“Trampoline” by SHAED
SHAED’s “Trampoline” is a song in which, succinctly put, the singer is enjoying herself whilst dreaming about dying. The title really has nothing to do with the narrative contained therein. It rather alludes to the track’s creative origins, which sprang from an old home video featuring some of SHAED’s band member playing on a trampoline.
In this track, the singer perceives a dream somewhat like virtual reality, as an alternate reality in which she can derive entertainment. The particular dream she is experiencing starts off joyously but “suddenly” transforms to one which is alit with terror. This of course influences her disposition. But instead of running from, as SHAED described in explaining the meaning of the track, a “sense of loss and dread”, the singer rather seeks to embraces this experience. In fact she states within the song that ‘when she dreams of dying’ is when she feels the most loved.
As to deciphering the deeper meaning behind these lyrics, there doesn’t appear to be any. This song is the result of SHAED working tirelessly to put together a good track, with the ultimate goal of the product being just that – a good song, not necessarily a meaningful one. Indeed the whole dream scenario originated from “the ancient style of footage” of which the aforementioned home video was composed of, which lead singer Chelsea Lee has described as being “very dreamlike”.
Song’s Inspiration
The inspiration for the song came about one night when the band sat together watching old family videos of members Spencer and Max (who are twin brothers) jumping on a trampoline as small children.
Path to Success
This track blew up after “Trampoline” was featured on a commercial for an Apple laptop, the MacBook Air, in late October 2018. And SHAED themselves had a very-emotional reaction to their song being chosen for this purpose.
Writers and Producers of “Trampoline”
Shaed (Chelsea Lee, Spencer Ernst and Max Ernst) wrote and produced this song with the help of Alex Mendoza.
Release Date of “Trampoline”
“Trampoline” was originally introduced to the world by Photo Finish Records as part of SHAED’s EP, Melt, on 18 May 2018.
I’d disagree it has a pretty obvious deeper meaning–
“Wait if I’m on fire How am I so deep in love? When I dream I’m dying I never feel so loved?”
It’s the love of an addiction. Doesn’t have to just be drugs could be an eating disorder, gambling or sex addiction. Drugs are probably the best example though. If drugs are bad for me why do they feel so good. When I dream I’m dying I never thought it feel good. Talk to anyone who’s ever OD’ d on heroin or even shot dope period. The songs deeper meaning is the about the love we have for things that kill us… Well at least that’s the deeper meaning I found in the song.
Yes because people can’t ever connect to a song without the hidden meaning of human ignorance involving intimate encounters and drugs.
Why such an ugly response?
Here’s an expressed opinion, that’s all, no threat to you or the song. As for the concept that people are attracted to this song, which is macabre by nature, Sigmund Freud agrees: “Thanatos”.
It sounds like a deep deppression, and only certain people can relate to this.
Sounds like depression.
Of course they can, but they can also connect to that deeper meaning if they can find that meaning within them. If you have never been overcome by an addiction, you probably won’t see it in songs as clearly as someone who has. Deeper doesn’t always necessarily mean truer, it simply means there are more layers available for people to find within the song. If you don’t see that layer in the song….maybe you aren’t supposed to. And that’s ok as well.
It’s not like depression it is more like a child with no worries who all of a sudden like finds out his mom has cancer
I 100% agree with you.
I don’t think that’s “pretty obvious” at all and can easily see it not having that meaning. I connect to it in other ways and I don’t necessarily even think that’s “deeper” than the surface level presented to us because I don’t think it’s that common for songs to openly discuss these sort of feelings.. and if you can relate to them it’s weirdly compelling and almost comforting to hear someone else say it.. especially in this dreamlike way. To me personally I find it deeper to present this sort of existential feeling of floating in existence, not caring what happens, having a feeling of nothingness when it comes to actual life, and almost feeling like you don’t care what happens or that something bad happening could actually be more compelling or interesting even if not more meaningful (though I know that’s bad.)That will vary by person. There are plenty of songs about addiction, and I’m not saying there shouldn’t be more, but there is nothing shallow about a song just reaching out for and touching your hopelessness and depression.
Well put! I agree.
I agree completely. That’s how I heard it. Anxiety and depression are pushed under the carpet and for me, this brings out how I feel.
I agree with you
I’d also have to disagree about the song being about addiction. If it were, I think they would have said it was. Instead, she described a “sense of loss and dread” and that the song itself is about dreaming of dying, which makes me think of depression, whether it be an actual depressive disorder or just about grieving a loss. Oftentimes with depression you will sometimes feel as though you’re worthless and that the world would be better off without you. Or in a sense, they would love you more if you were dead than they did when you were alive. I also agree with K-Chan’s idea that it could be a more nihilistic approach where life has no meaning, this can also correlate to my theory about depression because sometimes the two can be related. In the end, a song is subject to interpretation and everyone is going to relate to it in a different way. That’s the beauty of art and music, that sense of connection.
I agree with you but my interpretation is about bad relationships.
I felt like there was a message for me in this song cuz it’s been stuck in my head for days but I didn’t get what it was saying but you just translated it for me. Thank you!
I agree!!
To me the song means like suicide because “When I dream of dying I never feel so loved” It makes me think she is dreaming of killing herself but that’s just my opinion. And they said sense of loss and dread like she lost someone she had loved very dearly but they had passed and she doesn’t know how to live without them.
Makes Sense
Slow down and put down the drugs Jesus, she is talking about the difference between Heaven and hell. When she dreams of dying she doesn’t she herself meeting a hateful god who is going to burn her in a fire. 🙄
I feel like it’s a person in deep depression like myself day dreaming of death, but when she snaps out of it realizes she is loved. I wish I realized this before it was too late. Now I dream of dying and there is no more love.
“My body turns to ice, a push away to paradise” sounds like a heroin addiction if I ever heard one.
Maybe it’s relatable to many people on many levels. Love can be addictive just like a drug. Not all love is good for us but we get addicted anyway. Sometimes even in the worst situation the high of being in love clouds our judgement on something that may be killing us.
Crushing weight of paradise
Crushing weight of paradise are the correct lyrics
Or, there was actually a dream about dying. It happens. I know, several times over.
Someone who has finally found love in life that even in their dreams, they are willing to finally die. To give everything up because they’ve found happiness that death is just another way of acceptance showing they are willing to leave and go on. Not sure if the feeling is mutual while awake because people fear death. Maybe in dreams is just the step before reality can be accepted.
This blew my mind
I work in hospice .Seen plenty of people pass and every experience was different. I guess I’m saying if you have any spiritual belief that your soul goes on after your physical death .it can be a beautiful experience.
I took as a spiritual thing not something bad…for someone who believes in an afterlife and God, supposedly you’re overcome with love when you enter his presence…I remember when my best friends dad passed he talked about hearing thunder and seeing a light and saying he was almost home..my friend said dad you are home and he said not yet but almost and he went to sleep and passed shortly after…couldn’t the song be talking about something like that?
The beauty of a song is when people can relate it to something in their lives. It’s different for all of us. It’s more about the human experience and an artist being able to touch that realm and bring out those emotions in each person at a personal level.
I agree and love your comment.
Personally, because of a lifetime illness, I’ve come close to death several times and didn’t fear but the process it’s self. It’s only natural to have some depression, however an escape makes a well coping mechanism.
Today while driving to dialysis the song came on and I decided to search the meaning.
It’s just that this song seems like it could be talking about the entrance of life beyond death.
Just a first thought that hit me before I really looked at the lyrics.
If life beyond death is a reality, then when you die is when you feel so loved ( meeting your Creator for the first time)
Yes! Beautiful thought!
A true comprehension of love!
This is how I feel the song 💜
This song sucks [expletive]!
you suck [expletive]!
@deeznuts
The lyrics are “crushing weight of paradise” not “a push away from Paradise”.
somone told me it was about lesbians
Wow I’m a lesbian n not at all! Dont get mixed up sexualizing please….instead get educated on it first.
Does this song sample “Sail”?
I love this song it connects with me on a deeper level like my soul honestly it does have a deeper meaning u just got to connect to it stop bad mouthing the song and try to understand it
I feel from my perspective that when someone expresses that when they dream of dying they never feel so loved means she’s accepting death welcoming it. If you dream of dying u r not in a good place. I know this
Acceptance of Death or dreaming of death isn’t always a bad thing. It can be symbolic of a resurrection. The old you must die in order to be reborn. We symbolically die all the time. I’m definitely not the same person I was a few years ago so death can symbolize growth and moving on. And self love is required to let the old you die because it’s a necessary part of growth.
I agree…. also, people don’t realize that this is NOT [expletive] compared to what will come of you after you pass. When I dream of dying, I know I’ll get to be with the love of my life again, my soulmate. Sooo… “when i dream of dying, i never felt so loved.” Doesn’t sound bad… but when it comes time. Of course.
I agree that it is most likely about addiction. But I also think it could have a more spiritual meaning. I had a friend that died and was braught back and he was weirdly obsessed with the experience afterwards. He said he had an out of body experience and yet he felt the most overwhelming love and comfort in that moment. He talked about wanting to go back and started to experiment with dmt. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this before?
