Chitchat Seeing Through Brand New Eyes

[Miracleist]

Can I just say how awesome it is that this site has SO MANY AWESOME BBCODES? (*U*)


But that aside, a caveat that I'm quite a huge fan of Paramore... So... Make of that what you will


PS. Typical of my ramblings, I didn't really get to the point until halfway in. TLR: I attempt to weave a story based on songs in the Paramore album 'Brand New Eyes'.

Alright, this is wayyyyyyyyyyy late now. Paramore's already moved on, dropped some original members and now re-emerged with that fancy new album (lovin' it). But I was just about to sleep one other night, and y'know, trying to sleep, waiting to sleep; the mind wanders, and I was randomly thinking.


OH SNAP, PARAMORE'S 'TURN IT OFF' WAS RATHER MORBID WASN'T IT.





I was recalling in particular the lyrics:


"And the worst part is


Before it gets


Any better, we're


Headed for a cliff.


And in the free fall, I


Would realize I'm better off


When I hit the bottom."


Matter of fact, if just this segment already feels like it has some serious suicidal undertones, the rest of the song is kinda that too. I mean, the title itself 'Turn It Off' could be a metaphor itself. It was a sort chilling revelation but it did get me thinking about the rest of the songs on the album. I hadn't listened to it in its proper intended sequence in a while, but well, kinda glad I just did prior to this post.


Now it ain't no rock opera along the lines of Green Day's American Idiot (which followed the story of a character named Jesus of Suburbia told in the lyrics). But the songs in Brand New Eyes do tell a story of its own - even if the songs or lyrics do not make any attempt to link itself to each other. Specifically, it seems to tell of a story of a person in some major relationship woes.


Starting with Careful, the first song, where the character seem to already be pushing away her partner:


"I settled down a twisted up frown


Disguised as a smile, well


You would have never known"


Then, the second song, Ignorance, where it seems the two have reached boiling point, getting into what sounds like an argument. This argument doesn't end well:


"You treat me just like another stranger


Well, it's nice to meet you, sir


Well, I guess I'll go, I best be on my way out"


In the song after, Playing God, it seems like they're back together again, though another argument appears to have escalated as our character here makes a note about her partner's character:


"Can't make my own decisions


Or make any with precision


Well maybe you should tie me up


So I don't go where you don't want me


...


It's just my humble opinion


But it's one that I believe in


You don't deserve a point of view


If the only thing you see is you"


Moving on... She gets brainwashed and goes wacko She seems to be talking about herself in Brick By Boring Brick (Great alliteration there (*U*)). She refers to herself in third person, telling a fairy-tale inspired version of her own story:


"So one day he found her crying


Coiled up on the dirty ground


Her prince finally came to save her


And the rest you can figure out"

I also want to note with great interest this particular song for it's music video (



). That, and the fact that the album art's that of a dissected (?) Monarch Butterfly. I've always had this little theory that the music video, combined with the Monarch Butterfly theme over the album... That it was an allegory to MK-ULTRA, a conspiracy-theory esque project about mind control. In particular, there was a sort of mind control called Monarch Programming. Brutal stuff, involving extremely intense traumatic abuse to the point that victims retreat back into the deep recesses of their own mind, creating a fantasy to cope with trauma of the real world. Seeing it from this perspective makes the song Brick By Boring Brick especially chilling.

Thereafter comes Turn It Off, and as mentioned above... Well no, not suicide. But she's probably ending the relationship here. She's had enough. She still makes an allusion to her partner's nature mentioned in Playing God as she attempts to end it:


"I wanna know what it'd be like


To find perfection in my pride


To see nothing in the light


But turn it off in all my spite, in all my spite


I'll turn it off"


Yet right in the next song (and perhaps one of my major favourites), The Only Exception, she finds that she can't. Though they might be apart now, they still come back together briefly and she remembers why they were together in the first place. Because well:


"And I've always lived like this


Keeping a comfortable distance.


And up until now I have sworn to myself


That I'm content with loneliness.


Because none of it was ever worth the risk.


Well you are the only exception."


Right after, it seems they really are apart now in Feeling Sorry. Her partner goes MIA, and she's annoyed:


"We still live in the same town, well, don't we?


But I don't see you around anymore.


I go to all the same places


Not even a trace of you.


Your days are numbered at 24.


And I'm getting bored waiting 'round for you.


We're not getting any younger.


And I won't look back 'cause there's no use.


It's time to move forward."


But well, for whatever reason, he wasn't really gone for good. Just away for a time... And it seems they're back now in Looking Up:


"Things are looking up


Oh, finally


I thought I'd never see the day


When you'd smile at me


We always pull through


Oh, when we try


I'm always wrong


But you're never right


Oh, you're never right"


But was coming back together as simple as that? She seems happy enough for now in Where The Lines Overlap:


"No one is as lucky as us


We're not at the end but oh we already won


No one is as lucky as us


Is as lucky as us"


Oh, but it's not that straightforward as coming back together. She needs more time to think things through... Leading to possibly my absolute favourite acoustic song, Misguided Ghosts:


"I'm going away for a while


But I'll be back


Don't try and follow me


'Cause I'll return as soon as possible


See, I'm trying to find my place


But it might not be here where I feel safe"


But all said and done, she returns and she knows now what she wants. Is it too late though, or does she get it? All I Wanted:


"I think I'll pace my apartment a few times


And fall asleep on the couch


Wake up early to black and white reruns


That escape from my mouth


All I wanted was you"


So there you have it. Brand New Eyes; I find the name very apt, given how its possible to see a story this way, to see different meanings in the songs (E.G. Turn It Off, Brick By Boring Brick). Even my personal interpretation of the 'story' is also something that can be seen in a different way if you prefer it... Ah, so much to love about it. (.)