over every single little thing and isn't here (literally "you walked out the door and you're not here anymore").
Cigarette - shadow - shade - mirror - hidden: she's giving me smoke and mirrors.
It's also somehow simultaneously giving me vibes of him being in the club and everything all senses are suppressed because his head is somewhere else (mainly the 1st verse; obviously he's feeling dirty cheap on silver street - aka going out in Doncaster - where the gazing at the floor and seeing someone in familiar trainers implying dancefloor, like he's on the balcony looking at the people having fun yk) as well as home alone in silence (mainly second verse, now there's a carpet, I mean the club might as well have a carpet but it's not the imagery it's giving me at least, and he's still stuck on the person with the trainers on he saw), it's probably to do with the softness of the verses like it just feels so alone, it feels so I'm alone in my bed after a night out and you're not here.
I think mirror in my brain is also to amplify that feeling that he's in his head, rather that a mirror at some corner of the club that could've rhymed somehow, also a mirror in your brain is a trick right, things mirroring and reflecting and being flipped upside down (i mean light going into your eye and your brain processing it doin the flipflop) creating deception, illusion, seeing a shadow of someone not there, ignoring it.
There's also something about "a shadow of you" and "sticks me to the carpet" where before there was someone on the floor in your style, then the "mirror" that "gives me shade" like it gets flipped around it gets mirrored and they're both the shadows the ghosts that are both dancing in the dark.
The use of the word "shade" is intriguing. As a synonym for shadow, perhaps also obscuring (thoughts), but also darkness? Not just the opposite of the "light surrounding him", just.. thinking of the pile of parallels within FITF, with darkness and light all over the place, with both "fading into darkness" and "fade into light" amongst many.
It's reminiscent of Two Of Us where he sings "with memories playing through my head", "you're written in my DNA, looking back in every mirror", "you're living through everything I'll ever do".
It also reminds me of Miss You: he's off his face going out, but "I should be laughing but there's something wrong, ant it hits me when the lights go on, shit maybe I miss you". But rather than it hitting him, he's very much aware of it.
So I think you can interpret "something about the way the light catches the mirror in my brain, it gives me shade" as the party lights shielding him from the thoughts in a way, "trying to ignore it", ignore all the thoughts he's having reminiscing this person, but also the from the outside as these lights are hiding his face in the crowd and it's just in his brain, but also they're reminding him, they're giving him memories of this person, when they were going out together, "and I've been thinking about the things we used to do, we always used to say saturdays take the pain away", so he was already repressing other pains with that person, but now he's there again, but without that person, with the added pain of not having that person with him either.
Annoyingly I keep thinking about Elton John's Something About The Way You Look Tonight, "There was a time I was everything and nothin' all in one, when you found me, I was feelin' like a cloud across the sun, well, I need to tell ya how you light up every second of the day, but in the moonlight, you just shine like a beacon on the bay and I can't explain but it's somethin' about the way you look tonight" And also another song with "something in the way you move" that I just couldn't place but I just found it: The Beatles - Something. And then suddenly I was like oh shit that's in Cinema too lol ("something in the way you move I like it when you dance for me"). Or rather the cover by Phyllis Dillon with changed pronouns because I've been listening to that through of one of Harry's playlists: "Something in the way he moves attracts me like no other lover, something in the way he woos me, I don't want to leave him now, You know I believe and how, Somewhere in his smile he knows that I don't need no other lover, something in his style that shows me", I'm not saying these things are purposefully connected by him, I'm trying to say they are now in the mirror in my brain, as they are what make me think of how "something about the way" in all these 3 songs (Elton, Harry, Beatles) are about how a person moves and how a person dresses, which then going back to Saturdays, someone in the clothes that the person wore on the dancefloor, the light catching [the memory], something about the ways all of it reminding him of the person that was once in the club and once on the dancefloor with him, someone who he in the past saw dancing, admired dancing, admired their style, and perhaps it gives him some consolation "something about the way [its catching these memories of you dancing in these clothes in these lights] it gives me shade [from the harsh reality of you not being here]", somehow, there's something about it in a way.
Good and bad and right and wrong
Are stories made up when we’re young to scare us
Love and hate are in between
Depends on your reality to see them
// “do you ever ask why it’s not black and white”, bigger than me
“scare us” - scared into walking a straight line (pun intended)
young people being scared into following someone else’s will/rules // “don’t know why they put all of this on us when we’re so young”, we made it
// “i can’t believe i gave in to the pressure, when they said a love like this would never last”, too young
love and hate are in a grey area, and sometimes they even cross over; they’re far from opposites. stop trying to define love, put it all into boxes
-> “depends on your reality”: can everyone finally accept that their very personal experience with emotions can’t be applied to everyone else?
PERSPECTIVE
I just wanna stay in the moment the rest of my life
So one more night
I’m gonna choose
I don’t wanna face the music
But I still wanna dance with you
Let’s buy some time
For what we shouldn’t do
I don’t wanna face the music
But I still wanna dance with you
I still wanna dance with
“your reality” followed by “in the moment” -> he wants to stay in his reality, in his love, for the rest of his life. no more giving in to pressure, other voices trying to convince them of something they could never know better anyway
“for the rest of my life” <> “one more night” and “i’m gonna choose”
-> where is the choice he’s making? it sounds like he’s choosing to stay in the moment for just one more night, while the “but” after “i don’t wanna” implies that he kind of has no choice.
he knows where his responsibilities are, he knows how to get through this life after figuring a lot out on his own, by following his own instincts. // bigger than me, we made it, the greatest, etc.
he knows he has to face his responsibilities, but he doesn’t want to lose love in the process (this time around). he’s realised he can make his own reality, away from the made-up stories, where he can be a responsible person while also thriving in love
“face the music”: figure of speech that means you have to face reality/life/consequences, but it’s also amazingly applicable to louis’s life in a literal sense - the responsibilities he has to face in the music industry, with his career
“dance with you” // perfect now
Close your eyes and count to ten
If you’re standing on the edge of falling
Open up and looking down
Everything that matters is forgotten
I just wanna stay in the moment the rest of my life
-> change your perspective // bigger than me, all this time, she is beauty, “look at the horizon, does it make you feel small” angels fly, holding on to heartache, (paradise)
louis and sadness, depression: on the edge of falling - he knows what it’s like you feel like you’re slipping into darkness, and this album is full of louis saying that you have to hold on to yourself. it’s you doing the counting, it’s you doing the breathing, it’s you taking the time to prevent yourself from falling.
- in the context of the song, it’s about feeling lost in what others have been telling you to do, in what responsibilities have come with life, things that seem like they’ll take away what makes you you / who you love.
what sometimes seems like it matters most in the entire world can change. take a breather, take a step back, and you’ll already see things differently - especially if you’re standing on the edge and it’s either standing ground and braving the challenges up there or falling down into unknown darkness
- staying in the moment helps him put the darkness of his life in perspective, helps let in the light. enjoying the little things, the moments of joy, of simplicity, help brave the challenges. his problems aren’t solved, and maybe they can never be solved, and he realises it can’t be his sole focus to try to fix them - and that that’s also not a case of forgetting his responsibilities
So one more night
…
SYNTHESIS
Face the Music’s opening sounds ring from ear to ear, like we’re dizzy, disoriented. The rush of what others are saying, of how much pressure there is, all the responsibilities you have to fulfill. Then it’s Louis breaking through and putting his foot down, because he won’t be led anymore by that whirlwind. He knows what he has to do in his life, things that make him happy and things that don’t make him happy, but it’s all in balance. There are times when you can lose perspective, and feel forced to (only) do things that are expected of you, while you feel like you’re neglecting what makes you happy. It feels like you should always be doing the right thing, because doing something purely for pleasure has the connotation of getting you nowhere. Louis says fuck that! Let’s have both! He’ll so what’s best for the life he wants to live, and that also includes following his heart and having fun, next to his responsibilities. He’ll slow down and live in the moment, enjoy the bright sparks of joy that he experiences, which otherwise he wouldn’t have appreciated if he’d always focused on the heavy duties in his life. Those heavy duties also become easier to bear once happiness is let in. The darkness is kept at bay with the light shining a little brighter.
Once again a testament to perspective and how it can turn your entire life around for the better - something Louis is telling us from experience, and also as a reminder to himself.
wine glass, empty cans
air maxes and yellow sunglasses
ashtray, cocaine, getting high on the amber wave
kiss her and don't tells, silver tongues, toothache
choke her with a seaview, puff pass and i choked when your smoke got in my eye
bad logic and bad move
those stupid jokes only we know, just act normal
black-and-white film camera, nights like these we’ll remember
you said love was a pretty lie, i will always love you
we held darkness in withheld clouds, i know nobody understands me like you do
you smile at me and say it's time to go, but i don't feel like going home
i would ask, should we just keep driving?
science and edibles, you said grass was a dirty drug
tea with cyborgs, you like to preach with a vodka in your mug
life hacks going viral in the bathroom, i love all the things you know
we stand up tall and beat our chests, jump off the roof, i’m king on a 50-metre road
riot america, we shout some things that we'll regret
you know it’s times like these, passports in footwells, we’re so much happier
hot wax, those songs we wrote, side boob, only we know
you know when i’m with you, hashbrown, egg yolk, i’m so much happier
swimming pool, going deep for the ones who do the same
sit down with a master plan, maple syrup, coffee, pancakes for two
settle in for another heavy one, moka pot, monday, it's all good
waking up to start again, a small concern with how the engine sounds
there's nowhere else that i would rather be
hey you, should we just keep driving?
you and me until the end.
Keep Silver Tongues Driving:
mashed lyrics into not-poems, a series (1/?).
Agreed about All this time. It's in my top 3 of the album. It's the perfect song to trip to, to listen to on late night car rides, the song you listen to in that half awake half asleep phase while trying to sleep, the song you listen to while chilling with friends with a beer in hand and fairy lights in the room. Also, thank you for the emotional intelligence post. Louis' emotional intelligence stood out to me in Walls too.
All this time stans unite! Can I break down a bit more here? When Louis says
“It’s not how you spend time, it’s if you waste it”,
you see how powerful this line is? He’s telling you it doesn’t matter what you do with your life, but what matters is if you end up wasting the time you have. It’s telling you to be who you want to be, do what makes you happy cause life it’s fucking short.
“And I keep on building mountains hoping they will turn to gold”
I would give him all the things I own for just this line. Do you know the myth of King Midas? He’s the king who asked for the gift to turn into gold every thing he touched. He thought he did something, but ended up realising he was impossible to live like that. He even turned into a golden statue his daughter. I think Louis is saying basically the same thing. It’s an illusion. It can be as pretty as you want, but at the end of the day “the truth is I still doubt that what I do can get me home (when it gets cold)”
“Oh sometimes sometimes I lose my hope”
I don’t care what people say, this is the most vulnerable Louis has ever been. He is breaking character here and is showing that he too has his moment of having hard time believing things will get better. He has always been the one who stands and cheer you up, who shows you the positive side. And now he’s telling you sometimes sometimes he can’t aways be a positive thinker because reality can be harsher and when you have to deal with opinions coming from all the sides this is even harder.
“Our eyes meet and I can tell you are the same as me”
Like if you wanted a more queer line you can’t find it. This is it. This is a huuuge Home recall (there was something missing in her eyes) and Just Like You.
“It’s the way we see ourselves through walls of trees”
Look at him being clever with the auto-references again. This is a wink at Walls, DLIBYH and Story of my life, clearly (Also this). But it’s a concept in this song: sometimes you get lost in a forest, but you know yourself and that’s what helps you out of it.
“But the friends, we make the love it takes, it’s worth the pain”
He is saying you’re not alone in this. You’ll meet people along the way. You’ll meet love, you got to give it or to receive it. But that’s the point, isn’t it? To love and to be in love in this fucking train-wreck of a life. <3
“It’s worth, it’s worth, it’s worth all this time”
That’s all the confirmation you need. You’re not wasting any time in finding yourself, your answers, in taking care of your own things. You’re not wasting any time if you do what you want and if you’re who you are. And it ends the song with a “it’s worth” triple. Hegel could never!
I’m just here thinking of this song and I’m flabbergasted by how fragile and open it is. I’ve never seen Louis being so open in his solo stuff like this.
“The friends WE make, the LOVE it takes it’s worth” HELLO? what? It’s worth THE PAIN? It’s astonishing how incredible vulnerable this is. He is confessing you a huuuuuuge secret here. He’s confessing it takes L O V E to go through all the p a i n. I’m a sobbing mess. And you know what else arrests my breathing and feels like my stomach is doing a 180 flip?
It’s the fact the we know for a fact that L O V E is only for the brave.
Last thing. I was hiding this in the previous tags, but I think I could write about it.
That WE is clearly has the connotations of a community we. It’s not a personal we. It’s not a group we. It’s the “storyteller Louis” we, like he uses a lot in FITF.
after living with the song/mv for a few hours, i’ve some tater thots to share about the matrix and charles & ray eames parallels.
first of all, i don’t think this song being released on trans day of visibility was a fluke. when i saw the thumbnail, it only further convinced me this was a deliberate choice. the red and blue outfits, to me, were a blatant red pill/blue pill matrix reference. as most of you might know, the matrix was directed by lana and lilly wachowski, two trans women who at the time of the film’s release had not yet come out as trans publicly (or perhaps even to themselves). the whole movie is a trans allegory, and replicates what the trans experience is like prior to coming out. the movie follows characters who break free of the real life via the internet, creating online identities that feel more real than their physical ones, tackling the idea that the system that you have built your life upon is a lie and is made up. if you are a trans person, there is sort of this idea that you are living in a muffling cocoon (an egg) that is keeping you from seeing the reality of yourself, and that cocoon, to some degree, is the idea of fixed gender identity, which is one that society is very, like, built atop. and to be trans, you have to sort of assail that idea, and in the process of doing so, you may question other things about reality, including whether you live in a computer simulation, which is robots using humans as a way to power their existence. the original concept for the character switch, for example, which was removed from the film by warner bros, was a character who would be a man in the real world and then a woman in the matrix.
now, about the eames. as i’m sure some people have pointed out already, this shot was inspired by a picture of charles and ray eames, laying on the sidewalk outside the eames office, pinned by their own chair’s bases. trapped by their own creation, victims of their art maybe?
the eameses are among the most important designers of the 20th century, they complemented each other in their passion for mutating ideas and pushing artistic boundaries by means of an unspoken bond and a playful aesthetic. the running joke in the design community was that charles was an architect who never finished architecture school, while ray was a painter who never painted. every space was a canvas for ray. while she took charles’s projects beyond the limitations of black and white, he brought a constant stream of ideas to her work. one of charles eames' favourite quotes was "at all times love and discipline have led to a beautiful environment and a good life" – a fitting description of the eames' philosophies and the results they yielded.