Yes, a lot. I also had a friend that was legally dead for several minutes and he said it was the most beautiful experience he’s ever had. Every drug, orga*m, happy moment combined couldn’t compare. He also delved into psychedelics heavily, but I wouldn’t say he was obsessed with the experience. The only reason he even talked about it was cuz I was asking our friends what he said death was like and.no one had ever asked him! I thought that was insanity and HAD to ask!
However, a cynical friend pointed out that upon death your body floods your brain with every feel good chemical you have in you & they were likely just feeling that. I say booooo to that though…lol
what about this meaning
‘when I dream of dying, I never feel so loved”
what I thought when I first heard this was that people only act like they love you when you are suicidal
that is just my take and it is probably not what anyone else thought of but just thought I’d put it out there
I thought the exact same. Everyone expresses love for you when you die more so when you’re alive.
Go watch a few NDE (Near Death Experience) stories on YouTube and then come back to this song. Your first words will be OMG! I see that @Cody got it with one one reference point.
I thought it was about dying and God meeting her there.
Music is another form of art. You interpret it on your own means and personal experiences.
I really thought she was talking about Armageddon
honestly i think this song is about a girl/boy/anybody and they how could have a serious problem with their mind and it could be physical or mental
This sounds like an LSD or even a DMT trip to me. “Tripping and I’m fallin”. The word dying is often used when people use psychedelics. The death of the ego. The feeling of love is usually what follows.
Speaking on “Trampoline,” Chelsea Lee from SHAED had this to share about the meaning behind the song:
“There’s a home video of Max and Spencer jumping on a trampoline when they were kids. The footage is grainy and distorted though, so it almost feels like you are witnessing a dream when you watch it. This track is about a girl stuck in a nightmare, who is experiencing that pinnacle moment when you feel completely enveloped by this sense of loss and dread. What if you could embrace that feeling?”
My impression is the song is spiritual but not in a conventional way. Their are belief systems that swap God for the devil and good for evil. Some believe that in the last days the devil who is actually God will be victorious. It is the inverse of the Truth. “As above so below”. And the people who believe this way will never fully admit to it because they are liars and want to mislead the masses. It is so prevalent in the elite and artistic cirlces. Like Billie eilish ” all the good girls go to hell”. as a matter of fact I don’t even know if artist are fully aware of the meaning in there own material. The song makes you feel and has an alluring sensation when you listen to it. It is inspired by an unseen force and has power over the lost masses. The meaning is simple, how could death and suffering be my fate if I’m so loved? But hey that is just one saved persons opinion.
Whether it was conscience or unconscience the songs meaning is rife with biblical metaphor. God speaks to Moses as a burning bush, the Holy Spirit comes in flames of fire. Falling in the stream; a metaphor for baptism. The coldness of death gives way to paradise. God is love, clearly she is dreaming about dying but instead of being terrified she is encountering the love of God.
I love that thank you. Best way to see this song in my opinion. Thank you.
Wow, sharper than a two-edged sword!
I love the fact that someone saw this song as a religious experience also.
We all interpret this differently. I thought about the lyrics and how it can mean of being suicidal and accepting it. Once someone has determined that they’re going to commit or finish suicide, they have a sense of peace that is beyond our human understanding. It’s almost like the hopeless thoughts have stopped and you have now accepted it. I have experience this from a loved one and the last couple days of my life with him were peaceful and so giving. I thought he got out of his depression, boy was I wrong. You never know the mind of the writers. She isn’t the writer on this song so that could be the mind state of the person who is. Also death is rebirth so it can also have a dual meaning since this song put her on the map to people who don’t listen to this type of music.
Then who wrote it? Please Tell. Obviously sounds like you know who did and can shed more light on Shaed!?
I think it’s about love. I am going through a horrible custody battle for my son. I have been beat up in a hospital. Lied about and to and betrayed. I was forced to meet my son at his mom’s mom’s house. Any way we were jumping on the trampoline in the fall and the son was out. I really resonate with this song because When I look at my son and I saw the Sun and the dead leaves. I thought. The Love God brought me because of my son makes me feel so loved that even death ain’t scary. It has a melancholy sound to it and as some one said dreamy sound and it really touched my heart. Thank You. It is beautiful.
The way that I interpreted the song was about someone having suicidal ideations. When they dream of dying, they never feel so loved. To me, that meant they felt comfortable with the thought of death and “trip and I fall in, I wanted it to happen” pointed me toward them wanting death. I am not surprised that I’m not too far off here. The song is about embracing and being comfortable with death, sort of flipping this fear on its head and making it beautiful. Love it.
