Penelope Scott: Dead Girls Meaning
Dead Girls Lyrics
Do solemnly swear
Not to off myself, think about offing myself or continue thinking about offing myself without reaching out for help
After listening to this song
Sometimes I see her on the sidewalk
Biking on the...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:My interpretation of this song is that no one really notices suicidal people irl, or people struggling with suicidal thoughts, people only care about that after you've unalived yourself, and the fact that people are like that makes you feel like the only way to get attention is to unalive yourself. Lyrics like "I wanna be a dead kid like my friends" and "the living need attention too, you like em better dead, when all you ever see are dead girls and all you hear are terrible things " make me think this is what the song is trying to say. Just my interpretation!
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:To me, dead girls is about quite a few different subjects pulled from different places. There's the romanticization of suicide and self harm in places like media as can be seen in lines such as "thats why they're on every show", the death of celebrities/public figures being idolized and spread on social media (there's did girls/kids in my phone, it'd be wrong to say I miss them I didn't really know them, I know it isn't real but I fake it anyway), and repressing your own suicidal feelings behind the mentioned public figures and celebrities. With lines like "I wanna be a dead kid like my friends" it's safe to assume these feelings are being reciprocated by penelope. Lines like "maybe it's about you, the living need attention too, you like em better dead, when all you ever see are dead girls and all you hear are terrible things " also tie into the social media and general public normalization of these concepts. When the lines between genuine support and media content are blurred the motive behind the support becomes unclear.
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3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:to me its about suicide particularly in girls. young girls. maybe trying to discuss how common suicide is. feeling symapathy for them too.
"Sometimes I see them on the sidewalk
Biking on the wet chalk
Spelling out their names
And I feel insane
Cause I know it's just a game
That I'm playing with my brain
I don't see her but I see her and I know it isn't real but I fake it anyway"
to me its dicussing how normal girls could potentially be suicidal. its a real thing, she believes, but is trying to forget it, you know like how society usually does and maybe thats the point exactly. -
I think it’s about girls, or younger girls, who struggle with depression, suicidal thoughts, or self harm, but nobody knows and they seem completely fine and happy. but also the increasing number of these girls committing suicide, and nobody knowing why they did that to themselves, or wondering where they went.
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I think with lines like "i broke the f--king news, it wasnt mine to break" and "gun against your head, youblike them dead" are about suicide and hearing about it a lot. I think "itd be wrong to say i miss them i didnt really know them, i just have a couple friends who say they onew them well... i broke the f--king news, it wasnt mine to break" is about someone youve met, maybe once or twice and accidentally breaking the news to your friends that knew them well. (ive done that with my friend, it hurts once you realize you werent the one that should really be breaking the news) just my interpretaions
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My interpretation is that people feel that their problems aren’t noticed until they’re gone. Eg.”I guesse before you’re gone it can be kinda hard to tell”. Suicide is always romanticized by media eg “you like me better dead”. “Dead girls are the best,that’s why we’re on every show”
“…you like them dead” which can make people feel suicidal.
Hope this helps!! -
I think that dead girls is about how people only really care about those who are struggling (whether it be self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or other things) once they're gone EX: "You like me better dead" "the living need attention too" "I guess before they're gone it can be kinda hard to tell"
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I personally have interpreted this song to be about like missing people and like amber alerts. When it says "if all you hear is terrible news" I think it's talking about all the Amber alerts people get and how it seems to quote on quote "ruin some people's day" because there always seems to be missing people. Also when it says "dead girls, where did they go?" It kind of connects to that. This whole song sounds like it's about the book House of hollow by the way by Krystal Sutherland lmao
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It seems to be the romanticization of tragedy among teen girls. How you are only worth something is you have "depth" through suicidal means. Think early Tumblr. Think Heathers (the movie).
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For me i think that the main girl feels bad about a person she knows unaliving themselves and she starts to romanticize death since she thought that she wasn't good enough for the said dead girl and thinks that the only way to feel safe and get away from her problems is to d1e.
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I think it's about suicide, (pretty obvious) but also with some other elements like people making death/abuse romantic.. this lyric is a example: "you like em' better dead?" etc. The suicide part is mostly at the start of the song, I think it's the perspective of a girl. "sometimes I see her on the sidewalk, biking on the wet chalk ,spelling out their names, and I feel insane 'cause I know it's just a game that I'm playing with my brain. I don't see her but I see her and I know it isn't real but I fake it anyway." So, basically, I think that the girl is guilty because a girl she knew committed suicide and this is her seeing the girl. Sorry, that was confusing. But the one that's still alive blames herself for the other girls death, leading the main one to be suicidal herself: "I wanna be a dead girl with my friends, dead girl, home again." that's just my interpretation of the first part though
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I feel like it's about romanticising death. She reads about all the girls who die too young and thinks about them and misses them despite her not even knowing them, but then she realises that the dead girls get to escape all their problems and get to be seen in this perfect life and she becomes almost jealous, which obviously has suicidal implecations but I believe its more like wanting to escape and grief.
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I think the song might be the early stages of grief. If that makes any sense. The 'dead girl' the singer keeps referring too might be a close friend and/or relative. and might be haunted by their death or experiencing severe hallucinations from it.
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I saw this as a song about starting to struggle with your mental health, and not wanting to accept it yet, but suddenly being acutely aware of all the unaliving going on around you
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I think it could be about being paranoid and wanting to commit unalive. She says I wanna be a dead girl in the song so.. that could mean she wants to be unalive.
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