Thinking about how the start of Music For A Sushi Restaurant goes "mine mine mine mine" (00.24-00.28) right, and how that makes a lot of sense as being a funny quirky but also a tragically fitting reference to that Finding Nemo mine meme, in which they all just want a little taste of the fish, like the hoard all want the main character for themselves. to eat. like sushi. it's a fish. I don't know how to say this. It's too good in too many ways. Sushi MV. He's funny. It's sad. It's appropriate. It's so Harry.
harry's house analysis: music for a sushi restaurant
first impressions
So, I'm very glad that I decided to do this whole album analysis thing starting from the end and that I took 84 years to do it rip because that means I'm doing this after having seen the MFASR music video. So, when I first first heard this song, I thought it was sonically fun but didn't think much of it lyrically. As I did this series and started thinking ahead about the songs as I listened to them, one interpretation of this song kind of came to dominate for me - one that was mainly focused on the music industry, to be fair. And then the music video came out and it completely recontextualized the song for me, and gave me a related but very different interpretation.
And so, when I go through these lyrics, I'm going to give both my original interpretation and then also the ways that was changed by the music video, so if you haven't watched it yet, please do!
Harry has "explained" (disdainful scare quotes intentional) this song, saying that he was sitting in a sushi restaurant with his producer when one of his earlier songs came on and he thought it was strange music for a sushi restaurant. The idea stuck in his head, and this song was born. I don't think he's lying, and in fact I actually think this anecdote ties into the overall themes of the song in a really interesting way and anyway I'll get into it.
So, getting into it:
lyrics
Okay, so - even just up front, I think this song is very like Cinema in the sense that it's just as, if not more, about the sonics than about the lyrics. There's a lot of negative space in a way in this song, where the instrumentation is what's taking center stage, or where Harry is sing-scat-ing, which he winds up doing a lot on this album. I think this is intentional and I'll get there.
But I say it now because of course this song starts off big sonically. We get this kind of driving, quick electronic melody (minor key?? someone with a better musical ear tell me - i just know it hits the same indescribable emotional place as things in a minor key hit for me), and then a building scream from Harry, that then melts into his soft little "bah baaah"s, and we end with some drum hits (and behind them is a voice echoing "bang"). So like, it's a LOT right off the bat, before we even get a single lyric, giving you this build up that then really opens up on the "bah baah"s.
Green eyes, fried rice, I could cook an egg on you
Late night, game time, coffee on the stove, yeah (Oh)
You're sweet ice cream, but you could use a Flake or two
Blue bubblegum twisted 'round your tongue
I mean of course he had to start off the album with this kind of lyricism. So - exceptionally vague, lots of nouns, grammatical coherency missing, who knows if it even means anything or is just about the sound, I dig in anyway because sure.
At the most basic surface level, the way I think the gp interprets this (if they 'interpret' it at all vs thinking it's just fun silly nonsense) is basically - you, green-eyed girl, you're hot, we stay up late playing games and drink coffee and you're so sweet sitting there chewing your gum. And while this holds for basically just this verse, it's not a really satisfying or well-fitting interpretation for the rest of the song (and absolutely not at all with the mv), so... digging deeper.
Green eyes - these could be the eyes of "you" or Harry's eyes. We don't know, because they're just eyes, separated from any context, talked about in this disjointed way, kind of reducing them to body parts.
Fried rice - something something the equation and parallelization of green eyes and fried rice, the person as food metaphor, consumption
I could cook an egg on you - you're hot, yes, but it's also giving yet another association of the person/the body with food. Also the person as instrument, as a cooking implement. I've sometimes seen people eat fried rice with an egg served on top, so there's also possibly an even more literal interpretation of the "you" in "on you" describing a whole that includes green eyes and fried rice. I think it's vague and unclear and could kind of be all of them and I think that on purpose.
Late night, game night, coffee on the stove - so on the one hand this can present an image of domesticity, staying up late with your partner or your friends having a game night, with coffee brewing on the stove to keep you up as you hang out. But if we read game night differently we get an equally visceral but very different image - not as like, board game night, but rather as like, game time game night (i.e. Harry's concerts, at least, but possibly other obligations of his - awards/events, parties, pap walks - as an event almost like a sporting match, like you have to get pumped for it, like it's game time). That's certainly the mood that the intro to the song evoked sonically, with that big intense build up. And if we think of it that way, then it's having these events or obligations, staying up late and making coffee to power through it.
You're sweet ice cream - now the person has just fully become personified as food, also sweet as a descriptor for the person is such an interesting choice (oh don't worry we'll get there)
but you could use a Flake or two - the capitalization of Flake means this is probably referring to a Cadbury Flake which the internet tells me is a chocolate bar in the UK that people get in their ice cream okay sure. I guess in one sense this could be like, giving "you" a candy bar? like it's cute if maybe "you" really likes Cadbury Flake? but the read that feels more obvious to me is that this is a dig at "you" - like, sure you're sweet, but you could use something else, something more interesting, because you're sweet but you're plain, vanilla (derogatory)
Blue bubblegum twisted 'round your tongue - 1) bluegreener, 2) twisted 'round your tongue - it's giving strangling, it's giving restricting your voice. I guess Harry also chews gum a lot (for reasons that may or may not be drug-related - is this an appropriate time to float my theory that a lot of celebrity network is built on the threat of mutually assured destruction?) so that's also a thing. And if we want to take the bluegreening/the blue here as very intentional (which isn't a given, remember that I think the most important thing for this song is the sound, so it could just've been chosen because of the alliteration and/or the "oo" sound) - blue represents Louis, or Larry, potentially emblematic of his sexuality, being the thing that's twisted around his tongue, it's the thing that he can't speak about, but also the thing he sings about (and I'm well aware I write too many songs about you).
What I find almost more interesting than the lyrics is that sonically, this verse is sung more similarly to that building, anxious electronic intro, before the song opened up, than to the moments where the song is open. It's low and closed cadence, so the lyricism feels very small.
I don't want you to get lost
I don't want you to go broke
I want you
Here, while the singing is still low and not nearly as bold and open as the horns we got in the intro and as we'll get in the chorus coming up, it is now open, kind of building.
