i feel like the bridge of love from the other side, specifically the lyric, "inscribed like stone and faded by the rain / 'give up what you love, / give up what you love before it does you in'", so wonderfully expresses one of the biggest overarching themes in so much (for) stardust, and i wanna talk about it!
with that lyric, when you first hear it it sounds horribly, horribly depressing and bleak. give up what you love before it does you in? what a fucked up sentiment, honestly- that you have to give up the things you love before they ruin you. for a lyric on an album about nihilism and feeling like you're watching the world ending before your very eyes, and trying to find how to cope with that, it's very fitting!
except, the lyric doesn't really mean that incredibly depressed explanation. because that phrase, give up what you love before it does you in, although inscribed like stone, although it is a sentiment so pressed into pete/us/society/the world at large, that even the things you love aren't worth it, that they'll ruin you too- it's faded. it might have a presence, it might be hard to ignore sometimes because it is inscribed still, it's faded. ignored. not honored, not tended to. not upheld.
and i think that is so much of what this album is. we have inscribed in us so much nihilism, so much negativity and pessimism, and why wouldn't we? there is so much bad in the world, at times even the things we love can and will hurt us, it's easy to wonder what the point is. it feels easier sometimes to just give up caring and become cold and closed off. to let the nihilism fully consume us, it's almost as if that's what the world wants us to do, after all! but this album is literally saying yes, yes it's easier to do that, it's easier to believe everything is meaningless and hurts and maybe those things are true, but that doesn't mean you give up. that doesn't mean you listen to what you think the world is telling you. that doesn't mean you can't make your own meaning, live a fulfilling life with the pain and sadness walking beside you, and find things that maybe don't make the pain go away, maybe these things don't make anything 'better' ever, but maybe they make things easier. maybe you can eventually learn how to live with the pain and meaninglessness in a way that isn't crushing, because you have things you love to help. even if those things do you in, you have to keep going, despite, despite, despite. and ride your own melt. take pleasure in the details.
snowghoul
dededos
dailybridgerton
discoholicmusic
turnnoffyourmind
