What Should I Do?

Song Meaning

Kevin Abstract's "What Should I Do?" feels like a raw nerve exposed, a study in intimacy and the anxieties that coil around connection. The opening lines, "Let's tell ghost stories to friends through fences / You can't touch me in my dreams, can't call me your fantasy," immediately establish a boundary, a yearning for closeness tempered by a fear of vulnerability. It’s the paradox of wanting to share your inner world while simultaneously protecting it. The fence becomes a powerful symbol – a barrier that allows for shared experience, but at a safe distance. This tension is further amplified by the refrain, "Don't touch me / It turns me on," which hints at a complex relationship with physical intimacy, where attraction and aversion are intertwined. The verses of "What Should I Do?" paint a picture of hazy escapism. Abstract sings of floating through space and seeing a familiar face, suggesting a search for solace and connection in a disorienting world. The lyrics, "Between you and me, my friend, my partner, my spot in the shade / We'll drive around this town, pretendin' like we got it made," evoke a sense of shared delusion, a pact to create a comforting fiction. This act of pretending becomes a survival mechanism, a way to cope with the uncertainties of life and the complexities of human relationships. The desire to "stay up all night long 'til tomorrow turns to day" speaks to a desire to prolong these moments of connection, to stave off the inevitable return to reality. Ultimately, the song's central question, "What should I do?," underscores a sense of uncertainty and longing. It's a question directed both at the object of his affection and at himself. The bridge, with its imagery of running through the sky and laying in tall grass, offers a glimpse of carefree abandon, but even here, the line "I hope we don't get caught" betrays an underlying anxiety. The repetition of the "Ba-ba-ba" outro creates a hypnotic, almost childlike atmosphere, perhaps suggesting a regression to a simpler state of being, a retreat from the complexities of adult relationships. The song meaning, therefore, resides in this very push and pull, the constant negotiation between desire and fear, intimacy and distance, freedom and constraint.