This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Damsel in distress is quite submissive
Look how somber my vanity is
A feminine human creature
Superficial, seducing detour
I'm going to the mall for the cookie cutter
The ugly duckling will always suffer
Contaminated standards, I try to fight it
I better get back on my diet
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
Beauty contest
I'm obsessed
Reduce myself, I got the strict restrictions
Not sexy enough without the regulations
A melting point countdown the fading features
Born to blossom and bloom to perish
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
Oh, I've got to get out of this mess
Beauty contest
I'm obsessed
And I've fallen, I can't help myself
I'm feeling envious of all the rest
You're bringing out the lemming in me
A victim of the cattle call disease
Not easy to be me
I feel swollen
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
I've got to get out of this mess
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
And I feel swollen
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
My vanity's a mess
Look how somber my vanity is
A feminine human creature
Superficial, seducing detour
I'm going to the mall for the cookie cutter
The ugly duckling will always suffer
Contaminated standards, I try to fight it
I better get back on my diet
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
Beauty contest
I'm obsessed
Reduce myself, I got the strict restrictions
Not sexy enough without the regulations
A melting point countdown the fading features
Born to blossom and bloom to perish
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
Oh, I've got to get out of this mess
Beauty contest
I'm obsessed
And I've fallen, I can't help myself
I'm feeling envious of all the rest
You're bringing out the lemming in me
A victim of the cattle call disease
Not easy to be me
I feel swollen
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
I've got to get out of this mess
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Obsessed with the beauty contest
Beauty contest
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
Caught up in the beauty contest
And I feel swollen
How'd my vanity get such a mess?
My vanity's a mess
Lyrics submitted by UseYourIllusion
Beauty Contest Lyrics as written by Tony Ashwin Kanal Gwen Renee Stefani
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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no doubt rocks.. girls shouldnt have to always be in a "beauty contest"
it's "i feel swollen" not "i feel so lame".
this is a beautiful song...i cry everytime i hear it, because i really really relate to gwen in this way. one day i'm going to get "born to blossom, bloom to perish" tattooed on me :]
im glad to be the first to comment on these lyrics. no doubt rocks...and they always know how to write lyrics you can relate to. ~ThAnKz gWeN~
this one's a b-side off return of saturn... it reminds me a lot of 'magic's in the makeup' because to me it has the same theme...
This song is really powerful, it really shows how girls are obsessed with their image, and making themselves look perfect, and it's really unhealthy. I know I have had problems like this, being a girl. But I agree with all three of you...it reminds me of magic in the makeup, and the lyrics are good to relate to, and girls SHOULDN'T have to always be in a "beauty contest" but thats how society made it. I love No Doubt, they are my absolute fave band and Gwen is my idol, I'm so glad I discovered this song!
this song is super kick ass. so many girls have this problem. "my vanity is such a mess...obesessed w/ the beauty contest" half of my life I spent wanting to be the "pretty girls" that seem to be PERFECT. And now...I make fun of them. Yeah..I like to look nice, but to care SOOO much...it's kinda pathetic, they make me laugh...always gotta win the "BEAUTY CONTEST"...shouldn't be like that...Being me is good enough. Yeah..I wear make-up, I dress nice..(when i feel like it) lol...but you know what i'm saying! thanx gwen for understanding. you rock!
she used the line born to blossom bloom to perish in her new solo single too
The little girl at the end of the song is Gwen's neice, Madeleine
I didn't know this was off of return to saturn! makes sense though. One of my favorite no doubt album, I also loved magics in the makeup! best song on there. This song is cool though becaseu it stresses how Most women/girl are so obssed with how society see's them! How she say...going to the mall for the cookie cutter, the ugly duckling will always suffer. Wow Isn't this true, Cookie cutter chicks at the mall, ugly(by society standards) always being gawked at and talked about..I hate the mall...lol!!