Melanie Martinez: Soap Meaning
Soap Lyrics
Think I just remembered something
I think I left the faucet running
Now my words are filling up the tub
Darling, you're just soaking in it
But I know you'll get out the minute
You notice all your fingers pruning up
...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:Contrary to alot of the comments here, I don't think its about being rejected. I think the song is about Crybaby already being in a relationship with someone, but they haven't gotten serious yet. Neither one has said "Love" yet.
"I'm tired of being careful, gentle, trying to keep the water warm." And "I'm tired of all the games I have to play." She's tired of holding back her feelings and playing all the little mind games many people do in order not to seem 'desperate'.
"My words are filling up the tub, darling you're just soaking in it, but I know you'll get out the minute your fingers start pruning up" She knows her feelings are stronger than his and she wants to keep things comfortable, but she can't hold back. She soaks him in her affection, but she knows he'll leave once he gets uncomfortable.
"I said too much, it over flowed, why do I always spill?" Why is she always the one that falls in too deep and too quickly? The song is very relatable. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:My interpretation is a little skewed. I was introduced to this song from my teenage daughter, so I'm seeing it from the viewpoint of a father. But here goes.
I feel like the song is about young love, or being very early in a relationship.
The first verse starts with Melanie saying "I just remembered something, I just let the faucet running...", which reminds me of that feel of being lost in love, butterflies in your stomach, and you are stumbling to find words as you are overwhelmed with dreams and emotions. But there's an edge to it because Melanie also realizes that all that inundation of affection might be a turn off to her Significant other, or that her SO might just hit critical mass and get tired of it.
Which Melanie really hits well with the line "You notice all your Fingers pruning up", as most people take this as a sign that you've been in the bath long enough.
The pre-chorus is where Melanie begins to realize she's getting tired of the show that "Young Love" requires. Shows like pretending that things are perfect, that love is infallible and naive, that even she herself needs to cater to her significant other by not being herself. That's why she's tired of being careful about what she says or acts, tip toe'ing around the delicate issues, and that she's tired of putting on this show of keeping things warm and tepid. It takes energy to keep something cold warm.
This point of the song is where I think Melanie realizes she's passed that honeymoon phase of the relationship. When she says "Get under your skin", I think her beau has just been as reciprocal with the relationship, that he hasn't noticed the pruning of his fingers, and he's a little candy eyed. Get under your skin normally means "to bother", so it feels like Melanie is tired of being this perfect thing her beau is smitten with.
As the song goes on, it feels like some of the lyrics match this. Things like "Should've never said the word "Love". She accidentally "Let it overflow" and her boyfriend now thinks she feels more than she actually does. The throwing the toaster in the bathtub basically means that saying the word "Love" basically killed her chance to cleanly break free. I really like her use of "SO I fill bath with bubbles...put the towels all away". I interpret that as the bubbles offer her a place to hide from her boyfriends constant loving, and she wants to stay hidden for a while, thus putting the towels away and not wanting to get out of the bubble bath just yet.
The line "I'm sick of all the games I have to play" also makes it feel like she's putting on a show for her super smitten boyfriend, pretending to be more into him then she actually is.
Overall I think the song is sweet, but about young love. It's when you pass that honeymoon phase where you don't lie to yourself about who you are with anymore. The thing is people can leave the honeymoon phase at different parts of the relationship, Melanie just got out earlier than her significant other. She doesn't exactly resonate that she wants to leave, it sounds like she's just tired of the charade.
Which leads to the lyrics of washing your mouth out with soap. I think the neat thing of this song is she didn't say anything bad that requires the old cliche of washing ones mouth out with soap, but instead said something she didn't fully mean "I love you" and now realizes she didn't fully love the person that way, and wish she could take back those words.
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3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:I think this song means that she wants to take something back that she said. There is a line that says "I think I got myself in trouble, so I'll fill the bath with bubbles" as in, if you could take something back you said, there is a painful process.
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Despite all the interpretations saying it's about love,I think it's about Crybaby always stuffing down her feelings because whenever she tries to talk no one ever listens. The lyric,"Should've never said the word 'love'" Makes me believe that Crybaby tried to talk about love but no one would listen to what she was saying and instead started blowing everything out of proportion. Also the lyric,"I said too much, it overflowed
Why do I always spill?" Indicates the same thing,Crybaby trying to speak up but no one wanting to listen.
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I think she was in a relationship but never thought he was right for her so she kept on trying to find the right person but couldn’t so she tried to hold back her emotions
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Although I'm sure this isn't the actual meaning of the song, to me it feels like it relates to self-harm, as in punishing yourself when you make a mistake or say something stupid, which is why she says "guess I better wash my mouth out with soap". It's probably not a metaphor for self-harm but that's just my interpretation.
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I think this song is about melanie making a mistake with word choices when she tried to tell her boyfriend if they want to increace the level of their relationship and ends up being dumped by the guy. Since she said things like "uh-oh there it goes I've said too much it overflowed why do I always spill?" And it could also be about Melanie (crybaby) being in a relationship with someone who gets angry really easily and she (Melanie) was tired of being patient with him (her boyfriend), so she tries to talk to him in a nice way but ends up being alone again. I thought this because she said stuff like "I'm tired of being careful, gentle trying to keep the water warm let me under your skin"
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I’m not entirely sure if this is correct, but here is just how i interpreted it. I believe the song is overall about saying something and regretting it later. I think in the song she’s specifically referring to admitting her feelings towards someone. “Should’ve never said the word love, threw a toaster in the bathtub”, is probably talking about her confessing her love and it going horribly wrong.
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Unpopular Opinion.
My interpretation is Abusive parents.
(!! I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON THESE TYPE OF THINGS! THIS IS JUST WHAT I THINK!!)
Hear me out.
First verse: "I think I left the faucet running, now my words are filling up the tub, Darling you're just soaking in it"
First line, is them doing something bad, second line is the child using excuses to hopefully avoid conflict with their parent.
Then you have the last line. They're soaking in it? Could be that the parent is enjoying this, causing their child to come up with excuses, knowing they'll give them into trouble anyway?
Onto the second verse.
"I'm tired of being careful, tip-toe; trying to keep the water warm"
Showing that the child is tired of having to be careful around said parent and having to walk on eggshells around them.
In the second line, it could mean they're trying to make sure the mood is safe for them to be around their parent. Making sure they don't say anything that'd again cause them trouble.
Later in the second verse it says: "I said too much, it overflowed; Why do I always spill?"
The child having said too much, thus changing the mood, making it not safe for the child.
Third Verse: "Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap; God, I wish I never spoke"
The first line there, maybe trying to rectify what they've said by doing such a thing. It's a common expression for parents to use when a child says something dirty, like a swear word. Perhaps these parents have said this for anything the child says that upsets them.
In the second line, they're showing regret for what they've said.
In the fourth verse, the whole verse could be used as an example:
"Think I got myself in trouble; So I fill the bath with bubbles; Then I put the towels all away; Should've never said the word "love"; threw a toaster in the bathtub; I'm sick of all the games I have to play"
Now in the first like it reflects on the person saying something to upset the parents.
The second line and third, showing the child trying to please their parents by running them a bath and putting towels away, again maybe a method to keep the mood away from them getting in trouble.
In the fourth line it goes onto saying not saying "love" potentially something that's banned or a "dirty word" deemed by the parents.
In the fifth line, they go on to speak about throwing a toaster into the bath. Possibly wanting to kill the parent/s to escape the abuse.
Then the last line reiterates the child having to walk on eggshells around the parents and how they're tired of it.
thanks for reading! -
I think the song is about the fear she faced while saying her feelings to someone.She was afraid of his reaction.What if it's a no.Let me under your skin I think is about her love sickness. She wanted him so bad.If it's a no she can't handle that pain that's why she decided to not tell him straight but by giving hints and yet she regrets because either he haven't understood or act like one.People in love act weird,say weird and sure they regret about it later.
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Everyone here seems to think soap is about love and relationships but I, someone who has listened to this song since I was young, believe it's about anxiety, I myself have anxiety and this just really speaks to me. Although it still can be about love, it's more of how anxiety can get in the way of love. "Uh-oh there it goes, I said too much it overflowed. Why do I always spill?" This particular part refers to the overthinking that comes with anxiety and how she said something to whoever she liked and is now regretting it cause she's overthinking about it so much.
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I think it's about saying something you regret that you can't take back, but people won't forget and latch onto it and make your life miserable because of your slip up.
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So I think this son is about crybaby's love life. Her and her boyfriend haven't gotten serious but she is tired of that "I'm tired of being careful,gentle, tryna keep the water warm, let me under your skin." I mean, just read it a few times. She is tired of being careful with her boyfriend and not not doing anything with her boyfriend but it says let me under your skin which basically means she wants to have sex.
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A relationship gets toxic and then she didn't feel free to say what she wanted to say to she has to talk very carefully and sometimes she says the wrong thing and she regrets it and wishes she never said anything.
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I think this is about regret or taking something back, maybe the word love or maybe it's going into something deeper than love. What if this is about a love that went wrong as in one sided or a problem with a friend? Said something you can't take back and trying to fix it by "filling the bathtub with bubbles"
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I think this song means that Crybaby fell in love with a guy but it turned bad. I feel like he probably lost feelings or broke up with her. She regrets letting herself fall in love with him when he just was going to hurt her and tries to take back the things she said to him so she won’t get hurt further. “Should’ve never said that word love,” “I better wash my mouth out with soap.” However, she’s also tired of having to be careful in order to protect her heart and just wants a mutually meaningful relationship with him. “Tired of being careful Now, all of her feelings are bursting out of her and she doesn’t know how to cope with them. “I feel it coming out my th
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I think this song means that Crybaby fell in love with a guy but it turned bad. I feel like he probably lost feelings or broke up with her. She regrets letting herself fall in love with him when he just was going to hurt her and tries to take back the things she said to him so she won’t get hurt further. “Should’ve never said that word love,” “I better wash my mouth out with soap.” However, she’s also tired of having to be careful in order to protect her heart and having to be perfect just to get him to care. “Tired of being careful, tiptoe, tryna keep the water warm.” Now, all of her feelings are bursting out of her and she doesn’t know how to cope with them. “I feel it coming out my throat” “threw a toaster in the bathtub”
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A mom who is strict tells crybaby that she can't say anything rude, but finds everything offensive. Crybaby is stuck where she can barely say anything and her mom makes her wash her mouth out with soap and then Crybaby gets a crush and everything she says to the boy is so boring because she feels that her mom is watching. She ends up sick of her mom and throws her toaster in the bathtub.
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