in this one i talk about wilbur soot a teensy bit Trigger Warning: Depictions of suicide Chapters: 0:00 1. Wilbur Soot 2:23 2. Self-loathing 3:51 3. Blackmail 7:54 4. Unchecked Jealousy 11:07 5. Blackmail, Again
I genuinely do think there’s a canon through line in all of Wilbur’s work. I mean technically, of course there would be, it’s based on his own life. But y’know.
I’ve always thought that will’s lyrics had a deeper meaning. I just love how every single lovejoy song is a complete different story and somehow manages to maintain a perfect balance between song writing and storytelling
I unfortunately cannot find the video, but I saw one video essay that explained perfectly how every Lovejoy song links together, telling a story about 3 person's, and their different perspectives, the girl, the ex and the current lover. Tho this video was made for pebble brain and anvil cat I do think that WU&IO does also fit this stories
i went to a lovejoy show in may and they played sex sells. from my memory, will himself said that the song is about the singer's downstairs neighbour and upstairs neighbour coming to see each other for an affair. the singer uses this to his advantage and i have a video of only the end of the explanation unfortunately but in the video he says "so what you do is you go and you blackmail her and say im gonna tell your husband if you dont give me all your money" thought it would be cool for you to know :)
@@stupidestellayeah, I think so! I actually guessed that it wasn't about him since it has this line, also because of the many stories I've heard of noisy upstairs neighbors that have a lot of drama. It was just a guess though.
I think the lyric “now it’s red” might be another play at the sex industry, known also as the “red light district”. “Now it’s red - Now it’s dead- Now it’s everything she needed” meaning it does not matter what feelings the sex workers may have for its her that wants a “happy ending” But amazing analysis, very well made!
In my personal view I interpret the phrase "sex sells" to mean that wilbur's ex was essentially bought from him with sex by the other guy. The other guy was better and Wilbur copes with this by telling us (and himself) that sex sells to people who want it, it shows that Wilbur feels incompetent in that department and this is a jealous line poking at the fact that he views his ex to have been bribed away from him with better sex
When I looked at the lyrics to Sex Sells a while ago, I interpreted it differently. I saw it as the perspective of four different people. The first is our Narrator, the second is his neighbor below his flat, the third is the neighbors girlfriend, and the four a rich man. I believe song is about the neighbors partner cheating and getting with the rich man. The song starts out with “you think he’d realize, but he’s infatuated with ideas of possessions and far-flung social policies”. This is about the neighbor, who is to blind to see his partner cheating as he wants to believe in the social policies such as monogamy as well as being loyal and faithful to your partner. The next lines are just background of the neighbor, how he comes from a nice background as his father works on the council, and that, despite being a Tory, his partner still fell for him. When the lines “and I’ll listen carefully, with ears pressed to the floor, as you make your way downstairs, you haven’t got far to fall” is the narrator saying how he can hear the neighbors partner leaving to go see the rich man. The next line “pillows pressed under your knees” implies that the neighbors partner is cheating with the rich man. The line “now it’s a sad sappy sucker” is actually a double entendre, as first, the cheating partner is reflecting on her actions because she had sex with the rich man (I think you can get what she gave him from the words “sucker”) as well as the neighbor finally realizing and accepting what happened and being a “sappy sucker”, sappy meaning sentimental as well as being called a sucker for ignoring or not knowing what his partner was doing. Then there is the line “a Capricorn oh fuck that, they say sex sells I know that” is the neighbor trying to find an excuse for his cheating partner, but he says “fuck that” and understand ls that “sex sells” Now that the partner knows, he both “can’t sleep with the lights on” or “sleep with the lights off”, because either way, he knows his partner is not in bed with him as she went out to cheat on him. When the lyrics get giving background of the rich man, the song tells us he’s a “cultured man, Venetian suntan” with a life of luxury with red wine and club bands. The question is then asked “how does it feel to be so loved yet so alone”, this again saying how he has feels “love” when having the cheating partner with him, yet he also knows it’s not real love. The narrator can be saying the same line to each of the other three with the lines “so will you do what’s easy, or will you do what’s right” meaning if each of them will do what is easy and let this continue, or do what’s right and acknowledge what is going on. Another like that applies to the three is “where will you sleep tonight” as the neighbor can’t sleep knowing his partner is cheating, the rich man feels no real love, and the cheating partner can’t stay at the rich man’s place to make it seem like she isn’t cheating, but if she goes back home she wouldn’t be able to sleep still after her actions. This is just my interpretation of the song, but maybe others can have different ideas as well
I really like your interpretation and think it makes a lot of sense, the only thing I have a different view on is on the phrase 'how does it feel to be so loved yet so alone'. I have always interpreted this phrase as being directed at the cheater girl. She has both her partner's love and her lover's love, but in reality her partner no longer loves her (maybe that's why she feels compelled to cheat on him?) And moreover she knows that her lover has a purely sexual relationship with her. So she finds herself 'receiving love' from both but at the same time being deeply lonely.