And now is I suppose the time to ask the question: who is "you"?
you is a lover - this is obviously the implication of the gp reading, mentioned above
you is Harry - oh we'll get into this more later
spoiler alert I think the you changes perspectives for layered meanings more on this later
But also, who is "I"?
"I" is the singer/Harry - This is the most natural read if you read "you" as a lover. In this interpretation, the pre-chorus is talking about Harry worrying about his lover, their career and their money, and still just wanting them/a relationship. But Harry in the role of "I" doesn't exclude Harry from also being the "you" - as in, I'm looking out for myself (particularly if he's thinking of a self that's temporally different, a younger or a future self), I have an image of myself and I want it and I'm going for it ("I want you").
"I" is the music industry/celebrity/fame personified - I had already gotten here (through some thinking on that 'if the stars were edible" line + "music for whatever you want") but this is an interpretation that the music video really brings to the forefront. And it really really reshapes the way you see this song. So, just to take it from the top - if we take the singer/"I" to be the music industry, and "you" to be Harry, then it's the music industry that's equating Harry with food in the first verse, with seeing him as something hot, something to be consumed, someone who is sweet but needs some spice, who is lacking, someone whose voice is tangled and stifled. And then it's the music industry that's seducing, that's crooning to Harry, "I don't want you to get lost, I don't want you to go broke" - I just want to help, I want to help you realize your dreams, and most importantly, "I want you". This is a love song in the sense that the music industry loves Harry (and I think that's a fact at this point).
spoiler alert I think the I also changes perspectives for layered meanings more on this later
One more interpretive question on this pre-chorus - what does getting lost mean?
Well, lyrically, we've got some references:
You tell me that you’re sad and lost your way / You tell me that your tears are here to stay / But I know you were only hiding / And I just wanna see you - Through the Dark (Louis)
One day you'll come into my world and say it all / You'll say we'll be together even when you're lost / One day you'll say these words I've thought but never said / You'll say we're better off together in our bed - Something Great (Harry)
Escape from the city and follow the sun / 'Cause I wanna be yours, don't you wanna be mine? / I don't wanna get lost in the dark of the night / This time I'm ready to run - Ready to Run (Louis)
A week ago, you said to me / "Do you believe I'll never be too far?" / If you're lost, just look for me / You'll find me in the region of the summer stars - Walking in the Wind (Harry)
Nothing makes you hurt like hurtin' who you love / And no amount of words will ever be enough / I looked you in the eyes, saw that I was lost / For every question why, you were my because - Walls
So, I think in one sense, getting lost has the obvious meanings of losing your way, getting lost in it all, losing your sense of self. It's not necessarily something specific or articulable, but if you've lived long enough, and had certain kinds of experiences, then you probably can think of a time in your life when you knew you kind of just... got lost. I don't know that I can articulate it any more than that right now.
It also certainly seems like in particularly the 1D discography, this was a theme tied to relationships (definitely Something Great & Through the Dark, arguably Ready to Run) and to fame (if we take Walking in the Wind to be about Zayn, which I do, at least in part. If you lean towards the relationship camp on that song, then toss it in the former category).
But also, just to like... state the obvious. Harry is the ship. Louis is the compass. Compasses are used for navigation. As in quite literally to keep the ship from getting lost. Okay you're welcome the end.
And as far as "go broke", I think it's fairly obvious, but just some additional thoughts - I don't think this literally means "go broke", neither Harry nor anyone in his orbit is at risk of literally going broke they have unimaginable wealth to us normal folk BUT it does mean lose all of this wealth he's accustomed to. I do think Harry is more materialistic, more ensnared by the trappings of wealth and fame, than he likes to admit or than we like to think, but I do think he admits it in this song.
It's 'cause I love you, babe
In every kind of way
Just a little taste
You know I love you, babe
And we continue the build up through the interlude / chorus (lyrically) and into what feels like the true chorus (sonically), which is composed of these big, open horns, more of those "bah bah"s, and a repetition of "you know I love you babe". It's a big chorus, it's bold, it's attention-grabbing, it fees joyful. It also feels commercial as fuck (what I'll say it) - there's a reason that as soon as this song came out, everyone said they could already tell it was going to be the Toyotathon song in 5 years, and then it was immediately in the new Apple commercial. But looking through the lens of this music industry interpretation - of course it sounds commercial. That's the point.
So, excuse me for going backward a bit, but the lyrics here:
If we're in the lover interpretation, then this is straightforward - the singer loves "you", the lover. He loves them in every kind of way, platonic, romantic. He'll take anything, even just a little taste of the lover's love. But I don't want to skip over the fact that this interlude starts with "it's 'cause I love you, babe". As in, the fact that I love you is the reason for the preceding lines. And sure, in the gp interpretation, it's straightforwardly making clear that the love is the reason the singer doesn't want "you" to get lost or go broke, but just... keep this construction in mind.
If we're continuing with the thread that "I" is the music industry, we're now making it explicit - the music industry loves Harry, is wooing him, is asking for "just a little taste" - just a little taste of him, of Harry. In the same kind of, person as food, consuming kind of way as we got in the first verse. The music industry won't ask too much of him - just a taste, just a little bit. And coming back around to that "it's 'cause I love you", we can read those lines as applying to all of it. Just a moment to make it all explicit because if I'm honest this has become one of my favorite songs lyrically after being one of my least favorites, gosh this is why I enjoy doing this: We're looking at you like food, we're saying you're hot, we're criticizing you and saying you're sweet but you need a little extra, all because we love you. Don't worry, we don't want you to get lost or go broke, because we love you. We actually want what's best for you, because we love you, that's why we ask these things of you. We wouldn't do anything that would get you lost or make you go broke, because we love you. We just need a little taste because we love you.
But as I kind of previewed, I think the "you" and "I" can change perspectives at times for additional, layered meanings. This is one of those times (what who says songs have to abide by consistent grammatical rules, I'm not that rigid in my interpretations so long as I think it all makes thematic sense). So, while it doesn't make sense for earlier portions of the song, here I think we can ask, what if "you" is the music industry and "I" is the singer? In this case, we get the layered meaning that it's reciprocal. As much as the music industry loves Harry, he loves it back. He'll take what was said to him in the first verse, he'll accept the music industry's wooing in the pre-chorus, because he loves music and he loves the fame. And he'll just have a little taste of fame, he won't overdo it, he won't be overtaken by it, he just wants a little taste.
And in this kind of layered interpretation, the final line's double meaning shines through: "you know I love you, babe". Harry knows that the music industry loves him, and it knows that he loves it. They understand each other and the power that they have over the other, in being loved by that other. Okay I'm doing too much but just... this interpretation + the music video gives rise to a lot of thoughts okay?
"Excuse me, a green tea?"
Music for a sushi restaurant
From ice on rice
Scuba-duba-dubub-boo (Oh)
Music for a sushi restaurant
Music for a sushi restaurant
Music for whatever you want
Scuba-duba-dubub-boo (Oh)
Okay, so... after I gave the very intense close reading treatment to everything above this, I... will admit that I think most of this verse is nonsense. I'm sorry, "from ice on rice" (or even what I assumed the lyrics were when I heard it, brown rice on ice) doesn't have any additional meaning that I can glean. There's a lot of just scatting. This is a verse that is primarily about the sounds, not the words.
