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Artists & takes.

Editorial voices, essays, and opinions on music and culture.

Opinions

Haley Heynderickx's "Cowboying" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Not Knowing Your Horses Is a Choice

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Haley Heynderickx's "to each their dot" Lyrics Explained: Clarity Means Admitting You're in the Fight

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Julien Baker's "Bottom of a Bottle" Lyrics Explained: The Jokes Run Out Before the Whiskey

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Julien Baker's "Sylvia" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Leaving Is Decided, Only the Guilt Isn't

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Julien Baker's "Dirt" Lyrics Explained: Nobody Hears the Truth Unless It's Screamed

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Julien Baker's "Sugar in the Tank" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Loving Someone You Can't Fully Choose

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Bon Iver's "Everything Is Peaceful Love" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Peace Declared From Up a Tree

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Bon Iver's "From" Lyrics Explained: Every Reassurance Is Secretly a Request

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Bon Iver's "THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS" Lyrics Explained: Seeing Too Deep Is the Trap

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Bon Iver's "S P E Y S I D E" Lyrics Explained: Guilt that burns everything down to ask one question

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Alex G's "Beam Me Up" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Any Exit Beats Choosing One

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Alex G's "Real Thing" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Search Turns Into a Self-Audit

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Alex G's "June Guitar" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Rope Was Always a Swing

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Alex G's "Afterlife" Lyrics Explained: Heaven Comes In on the Same Channel

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Samia's "Lizard" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The "Don't" Loses to the Dare

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Samia's "Sacred" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Hate Was the Love Worth Wanting

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Searows's "Dearly Missed" Lyrics Meaning Explained: A Confession Dressed Up as an Obituary

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Geese's "Taxes" Lyrics Explained: Defiance That Knows It's Wrong

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Samia's "North Poles" Lyrics Explained: Two People Too Alike to Ever Touch

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Samia's "Bovine Excision" Lyrics Explained: The Wish to Be Untouchable Comes True

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Searows's "Dirt" Lyrics Explained: Getting Grounded Feels Like Losing Your Wings

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Searows's "Photograph of a Cyclone" Lyrics Explained: The Narrator Is the One Losing Words

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Searows's "Belly of the Whale" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Finding Company in the Dark Changes Nothing

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Waxahatchee's "Crowbar" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Narrator's Silence Breaks the Only Tool

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Waxahatchee's "3 Sisters" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Accusation Was a Mirror All Along

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Waxahatchee's "Right Back to It" Lyrics Explained: The Narrator Is the Real Flight Risk

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Waxahatchee's "Much Ado About Nothing" Lyrics Explained: The Title Is the Last Bluff Standing

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Big Thief's "All Night All Day" Lyrics Explained: A Hymn That Refuses to Name Its God

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Big Thief's "Words" Lyrics Explained: Breathing Says What Talking Never Could

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Big Thief's "Los Angeles" Lyrics Explained: A Song About the Body's Failure to Hold Love

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Big Thief's "Incomprehensible" Lyrics Explained: Aging Is the Right to Stay Unreadable

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Wednesday's "Reality TV Argument Bleeds" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Narrator Is the Tick

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MJ Lenderman's "Wristwatch" Lyrics Explained: The Brag List Is a Love Letter

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Geese's "100 Horses" Lyrics Explained: Smiling Through the End of Everything

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Wednesday's "Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)" Lyrics Explained: Every Keepsake Here Is a Killer's Trophy

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Wednesday's "Townies" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Forgiveness Is How the Town Keeps You

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Wednesday's "Elderberry Wine" Lyrics Explained: Cheap Wine Is What Keeps the Peace

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Dove Ellis's "When You Tie Your Hair Up" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Singer Closed the Door First

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Dove Ellis's "Little Left Hope" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Every Name Here Is a Sentence Handed Down

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Dove Ellis's "Love Is" Lyrics Explained: The Balcony Leap Is the Real Definition

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Dove Ellis's "Pale Song" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Narrator Buries Their Own Past Selves

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Dijon's "Baby!" Lyrics Explained: The Father Gives His Favorite Word Away

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Dijon's "HIGHER!" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Chant Exists to Drown Out Doubt

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Dijon's "Yamaha" Lyrics Explained: Falling for the Feeling, Not Annie

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Ethel Cain's "Nettles" Lyrics Explained: A Hospital Vigil Turned Into Wedding Vows

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Greg Freeman's "Loser's Prize" Lyrics Explained: Being Known by One Person Beats Being Anyone

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Greg Freeman's "Come and Change My Body" Lyrics Explained: a song about surrender as self-erasure

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Greg Freeman's "Indu" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Chorus Is Lying About the Miles

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Greg Freeman's "Cahokia" Lyrics Explained: The Apocalypse Already Happened, Somewhere Else

