Semi-Automatic by Twenty One Pilots Lyrics Meaning – A Descent into the Mind’s Duality
Lyrics
The Earth turns, from sanity
Taking my only friend I know
He leaves a lot, his name is Hope
I’m never what I like
I’m double-sided
And I just can’t hide
I kinda like it
When I make you cry
‘Cause I’m twisted up, I’m twisted up, inside
The horrors of the night melt away
Under the warm glow of survival of the day
Then we move on
My shadow grows taller along with my fears
And my friends shrink smaller as night grows near
When the sun is climbing window sills
And the silver lining rides the hills
I will be saved for one whole day
Until the sun make the hills its grave
I’m never what I like
I’m double-sided
And I just can’t hide
I kinda like it
When I make you cry
‘Cause I’m twisted up, I’m twisted up, inside
I’m never what I like
I’m double-sided
And I just can’t hide
I kinda like it
When I make you cry
‘Cause I’m twisted up, I’m twisted up, inside my mind
I’m semi-automatic
My prayer’s schizophrenic
But I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live on
I’m semi-automatic
My prayer’s schizophrenic
But I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live, yeah, yeah, yeah
I’m semi-automatic
My prayer’s schizophrenic
But I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live on
I’m semi-automatic
My prayer’s schizophrenic
But I’ll live on, yeah, I’ll live on
By the time the night wears off, the dust is down
And shadows burn
I will rise and stand my ground
Waiting for the night’s return
I’m never what I like
I’m double-sided
And I just can’t hide
I kinda like it
When I make you cry
‘Cause I’m twisted up, I’m twisted up, inside
I’m never what I like
I’m double-sided
And I just can’t hide
I kinda like it
When I make you cry
‘Cause I’m twisted up, I’m twisted up, inside my mind
In the landscape of modern music, few bands shake the emotional beehive with the acuity that Twenty One Pilots does. With their song ‘Semi-Automatic’, the duo offers more than just a layered, psychedelic soundscape; they propose a lyrical deep dive into the conflicted nature of self. At first glance, the track might seem like a rebellion against the night, but as we wade through the poetry, it reveals itself as a complex battle with inner turmoil and the ephemerality of hope.
The song, a part of their celebrated album ‘Vessel,’ showcases Tyler Joseph’s evocative songwriting that ricochets between vulnerability and vehement self-awareness. Melded with Josh Dun’s percussive precision, ‘Semi-Automatic’ conjures an auditory experience riddled with pain, duality, and contemplations of existence that demands further examination.
The Dichotomy of Darkness and Light
It starts with an achromatic setting that dances on the precipice of hope and hopelessness. At its core, ‘Semi-Automatic’ traverses the twilight of the mind where ‘night falls, with gravity.’ It is a thematic exploration of falling into the void of one’s own psyche and the correlated struggle with mental health issues that are often kept at bay during the day but grow taller like ominous shadows as the evening approaches.
The symbolism of the sun and night is intensely palpable throughout the verses. Daylight offers a reprieve, a survival from the horrors that the night amplifies. This contrast is not just about time; it’s an allegorical representation of the oscillation between clarity and madness that characterizes the human condition.
Meeting Hope, the Fleeting Companion
Hope personified in ‘Semi-Automatic’ is a companion that leaves ‘a lot.’ This is an intimate portrayal of hope as temporary, elusive, and unable to stay within the tight grasp of the narrator’s reality. There is a profound poignancy in acknowledging hope as transient, and the song captures this sentiment with careful melancholy.
Hope is also a manifestation of the internal fight for positivity, where in the moments it resides with us, we are lifted, only to be let down as it slips away. It’s a perpetual cycle of seeking and losing that mirages the journey through mental health struggles.
Inside the Mind of a ‘Semi-Automatic’ Existence
Declaring oneself ‘semi-automatic’ is to admit to a mechanical, almost involuntary nature of living. It’s a declaration of navigating life on partial autopilot, responding and behaving in ways that are instinctive, perhaps even self-destructive – an intricately woven human reaction to an incessant psychological battle.
Moreover, it illustrates a fragmented self-identity, caught between what one is and what one wishes to be. It’s emblematic of the binary within – the one who craves happiness and the one who is ‘twisted up, inside,’ suggesting self-sabotage and an uncomfortable comfort in one’s own warped mind.
The Echoing Anthem of Conflicted Self-Love
At the heart of ‘Semi-Automatic’ lies a disturbing confession: ‘I kinda like it when I make you cry.’ Here, the song touches upon the masochistic inclination, the way we often harbor secret satisfaction in causing our own suffering and self-pity, sometimes extending that to the ones around us, especially when depression or anxiety has a grip.
It is a raw exposure of the dialogue between mind and soul, where validation is sourced from eliciting emotional reactions, be it personally or externally. It’s a deep-seated cry from within that resonates with our darkest inclinations to feel, even if feeling means to hurt.
Stepping Into the Combat Zone: Wrestling with Schizophrenic Prayers
The lyrics ‘My prayer’s schizophrenic’ delve deeper than the surface of a fraught mental state; they narrate a conflicted spiritual relationship. Trapped between belief and disillusionment, the prayers represent a chaotic cry for help that wavers between faith and cynicism, further cementing the song’s theme of internal duality and discord.
It’s an exploration of the human necessity to cling to something greater amidst chaos but recognizing the fractured nature of this grasp. These schizophrenic prayers epitomize the contradictory impulses to both reach out to the divine and recoil into one’s protective shell of doubt and fear.
