“Twenties” by Ghost

Have you ever listened to one of those types of songs where you’re saying to yourself like ‘wow, it sounds a lot like the singer is dissing the audience’? Such is the case, as described by cardinal ghoul Tobias Forge himself, as far as the song “Twenties” is concerned.

But this isn’t like, say the vocalist exalting himself over members of the audience like a rapper may do. Instead, as further described by Forge, he is challenging listeners to, shall we say confront the world as he perceives it.

It has been ascertained that the “Twenties” he’s referring to is the 2020s, i.e. the decade we’re currently living in. And it would appear that the vocalist is not only speaking to the present but also our immediate future.

And for the most part, the lyrics read like gloom and doom. However, Tobias has enlightened that this all could also be interpreted as “a very optimistic song about a future”. Or put differently, what would make the future optimistic, apparently under his estimation, is if people actually rose up to the challenges of the day as opposed to shrinking to them. Or as the vocalist puts forth – quite unconventionally considering the general understanding of the type of imagery commonly associated with Ghost – “you’ve got a lot of God’s work to do”.

Takeaway

So conclusively, using this post to delve too deeply into these lyrics – considering that they’re both ambiguously symbolic and obviously macrocosmic/societal in nature – may be akin to opening a can of worms. 

But once again going back to one of Forge’s own explanations, “Twenties” is “meant as a party track”. And the lyrics reveal that the associated “dancing” would ideologically be taking place “in the field of freedom”. So as the song progresses it does in fact read like “a call to arms”, as he put it, i.e. the future being both promising and frightening, and the path it ultimately takes being determined by the actions of the people.

When was “Twenties” released?

On 2 March 2022, “Twenties” became the third single issued from Ghost’s album “Impera”. The entire project was made possible by Loma Vista Records.

Other singles from this album are:

• “Call Me Little Sunshine”
• “Hunter’s Moon”

Who composed this song?

Ghost frontman Tobias Forge wrote this song with Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare. Its producer is Klas Åhlund.