#brainpayne

[bluewinnerangel]

Perfect Now lyric breakdown: a 1D fanpiece with a hint of Falling

So @sryluvidrc​ and I recently took another look at Louis Tomlinson’s album Walls thinking our Louis obsessions couldn’t possibly have left room to discover anything new... boy were we wrong.

In summary the lyrics of Perfect Now, every. single. line. of it, parallel either What Makes You Beautiful, Little Things, Through The Dark, Louis’ or Harry’s tattoos (and in the turn the songs they reference), Harry’s Falling, or just simply describe Harry:

And a full breakdown under the cut:

Of course I cannot emphasize enough that this is just an interpretation. Wouldn’t we all like to know tf is going on in that man’s brain. Just simply trying to collect and show what we are seeing.

Also this other Perfect Now analysis raises a lot of important points. As they state “because of the Queen line, the song best fits someone with an effeminate or non-binary gay male identity.”, that is, the “you” in the song. I absolutely agree and believe this is indeed what this song is alluding to and I don’t think the following breakdown invalidates that. Instead, it might just be that Through the Dark, released in 2013(!) already did the same.

Anyways onto the breakdown:

Perfect Now x Little Things

These songs both include parallels that are clear as day as well as the parallel that takes the most explaining:

You say to me your jeans don’t fit -Perfect Now

quite unmistakably parallels

You still have to sqeeze into your jeans -Little Things

Then the second line

You don’t feel pretty and it’s hard to miss -Perfect Now

“you don’t feel pretty” matches what Little Things describes in general. In the picture I just color-matched the bit in the verse right before the jeans line.

The case of the misfits: Also, the first two verses in Perfect Now end with “fit” and “miss” which together create a misfit (a person who is different from other people and who does not seem to belong in a particular group or situation, thanks merriam-webster). This sure seems like a reach but darling just hold on because it’ll come back later. Note that this again hints at the song not just being about someone who is insecure because of their body size or shape but that this person differs from others, from the standard.

Then obviously “you’re perfect now” parallels the end of Harry’s verse: “But you’re perfect to me”

Now for the last bit, colored in blue/purple, Louis’ verse in Little Things paints a picture of the “you” being in bed and the Louis knowing their sleeping habits, mentioning conversations and secrets, but those conversations and secrets don’t quite make sense to Louis. Perfect Now share these themes by stating, again the “you” and Louis are lyin’ together (implying in bed, although don’t you just love the truth<>lying right next to eachother, chefs kiss), where the “you” doesn’t ask Louis, but Louis would tell the truth if asked (or: he’s keeping the conversation and the secret, because he’s not asked to tell the truth)

Perfect Now x WMYB

I think with What Makes You Beautiful, the picture speaks for itself. Just a whole bunch of direct parallels, even both dropping the word “insecure”:

As for the “like a neon sign, as bright as day”, we could drag in “you light up my world like nobody else”, but among all displays of neon signs in music videos/social media or the countless mentions of a shining brightness of lights/the sun, or as a polar opposite of Through the Dark, the dark/light theme is so prevalent I’m not sure I want to favor that parallel here.

Perfect Now x Falling

Falling captures a core feeling that can be applied to a lot of things, and I believe it’s meant in that way (I mean, like most music). Perfect Now in some regards could be seen as a response to that feeling, with some more direct lines such as

“what am I now?” well “you’re perfect now”, “don’t ever change”

“we’ve run out of things we can say” but “you’re the only one when it’s said and done”

“what if I’m someone you won’t talk about / don’t want around” well I’m “someone staring back at you” and although you get the feeling that I’ll never need you again, “you make me feel like being someone good to you.” 

and you wouldn’t need to wonder about all these things if you would just ask me to, but you never do, but just sayin’ then you’d know what you were to me, you know?

and although that all fits nicely, in the end, one song is about someone not feeling great and the other is reassuring someone that isn’t feeling great so naturally that’s gonna fit. On the surface they’re both (I love them with all my heart but) quite generic. What’s however not generic is the following:

What if I’m down?  What if I’m out? 

-Falling

vs

On friday night when we’re all out,  I turn to you and you’re looking down.

-Perfect Now

I mean come on, it doesn’t even rhyme. So here Louis applies the same trick as Harry, with the same damn words: together the lines make down-and-out, which means a variety of things including a lacking of something needed or desirable, being reduced to poverty, weak, fragile, the opposite of strong. And this is also where the “misfit” reach stops being a reach since it’s the exact same trick, and in a pattern we trust. Can we kiss his brain? Please?

Perfect Now x Through the Dark

These again don’t need much explaining, but I encourage you to revisit Through the Dark in the context of someone experiencing gender identity issues and hiding that part of them.

Perfect Now x Harry/Louis and their Tattoos

There are some lines in Perfect Now that I personally feel simply directly describe Harry:

I guess some queens don’t need a crown

Even at your worst, you steal the scene and it’s unrehearsed

I mean. What is there to say here. Just. Yep.

Then for the chance/dance part, I realise it’s an easy thing to rhyme, so don’t take me too seriously on this, and I’m about to drag in a whole lotta links that are going overboard, but:

Harry’s tattoo reads Never gonna dance again, a line from George Michael’s Careless Whisper:

And waste the chance that I'd been given So I'm never gonna dance again The way I danced with you

While Louis’ tattoo reads Given a chance, a line from Kings Of Leon’s Be Somebody:

Given a chance, I'm gonna be somebody If for one dance, I'm gonna be somebody

To grasp in thin air even more, Louis’ Far Away tattoo, the song from Nickelback, which I believe was their song at the time (thanks Chad Kroeger for spilling that one), includes the line

One last chance for one last dance

But then, in TPWK, we’re starting to dance again

Giving second chances I don't need all the answers Feeling good in my skin I just keep on dancin'

And ofcourse the (not) dancing in the Walls and TPWK music videos. They just really really fancy a chance to go ballroom dancing.

Soooo, that’s that. Sorry for the brainpayne. And thanks again @sryluvidrc​ for spiraling with me.

For more like this: Love You Goodbye - a Sunflower vol 6 rabbit hole