Paramore - Misery Business Lyrics Meaning

May 2024 · 10 minute read
anonymous

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Oct 9th 2012 !⃝

It starts out with boy meets girl, girl befriends boy and later falls for boy, and is about to confess feelings for boy when Ms. Ex comes onto the scene and gets him caught in her web of manipulation. Eight months later, Ms. Ex and The Boy to break up. Ms. Singer and The Boy confess their feelings for each other and find love. This pisses off Ms. Ex really badly, and she tries to steal The Boy back. (This part isn't interpreting; Hayley said so herself.)

Let's break it down.

Despite the tone of this song being angry and smug, you can tell Ms. Singer is genuine person just struggling with difficult feelings, as well as a a rather grueling set of circumstances. It doesn't sound like she tried anything to mess up things between Ms. Ex and The Boy while they were together, despite knowing Ms. Ex was not good for him. I'm sure there are people out there who would be like, "Steal him away! That girl's a bitch! You're better for him!" and so they'd see Ms. Singer coming between The Boy and Ms. Ex as an okay thing, but that is the unfortunate moment when Ms. Singer would have crossed into "other woman" territory, no matter how much she loved The Boy, and no matter how honest and pure her intentions were about it. (She's not interested in sex, so she must like him for who he is.) Maybe some people would be okay with other-womanhood, but not Ms. Singer. She wants to be as real a person as possible and maintain her self-respect. If she home-wrecked their relationship, that would be the foundation for her partnership with The Boy even if they did get together. Besides, she's just not that mean or controlling. So, she gave them space, and then when the relationship went sour, it just kind of worked out that Ms. Singer ended up telling this guy her feelings. She was in love with him for real, and she wanted to be real with him. As someone who has a deep disdain for acting fake, it must have been hard for her to keep that feeling inside, especially knowing The Boy would probably get hurt.

I've read some interpretations where people think that The Boy is probably a "douchebag", using both Ms. Singer and Ms. Ex, and that this song's just a mess of sucky, jealous, angst-ridden hormonal teens. I really don't think so. Ms. Singer is so against people putting on airs, especially to get someone's attention with intentions of getting laid. I don't think she'd fall for a guy who's all about sex wherever he can get it. In that case, the only other type that would really go for a girl like Ms. Ex (and later HAPPILY with Ms. Singer) would be a Reliably Nice Guy type. Typical formula. "Oh, other people just don't understand [jerky person]. I can help [jerky person] change." Naive, but well-intentioned. If Ms. Ex flits from between guys, and yet stayed with The Boy for a whole eight months… There was probably something there addictive for her. Someone who would shower her with the attention she wanted, do almost anything in his power that she asked, and yet also put up with massive amounts of abuse without leaving, still thinking the better of her. Maybe she did have some kind of attachment to him, but not healthy enough to be considered love. There's also a pretty good chance Ms. Ex was unfaithful (ranging from individual acts to outright cheating), as Ms. Singer insists on the use of "whore". (More on that later.)

Don't know if you noticed from the video, but Ms. Ex is downright psycho. Do you see everything she's doing? Cutting people's hair, pushing them over, Jesus CHRIST. She's treating people like shit just because she's a vindictive bitch. SHE's the one who's being unbearably nasty to people, and she has it out for Ms. Singer like Ms. Singer is the devil. She sees The Boy happy, which drives her crazy, because he's not only loving another girl, but doing much better with this other girl, and maybe to some degree, she realizes how good she had it with him. Now The Boy is happy with Ms. Singer? Rage! If Ms. Ex is going to be miserable, so should everyone around her, am I right? She has to get The Boy back, and destroy Ms. Singer.

At first, Ms. Singer still doesn't react to it. "She has it out for me, but I wear the biggest smile." Her strategy until now has been to simply smile and ignore this girl's antics. To just be happy with The Boy. That's enough to piss Ms. Ex the fuck off. Not that Ms. Singer is being happy with that purpose in mind. She's not being happy for revenge. It's just her natural state. She didn't intend to brag, she wasn't trying to win some sort of game, but she has him where she wants him now; in her arms, in her heart, and away from Ms. Ex's cray. Ms. Singer loves The Boy very much, and so she's very happy. They sound like they have a meaningful relationship.

