“Anti-Curse” by boygenius

An “anti-curse”, as implied at the end of this song, would actually be a blessing. And what these lyrics revolve around is an episode in the history of Boygenius whereas Julien Baker almost drowned to death, with the wording of the track is faithful to how she described that incident.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for boygenius's Anti-Curse at Lyrics.org.

For example, the incident did happen “at a public beach” in Malibu. And as the story goes, Phoebe Bridgers in particular warned Julien about the dangers of its water. But instead Baker, being the type who “never listened”, “had to” venture out and “see for (herself)”.

“Gettin’ deep
I’m out of my depth at a public beach
I never listened, I had to see for myself
It’s comin’ in waves”

But as implied in the pre-chorus, it wasn’t a situation in which, upon nearly drowning, she panicked.  Instead, as relayed in her own words, Baker saw the situation as “not [being] the worst way to die”. In other words, it wasn’t a “violent end or a horrible disease” which was leading to her demise, and furthermore, she was “having a great time on the beach with… friends” at the time. 

So that’s why we find the songstress putting forth in the pre-chorus that she was “making peace with… inevitable death”, as well as the sentiment that follows in the chorus, that Julien lived a life that she’s content with.

The second half of this song is not as easy to interpret. But what appears may be going down is that near-death experience causing the vocalist to harp back to her youth, to the days when she was “breaking curfew with illegal fireworks” and, as she puts it, “unpacking God in the suburbs”. 

But it is theoretically discernable that the overall point Julien is trying to get at is one along the lines of whether or not a person values life being a matter of perspective. Or as she relays in the outro, this is “the worst love song you’ve ever heard”. 

And we will take that to mean that instead of directly expressing an appreciation of life, she rather takes a roundabout approach by reminiscing on a time she came near to losing her own.

The Team Behind “Anti-Curse”

Although it’s clear that Julien Baker served as the primary writer or inspiration behind these lyrics, she is given equal authorship and production recognition alongside her Boygenius bandmates, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. 

And the label who backed this outing, as part of the group’s first LP, “The Record”, was Interscope Records, with “Anti-Curse” having an official release date of 31 March 2023.

Anti-Curse

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like...