“Only the Brave” by Louis Tomlinson

i’ve made a better version:

only the brave analysis

-“pour mercy, mercy on me”, this line could be about how he wants forgiveness, he wants to stop hurting. it’s could be begging forgiveness from god (as later in the song churches and prayers are mentioned), as many christians still believe homosexuality is wrong. it could also be him begging himself to be able to forgive himself.

-“set fire to history”, he wants to get rid of something that he has done, or wants to get rid of the guilt he feels. in the bible, fire is a metaphor for trials that enter a believer’s life, which could mean that he has been confronted with the fact that he isn’t heterosexual. he wants to put the ‘trial’ in the past. it can also be seen as gods anger and judgment, meaning that he is being judged by god for being homosexual and begs for forgiveness. he could be talking about begging himself for forgiveness, trying to stop judging himself. it could be seen that the ‘history’ he is talking about is last heterosexual relationships that he wants to forget about.

-“i’m breaking my own rules”, this could have many meanings but i interpret it as it being about his sexual orientation. most people are brought up learning that being heterosexual is the norm and that other sexualities are not normal, in some instances even making you feel ashamed for not being heterosexual. this line sound like he had rules for himself (being heterosexual) but he’s breaking them. and it shows again that he feels guilty about breaking his own rules that he’s lived by for so long.

-“i’m crying like a fool”, this could be interpreted literally or figuratively. literally it could be taking about coming to terms with your sexuality. many people find it hard to accept themselves and cry about it (which is completely normal) and cry about the realisation that you aren’t fitting your rules. psychologically it’s painful and many people struggle with being confident and proud in their sexuality, the feeling of betraying yourself is overwhelming. the word fool insinuates that he feels like he shouldn’t be crying, blaming himself for what he feels like in that moment. he feels as though crying in this situation isn’t normal.

-“tall stories on the page”, a tall story is a story that is fake or exaggerated. ‘on the page’ could be referring to articles. this line could mean how he sees articles that are wrong about him, about his fake relationships with other women that are all over the news.

-“short glories on the fade”, in his song ‘just like you’ he says ‘you only get half of the story, the cash, the cars and the glory’. ‘short glories’ could be referring to the moments where everything is going well thanks to money, only last a small amount of time.

-“i’ve been close enough to touch but i never care for love”, this could have two meanings. one is that this song is about him not wanting to be in love, or emotionally not being able to. he doesn’t ‘care for love’, he doesn’t care about being in love. the other meaning this could have is to do with sexuality. he’s ‘been close enough to touch’ women in his life, but he ‘never cares for love’, meaning that he doesn’t want to be romantically involved with a woman the same way he wants to be romantically involved with a man.

-“it’s a church of burnt romances”, the mention of ‘church’ in quite significant as many people who are christian still believe that homosexuality is wrong. relating back to the line about ‘setting fire to history’, it could mean that the church is filled with burnt homosexual relationships. it almost gives it a sense of irony, like the judgment of god burnt them down but yet they’re still in a church.

-“and i’m too far gone to pray”, this once again relates back to that fact that some christians still believe homosexuality is wrong. this line means that he’s too far gone the opposite direction of god that he can’t pray to god anymore. it’s saying that because he’s homosexual he’s not allowed to pray to god anymore, but he’s begging for forgiveness.

-“it’s a solo song”, this could mean that he’s scared of love, either just because he’s scared of commitment or because he’s scared of judgment. it could also mean that this song is about him finding who he is, finding his sexuality, that his sexuality has nothing to do with anyone else, he’s found his sexuality himself.

-“and it’s only for the brave”, this could be valid for a heterosexual relationship, especially with the lifestyle he lives in; having to constantly be careful when going out in public with his girlfriend, trying to ignore internet hate, but this line next to the rest of the song doesn’t make sense. to me it shows that he realises the challenges that come with coming to terms with your sexuality. he realises that he has to be brave, for his partner and for himself. in this context i think he’s talking about himself; a ‘solo song’ that’s ‘only for the brave’. he accepts the challenges that come with homosexuality, and he knows he has to be brave.

