Behind-the-Song: Honestly pt.2 (Patreon)

So at some point I realized I couldn't write an entire song about an email... 😅 This is where that started.

The second half of the chorus was previously deemed my "biggest 'Fuck you' line" (verbatim) 🫣 So now I get to tell you "Honestly" also has plenty of tea to be spilled 💁‍♀️

& everybody's listening thinking you're so deep / they don't know that you are just a shell / there's nothing underneath / could you be honest? / do you know what is honest?

So um...this wasn't actually meant to be mean 😅🙈 It's not about someone I have any issues with, but just someone I don't really vibe with 🤷‍♀️ It's mean because the song is frustrated, so...the line had to perpetuate that feeling 🫣

This is about an acquaintance I have who... Well they just seem like they're constantly trying to put on a show. And in that show, they may speak only in platitudes. And the thing is...it very much seems like they mean those platitudes wholeheartedly...which is so unfathomable to me 😅

But like...most of what they say is something you would find stitched on a pillow at HomeSense, ya know? Like some of it is genuinely famous quotes. Motivational quotes, but...very famous quotes. And they'd say them as if they just came up with it and are oh so wise and aren't you so blessed to have been graced with such wisdom? Not in a patronizing way, but also things you can't be like "...are you for real?" without seeming like you're obviously just a pessimist and you should be more open to opportunity or something.

Anyway, it seemed like everyone around them in their lives genuinely believed this person was just incredibly wise. But talking to them was like talking to someone who'd never lived in the real world and never experienced any serious struggle, so... I just had a hard time taking it seriously.

For me, there was a period of time I very much thought these platitudes were just empty sentiments to throw out to sound smarter. Hence, "you are just a shell; there's nothing underneath." It felt like they didn't know how to be their own person.

Honestly, (no pun intended 😂) I do actually think they mean everything they say. They are someone who has lived an incredibly privileged life, so I think they genuinely don't know what the average experience is. They are someone who genuinely can "just put it out into the universe; if it's meant to happen, it will," do basically nothing to work toward it, and it genuinely will. Things just work out.

And wouldn't that be nice? To have a life where all the empty platitudes and motivational phrases people use to be encouraging without actually doing anything are actually meaningful?

Anyway, although I do think they meant these things genuinely, it was weird to meet someone whose whole outward personality was based on quotes and it felt dishonest so I put it in my song 🙈