However, there are two lines from this that I want to look at more closely, because I think they explain why the rest of this verse is mostly nonsense:
music for a sushi restaurant - This goes back to the very beginning and the anecdote that Harry told about the origin of his song, hearing one of his earlier songs in a sushi restaurant and thinking how strange. And here I'm just going to... let myself riff a little bit, based on this anecdote and imagination and the themes of this song, because like I said, I don't think Harry was lying about this story and I do think it's key to the themes of this song. Even after so many years, I'm sure it's still strange for Harry to hear himself out in the wild, so to speak, and based on his reaction - that it was a weird choice for a sushi restaurant - I'm guessing what he heard wasn't one of his more "commercial" songs (*cough* Watermelon Sugar *cough*). So, in his place, imagining hearing what is likely an emotional song, a song he felt was deep, maybe about something deeply personal or deeply painful (in my head, idk why, it's SOTT) as just background music in a sushi restaurant, everyone going about their days just bobbing their heads along, as he's also sitting there? Fucking weird. But at the same time, it was happening! Whatever his intention in making his music, whatever he felt at the time - it became music for a sushi restaurant. It became commercialized. That's what the music industry does, that's what success in the music industry and especially in pop is, you pour your heart into a song and then you hear people talking over it in a sushi restaurant.
music for whatever you want - So he leans into it, he understands it, he accepts it, he says "sure, I'll make music for a sushi restaurant. I'll make music for whatever you want." Because he loves the music industry/music/fame and he believes it loves him. And that's why this song sounds like a Toyotathon commercial song, that's tongue-in-cheek why it immediately was in an Apple commercial. That's why the sound is in some sense more important than the lyrics in this entire song but especially in this verse. He's like, I'll fucking make you a commercial hit song for your Apple deal and it'll have lines like "from ice on rice" and "scuba-duba-dubub-boo".
These lines make even less sense in the lover interpretation, but I guess you could argue it's whatever music his lover wants, and the sushi restaurant of it all is just coincidental, a fun phrase he ran with.
I'm not going to get lost
I'm not going to go broke
Staying cool
(You know I love you, babe)
And he's okay leaning into it, making music for whatever "you" (read: the industry, his record label, fans, the commercial zeitgeist, whatever) want, because he believes he's not going to get lost or go broke.
Okay so, to be clear - that interpretation puts Harry as the "I".
If we go with Harry as "I" and "you" as the lover: he doesn't want them to go broke or get lost, but he knows that he's not going to - possibly because he loves "you", they're staying cool (like their relationship, or maybe just both,, cool?)
Yeah I'll go ahead and connect staying cool to Cinema, with its repeated use of cool and emphasis on coolness
If we keep Harry as "I", but "you" is the music industry: this is what I was getting at in the first part of this section. This reads, purely lyrically, as a confident assertion from the singer. He's not going to get lost or go broke in the music industry. He's going to stay cool, stay relevant. To be clear, this is the interpretation I took away before watching the music video.
And what if the music industry is "I" and Harry is "you"?: I know, at first blush this doesn't make much sense. The industry as a whole isn't going to get lost or go broke - it's... an industry, it's bigger than a person. But also... that could kind of be the point. In the sense that this is about the somewhat reciprocal nature of Harry's relationship with fame, this verse makes clear how very not reciprocal it is. Even if the music industry loves Harry and he loves it, he can get lost and go broke. But the music industry can't. And then at the end, even after pointing out this inequality, it reassures the singer - it's okay, because you know I love you, babe.
And we get another repeat of the chorus, with those big bold horns and bah bahs.
If the stars were edible
And our hearts were never full
Could we live with just a taste?
Just a taste
I think this bridge is really the key to the song.
From the "lover" perspective: I don't know what "if the stars were edible" gets interpreted as in this reading. I just can't come up with one, but as I've probably also made clear, I just don't find this reading the most compelling reading of the entire song, even without the interpretive clue of the music video. I suppose if you unfocus and don't pay attention to the specifics, the whole thing kind of hangs together as like, if our hearts weren't ever full, if we're always craving love, could we live with just a taste of each other?
Oops so I skimmed over it in the "lover" interpretation because it's just not that interesting/unexpected in that reading to switch from you and I to we/our, but it is interesting in the other contexts and I want to highlight it. We've suddenly pluralized this, or combined you and I into we. On the one hand, I think this supports the shifting/layered perspective of the earlier verses, where both "you" and "I" are both Harry and the music industry, at different times and even sometimes at the same time for layered interpretations. I also think there's plausible alternative explanations, too (the answer is all of the above, the answer is always all of the above).
So, if we're taking these lines as from the singer's/Harry's perspective, then I think "the stars" refers to fame more generally (starry haze, crystal ball), and "our" comes to encompass celebrities in general. As in, if fame was edible, and all of us who partake of it, all of us celebrities, had hearts that were never full - because fame is weird, because we're always looking for more attention, for more adulation - could we ever actually be okay with just a taste of it? Or would we always crave more fame? Would we always want to keep going, do more, go further? Make more music for a sushi restaurant?
And if we're taking them from the perspective of the music industry, then I think "the stars" is literally the stars, as in famous people. And "our" is about the music industry, sure, but no longer personified as a single speaker. It's all of the individual people who make it up, including the fans. So then, if celebrities were edible, if we could consume celebrities in a much more literal way than we already do, could we live with just a taste, like we promised earlier in the song? Would we just take a bit from them? Or are our hearts never full, do we love them so much that we're always looking for more from them, so we consume more and more of them? Until there's nothing left of them?
Well, on that note. Surrounding this bridge, both before and after, we get those huge joyous horns from the chorus, but we also get this almost rough, growl-y guitar. We get the bah bahs, but we also another almost screech-y scream from Harry. In the background we get the repeated lines "just a little taste", "it's 'cause I love you babe", "you know I love you babe". And then at the end, it cuts off with this electric-y sound, almost like the plug's been pulled on an amp. I've already made this painfully long, but just... I hope by now all of these contrasting sounds make sense within the framework of the song.
so:
Great, simple, fun song, right? sorry I ruined it with an interpretation that's basically a meditation on the toxic and consumptive nature of fame and the music industry but really, Harry went there first.
I think I already did most of the explanation, I promise this won't be much longer, but just to be a little clearer.
My pre-mv interpretation of this song was pretty much as I've laid out above. It's about Harry's relationship to the music industry. But I heard, and I think I still largely hear, if I'm purely going off of the song, a Harry who thinks he's in control, who is confident that he's "not going to get lost", "not going to go broke". He's in on it, he understands, he'll go ahead and make music for a sushi restaurant or for whatever you want. And the questions asked in the bridge remain kind of ambiguous and unanswered, which makes sense because Harry is in the middle of fame. They're genuine questions.
