Artefact

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a picture of someone grappling with a fractured sense of self and a relationship that feels irrevocably altered. The opening lines, "Every color turned blue? / How to find the shore in a waterfall?", immediately establish a disorienting emotional landscape where clarity is lost and finding solid ground seems impossible. This sets the stage for the central quest: "I'm looking for an artifact / A piece of me that's still intact." The narrator is searching for an undamaged core of their identity, something that predates the current turmoil. The core tension arises from the narrator's struggle to reconcile their past self with the present reality of the relationship. The post-chorus reveals a history of devotion and a desire to protect something precious, stating, "I considered it home / Believed it was you / I'd leave it alone / I deleted it all / Because it was true." This suggests a significant sacrifice or erasure of past experiences, possibly to preserve the relationship or a perceived ideal. However, the refrain introduces a disturbing duality: "And when you get upset / I can't afford it" followed by "And when you get upset / I kinda like it." This jarring shift hints at a complex, perhaps unhealthy, dynamic where the narrator's emotional stability is tied to the other person's distress. The writing craft effectively uses contrasting imagery and a sense of detachment to convey this internal conflict. The idea of a "heart of styrofoam" in Verse 2 is particularly striking, suggesting a fragile, easily damaged, yet perhaps hollow core. The narrator's admission, "I'm no Rubirosa," and the recurring "This story comes and goes" implies a feeling of inadequacy and an inability to control the narrative of their relationship. The repeated question, "Did you, did you know?" echoes throughout, underscoring a persistent, unresolved inquiry into the other person's awareness or complicity in the situation. Ultimately, the lyrics resonate because they capture the disorienting feeling of losing oneself within a relationship and the desperate search for an authentic, intact self. The narrator's internal conflict, particularly the oscillation between wanting to preserve and being drawn to the chaos, creates a compelling portrait of emotional fragmentation. The fragmented narrative and the unresolved questions leave the listener with a profound sense of unease and empathy for the narrator's search for an "artifact" of their former self.