I suspect the song "Ghost of You" (on the album "Youngblood") that Ashton Irwin and Luke Hemmings wrote together, is about them reflecting back on their relationship. It's about them falling in love at such a young age, then growing so close when Luke and Ash lived together during 2017, then when Luke moved out to his own place there was a huge painful void that was felt by no longer living together. Let's take a look at the song lyrics and then what the guys have said and what their interactions around the song have been, in order to see if this might be correct.
Starting with song lyrics analysis of "Ghost of You"....
"Ghost Of You" Lyric Analysis
Song title analysis - A ghost is a presence of someone who is no longer with you, caused by the end of a relationship, the person is no longer near you but once was very close, or a literal passing away. The use of the word ‘you’ means the song is directed towards said person.
Here I am waking up, still can't sleep on your side
There's your coffee cup, the lipstick stain fades with time
If I could dream long enough, you'd tell me I'd be just fine
I'll be just fine
The first verse is this person giving an update on what their life is currently like without their partner (you) around. This person is only able to focus on finite things. There’s a loss felt by their romantic partner no longer being near them. When a couple shares a bed, they each tend to have a side they always sleep on. This person is struggling to cope with their partner not being there. The use of the word “still” means it’s been this way ever since this partner left. Lipstick stain is a more dense heavy duty step up from lipstick. It’s longer lasting. It's so strong that in order to remove a lipstick stain from clothing, you have to use a rubbing alcohol. This person's partner was a big part of their life. Daily routine things (having morning coffee) traces of this person still exist in this person's life. This person is not doing things to move on, the pain is long lasting.
“If I could dream long enough”. When dealing with loss, it can really mess with your quality of sleep. It expresses a yearning for their partner but unable to reach any closure.
This person knows their partner would want to tell this person that they'll get through this.
For the last line of this verse, this person switches to “I’ll be just fine” because they can’t hear it directly from their romantic partner so they try to tell it to themself. It could also be telling their partner that they'll be fine even though the ghost of them can't say it back.
So I drown it out like I always do
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you
And I chase it down, with this shot of truth
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you
Using “drowning” as in hyperbole. “Drowning” something out, not describing the act of actually drowning. On Luke’s solo album track “Slip Away”, he refers to drowning out the fires. Luke has said that song is about moments of happiness and not feeling like you deserve them. A feeling of unrest. I’m not sure if there’s a correlation or parallel between the two songs but that came to my mind when I was listening to his album. When you ‘drown’ something out, you use other things to cover something up (not deal with) in one's mind with other thoughts or activities. This person is still trying to dance through the loss of their partner. The activity of dancing is filling space in their mind to make the loss feel less strong. The presence of the partner is still felt by this person, though they aren’t there in the same way they once were.
“And I chase it down, with this shot of truth” - That strong feeling that this person misses their partner's presence so much that it’s become a bold truth. This person continues to keep parts of them alive by incorporating them into the things they do every day or the things/reminders of their partner are still in the environment/their psyche. Luke and Ash have each had issues with alcohol. Alcohol can be used as a coping mechanism of avoidance to realities. Repeating the “Dancing through our house…” line is acting as a way to focus on what’s helping this person to live their life, drowning it out by doing something that helps keep a sense of connection as comfort with their partner. Musically, this song keeps a very even 1-2-3 beat which can easily be slow danced to with a partner.
Cleaning up today, found that old Zeppelin shirt
You wore when you ran away, and no one could feel your hurt
We're too young, too dumb, to know things like love
But I know better now, better now
“Cleaning up today”. Goes back to talking about daily mundane things. This style makes this song sound like a letter to their partner. “Cleaning up” can be a reference to tidying up to restore order, but it could also be a broader meaning of getting one's life back to a healthy place. During 2017, Luke moved in with Ash when Luke was going through a chaotic broken time in his life. This is also the year this song was written. Luke and Ash both used this time to heal from hurts and to work on finding themselves into a better happier headspace. A reference to a Led Zeppelin band t-shirt stands out to me because Ashton has worn at least 3 different Zeppelin shirts and has mentioned his love for the band. The style of music he enjoys are rock bands of the past. He posts many Instagram stories of his currently listening to songs/albums and of vinyl records he collects. The songs and bands line up with this as his legitimate music preferences.
“You wore when you ran away, no one could feel your hurt” - Ash has spoken in interviews about how when the guys left Australia to come to the US to pursue their dreams with the band, one of the motivators for leaving Aus was to “escape” and “didn’t want to be where [we] were”. Feb 2018 Zach Sang interview
This line could also mean, running away from love. Feeling scared, lonely, and not believing in love because of what’s hurt you in your past.
