These are just my thoughts on and my first impression of Louis’ new song Habit. (credit for lyrics goes to @hattalove)
I always said that i’d mess up eventually
I told you that, so what did you expect from me?
(you’re too cold)
it’s no surprise anymore
This one is fairly straightforward: he believed he would eventually do something to ruin the relationship and he was so confident in that belief that he even forewarned his partner.
What’s interesting here is the shift that occurs in the second line: he transitions from owning up to his own mistake to placing some of the blame onto his partner. He’s accusing them of being too cold and seemingly almost judging them for expecting better from him in the first place.
It also seems pertinent to note the way he views the demise of the relationship and the role he played in that demise as inevitable.
I know you said that you’d give me another chance
but you and I knew the truth of it in advance
mentally you were already done
Again, pretty straightforward. Louis fucked up, his partner agreed to give him a second (or third, or fourth or whatever) chance, but it wasn’t sincere. The mistake he made was too much for the partner to handle and they both knew it. His partner checked out of the relationship mentally even if ostensibly it was still intact.
never thought that giving up would be so hard
but god I’m missing you and you’re addictive
This sounds like both Louis and his partner tried to make the relationship work, that Louis tried to repair the damage caused by his mistake, but they could not manage to get past whatever he had done. It reached a point where Louis had to give up on the relationship, on the hope of making it work again, and that this ended up being more difficult than he though it would be.
This song again explores a theme that was present in Miss You, of Louis realizing that a relationship meant more to him than he realized it did at the time he lost it.
you’re a habit that I can’t break
you’re the feeling I can’t put down
you’re the shiver that I can’t shake
you’re the habit that I can’t break
you’re the habit I need right now
you’re the habit that I can’t break
This is very reminiscent of both Back To You and Kill My Mind. It seems that he keeps getting sucked into a relationship with this person and they have some sort of on-again-off-again dynamic.
I think it’s also significant that he describes that dynamic as a habit. A habit can be something comforting and familiar, but in the context of this song it seems to be a more negative connotation, similar to a drug habit. Again, this is all very similar to imagery found in Back To You (“you can be the pill to ease the pain”) and Kill My Mind (really just the entirety of those lyrics). I feel all three songs are detailing the same relationship and its toxic patterns.
taking some time cause I’ve run out of energy
of playing someone I’ve heard I’m supposed to be
honestly, I don’t have to choose anymore
The first two lines are pretty simple: he is tired of pretending to be something he isn’t.
That third line, however, is one of the most provocative lines of the whole song. In context in this verse, it seems to mean that he no longer feels he needs to choose between this image of himself and who he actually is. Now, this is interesting because if he’s saying he no longer has to make that choice. He is now capable or reconciling this person he feels he is expected to be and his true self. Something has changed, but what exactly that is remains to be seen.
it’s been ages, different stages
come so far from princess park
I’ll always need you in front of me
in front of me
Obviously a lot of attention is being given to this verse. I’m not going to focus in on the Princess Park mention (I did that already).
The stage line is particularly intriguing because it could obviously mean that they have gone through many stages as individuals growing up and becoming adults, but I think it can also be taken to mean that their relationship has gone through the various stages (friends, lovers, partners, exes, etc).
“Stages” can also be taken very literally to mean that there have been a plethora of actual, physical arena stages (in which case the “different stages” could be interpreted as meaning that they are no longer performing together, sharing a stage).
Overall, this verse is talking about the passage of time. This song is about someone he has known, somehow he has been with since the days of Princess Park. It’s about someone who, despite how much time has gone by and how much has happened, he still needs, someone he still very much wants in his life.
(didn’t give me) the time or the space
i was out of control, I’m sorry I let you down
guess that I know what I’ve already known
I was better with you
and I’m missing out
Like earlier lyrics (”what did you expect”/”you’re too cold”), the first line is vaguely accusatory. It sounds like he is blaming his partner for either failing to recognize that he needed time and space or for deliberately not allowing him to have it.
The second line sounds like Louis acknowledging the period of his life where he appeared to be going off the rails. This line is perhaps helpful in determining the timeline for when this relationship fell apart. It also possibly sheds a tiny bit of light on other issues (like what made him so out of control, i.e. a substance problem).
The rest of the verse is very direct: he knows he ruined a good thing and he wishes that he hadn’t.
This song feels like Back To You’s more mature older sibling. Where BTY was very angry, Habit is more at peace. Habit’s main focus is not on pointing the finger or on settling some score; it is an expression of regret. It is a recognition of past failures and the, possibly ill-advised, continual cycle of longing for a relationship despite its faults. It is an apology to a person whom, at the time he wrote this at least, Louis was still most assuredly not over.
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2087