But the music video takes this and spins it around, because the narrative of the music video shows that Harry might have thought he was in control, but he was not. It emphasizes the unequal power dynamics at play, even as the music industry loves Harry. And it answers the question asked by the bridge - we, the music industry, the fans, can't live with just a taste. We'll consume celebrities, Harry included, until they can't make music for us to consume anymore, and then we'll cut them up and eat them too. Because the fact that it was a sushi restaurant wasn't accidental. This is music for a sushi restaurant, where the sushi restaurant is the music industry, serving us up celebrity, and this song is the soundtrack to that process.
Okay I promise I'm done being weird now. This also brings my analyses of Harry's House to a close! Last one! I do want to eventually circle back and run through overall themes, connections between songs, etc, but I want some time and distance from this process before I do that. And I want to analyze FITF next, so... stay tuned. :)
I spent the last few days thinking about this song quite a lot. I haven’t paid much attention to it at first, probably the excitement felt a bit mitigated by the fact we knew the song already, but I’ve been binge listening to the album for a month now and every week it’s a new week obsessing with a different song, so now it’s Lucky Again turn. I haven’t read many analysis or opinions lately, because I’ve been pretty busy, so I’m sorry if this is something someone already wrote about or if it doesn’t really make sense. It does make sense in my head tho, so I’ll hope I can articulate my thoughts well enough to convey the message lol.
I think Lucky Again is a very comforting song, more like self-comforting. It is a love song, but to himself. And since when I started reading at it like this… Lucky Again has been hurting more than any other song in the album. Yeah, I said that about All this time too but yall know what I mean lol. They are very very very personal songs. Louis is so good at writing about himself and being so open to fucking stub your heart with a single word, but sometimes it goes a but unheard. Not here tho, not here.
Anyway. Let’s start!
You give and give until it's gone away, Just tell yourself you've got another day
Starting with a bang. I usually read deeper than necessary but the incipit feels a bit tough, doesn’t it? He’s saying life can get consuming. It consumes you, your time, your energies, sometimes your feelings. You give and give until everything is gone and you go though your day by inertia, one day after the other.
You've lived that life, you just don't see it yet
Truth been spoken. When you are in your darkest place, it’s hard to appreciate what you have and usually you miss it when it’s gone (oh wait! Maybe you don't know what's lost 'til you find it 🎶)
I see how hard you've worked to be yourself
When I tell you I sobbed the first time this line clicked in my brain. Just imagine Louis saying this to himself… argh! I don’t know how to react. It’s like absolutely amazing he appreciates and values how much he has grown as a person and how many steps forward he has taken and how rough some times were. It’s amazing to see him acknowledging he came out of his own dark places or at least he has tried. I was wondering what Louis meant when he said in some interviews he doesn’t like when people pity him, and I see why. There’s nothing to pity here, it’s just congratulations for how strong and tough he is. Hard work always always pays off.
If you believe that guy is Superman, They're selling tickets at the cinema
The interpretations of this line are potentially endless, but it always hit me for how real it is. It spoke to me like the best way to say ‘it’s bullshit, but you do you’. It’s a recurrent concept in FITF, the disillusionment and the concreteness of reality. He’s not a dreamer in this album, always very optimistic, positive, mature but never not pragmatic. He sounds jealous at some point, like one of those things you say to your partner when they make a comment about somebody else, right? But it’s the way he sets this in a specific direction, he sets the tone with two words: superMAN and cinema. So it feels to me like he is talking about a famous person who usually gets idolised, and by extent fame, popularity in general. I am not a teacher, but I would say this is a rhetoric figure called Synecdoche and I absolutely adore it! So does Louis, by the way. The choice of words is interesting and telling. He’s using believe as something a bit negative here. That’s ironic for an abum called FAITH in the future, isn’t it? But it’s his way apparently. He wants to create a paradox, a contrast and it’s clear since the cover of the album, since it doesn’t strike as a faithful cover to me lmao
Whatever gets you through the darkest night, Just find the light, Out in the madness, hold tight
Now that I’m writing about it, every line in this song feels like a ring of a chain and everyone references the other like it’s 🤯. Sometimes when I listen to songs I imagine how the singer would speak to someone else. For this part, I clearly see future Louis talking to present Louis and that applies to any other timeline, it’s an inception of Louis talking to himself basically. He’s encouraging to keep going no matter what (whatever gets you).
Through the night… isn’t it a-m-a-z-i-n-g how consistent this theme is in Louis songs? He’s been singing Through the dark for months and look at her, coming back in disguise! Self references are hot, but this one gets the cake. Is he by any chance saying «whatever gets you through the night… we will find a way through the dark» etc etc? Love it. 10/10.
'Cause I'm a hard man to lose
This has always felt a bit… weird. Like imagine you go “im hard man to lose” in a song where you are basically saying you are happy you’re together again or something. It feels… arrogant? A bit? And honestly that’s not a ‘songwriter Louis’ move. I just don’t see it. And I know, it’s always about the layers with him, but what if it’s literal this time? What if he is saying “I am not the one gives up, I am not the one losing”? After all, he’s been pretty open here about how hard he worked, he has just said he has to hold tightly.
But I figured it out then made my way back To a life I would choose
He settled it for me in this line. He is not one to lose, that’s how he went back to the life he chose and he says it as proudly as he can because the thing is… it doesn’t matter how crazy it is (the madness and all that) but he would do it again. Despite all the shit, he would do it again. You can take it as a nod to his relationship of course. He changes the line second time with ‘I'm a hard man to find, but you figured it out and I love you for that’, almost pushing for a love story interpretation. But to me it feels more like he is talking about second chances, specifically in his life and work opportunities . The life I would choose part screams career to me and hits you in the face pretty hard if you think of how many obstacles he has been going through since the start of his solo career and even before diring the band.
We were lucky once, I could be lucky again
He’s been using only you/I form til here. Now, I know this we can be misleading. It’s very natural to conceive a we as an us, like two people in a relationship or something, but see… that’s very Louis lol. He writes songs like stories and here he’s storytelling. Sometimes it even feels like a plurale maiestatis! I use it an embarrassing amount of time especially for non-formal conversations, and probably this is my bias of interpretation since English is not my first language but it’s curious the way he switches from a We (in past form), to I (possible future form). That’s why I think the we is used only to help with the story he’s writing about, the past he’s recalling while writing the song.
Before the world had got so serious, Before the time it got away from us
Layers againnnnn! Is this about his past maybe in the band or before that? Is this about… I don’t know, the pandemic? The world got pretty serious in 2020 didn’t it? And stunt-wise things haven’t been looking pretty bright since the second half of 2020 so… yeah. But actually I consider this a description of more innocent times. He seems nostalgic of. Still… he doesn’t seem to be willing to go back then again. He misses simple times, but has faith the future would make him feel lucky again.
It got away from us… is so strong. It’s powerful the way he never really blames anyone for the bad or the wrong. It’s just that time goes away. Very Heraclitus of him with the panta rei and all (an usual recurrent theme in Louis songwriting) and very it is what it is too. He’s very coherent in his songs, I love it.
