Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a stark picture of a nihilistic existence, where being a "toxic asshole" is framed as a fundamental part of life, honed since childhood. The narrator and his companion are adrift, skipping school and prioritizing pills, funded by her stepfather. This isn't a choice born of rebellion, but a perceived inevitability, a feeling that's "somewhere under the skin." The central tension lies in the couple's shared despair and codependency. The girl is waiting for "suicide" for years, yet finds it "low" to act on it, clinging to a fragile hope or perhaps just inertia. The narrator, despite acknowledging his own "worthlessness," sees himself as "good" in her eyes, a role that seems to be the only anchor in their bleak reality. The most striking aspect is the fatalistic refrain, "we can't be otherwise." This isn't just a statement of circumstance, but a deep-seated belief that their destructive path is the only one available. It suggests a profound lack of agency, where their actions are dictated by an internal, inescapable force, making their bond both a prison and their sole source of meaning. This raw portrayal of destructive love and shared hopelessness hits hard because it grounds extreme emotions in specific, almost mundane details: skipping classes, a stepfather's money, the feeling under the skin. The narrator’s declaration, "even if everything burns down / I'll stay with her," isn't romantic bravado but a desperate affirmation of their shared fate, the only certainty in a world devoid of other options.