“Too young, too dumb to know things like love” - Sounds like what people say when your young age doesn’t fit with how strongly you find yourself loving someone. Luke was about age 14/15 and Ashton was about age 15/16 when they met each other. It's really worth it to look into how Luke and Ash were towards each other from so very early on. Heck, the way they met was Ash defending Luke against some bullies. If that's not the type of meet cutes out of the movies, I don't know what is! The early YouTube videos show how much young love fonding google-y eyes they were doing towards each other. One of the very first examples, when Luke, Calum, and Ash did a cover of Chris Brown's song "Forever". Compilation video of a lot of couple-y type things they have done Part 1 Part 2 When love is happening to you, sometimes you don’t know how to appreciate it to the level it deserves, simply because perhaps you don't even realize that it is love that you are experiencing. Finding true love is so super special, if you can find it. This song is celebrating a true love this person has found.
“But I know better now, better now” - This person is reflecting back on falling in love and realizing that what you were experiencing was actually love and your life was/is better because of finding and experiencing it. This person is more capable now of knowing when love is happening and more capable of how to nurture it. This shows personal growth and maturity as one gets older to realize this.
So I drown it out like I always do
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you
And I chase it down, with this shot of truth
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you
Chorus repeats.
(Fine)
Too young, too dumb
(Fine)
To know things like love
(Fine)
Too young, too dumb
(Fine)
This section is a beautiful ‘call and response’ between this person and their ‘ghost’ romantic partner. The ghost/partner is repeating a chant of “fine” to try to comfort this person that they’ll get through this loss. This person is singing the lines about their love they experienced.
So I drown it out like I always do
Dancing through our house with the ghost of you
And I chase it down, with this shot of truth
That my feet don't dance like they did with you
The chorus starts to repeat but then does a switch for the last line. “My feet don’t dance like they did with you”. The love this person experienced with their partner was/is one of a kind and when you ‘dance’ with someone you are in sync. Knowing love makes you feel so alive and you both know each other so intimately that you both just get everything about each other. This romantic partner was/is someone who truly was/is ‘your person’. Feet not dancing like they did with this person could also be referring to queer love. A different kind of love than of the straight kind.
Dancing is an actual activity that the 5SOS guys all enjoy, but in particular that Luke and Ashton enjoy together. On a keek, Ashton was trying to get people around him to dance and then Luke is near him who dances, Ash then says while smiling and sweetly soft, "Luke will always dance with me".
When they lived together, they posted videos of them having fun dancing, just the two of them.
New Year's Eve they posted a dancing video, again while they were living together. During this one, Luke calls Ash "baby".
"Ghost of You" section of Cocktail Chats
Here's what happened and how the guys talk about the song "Ghost of You" during the “Youngblood” album Cocktail Chats.
There's so much Luke and Ash!!
The way Mikey talks about the song being his favorite since its so emotional, leads me to believe its a bit deeper than the "This Is Us" tv show inspiration story Luke gave.
Another hint that it has a different meaning to the song is because Ash asks him if he's talking about "The Office", not "This Is Us", so did Ash even know about that as one inspiration when they were writing it?
There's more to this song than Luke's first inspiration, something deeper about Love. Something that was even more inspirational, way more.
I'm including the video with my edited comments into the video to help show what stands out to me. Yes, the guys were drunk during this but they were still themselves. Sometimes our drunk selves reveal things that we wouldn't be comfortable sharing on a typical day, too.
Ash has tweeted about GoY a few times. One of them, he gets very sentimental about how this song reminds him about "not taking love for granted again". It's quite a meaningful song to him, I'd say.
Yes, Ash, we are listening. You deserve to be heard.
September 25, 2021 broadcast of Global Citizen Live event - 5SOS's first live performance back, their setlist was "She Looks So Perfect" (5SOS's first big hit single), three tracks from the Youngblood (2018) album. They played “Teeth”, “Ghost of You”, and “Youngblood”. Luke and Ash wrote most of the YB album. (No songs from the more recent album CALM (2020)?? but you go to the first album of the 5SOS discography that Lashton mostly wrote?? Inch resting...)
After the show, the band tweeted out a few pictures. Ashton tweeted a sweet selfie of him and Luke with bringing up "Ghost of You", specifically. Something I also noticed was that Ash necklace and Luke's suit coordinated as shades of blue. Also, Luke has blue eyes so Ash’s necklace also matches those too. If not intentional, it’s a very sweet coincidence. 😊
In conclusion.... Luke and Ash are so romantic about love and "Ghost of You" is LASHTON AF. The "ghost" is the absence they felt of no longer living together. They each missed each other, their 'person'. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