I meet you at the favorite subway stop, We grab some food then meet the lads for one
Storytelling king strikes again. He’s so good in describing moments from the past. Like Saturdays is a song born entirely from past memories, so I really shouldn’t be surprised he does it in Lucky too, but still! Look, lines like this are seriously meant to paint a scenario in your head and he does it so well. Meet, eat and smoke with friends like a Netflix and chill ante litteram. It’s so straightforward. 11/10.
Look back on a time, I was lucky once, I could be lucky again
I love love LOOOVE the way he uses look back on a time, because he really kinda confirms how all he just did was recalling moments from a past life through lyrical narration.
What a gem of a song.
Also special mention to The unfiltered version of Lucky again with the “I’m lucky/I’m in love” whatever the fuck you meant by that, Louis, that was pretty sick and it should have survived the final revisions.
this one digs deep my friends!!! join in for some good old heartache of which you can’t tell if it feels good or not !
sponsored by: home - one direction
faith in the future, track 4
LYRIC ANALYSIS
You give and give until it’s gone away
Just tell yourself you’ve got another day
// “when you give so much and it’s not enough”, don’t let it break your heart
// “there are problems in this empty bottle but we drained all that”, angels fly
WE HAVE TIME - recurring in this song, but also. alotofotherplaces
// “time takes time to heal it,” dlibyh
// “time for us is never over”, the greatest
// “so one more night i’m gonna choose”, face the music
// “let’s buy some time”, face the music
// “just have patience, it’s not how you spend the time it’s if you waste it”, all this time
// “the love it takes is worth it all this time”, all this time
// “maybe if you’d taken more time”, headline
// “sit down in the space and time”, she is beauty
// “i’m on my way with some time to borrow”, angels fly
// “and time can always heal ya, If you let it make its way into your bones”, holding on to heartache
You’ve lived that life you just don’t see it yet
I see how hard you’ve worked to be yourself
imposter syndrome - result of all of those voices constantly trying to mess with your brain and your idea of you - theme of being hard on yourself // hs1, walls
you have to work hard just to be yourself in a world that limits people like them
“you’ve lived that life” then in the context of the next line: you are living an authentic life, true to who you are. you don’t need to prove it to anyone and you don’t need to be out to have lived that life
If you believe that guy is superman
There selling tickets at the cinema
Whatever gets you through the darkest night
Just find the light out
In the madness
Hold tight
What if complicated freak is about the same freak as little freak? Aka harry herself?
I would write about it but I’m not even a part of the 🏳️🌈community so I think that would be a bad idea. Have you thought about it in does terms?
yes, I think there could be some link to be made! The use of 'Freak' is definitely very specific because that's not a term you casually throw around to describe people unless you're mean. It's technically derogatory, but for some there is a real thrill and comfort in using those kind of terms to describe their own queerness. And I feel like this is what Complicated Freak and Little Freak do in different contexts.
She got wrapped up in somebody else
I’m wrapped up stuck in love with myself
I think the first lines kind of sum up the whole song, so having sex while being completely high on that gender euphoria. The speaker is into their partner but equally feeling themselves in that moment: She's fully out and wildin'. The ''you'' could be both the partner and She. For example the ''pulling my hair'' line could be kinky AND a metaphore of pulling your own hair out cuz it's all so... ~complicated
But I miss her skin on me now/But I miss how she kissed everywhere/I still crave it
That is reminding me of ''Maybe we'll do this again'' line in Little Freak! It's too hard to just be yourself at times only, in specific contexts. You want that all the time. Missing her skin on me>Feeling good in my skin. the skin part would sound a bit like a buffalo bill moment but bill is terrible horrible terf wank so I'd prefer to think of Leatherface putting make up on his skin masks. I feel very much for the big dude isolated in the deep countryside, who has been raised to fill in the 'nuclear wife' role by his conservative patriarcal family, and so the only way he found to express his femininity is through his masks: he is otherwise silenced and punished when failing his householding duties, like all women were. ITS SO WEIRD TO SAY IN REGARDS TO HARRY SORRY BUT we're in a ~Freak theme and it's ~Complicated right ummm unhinged gender free of constraints and expectations and stuff
Turned up too late one too many times/Bad choice of words in my alibi
Similar to I disrespected you/You'd make fun of me for sure. Reflecting on all that time you spent not being you, lying to yourself and others, making excuses, and how damaging it can be.
I've seen some posts comparing Complicated Freak to Only Angel as well! Both written in the same period and using crudeness and even violence in relation to femininity. In comparison, Little Freak is like a soothing caress <3 which is really heartwarming, we love ambivalence
So, I was keeping this ask in my inbox because the truth is, even though it’s probably my absolute favorite — like get-the-lyrics-tattooed favorite — Little Freak is the one song that seems to be hovering just above my comprehension.
Every time I think I understand one little line, my understanding of it shifts the context, and the song morphs into another thing altogether, and I’m back to square one. So, fair warning, my interpretation isn’t going to be remotely cohesive and will probably evolve the longer I have the song in my life (I’m already second guessing this as I edit), but for now, this is how I think of it.
Little Freak — a (tentative) reading
Overall, there’s a sense of femininity, sexualization, and youth to the imagery of the lyrics that won’t leave me — that’s been the one constant in my understanding of the song (and part of why I feel like I connect so deeply to it): it sounds like a song I would sing to my younger self (although for very different reasons).
Little freak, Jezebel,
You sit high atop the kitchen counter
— we know ‘Jezebel’ is a Biblical reference, and connotes shamelessness and licentiousness. Jezebel is a temptress (connoting a sense of intention in her seduction) and ‘sitting high atop the kitchen counter’ is likely a reference to being put on a pedestal, or being just out of Harry’s reach. This is my first clue that the song is about Harry, because: (i) we know he often sings about himself in the female perspective, and (ii) there’s an immediate sexualization of this young character (let’s call her Little), exactly like how Harry was immediately sexualized at such a young age.
Stay green a little while
You bring blue lights to dreams
— to say someone is ‘green’ is to say they’re naive, innocent, or inexperienced, which fits really well with the Jezebel imagery, and in that context, bringing ‘blue lights’ to dreams is likely a reference to blue films (porn). Almost like a warning, like an older sibling trying to protect her, Harry is telling Little to stay innocent for just a little longer, even though she L’s already (unknowingly, unwillingly, or both) being coveted by strangers.
Starry haze
Crystal ball
Somehow, you’ve become some paranoia
— Initially, I thought of the first two lines as throwaway lines, placed there for lyricism, but as everything is with Harry, it now reads very intentional to me: translated, I read this as a peek into the future (crystal ball) through the veil of fame (starry haze), Harry saying that Little has become a paranoia can be two-fold: (i) that Harry’s femininity has become something threatening that he has to keep a secret, and/or (ii) that Harry has become constantly paranoid about how the people around him read into his motivations (people thinking he’s a flirt, he’s a womanizer, he sleeps with everything that moves) and it makes him hyper aware of the way he moves in the world, so as not to encourage that image of himself.
