A Chore Done lyrical analysis
Hi everyone! This is one of my favorite songs on the new album, maybe even my favorite out of all of them, and what do I do when I love something? I pick it apart! I’ve been wanting to do analysis on some of my other favorite Drive45 songs as well but this is my first time actually sitting down and doing it. Before we get into everything, I do want to mention that some of these interpretations were probably not Jaden’s intent. That’s fine, I feel like all interpretations are equally valid and finding things that the author didn’t intend is one of the most fun parts of analysis. Some of these interpretations are also pretty obvious. I got a little lost in the sauce and just started breaking down every single line at some point. Oops!
Now without any further ado, let’s get into it!
“A chore done for fun
Eat breakfast for breakfast
Clean up crumb for fun”
These lyrics establish the joy the speaker takes in cleanliness and order, foreshadowing events later on in the song.
“'Cause it doesn't smell like me in your apartment”
The speaker is scared of leaving their comfort zone, their apartment. They only want to have safe experiences that ‘already smell like them’
“How 'bout you come over to mine”
They are opening the door of their sanctuary to someone, we will later learn how important the sanctity of their apartment is, so this is a great show of trust from the speaker
“I can't believe they're leaving from their apartment”
The speaker is so lost in their own little world that the idea of anyone else being better at leaving their comfort zone doesn’t even cross their mind. That, or the friend has the same comfort issues as the speaker does.
“I need more time to do my chores
Open close pores, refridgafreezarator
Triple check door, 'cause no check for bills or getting sick”
They realize that they like the idea of having a friend over but realize that they don’t actually want to socialize and would much rather keep to themself
“No matte, no glow, got the face I fear to show”
The speaker hasn’t done their makeup. Perhaps the friend and the speaker met online and the friend has never seen the speaker’s face before, or at least never seen them without makeup. They might be worried that their friend could perceive them differently if they see their masculine face that they typically hide under makeup as a form of gender affirmation.
“But facing fears is how we
Oh? Oh, wow you say you brought accoutrements”
The importance of facing fears, particularly fear of new things, is a major theme of this song. That is emphasized in this line, seemingly a mantra the speaker is telling themself. It is shown that the friend doesn’t care about the speaker’s lack of makeup from the fact that they have no reaction to it, even cutting off the speaker’s anxious internal monologue.
“Oh? Oh, wow you say you brought accoutrements
I say, wow thank you
Even though I don't know what big words mean”
The speaker doesn’t want to embarrass themself in front of their friend or appear stupid, thus they pretend to know what they’re talking about.
“Don't push my buttons, this is no discussion
No stove, no oven, this is my apartment
We, do much, I, see smudge, me, a mean clutch
Don't touch, there's order, you are not the sorter
These chores are my chores, this is my apartment”
This is my favorite part of the song but that’s irrelevant. The choppy disjointed lyrics show the speaker’s frustration and worry about their apartment being compromised. Even though the friend wants to help them, they refuse to accept it. Their chores are their ritual, their fun, and they don’t want their friend messing it up. This draws a parallel between perfect case and point with their “friend” (themself) helping them clean the attic. They don’t want another friend helping them clean and likely don’t want to share their nightmares with this friend either. I also want to point out how they ask their friend not to push their buttons, even though their buttons have clearly already been pushed. Maybe they want to calm down but they can’t if their friend keeps doing things to annoy them.
“The nerve is what you struck”
This line has a double meaning when you take the inflection into account. They are both saying that their friend has some nerve and that they struck a nerve.
“Observe hand turn to cup, up, up, up
Gliss-and-o descend to ear
Listen, this is my apartment”
Had to relisten to this one too many times to get it. The speaker is telling their friend to put a cupped hand to their ear so they can hear more clearly that this is their apartment. Glissando is a musical stile where one “glides” from one pitch to another. I thiiiink Jade miiiiight be using this style when they sing this lyric but I don’t know enough about music. Either way, the speaker wants the friend to glide their hand over to their ear.
“you say, fine by me”
The friend sounds a bit offended here, likely because the speaker yelled at them//was passive aggressive.
“Well, sign the lease done deed”
This line could mean that The speaker’s apartment no longer feels like their own, they are no longer in their comfort zone.
“Diesel grease drips down from sleeve
Forehead sweat drip bead, that's it you gotta gotta”
The speaker’s friend is dirty. This could be literally dirty since the speaker’s love of cleanliness was shown at the beginning of the song, or figuratively dirty, meaning their image has been soiled in the speaker’s mind and they now perceive them as being filthy and disgusting. The forehead sweat could also be the speaker’s sweat, showing that they believe that their friend’s dirtiness has made them dirty as well.
“Oh, I've grown restless
And, oh, I hate to shout
I cannot stress this enough”
They are second guessing their decision to kick their friend out. They don’t want to be rude and maybe it isn’t even worth the stress (note the pause before ‘enough’)
“Don't slam the door please thank you”
This shows that the trust they once had in their friend to maintain order is gone.
“I creak the wood floor board plank to
Bath to back to bed apartment”
The speaker feels dirty from this encounter and is now making themself ‘walk the plank’ for the mistake of inviting someone to their apartment. They want to return to their natural state of cleanliness and ‘wash their hands’ of this encounter. Going back to bed shows that they are returning to a safe activity. The term ‘bed apartment’ also shows them associating a comfortable, reliable, place with their apartment, further enforcing that the apartment is their comfort zone.
I also want to take a look at the song’s title. Calling this song ‘A Chore Done’ implies that for the speaker, hanging out with their friend was a chore. Likely not the type of chore they enjoy either.