@@clauharu2317 yes, that is exactly what I was trying to say! i also think the line applies to both the partner as well as the rich man she cheats on him with, so the line has multiple meanings at the same time.
Another detail, in the Dream SMP (Yes, cringe, whatever) when his character dies his soul goes to his limbo/afterlife, which is a train station that he stays for a number of years, 13-15 or so. Everyon'e limbo is personalized to suit their personality when they had been alive, keep in mind, so it might be he chose the lonely, cold and quiet train station as his limbo in the lore as a reference to the album Your City Gave me Asthma possibly as well as his past hardships in real life.
Wilbur is one of the few musical artists that I would also consider a storyteller, because every one of his songs, even pre lovejoy manages not only to convey an idea or story via his lyrics, but emotions via his use of music, almost every song he makes has some feel, some emotion that I can’t find or hear in many other songs, that’s what makes his music so distinct to me.
Awesome video, i always just kinda sung the lyrics without realising what they meant so this puts another view on the whole song. its amazing how such a small channel can make such a great video, Hope you get the views and likes you deserve big man
this is why wilbur's one of my absolute favourite artists, because each and every song he has has a much much deeper meaning and just layers of emotion
i relate to the songwriting in wilbur's personal work as well as lovejoy. over the years, every song hes made has hit me at the perfect time in my life, and everything just feels close to my life goodness me these men are geniuses
this is very interesting to watch! ive had a special interest on wilbur soot/lovejoy for about 3 ish years now, but he has admitted that some of lovejoy songs are based apon bar storys or storys he’s heard. i love analyzed perspectives of his writing though, i personally have analyzed sense i saw vianna in many ways. his writing is so witty i love it. he is such a descriptive writing, with witt to back it up. live, laugh, love lovejoy hehe
I have always found it so interesting that the song is written from the perspective if wilbur believing so strongly he is right, almost trying to convince the person listening, but at the same time hints are given to the listener that maybe his assesments if his situation is the problem instead of the situation itself. It really makes the listener empathize with him and his absolute belief in his clouded mind which is really interesting.
cool analysis, it's a good spinoff of that one video that dives even deeper in a different direction :D basically they overanalyze every single lyric but you did a nice job pointing out the important stuff (also might get age restricted because of 0:40)
I like to see people taking a deeper dive into stuff, and willbur has admitted To some messed up stuff from his past and the way people have treated him so some of his songs are based on irl experiences of willbur, but some are just made to tell a story
I really really liked this, it gave a new perspective on his music. From now on I'll try to pay more attention to the lyrics, lol. What did catch me off guard though was the clips used from the shaky knees music festival cause I was there LOL
hah your channel is so underrated, keep it up, you have a great voice and interesting perspectives i feel like i sort of always had your points in the back of my mind, but now this sort of opened a different perspective for me. now when i'm listening to the songs i feel like i can differentiate each and every metaphor into just exactly what you're saying here. ---- also sorry for the now chunky comment, but i have a question, are some of the music videos you're using in this video fan mvs? i don't recognize some of them as lovejoy's so yeah if you're able to link them that'd be cool :) *and if you were the one that made them for any particular reason that's sick*
Dude this mind blowing, I don't have anything of importance to say other than that this is an amazing analysis! I wish I was smart and could add more to the conversation lol
The first time I listen to songs I like to listen without analyzing/paying attention to the lyrics and then if I like it I'll go back again and pay attention, the thing with Lovejoy songs though is that they're so upbeat at such a fast pace that you kind of get lost in it which threw me off. I think the songs Wilbur made on his own in the beginning of his career, like Internet Ruined Me, were satirical and considered that Lovejoy's could be too since he writes them but after looking at the lyrics they do look like the aftermath of a break up, we can try to piece together what happened but they're just vague enough so we never see the full picture.
