Song Meaning
The lyrics paint a picture of a desperate, almost performative night out, driven by a need to feel alive. The narrator and their companions venture out not for genuine joy, but to "justify ourselves," clinging to any sensation, however "bloated," as proof of existence. This sets a tone of anxious validation, where feeling something, anything, is the primary goal.
The central tension arises from the overwhelming sense of shared experience and the subsequent futility. The "stomach full of kisses" that are immediately "throw[n] up on the floor" suggests a messy, uncontainable, and ultimately wasted intimacy or connection. This act of expulsion mirrors the feeling of being lost in a crowd, where individual moments or affections lose their meaning.
The repeated question, "So what the fuck are we supposed to do / When there are so many of us," highlights a profound existential confusion. The sheer number of people, both present and historical ("so many / Before us"), seems to paralyze the narrator, making any personal action or connection feel insignificant. The "kisses we share / Keep ending on the floor" becomes a potent, if visceral, metaphor for failed attempts at meaningful connection in a world that feels too crowded and indifferent.
This writing is effective because it grounds its existential dread in raw, almost uncomfortable imagery. The "kisses" that are vomited up are not romantic, but a physical manifestation of overwhelming, unmanageable emotion or experience. The bluntness of the language and the cyclical nature of the problem – going out to feel something, only to have those feelings spill out meaninglessly – create a powerful sense of futility and shared, yet isolating, experience.