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300SkullsAndCounting's "Are Mum's" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Mum Only Gets It With Spiked Tea

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300SkullsAndCounting's "I Have the Pineapple" Lyrics Explained: The Real Flex Is Clocking In On Time

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300SkullsAndCounting's "Kill You in the Bace" Lyrics Explained: The Speaker Is the Real Enemy

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300SkullsAndCounting's "Can of K" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Song Only Starts When the Bar Goes

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300SkullsAndCounting's "The Ballad of St Nick's Park" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Staying Put Is the Whole Flex

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Saint Clair's "Gretchen" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Grieving the Child Who Never Arrived

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Orca's "Heavy Heads" Lyrics Explained: The Escape That Runs Back Toward You

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Orca's "Letter to You" Lyrics Explained: The Apology Is Still All About Them

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Orca's "Natural" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Chase Is the Whole Crush

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Orca's "Certain Feelings" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Narrator Is Losing the Feeling Too

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Keo's "Bird On The Wire" Lyrics Explained: She Burns Out, But She Outlasts Them

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Keo's "Loser" Lyrics Explained: The Confession Is the Voices Talking

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Keo's "Best I Can Do" Lyrics Explained: The "I Love You" Is the Trap

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Keo's "Spent On You" Lyrics Explained: You Gave Up Your Life and They Never Came Back

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Keo's "Thorn" Lyrics Explained: The Cold Shoulder Is the Real Performance

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MJ Lenderman's "She's Leaving You" Lyrics Explained: The Guy Roasting Him Is Guilty Too

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MJ Lenderman's "You Don't Know The Shape I'm In" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Mourning a Breakup Under Someone Else's Flag

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Mk.gee's "How many miles" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Climbing Out Is How You Vanish

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Mk.gee's "I Want" Lyrics Explained: The Narrator Picks Wanting Over Changing

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Mk.gee's "Are You Looking Up" Lyrics Explained: Every Question Is Aimed at the Mirror

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Mk.gee's "Alesis" Lyrics Explained: Dissociation Is the Relationship

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Ethel Cain's "Waco, Texas" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Confession Is Secretly an Accusation

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Ethel Cain's "Fuck Me Eyes" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Gossip Was a Confession All Along

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Ethel Cain's "Dust Bowl" Lyrics Meaning Explained: She Only Exists While He's Watching

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Geese's "Long Island City Here I Come" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Afterlife Has a Queens Zip Code

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Geese's "Bow Down" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Love and a Corpse Get the Same Kneel

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Annie DiRusso's "Muck" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Distance Is Where This Love Works Best

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Alex Isley's "Ms. Goody Two Shoes" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Secret She Keeps Telling Everyone

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Lime Garden's "Undressed" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Calling It a Bore Is the Lie

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Big Thief's "Blue Lightning" Lyrics Explained: Choosing to Stay After the Water Runs Dry

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Searows's "I have more than enough" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Enough Is a Promise Still Being Filled

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Bon Iver's "Rosyln" Lyrics Explained: Gravity Wins, and the Singer Braces Anyway

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ROLE MODEL's "Sally, When The Wine Runs Out" Lyrics Explained: The Narrator Is Paying for the Exit

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Devon Again's "skittles" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Breakdown Is What the Narrator Wanted

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Wolf Alice's "Just Two Girls" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Envy Loses to a Friendship Nobody Can Buy

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Dominic Fike's "Babydoll" Lyrics Explained: The Escape Plan Is the Trap

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Louis Tomlinson's "Miss You" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The "Maybe" Is Him Lying Again

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Big Thief's "Little Things" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Obsession Wearing the Clothes of Fondness

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Bladee's "KING NOTHINGG" Lyrics Explained: Nihilism crowned, nothing achieved

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Gus Dapperton's "Twyla" Lyrics Explained: The Narrator Is the One Who Might Rust

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Lime Garden's "Maybe Not Tonight" Lyrics Explained: Wanting Everything While Refusing Everyone

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Gus Dapperton's "Queen" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Escaping Manhood Still Means Wanting a Throne

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MGNA Crrrta's "Summer love" Lyrics Explained: The Bite-Back Threat Is a Bluff

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brakence's "do what you can" Lyrics Explained: The Pep Talk Is Actually a Threat

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brakence's "heart" Lyrics Explained: Speaking From the Heart Is Aiming a Gun

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brakence's "traitoR" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Breakup Lives in One Tense Change

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brakence's "crystallized" Lyrics Meaning Explained: Love Sets Like Stone, Then Starts to Rot

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brakence's "Boss Fight" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Better Man Wins by Moving In

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brakence's "bitE" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Predator Pose Is Self-Harm in Disguise

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brakence's "sinkflY" Lyrics Explained: The Real Victim Is the Kid Inside

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brakence's "body" Lyrics Meaning Explained: The Hostage Asks to Stay Locked In