Only Always

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a chance encounter between two former lovers, now ten years older and separated by twenty-five feet. The immediate tone is one of surprised recognition mixed with a potent undercurrent of regret. The narrator admits, "What a lie," to claiming they were over the relationship, revealing that the other person was, in fact, "the love of my life." This sets up the central tension: the enduring impact of a past love despite the passage of time and the narrator's own choices. The core conflict revolves around the persistent ghost of this past relationship. Both narrators confess to seeing the other in strangers and admitting that the breakup still "keeps me up at night." The phrase "the one that got away" is a direct admission of this lingering feeling, contrasted with the self-recrimination of "I'm the one that should've stayed." This highlights a deep-seated regret and the painful awareness of a path not taken. The most striking craft element is the repetition of "Only always" in the intro and post-chorus, which acts as an insistent, almost desperate refrain. It underscores the narrator's inability to move on, suggesting that despite the years, this love remains a constant, unwavering presence in their thoughts. The outro further emphasizes this with the poetic lines, "I only think of us on the days that end in white" and "when the sun or moon's in the sky," framing their memories as inescapable, tied to the very fabric of existence. This song hits hard because it articulates a universal feeling of looking back with longing and regret. The specific imagery, like "hands on my hips," grounds the abstract emotion in tangible memories. The direct confessions of past lies and present anxieties make the narrator’s emotional state feel raw and relatable, capturing that specific ache of knowing you let go of something truly special.