“Second Nature” by Bon Iver

Bon Iver is one of those types of musical acts who tends to never state what they are trying to put forth directly, thus tasking the listener with having to weave through a number of what may read as seemingly obscure metaphors. 

But premise-wise, what we do know is that “Second Nature” is part of the soundtrack to a 2021 movie. This movie (“Don’t Look Up“) is centered on the human race potentially being at risk due to an approaching comet yet not properly acknowledging the threat. 

And that sorta seems to be the general concept the vocalist is speaking to, i.e. he and others being in some type of state of denial or perhaps more accurately put ignorance. So theoretically, that may be the “second nature” that he is speaking to, i.e. the human tendency to ignore the prospect of pending disaster – or something like that.

That said, based on the chorus it can also be presumed that whatever it is that may be going down in the moment, the vocalist is looking forward to a better day in the future. Or we can say he is espousing, as with the main plot of the film itself, proactivity in the name of dealing with whatever harrowing issue is currently at hand. 

So again going back to the film, said issue would be an approaching comet, presumably one that is quite sizable. But as for the song itself, whatever challenge the vocalist and others are faced with is not specified. So generally speaking, it is a call to deal with such matters, let’s say global or communal threats, expeditiously before it’s “too late”.

Facts about “Second Nature”

This song is from “Don’t Look Up (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)”. Both the soundtrack and the movie it is named after were released on 10 December 2021. 

This album was spearheaded by musical composer Nicholas Britell. He and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon are credited as both writers and producers of “Second Nature”. And one Chris Messina also co-produced this song.

The label behind this track is Republic Records. And reportedly, “Second Nature” is the second single from the Don’t Look Up soundtrack, after Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi’s “Just Look Up” was dropped earlier in the month.