I feel so bad for Wilbur, that pain is horrible, I can’t say I know how it feels, because some people can feel different than others when that happens, but most of the things that Wilbur has gone through, I have too
after watching this video, it just made me want to sing with Wilbur and Lovejoy's songs/albums with more passion now that I have a new perspective of the meaning of the lyrics.
I find it weird at some points when you refer to Wilbur as the person in the songs, because it isn’t, it’s just an incel character. I’m sure you already knew this but didn’t know how to phrase, which is totally fine of course. I just think people that don’t have as much knowledge on this may actually believe Wilbur is as terrible as you paint him out to be, even though he isn’t. Aside from that, great video! You’ve definitely earned a subscriber!
Hi! thanks for subscribing, i really really appreciate it. I get what you mean about people being mislead and will definitely add a disclaimer in the description. The reason I often refer to Wilbur doing these things is just to keep a flow in the story being told.
I find this funny because iirc in Wilbur and Quackity's most recent wine stream, Wilbur said he wrote Sex Sells in like, a short car ride or something. It might've been One Day he was talking about, I don't remember, but it was one of the two lmao
i think one of the saddest thing wilbur had said is that this song was his most popular bc it had real feelings behind it and we saw that which is just like wow idk
i only just started watching this video at thr time of commenting this, but did you mean to mix up marks and joe in the intro or was that a mistake ???
one thing i want to add about the themes of obsession in wilbur's writing is how politics interacts with the obsession. several of his songs and characters have politics that start off being framed as favorable but with obsession warping them into doomerism (i'm sorry boris and the fall to some extent, but his dream smp character of course takes the cake). of his traits his obsession is the one that makes him love yet warps his love into something damaging, this is a reoccuring theme in all of his writing (your sister was right as you pointed out). i think this song in particular really analyses the connection between politics, his love life, and his obsession, by making him act on all three through the blackmail. its nothing you didnt point out, just a different angle, this is really really good!!!
Whenever I hear music, I usually listen to it as a story. When I hear 'Sex Sells', I always envision the story as this: The singer's girlfriend is cheating on him with another guy. He knows but she doesn't know that. I interpreted the lyrics 'You think he'd realize.....' to '...works on the council' as a bit of background of the guy she's cheating on him with. The singer after he finds out about the affair searches for information on the guy. The guy also doesn't know that she has a bf. 'The missus loves....' to '....good to lose' . The guys is rich and the gf is a gold digger. She never thought that she was the type of person to cheat, especially for a Tory, but the guy and the offer was too enticing. 'And I'll listen.....' to '......far to fall'. The singer listens to his gf's footsteps as she goes to leave to spend time with the guy. 'Now it's red.....' to '..... ensure a happy ending' as an allusion to $3X. The chorus conveys that the singer can't sleep at night with neither the lights off or on as he still knows either way that the gf is with the guy and not in bed with him. He imagines the gf making excuses or trying to make excuses himself for the reason for the affair but he realizes that it's horrible either way and doesn't care. And also that '$3X sells' as the title suggests. 'You could buy...' to '...do what's right?'. The singer is willing to hide the fact that she cheated from her loved ones or whatever for money and could blackmail her. He's asking her if she would tell the guy the truth or keep on going with the affair. 'Please just could.....' to '..... sleep at night?'. The singer is asking the gf where she's going to sleep tonight -with him or the rich guy? How does she sleep knowing what she has done and while feeling guilty? Does she even feel guilty in the first place? At all? 'Cultured man....' to ' .... on the nightstand'. Talking about the rich guy. He takes her out for wine and to see bands and sleeps with her later. 'How's it feel....' to ' yet so alone'. The singer is asking her how she feels to know that even though she gets pleasure, that the singer no longer loves her as he learned the truth and that the rich guy is probably just using her for pleasure. Can she even sleep at night knowing all this. But that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY!
I relate to the emotions in the songs. I relate to Wilbur in general, honestly. I also like the stories in the songs. Idk, I feel like the only non-fangirl lol.
I think this is crazy detective work but I don't think Wilbur would blackmail someone rather perhaps he just thought of it if I was in that situation I think i would try to let the husband know
Wilbur has said when he plays sex sells that it’s about a man not realising his girlfriend is cheating on him with his next door neighbour - he’s said that both times I’ve seen lovejoy play
*points to joe and says mark* lmao u can tell joe is outside and marks inside but the facial structure (no hate just pointing out something that bothered me)
