Manic Analysis- "Alanis' Interlude"

OMG-- I love seventeenth century lit! And I'm so glad you enjoyed this analysis!

English Teacher KP

Loved the analysis! I was not super familiar with Halsey's work before and you really got me into their music. I'm an English teacher too, primarily seventeenth century lit, so your comment about that saying that teachers have their heads in the gutter made me laugh. I definitely relate.

Sonja K.

Very good point!

English Teacher KP

I think “bad news think I’ll probably die before I have you” also points out the high rate of suicidal ideation in young queer kids and how so many of them thought they’d die before they had the ability to just love who they love in public. I feel it adds extra weight to “can’t get caught” because of the violence that might occur if they are.

Mary Kate Doyle

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! To your point about bisexuality, I read somewhere once that bisexual men are often thought of as gay men who are unwilling to commit, whereas bisexual women are thought of as straight women who are confused or just want to "experiment". Either way, the idea is that everyone must ultimately be attracted to men. It was really interesting, and it really shed a light on the deep-seated misogyny within biphobia rhetoric.

English Teacher KP

I love your analysis of this song and I love this song so much! The nails and knees part makes me think of how bissexual women have to deal with people questioning their sexual orientation when they date men and how bisexuals are seen as “indecisive” or “just a phase”. To me the nails mean the woman she’s with and the knees the guys they have been with previously. It could very much be literal but I think it’s also a great metaphor for “I am with this girl but who would believe that I’m bissexual if I also was with these guys”. And I love how they take these little sexual meanings and jokes and turn them into such a simple comment filled with sarcasm and criticize societies views and standards. If I’m not mistaken she has spoken about how angry she gets when asked by the media “but what women have you been with” as if they need to prove they’re bissexual.

Ingrid Veiga

😂😂😂 That is too funny!

English Teacher KP

Thank you so much for sharing your personal connection to the song ❤️❤️❤️

English Teacher KP

I'm so glad you enjoyed it ❤️❤️❤️

English Teacher KP

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Feel better soon ♥️♥️♥️

English Teacher KP

I'll definitely have to check that out! And I agree with you 100% about the syntax and labels!

English Teacher KP

OMG, "tired of" makes so much more sense! Thank you!

English Teacher KP

Idk if you’ve ever been on the lyric website “genius” but they have detailed lyrics where people can leave notes for each line of the song and when you click on it, it explains the meaning of phrases people may not know. It’s so fascinating to see how other people interpret the lyrics. When you click on the line about “bit my nails down so they wouldn’t scratch” there’s a photo of a person with super long acrylic rainbow nails on every finger but two and it’s a meme that says “straight girls would say these would be cute if they weren’t broken” but they’re also painted the same color and obviously meant to not be sharp😂

Nikki S

I’m soo sick with a cold right now and so miserable but this video was the best distraction I’ve had all day!❤️🥰hope you are having a good week!

Nikki S

Love this song so much lol. Halsey has told this story many times of the first girl she Hooked up with and I think it’s the girl they are talking about in the song. They were teenagers and camp counselors together at a church camp and they snuck away together to make out, hoping no one would see them that summer and then afterwards Halsey went home & told her mom what happened and her mom was thankfully so loving and accepting about it and happy for her and said “it’s nothing to be ashamed about”❤️ but yeah my experience with accepting my bisexuality was a hard one that I only recently as an adult came out but I was so terrified as a kid when I was realizing those feelings and having my only view of the lgbtq community being shown to me was of them getting beaten up for being different and I was so scared. I’m sure that could’ve been a reason why Halsey wrote the line “bad news, think I’ll probably die before I have you.” Just the fear of the unknown and wanting to be accepted as you are.

Nikki S

I was going to say that too! Love it!❤️❤️

Nikki S

Halsey does a stripped version of this song that makes it more clear they are “tired” of the labels. It sounds very much like “touting” here with Alanis, so no knock on the lyric video maker. I thought it was “touting” too until I heard the stripped version (which is really lovely). You pulled out everything I love about this song, so I have no further comment other than this was a fun reaction to watch. 😊

There is an interesting part where halsey says "I live for loving in the light" and i think is a call back to their other music. I think of a few tracks where the speaker refers to her lover with religious imagery. In Young God off Badlands her lover says that "there's a light in the crack that separating your thighs" Then in Heaven in Hiding from hfK she refers to her self as such and uses the phrase "crimson headache, aching blush" which like...😩🙌😌 I really think you'd love hopeless fountain kingdom. As a fellow bisexual, I feel a common experience is that we, sometimes become intimate with our closest friends both physically and emotionally (accidently) which for me adds to layers of syntax and mixing of labels.

Moriah

Good news! The official lyric says "Tired of all these labels" not touting, which makes wayyy more sense to me. And with all the sneaking around the "Die before I have you" line, anytime there are queer people who can't be together my mind automatically goes to homophobia. Idk but given they were in school aged I wonder if the subject couldn't be publically out. Also the line "I could be a better man" like maybe the subject can only publically be with men.

Camila Dejesus

Me too, I haven't finished Ashley's book yet but it has been amazing so far and there is a audio version that she reads out as well.

Kayla Sloan

I LOVE that this is related to her poetry!

English Teacher KP

Also one more thing, Halsey has a poetry book and I was just reading the lyrics of this song on genuis lyrics and here is what I also saw... With Lyric: "soft skin, soft eyes All these beautiful laughs and beautiful thighs They always kept me up at night" This may be a reference to the poem “You Were First” in Halsey’s book “I Would Leave Me If I Could”: “All this soft skin, soft eyes All these Beautiful laughs and beautiful thighs Always kept me up at night The truth is I was terrified.”

Kayla Sloan

I've seen some of his interviews with Harry Styles! He is really good! I'll have to check the interview out after we finish the album!

English Teacher KP

I do recommend you watch Halsey on Zane Lowe interview on this album she goes track by track as well as talk through some of the lyrics and talk about what they mean. The interview is about an hour long but it's worth it, Zane Lowe is an amazing interviewer!!!

Kayla Sloan

Ahhhh, thank you so much!

English Teacher KP

Hi the first lyric says [Intro: Alanis Morissette] "And down came your innocence"

Kayla Sloan