Wet dream just dangling
But your gift is wasted on me
— linked to the first four lines, this sounds like Harry is repeating a line he’s been told (that he’s a wet dream), but the gift of being a “sex symbol” doesn’t do anything for him (maybe because he’s queer, maybe because he’s in a committed relationship, maybe because he just doesn’t relish in that kind of attention). This reminds me so much of the way older men (like Howard Stern) talk about Harry — how they expect him to be sleeping with every young thing and have this wild rockstar life, and how different Harry is from that.
This is also the first line in which Harry refers to himself (me), which makes it easy to mistake Harry and Little as two different people — a signature Harry writing move where the nuances in pronouns can lend so many different layers to one line.
I was thinking about who you are
Your delicate point of view
I was thinking about you
I’m not worried about where you are
Or who you go home to
I’m just thinking about you
— I connect to the chorus so much because it’s such a vulnerable set of lyrics. There’s a purity and an innocence in the intention that’s clearly not often given to Little, who, prior to this, has always been objectified. Here, Harry shifts the perspective: he talks about Little in a way that has nothing to do with her physicality (not worried about who you go home to) but astutely focuses on her person (who you are), her mind (her point of view), and her as entire being (just thinking about you).
More specifically though, ‘your delicate point of view’ really tugs at my heartstrings, because those of us who know, know: Harry is strange, and has likely always felt strange — from his fluid taste in clothing, his nerdy obsession with all things music, his love of obscure instruments, his weird creative vision — they’re what makes him such an enigma, such a good artist. But it’s very likely that a younger (Littler) Harry wouldn’t see that as a good thing; would think he was, for all intents and purposes… a little freak.
Did you dress up for Halloween?
I spilt beer on your friend, I'm not sorry
A golf swing and a trampoline
Maybe we'll do this again
Tracksuit and a ponytail
You hide the body, all that yoga gave you
Red wine and a ginger ale
But you would make fun of me, for sure
— @twopoppies pointed out that entire stanza reads like Harry referencing very specific and significant personal memories, and I agree. Additionally, I think these are memories that have maybe clued him into or defined his coming to terms with his femininity. For example, the Halloween line makes me think of when he was young and so amazed that he was wearing tights, and how definitive of a memory that seems to be for him. Tracksuit, ponytail, and yoga makes me think of him at around 19-20 (the Four era, when he would’ve already been working with Harry Lambert) where I can imagine he was coming into his interest in fluidity and fashion, but his exploration of that was probably curtailed by the image he had to keep up for 1D.
I disrespected you
Jumped in feet first and I landed too hard
A broken ankle, karma rules
You never saw my birthmark
— this is the stanza that I feel hovers above my comprehension, because while I’m sure that it ties the first two stanzas together to make the story cohesive, I haven’t been able to find an interpretation that clicks all together for me. What I do find incredibly interesting is that, the way the song is written hints at a feeling of a missed connection. Without any deeper knowledge of who Harry is, it would be easy to see a scene playing out of Harry meeting a beautiful, younger girl at a party, and her slipping through the crowd and him never seeing her again but still thinking about her from time to time.
With the deeper knowledge of who Harry is, and how he writes, the image is similar, but the younger girl isn’t a romantic interest — she’s the younger version of himself that he hasn’t been able to (or allowed to) get to know and discover fully, that keeps slipping through the crowd as he decides whether he should try to catch her or let her flee, though the idea of her, their missed connection, and who they are together as a whole being, still haunts him.
If somebody blows smoke in your eye, they are trying to block you from seeing a truth, obscure things and the expression “i choked” can mean you weren’t able to do something effectively, usually bc of nerves/anxiety ......
So maybe when the “you” ( cough Harry) said “love was a pretty lie” Louis was thrown off balance and couldn’t/didn’t know how to combat that stance (choked). But I love this lyric bc the order implies, that Louis realizes that their saying “love was a pretty lie” was just smoke and not truth
Agreed about All this time. It's in my top 3 of the album. It's the perfect song to trip to, to listen to on late night car rides, the song you listen to in that half awake half asleep phase while trying to sleep, the song you listen to while chilling with friends with a beer in hand and fairy lights in the room. Also, thank you for the emotional intelligence post. Louis' emotional intelligence stood out to me in Walls too.
All this time stans unite! Can I break down a bit more here? When Louis says
“It’s not how you spend time, it’s if you waste it”,
you see how powerful this line is? He’s telling you it doesn’t matter what you do with your life, but what matters is if you end up wasting the time you have. It’s telling you to be who you want to be, do what makes you happy cause life it’s fucking short.
“And I keep on building mountains hoping they will turn to gold”
I would give him all the things I own for just this line. Do you know the myth of King Midas? He’s the king who asked for the gift to turn into gold every thing he touched. He thought he did something, but ended up realising he was impossible to live like that. He even turned into a golden statue his daughter. I think Louis is saying basically the same thing. It’s an illusion. It can be as pretty as you want, but at the end of the day “the truth is I still doubt that what I do can get me home (when it gets cold)”
“Oh sometimes sometimes I lose my hope”
I don’t care what people say, this is the most vulnerable Louis has ever been. He is breaking character here and is showing that he too has his moment of having hard time believing things will get better. He has always been the one who stands and cheer you up, who shows you the positive side. And now he’s telling you sometimes sometimes he can’t aways be a positive thinker because reality can be harsher and when you have to deal with opinions coming from all the sides this is even harder.
“Our eyes meet and I can tell you are the same as me”
Like if you wanted a more queer line you can’t find it. This is it. This is a huuuge Home recall (there was something missing in her eyes) and Just Like You.
“It’s the way we see ourselves through walls of trees”
Look at him being clever with the auto-references again. This is a wink at Walls, clearly. But it’s a concept in this song: sometimes you get lost in a forest, but you know yourself and that’s what help you out of it.
“But the friends, we make the love it takes, it’s worth the pain”
He is saying you’re not alone in this. You’ll meet people along the way. You’ll meet love, you got to give it or to receive it. But that’s the point, isn’t it? To love and to in love in this fucking train-wreck of a life. <3
“It’s worth, it’s worth, it’s worth all this time”
That’s all the confirmation you need. You’re not wasting any time in finding yourself, your answers, in taking care of your own things. You’re not wasting any time if you do what you want and if you’re who you are. And it ends the song with a “it’s worth” triple. Hegel could never!
In reference to this: https://at.tumblr.com/skepticalarrie/hi-allie-hope-youre-doing-good-just-popping-in/s7i9pgm2ywm7
I actually found a lot of the songs really emotional on first listen, but for me the one that almost makes me cry every time is “holding on to heartache.” I’m not even 100% sure what it is, but I think maybe as someone who does hold on to heartache more than I should sometimes the lyrics and his delivery in that chorus really get me.
Ohh I really have a soft spot for that one, anon! I can't believe it's only on the deluxe version of the album, it's so good, it's so catchy! And I totally understand why people would identify with the lyrics.
I really like the interpretation that this song may be about One Direction and Louis having a hard time getting over the hiatus. There are a few easter eggs in this song IMO that are basically just reaches, but it's pretty fun to think about it: It's gonna drag me down / The nights, they change in seasons / The space between us just comes flooding back.