I think the reminiscing of childhood memories makes them feel older and that time has gone so fast. Soon their lives could pass and they wonder how or why they will die. This feeling and fear of losing life so fast they grab hold of those closest and love those who love them most, in their time of need.
Suicidal ideology. Is correct. Unless you stood on that ledge. Held that gun. Had a handful of pills. Or held that razor. You can’t imagine the welcoming thought of the release of death can be. They might have wrote that song, but the idea came from a much darker place.
How I interpreted the felt so love part after shes dreams of dying its like a mind game with herself she could have had suicidal thoughts and then when she does shes thinking of all the people it would really hurt because they love her…just a thought, and her falling in and wanting it to happen,is like life it’s happening and im going to just go with the flow and see where it takes me.
That’s an amazing interpretation and I never thought of it that way.
Everyone hears music differently. Just like a painting made by an artist, that artist had their own meaning and feelings behind their art. And when people go to a gallery and look at the art they get a different feeling than the one the artist has or had. Same thing with music everyone hears it differently and takes something differently from it. Therefore everyone’s opinion on how they took it matters and shouldn’t be disregarded. We all have different ways of thinking on top of different life experience. So we aren’t going to all see the same things. Some of us can relate others can’t and that’s okay
I find it fascinating how people interpret things so differently. I think it has a lot to do with our own personal experiences. I think we all try to relate to songs by what we have been through. Personally, I am sadly reminded of the Camp fire that burned down almost the entire town of Paradise. There was a person that survived the fire by submerging himself in a nearby creek. Being a survivor of the Camp fire I find it interesting how many of the lyrics corallate with what some experienced while trying to evacuate the fire. Especially since the song came out before the fire happened, it just goes to show how interpretations differ so drastically. Take it any way you choose cause I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way to interpret songs. It’s a good song nonetheless.
Interesting to hear people’s thoughts on this song. I personally came here hoping to see what it was people got out of it to make it so popular. While I find the tune haunting and her voice enjoyable, the only thing I got from the lyrics seemed like a emo glorification of death and Suicide, which instantly made me dislike it. My personal take was that the lyrics threw away what could have been something special. Definitely interesting to hear others takes on the meaning. To each their own
yessssssss!!!!
It is a great song, not just a good song.
After losing my daughter to suicide in August 2017 I actually found the song to be comforting during my grieving time and it still is. I went to see a psychic and after being told that my daughters soul didn’t suffer she just slipped away in her sleep made me believe the connection of dying and crossing over at that very moment you feel so much love and peace so you just continue on I mean why wouldn’t you if that’s how it is.
Same. My daughter was 14 and died from an asthma attack in Dec of 2019. She knew she was going to die young and had that premonition a year before. She accepted it. That’s what it reminds me of.
This is a good interpretation. Like Dostoevsky once said “There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my suffering.”
I agree
Even though they say they were inspired to write this song while watching a home video, the reality is that my son, Chris Brown who is a hobby song writer from the coast of NC wrote most of the lyrics to this song and posted them on a lyrics site. He was caught off guard and didn’t know how to respond when they called him and asked how much he wanted for the lyrics so they told him that they would look out for him if the song became popular. So far that has never happened.
Are you saying he has no recourse despite the lyric being posted online (and presumably still accessible)?
I think this is different for everybody since a song has “no meaning” as such, we all interpret it differently, just how it should be but if I share what I feel about this song is that, weirdly enough I think this could also be about finding healthy, true love during the most difficult time in your life. Everything is burning around me yet somehow I am held together. Somehow I am in love. Even if I go, I lived a life, even though it was from a single person r my own self, I have never felt so loved. So thank you for making me already daydream, I am having dreams of such a carefree future with you. Having fun, enjoying what life has to offer, somehow getting to the other side despite the harsh reality. yeah I think that could be applied too.
This is a gay men’s anthem simply because we can become so depressed and wanting what others have said we are not supposed to have therefore when I deny myself I am dying yet I feel so loved by everybody else but in the end I’m really suffering on fire and dying from depression for not being myself
Loved it in my show
Shocked no one has connected this to “the little death”
Try that while listening, it’s incredibly intense.
This song is very meaningful, and it deals with facing one’s biggest fears. It is ripe with irony, like feeling loved the most at the brink of death. This is a reality; the world is full of people who show no love until a person is gone. Good feelings within this track are superimposed over not so great circumstances in which the singer finds a certain level of solace, albeit in despair.
This is a disgusting message. It glorifies suicide and things like this should NEVER be played on popular radio stations in the same way gangsta rap has been censored over the airways. smacks of racism and the powers that be trying to convince the young impressionable souls to kill themselves with a “catchy tune” #disgust