-“if the truth tell, darling you fell”, this line isn’t as straight forward as some of the other ones. the point of view changes at this point in the song, going from the ‘i’ form to the ‘you’ form. this suggests that he’s singing about someone else. i interpret this line in two ways: one is that he sees the ‘darling‘ in question as an angel that ‘fell’ from the sky. the other is that the ‘darling’ fell for him. the ‘darling’ fell in love with him and he doesn’t know to react. the ‘if the truth tell’ could mean that he can’t believe it. he can’t believe someone has fallen in love with him, as if he’s saying ‘if what i’ve heard is true, you’ve fallen’. the ‘darling’ in question could be harry, considering the fact that he uses the word ‘darling’ in too young as well.

-“like there ain’t enough dying stars in your sky”, i interpret this as louis telling the ‘darling’ that he doesn’t understand why they fell in love with him. the ‘dying stars in your sky’ meaning that every time someone oppresses the ‘darling’ for being homosexual, a star dies in their sky, and that falling for louis will just make it worse. he says ‘like there ain’t enough’, meaning that the ‘darling’ is already hurting so much, having the dying stars darken their world around them, and yet they’re still falling for louis even when they know they’re hurting.

-“it’s a tall tale”, similar to ‘tall stories’ earlier, it can mean an unbelievable or exaggerated story. this could be referring again to the articles or this time to the fact that he can believe this ‘darling’ has fallen for him. he can’t believe that even though it will put the ‘darling’ through hell they’ve still fallen for him.

-“and it’s only hello, hello, no goodbye”, this could mean that it was a short story, that he cut off or that was forcibly cut off. it could be that the ‘darling’ fell for him (‘hello, hello’) and either they were told ‘no’ to their homosexual relationship or he said ‘no’ because he was scared which lead to a ‘goodbye’.

-“pour mercy, mercy on me”, he repeats this line which marks its significance. once again asking for forgiveness, from people around him or himself.

-“i’ll fall upon my knees”, this could relate to praying; in church people often pray on their knees. this could mean he’ll do anything for forgiveness. he’ll pray to god on his knees for forgiveness. falling to your knees is also a symbol of begging. this could once again be him begging for forgiveness for being homosexual. it doesn’t necessarily mean he is religious. the religious aspects in this song could be a metaphor. the religious connotations are to symbolise how he feels, he wants forgiveness. many christians who firmly believe that homosexuality is wrong, and yet find themselves feeling things for the same gender will pray to god for forgiveness. in this he’s doing the same but maybe to himself or people around him, he could be blaming himself for being homosexual and he’s begging his brain to forgive himself, he’s feeling self guilt. he’s begging to be able to forgive himself for being homosexual and accept himself.

-“and they’ll say ‘i told you so, come on when you know you know’”, this to me again is clearly about homosexuality. it’s saying that no matter how hard you try to ignore your feelings if you’re homosexual, you’re homosexual. it’s about doubting yourself. he scared to accept the reality, to accept himself for being homosexual, as said before he’s begging for forgiveness, he blames himself for it. but people around him tell him ‘i told you so’, which means that even though at first he might not have come to terms with his sexuality himself, everyone knew and once he realised himself people said ‘i told you so’. the second part, ‘come on when you know you know’, means that no matter how hard you try to believe you’re not homosexual, no matter how hard you try to push the feelings away, deep down you always know.

-“all the lonely shadow dances, from the cradle to the grave”, a shadow dancer is someone dancing on their own. this is about all the lonely dances he’s had, the ‘dances’ not necessarily being literal dances, but more moments in his life where he’s been lonely. this also links to his ‘walls’ music video where there are heterosexual couples dancing around him while he’s alone on the target. his whole life he’s had to be alone, at least in the public eye, because of his homosexuality. the ‘cradle to the grave’ shows that these lonely dances he’s had are going to last from the day he was born till the day he dies. it’s almost saying that loneliness follows him around.

-“it’s a solo song and it’s only for the brave”, the repetition of this line shows it’s importance. it shows that no matter what, coming to terms with his sexuality has made him realise it’s his own battle to fight, and he has to be brave.

That’s a beautiful interpretation. Thank you <3

This is a beautiful interpretation you said everything I wish I could’ve said. Thank you so much.

Hats off to you man! The most accurate and precise interpretation. You’ve made this song much more beautiful for me now.

stan

also u seem cool
my twt is alwaysnialll