#lyrical analysis

Just some things about the song "show stoppin number" from tgwdlm (the guy who didn't like musicals (which you should 100% watch if you haven't))

Dont know if anyone has spoken ab this before ☺️😙

I find this so interesting esp considering that prof. hidgens conspiracy board also forms a 5 pointed star ! As seen in these prod photos

This is all just fun little notes though <3

so i got bored at work and started practicing my cursive by writing out all the lyrics to 'the 1'. this is basically the gist of it:

I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit Been saying "yes" instead of "no" -> this reads to me like a break/breakup has happened, and taylor is trying to prove to her partner that she's okay.

I thought I saw you at the bus stop, I didn't though -> "i tried searching faces on streets" from ilipw

I hit the ground running each night I hit the Sunday matinée -> i find it interesting that she wants this person to know she's doing something as normal and mundane as catching an afternoon movie; as if doing something average would make her more appealing.

You know the greatest films of all time were never made -> this feels to me like she's maybe speaking to this person's own feelings of self-lack. she just went to see a movie, and it was good, but it wasn't great. but why? is it because she's doing it alone, without him? is it because she's trying to appeal to his shortcoming

I guess you never know, never know And if you wanted me, you really should've showed And if you never bleed, you're never gonna grow And it's alright now -> "i guess you never know" coming right before "but i knew you" is so intriguing, and we know cardigan was the first song written for folklore and the 1 was the last (along with hoax). but this feeling she's evoking of someone who didn't show up for her is a prevailing theme in everything she writes about joe ("do something babe"/"my love should be celebrated, but you tolerate it"/"i died on the alter waiting for the proof"). and i always thought "if you never bleed..." was about her own experience, but it hit me that it could also be about him; her way of wishing her would sacrifice something for their relationship the way she's had to.

But we were something, don't you think so? Roaring 20s, tossing pennies in the pool And if my wishes came true It would've been you -> the way she words this, the fact that she asks him if he thinks so too, insinuates that she isn't sure whether he ever thought much of their relationship. and even while they were together she was wishing for them to work out—she never had concrete evidence.

In my defense, I have none For never leaving well enough alone But it would've been fun If you would've been the one -> this obviously ties back to the line in ME! which i feel like is often overlooked, but what sticks out to me is her knee-jerk defense of herself here.

I have this dream you're doing cool shit Having adventures on your own -> this made me think of her TIME article where she said "life is short, have adventures". she clearly felt locked away in this relationship, and we know it was less of her idea than it was something she did to accommodate him. and now that they're not together, she's imagining that he's free to live his life unburdened by her fame. like she was holding him back.

You meet some woman on the internet and take her home -> but i find it interesting that the first adventure she pictures him having now that he's free of the "shackles" of her fame is having a casual hookup—with someone he met on the internet, no less. given how anti-internet she's been throughout showgirl press, this hit me in a new way. also made me think of what taylor said in the (now deleted) lavender haze IG video about her and her partner having to dodge weird rumors in comparison to what taylor said on new heights about how a headline can have her name in it and it can still be none of her business. i'm left with the conclusion that joe might've been a very online person, hence why he cared so much about how their relationship was perceived and thus leading taylor to carry that weight, too.

We never painted by the numbers, baby But we were making it count You know the greatest loves of all time are over now -> this very-apparent callback to 'so it goes'

I, I, I persist and resist the temptation to ask you If one thing had been different Would everything be different today? -> i used to feel like this was an open ended question about if one thing, any one thing, was different, would their whole relationship have been saved?

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Muse songs are heavily about people taking on the world. There’s a load of optimism in them; it’s something Matt said he can’t help: he’s an optimistic person. People face gigantic challenges, and together they overcome or go down fighting, while carving out little victories for themselves. Muse songs are often in first-person perspective. Lots of ‘I’, ‘we’, there are ‘us’es and ‘them’s in Muse songs. They will not force us. We must run. You and I must fight to survive. I’m drifting away from you. Together we’re invincible. They’ve got us locked into their sights, soon they’ll control what’s left inside. (More on the ‘control’ thing? See my last post.)

This album deviates from that. Obviously Matt is the narrator in a lot of the songs, and there is a subject addressed in them: his estranged partner. There IS a ‘you’ on this album. In fact, songs like ‘The Sickness In You & I’ feature it so importantly, it’s the title of the song.

But the album is so much more about the ‘I’ himself, the mentions of 'you' are almost incidental. It’s definitely a more reflective album. Matt does not have a team on this album; often he’s left cold and alone. Nightshift is the only real song where I see he is narratively in the same space as the ‘you’ - he’s reminiscing on being in the club with his wife. Other songs where the ‘you’ is a central character, like Be With You or Sickness, both seem to be after the fact isolated reflections of a man trying to reach out and save the person the song is about, but he can’t reach them, or they aren’t on the same wavelength anymore (‘I’m craving your touch will save me, no, no, no’) and his thoughts must turn to starting anew on his own (‘I feel my life has just begun’).

Other than that? Matt’s on his own. Cryogen. Hexagons. She left me running. She will ghostwrite my obsessions. This girl is nitrogen. ‘This girl’ is not a combination I think has ever occurred in a Muse lyric—despite how common it otherwise is in rock and pop music. Not in Muse’s world. Also aside, I think ‘she will ghostwrite my obsessions’ is hands down the best lyric on this entire album. It’s SO true about the way the people you are around will continue to have an impact on the way you see and interact with the world long after they’re gone. Great work Matt.

“This is the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned the whole world…”

I’ve always heard more than sadness in those lyrics.

“Cried a river” feels like pain that kept building until it became impossible to hold inside. Depression. Unhealed trauma. The kind of hurt that doesn’t stay quietly tucked inside one person, but spills into everything around them.

And then:

“And while she looks so sad in photographs, I absolutely love her when she smiles.” ☀️

Her smile feels rare, like sunlight returning after a long stretch of rain.

Maybe this song is about loving someone who carries heavy pain.

Or maybe it’s also a reminder that we are more than the sadness people see in our photographs. 🌙

Pull up a chair around the campfire for the full letter. 🪑🔥

XOXO, Luna 💋🌙

Read the full letter here: