NF: Let You Down Meaning
Song Released: 2017
Let You Down Lyrics
I wish that I could say I'm proud
I'm sorry that I let you down
Let you down
All these voices in my head get loud
I wish that I could shut them out
I'm sorry that I let you down
L-l-let you...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:I can imagine that the whole song is about NF and his relationship with his Dad... A kind of concilliatory text..
but probably mostly from his own point of view...now that he is older and wiser, he looks back and realizes that he too was a tough kid at times... as most kids are as teens for example and that his Dad probably tried his best to be a good Dad..at a time that was also tough for his Dad...
He sings in a harsh tone "Yeah, I guess I'm a disappointment..." This is NF saying all the things that need to be said as a young man rebelling at everything that he thinks makes him a failure so that he can get rid of all his resentment for what happened to his family and the way he saw things when he younger... parents' divorce, teen life with Dad and Mother's suicide etc...
Then, the "older, more reasonable and understanding voice of the refrain:
It's his older and wiser self talking... "I wish that I could say I'm proud... sorry that I let you down..." He realizes that he also screwed up along the way and though he wanted to make his Dad proud, also made some wrong choices in his life...
So, on the one hand he feels disadvantaged and is missing a lot of what he feels his Dad should have given him in terms of love and support and on the other hand he knows that it also wasn't easy for his Dad and feels that he let him down as well...
So I am thinking that maybe this song is a concilliatory gesture to his Dad... on the one hand.. making him responsible for how he turned out but at the same time reaching out to him for forgiveness for the things he also did wrong... -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:You know. It’s a tough song. Many interpretations. The one that stands out is between NF and his father. If your a teenage guy or girl, you struggle to listen and try. You feel like nothing you do is correct. This is why NF said “ its okay, I’m a let down, but it’s okay I moved out.” When this part comes up it talks about how he feels like everything he did was a let down to his dad. As a teenage boy (me) I can relate and say that this is real.
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3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:At the end of the music video we find out the old man is Nathan.
I think this song represents NF feeling like he's let himself down, like it's his older self looking back on his younger years. He's realizing he just stood back and let his real, or good, or important (whatever you want to call it), parts of himself "die". -
Its my own interpretation of the video and song...its not exactly what the creator means...when I watch it I think of myself as the older man and my brother as the younger man...& if I just interpreted it w/o myself involved..I see a father regretting not being there for his son sooner and the son drowning in his addiction... I think sons and father's have a very special relationship us females might not understand. Sometimes the mother can be intrusive on the decisions of the father which lead him to make choices that are not his towards how handle the sons failed behavior or addiction, anything. So he finally speaks up when its to late and tells him sorry son I wasnt there for you...but the guilt leaves him ashamed & regretful. Giving him no positive closure or conclusion...just the constant reminder what could've been -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I love this song! It is amazing and I always thought of it as a break up song or something. *I don't really have a lot to say rn*
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I think Let You Down is about his relationship between him and his dad. On one hand, he thinks his dad was not there for him, but on the other hand he feels like it was also his fault. He thinks that his father is making him carry all of his burdens, plus his own. However, when he looks back he also sees his faults in the situation and partially feels like it is his fault, and blames himself. I can relate because I am currently dealing with the same thing.
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I feel like he struggles knowing his dad porb thinks hes a let down when he says "i so sorry yeah i am sorry that i let you down" and thats how i feel my friend thinks that i am a let down
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Personally i think that he let his self down. in the music video, the older man is himself and he is watching all the things that happened to himself. Plus, at the end of the video, a women says, "Nathan."
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I think this song is about how NF never really had a good relationship with his father, and he feels manipulated every time he talks to him "I feel like every time I talk to you, you're in an awful mood" he's indicating that his old man never respected him or what he did "I guess I'm a disappointment". "Sit around and talk about the good times
That didn't even happen
I mean, why are you laughing?
Must have missed that joke let me see if I can find a reaction
No, but at least you're happy" He's saying that his father laughed about "the good times", even though he believes there weren't any. -
It’s about living as your families scapegoat, never being good enough to meet your parents expectations. When you are raised with narcissists all they want to do is control you, they gaslight you and manipulate you into believing you’re in the wrong and they can do no harm. I especially related to the bit about the sofa and the lecturing, I got that all the time and now I find lounges cold and unwelcoming.
I grew up this way, I feel like I let myself down for not realising sooner that this was abuse. -
before i saw the music vidio i thought it was about a brake up. but after, i see its about him letting himself down. this makes the most sense because in other songs, like Nate he says "at 27, we'll make millions, but it's really sad 'cause you learn to realize that non of this will make you happy" this clearly shows' he is depressed and maybe has wasted his time trying to find things to make him happy. also in Nate he says "find a time machine to take me back to when i was six" this show's he wants to go back in time to change his decisions in the past. all these quotes are evidence the song let you down is about himself letting himself down.
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I think it’s about how Nathan thinks he let himself down. Not that he had a tough time meeting his parents expectations, but rather he didn’t meet his own. Because of that he tortures himself.
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I know from behind the lyrics its about his dad who he lived with when his parents got divorced his moms boyfriend abused him. This is about his relationship with his dad. people think at the end of the video its nathan because it says nathan but that might not be true. If it is its nathan looking over his regrets but it could be his dad and nathan in the coffin. His dad is regretting how he raised nathan
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The song is about him looking back at the things he did at the past and knows what he did was not up to the standards he wanted them to be it could be failing classes, making everyone dissapointed in you and lots more. I think this is a good song for people who know what there doing is wrong but do it anyway.
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I think all the characters are a person. The death of the young man expresses the destruction and abandonment of the protagonist when he was young. On the surface, the elderly et young man dOWn. In fact, the young man disappointed the old man and could see it from the last old man crying. MV shows an old man's recollection of his youth from the angle of a third person. He sees his step towards destruction, but he has no power, grief, weakness, and repentance.
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Honestly there are so many way to relate to this,like let u down he could be talking about how he let himself down,or it could be about his parents and him letting them down but theres many diffrent viewing especailly compared to the video.
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This song is beautiful for a lot of reasons. I think Nathan is watching himself go thru things that would make one suffer. He is drowning in emotion. He is burning from the guilt. He feels like he let his parents down. But did he? The parents were the ones who were supposed to protect him. They were supposed to be there. They were supposed to be "loyal." But they werent. No parent should ever put their kids through what he went threw. But because the world isnt perfect. They do, do it. I hope he can rise above it. Be the better person.
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