Over grungy early 2000s rock base and a naughty drum kick, girl in red belts out, “Yeah, you’re swinging right back like a pendulum, babe.” You’re probably already slightly rolling your eyes! We don’t blame you. Pendulums might just be a spiritualist’s forget-me-not flower, at least when paired with all those love questions. Although you can rewire it to spin a certain way, a hard pass is usually a horizontal swing, and a greenlight is a vertical one. So, pair that with the lyric, and we’re conjuring up her ex-something rushing right back in, and fast!
The lyric is off girl in red’s recent single, ‘You Need Me Now?’ which is the ultimate diss track, enabling one to set a boundary and not let that person in again. Her ex might be circling back, but she’s ending it. And we’re doing the same thing! We’re strapping on that staple red wooly beanie, cheekily waving goodbye as we paint the screen black, and then calling Sabrina Carpenter. Sabrina, with her pixie-like tones and sprechgesang style, dominates the bridge!
As we’ve said, unfortunately, we’re all probably in the pool of having a time when someone has run back into our lives. It’s like all of the toxicity that transpired before never happened. So, in the essence of the pendulum, we’ve created 10 lyric pendulums to help you decide if you should reply to their text with a surrendering peace smiley emoji or hit block on their contact number. All you have to do is choose a number between one and 10. Sounds easy enough, right?
One — No
I deserve my own consideration, but sometimes, I wish I kept / Some of my feelings in the basement so I’d still have some left
‘Tornado Warnings’
Those twisty little eruptions of nervous energy that spiral up when we’re around our person of interest are never sprouting butterflies. Rather, they’re ‘Tornado Warnings.’ Our nervous system is out of whack, telling us to put the phone down and stop overgiving.
Two — Yes
My feelings used to be serrated / But you speak in such a perfect cadence / Tiptoeing past so many stages / But what the f**k is patience?
‘Fast Times’
With its hip-rocking and finger-clicking Candance, Sabrina’s ‘Fast Times’ indicates what happens when your heart fully leads the way. Aka, she’s hitting the pedal to the metal in a young and frivolous relationship. It’s those drawing hearts in the bylines and already thinking up your children’s names because you know, so we know that you should definitely text them back!
Three — Yes
No, this is not a phase / Or a coming of age / This will never change
‘girls’
These particular lyrics on girl in red’s ‘girls’ mean that despite people often claiming that one will have an experimenting phase, she knows fully well what her sexual orientation is! In the context of this article, though, this is such a cute lyric again for when you know, you just know. It’s not simply a crush that you’ll get over when the next attractive person walks by, but rather, you’re in for the long haul. So, yes, send that flirtatious side kiss emoji.
Four — No
I feel so much lighter like a feather with you off my mind (Ah) / Floatin’ through the memories like whatever, you’re a waste of time
‘Feather’
Sabrina’s self-love ‘Feather’ track is similar to one of those boldly colored ones you can find at the market, full of spunky patterns and crispy edges. It’s not dull, stripped of all of its pizazz, but it’s living its best life! And that’s exactly what you’re doing now that that certain ex is out of yours.
Five — Yes
I never get bored of looking at you / ‘Cause every time, I see something new / Like the scar on your spine / You fell off a roof when you were nine / You lived a life before me
‘watch you sleep.’
Okay, in theory, the idea of ‘watch you sleep’ is kinda creepy. But, one of the signs of being in love with someone is wanting to know every story of theirs. You just want to know how they became exactly who they are so you can love them a little better. So, since you’ve picked the number five, we’re using our own psychic powers to guess you’ve had that feeling. Therefore, it’s a yes.
Six — Yes
It’d be so nice, right? Right? / If we could take it all off and just exist / And skinny dip in water under the bridge
‘skinny dipping’
Sabrina is an absolute queen of wordplay, hence changing the ‘Nonsense’ outro at every stop she opened for The Eras Tour. And this lyric from ‘skinny dipping’ is another example of this. The actual act of skinny dipping obviously ties to being nude. When you’re also in that state, you tend to feel safe and vulnerable around the person you’re doing it with. Then there’s the phrase “water under the bridge,” which means we’re letting the past stay there. So, combine the two, and Sabrina painted this really cool metaphor of being comfortable again in someone else’s presence because there’s no longer toxicity existing between the two. Maybe the text will end with you two being friends, but it’s better than continuing to death glare.
Seven — No
I toned myself down for you / Volume one, almost mute / I’ll never ignite
‘Too Much’
The repetition of a piano key is the backing production for girl in red’s ‘Too Much,’ another single off sophomore album I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!, coming out on April 12. That’s in approximately 17 days or 408 hours because we’re losing our minds around the idea that we’ll have even more new music soon. However uplifting that is, this lyric is the warning to block your ex right now! Never let someone else turn your shine into static.
Eight — Yes
Rainy days and bad luck / Coming my way / I look for you when I am lost / So I don’t go insane
‘I’ll Call You Mine’
Hear the word “lost, and you’re probably thinking of that first time when you found your mom’s hand again at the shops a little while later. This lyric on girl in red’s ‘I’ll Call You Mine’ portrays that shelter and sense of comfort. Things may seem muddy, but as long as you have your anchor who is your person, you’ll be okay.
Nine — No
“Sorry that I pulled the ‘it’s not you, it’s me'” / “One day, I’ll make sure you get a real apology” / I waste my time, I waste my life on idiotic things / Like things you never said / Things you’ll never say to me
‘things i wish you said’
Sabrina’s songwriting peeks out again on the closing song of the deluxe version of Emails I Can’t Send with ironically ‘things i wish you said.’ Every lyric on this track seems to be in quotation marks, signifying yet another thing she would’ve loved to have spiraled out of his mouth. I’m sure you also have a long list of words you’ve been dying to hear from your exes. It starts with an apology, yeah? Out of all of them, though, there’s something truly heartbreaking about this particular lyric. It’s symbolic of there being a touch of truth but still a wall cemented between the two that might never come down.
10 — No
You made heartbreak look elegant / Abused me with intelligence / I could have sworn you were heaven-sent
‘You Need Me Now?’
Of course, we had to end where we began. If you’ve chosen the number 10, that’s just another sign to hit replay on ‘You Need Me Now?’ Although the entire lyrical couplet is a string of red flags, “You made heartbreak look elegant” is so cleverly written. Here, girl in red has such viscous feelings, whereas it’s assumed that her ex was so stoic. Being composed might be considered the better response for a situation like this, but she just sees it as her never caring.
Notice how we didn’t make girl in red an even number girlie? Or Sabrina numerology besties with their touring buddy Taylor Swift (both girls saddled up with the 13-ambassador for The Eras Tour) through using one of hers for the third lyric? Yep! We mixed things around, so your pendulum lyric answer was super accurate. Which one did you get? Let us know by tweeting us @thehoneypop, and stream ‘You Need Me Now?’ on all platforms. Right before you scream it out at the GIRL IN RED: DOING IT AGAIN TOUR! Sabrina may not be there, but we can certainly dream of how epic it will be.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GIRL IN RED:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SABRINA CARPENTER:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | KOMI | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