Ms. Singer finally just snapped, you know? She tried to be decent and respectful and brush off Ms. Ex's antics, but Ms. Ex is in no way returning that favor (probably due to her supreme lack of basic human morality), and so Ms. Singer snaps. She's snapping in defense of her guy, herself, and with the video, of other people who have been in the wake of Ms. Ex's tornado of fury. If she doesn't, Ms. Ex will keep bullying. I think that's why the tone is so harsh, using terms like "stealing it away from you" and such. Ms. Singer's pissed off, too! This girl really hurt the guy she loves. Ms. Ex had something good, someONE really good, and she destroyed that relationship, just like she seems to destroy everything, and now she wants it back? No. So, even though Ms. Singer's mostly glad just to be with The Boy, she admits these "bitchier" feelings as well. Again, she's not bragging, as it's not like Ms. Singer planned for it to work out as such between her and The Boy, but yes, she does feel like gloating a little. She sings the truth; the uncensored, triumphant, harsh, yet RELIEVED (yes, there's definitely relief here) truth. I admire her honesty precisely because I sense it was hard to admit. It's hard to admit even the most well meaning persons have unkind thoughts sometimes.

Some get stuck on a mindset that ends up trapping them their whole life. I think Ms. Ex's desire for attention adjacent to her contempt for the rest of the world is her "trap". To be adored by others, yet not giving a shit about them. Ms. Ex thinks she's unbeatable. I know a lot of people had issues with the word "whore" here. That's not a word that I typically use, as it suggests a woman is morally incorrect for having a certain amount of sex, but as I think Ms. Singer is more alluding to the way Ms. Ex exploits the wellbeing of others using her sexuality, I'm not offended in this case. I'm not sure Ms Ex will change either.

I thought the lines about not forgiving were really interesting. It sounds like Ms. Ex offered some kind of truce or tried to be friends again, probably because she felt so low now that she finally hasn't got something she wanted, or anyone to depend on, yet she's still doing things to try and get back with The Boy. While it's often hard for people to forgive others, there are some folks who find it hard to FOREGO forgiving others. Their instinct is to give others the benefit of the doubt and another chance. They can see why others would do what they've done. I sense this about Ms. Singer, so for her NOT to be able to forgive is further suggestive of the weight of Ms. Ex's actions. Ms. Ex has done some extremely fucked up things. Ms. Singer isn't going to forgive just because that's what nice girls are supposed to do. It's not like Ms. Ex hurt The Boy and then stopped; she's been tyrading for an extended period of time, therefore Ms. Singer will stand her ground.

Ms. Singer just doesn't CARE. She's been pushed into a stage where she doesn't give a shit about Ms. Ex at ALL. She has NO desire to seek recourse. Any patience and sympathy she may have once had washed entirely out. She's so happy to have this woman out of her life and to be with The Boy that she doesn't care about the usual social niceties, at least in that respect.

Ms. Ex clearly gets joy out of fucking with people's head just for the hell of it. She walks right up to that guy with his girlfriend, makes out with him, and then walks away, greatly upsetting them both. She didn't WANT him. She just wanted to assert her power. If straight up force doesn't work, Ms. Ex works her allure. Nobody else in this hallway tried to stop her. They're all afraid of her, precisely because of how little she cares about ANYTHING, because that means she'll DO anything to get what she wants. Ms. Singer's not like that. She refuses to put out just for a relationship, to compromise her values, and yet she and The Boy are still quite happy, especially while he's achieving his dreams with Ms. Singer at his side. Actually, that line makes it sound like they've been together for a long while now. The Boy's experienced genuine love, and so he's happy with Ms. Singer. He doesn't need Ms. Ex's false attention anymore. There's even a good chance Ms. Ex was holding him back. "I watched his wildest dreams come true, not one of them involving you."

Pulling the padding out of Ms. Ex's bra at the end, washing off her makeup… That is Ms. Singer's ultimate moment of bravery. She symbolically takes away Ms. Ex's image of perfect allure, stealing away Ms. Ex's ability to influence as well as her cold-hearted confidence, the weapons she uses against other people. They also symbolize how fake Ms. Ex is, how she'll twist the truth, even down to her own body image, to get her way. Ms. Singer takes away Ms. Ex's power. Let's not forget this is a woman who clearly and without hesitation physically (and even sexually, considering the forced kiss) bullied others all down the hallway. Ms. Singer stands up to this girl, and with the ultimate "Fuck-you", stares her down with a smile and BAM. Smaller, REAL boobs and clean face for Ms. Ex. Ms. Singer could have taken a swing at this girl. Could have cut her hair, just like Ms. Ex did to the girl in the hall. She could have started screaming, or caused a scene. Nope. Just a very well played, metaphorical, "Bitch, please." Ms. Singer doesn't need to use violence or make a scene to make her point. That's not what she wants, anyway. Again, Ms. Ex has been lowered to "just some girl with an attitude" in Ms. Singer's view. She was able to take Ms. Ex down a few pegs simply by disarming her. (Or should I say dis-breasting her?) Ms. Singer is genuine, and she is not going to let anyone, especially not her boy, take anymore shit from Ms. Ex, but she also won't stoop to Ms. Ex's level to cease the rampage. Perfect closure.

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