Royal

It's about an escort/prostitute that posses the qualities of an experienced individual. For simplicity sake I will refer to her as an escort in this analysis. Although she can be seen as either depending on if you want to interpret the lyrics as the client is travelling to the escort or the escort is travelling to the client. For the sake of the songs meaning its irrelevant which one it is. But it can be either.

For those that don't know an escort differs from a regular prostitute working from a brothel in the sense that they are the only working girls to travel to your location instead of you visiting them in a brothel. They are usually more expensive for this reason and are almost always booked by wealthier clients who have the money to spend on a better service. (although all escorts are prostitutes only some prostitutes are escorts. its common for prostitutes in brothels to be escorts on the side when they aren't escorting)

[Contact Reach us Go wild] "stanza 2"

If i had to take a guess I'd say the first stanza is what made them royal to begin with. God blessed them with good looks or good qualities for there line of work.

They resisted the conventional way of looking at certain things due to their job (they had to learn restraint,- just because you can do something as a royal, doesn't mean you should). They were able to calm themselves down in situations where others nerves couldn't take it.

Ironically these are all the traditional traits and qualities of a royal.

[God bless Resist Calm down] "Stanza 1"

Another thing that would have them seen as royal would be the desire to protect the reputation associated with their name. People are always excited to get to know them and see if they live up to their name/rumour. Which is why the reputation needs to be protected in the way they act. They need to "taste" a specific way to appeal to the clients taste. Just like an escort is expected to be well groomed, they are also expected to show the highest standards in most other areas of the bedroom. They (Yes I'm actually talking about an escort and a royal) always need to deal with the pressure of upholding this reputation, as word of mouth can spread quickly to uncover their shortcomings and damage their reputation. There's plenty of people in the world who are willing to voice the experiences they might have with them, or expose them in things that they are doing/have done, that could in-turn significantly damage their public reputation.

Having have said this, I believe this stanza is talking about the type of people they have to put up with. Also that chance one person could soil their reputation by telling others, or uncovering something they've previously kept hidden- so all the world can see.

[I'll taste your name (I'll tell) I'll take off these things (watch this)]

The next part. Talks of their experience in having people cross their boundaries, and the challenges associated with having to inform each person individually about the boundaries. This goes back to the most overlooked function of a street/road. It's to divide peoples property and set boundaries. This is where the meaning comes from.

The second line speaks of contact with the escort provoking the client, which would only be mentioned next to the previous line if that was the main reason the escorts boundaries get challenged. When someone feels strongly about an escort from the love making/intimacy they experience they might make the mistake of asking if they fancy exchanging numbers or going out on a date, or simply becoming fuck buddies. Which is all a gross violation against the escorts boundaries. It serves the meaning perfectly in this verse as these feelings would have to be intense to push the boundaries, not to mention they would most likely be seen as unwanted by the female as most see clients like friends.

[Calm down Teach us The roads Your contact, it keeps us provoked]

The next stanza is talking of desire its from the perspective of the "client" The clients intention is for the escort to not conceal any of her desires as the client is there to pleasure her and assist her in doing her job so they can both work towards the same goal. The client is also very enthusiastic about it!

[Remove your veils Every last one I'm on your team Let's go]

By now its obvious this song is written about escorts from the first person perspective of a client. However given the fact the first two stanzas are the qualities of an escort, its easily able to be interpreted from the perspective of an escort also. What makes it so flexible is this next stanza. It's written about both perspectives at once. Its poetic how well he captures two perspectives in one verse.

Escorts are the elite of prostitutes and always make a client feel at ease.Plus as your paying them enough to have them do exactly what you desire, there's no way you can fail them meaning in turn there is no reason to be afraid of rejection or lack of performance. While on the other hand, escorts become desensitised to that fear of facing a stranger face to face and become very comfortable around people. Escorts offer clients custom made experiences by having extras and varied types of services to cater to every whim. These extra options can sometimes make a client feel much much more provoked from the experience by developing feeling for the escort. This is especially true for services like kissing. When we kiss we are are actually being much more affectionate then when we make love. In-turn these feelings can make you feel haunted by the experience as the escort very very rarely feels the same way about a client due to their desensitisation to the practise from the fact they do it as a job and also the sheer number of times they might do it too.

While on the other hand my custom made nightmares refers to the custom made services that escorts offer that sometimes haunts them well after the experience like a nightmare.

Armed with teeth is probably referring to their actual teeth. As its a common expectation for an escort to be armed with great teeth and a great smile. All we need is a nice shot simply talks about their desires and expectations. It mentioned their needs and then downplays them. Making it sound like all they need in life is just a nice cum-shot. To me its almost like a reminder (as much as most clients seem to think are non existent) that they also have greater needs and goals that are more important than the ones they have at work.

On the other hand I believe it could also be talking about the clients only being armed with their teeth. In other words it's mocking the expression armed to the teeth. As in they have absolutely no defence against what they are going to experience. Which is the fashionable way to see an escort after all (not having barriers to protect yourself from getting emotionally hurt). Now all we need is a nice shot, is again downplaying the needs of the client. It's talking about the client as if they where a being who only possessed sexual desires in life. Which is also a reminder that they have other needs and goals outside of the paid experience of pleasure and that the escorting experience isn't the most important one.

[Face to face (not scared) My custom made (nightmares) Armed with teeth (in fashion) Now all we need (is a nice shot)]

Now the first two stanzas repeat again. I believe its now talking about god blessing one of them for their unique inner characteristics they posses, and the other trying to resist the other person. This time its with come down instead of calm down. Which I interpret to mean they did not successfully resist them and have instead decided to come down from their pedestal in order to accept this person has feelings like them and is worthy of their own as much as they are themselves worthy of affection.

It also ends it with

"our Contact" Which means one of them has given the other their personal contact. Before it was mentioned as a contact number but its not a personal one like it is now with the "our" attached to it.

[God bless Resist Come down

Our contact Reach us Go wild]

Now its that same stanza repeating again but it means something else. Its talking about personal veils. As one can assume no client would see an escort as a paid service, if they had feelings for them and could talk to them personally based on mutual feelings.

The next stanza is talking about rockets the same way it uses the word in the song rocket skates (that my buddy "themightyspoon" did a fantastic job of breaking down amongst all the other elementary interpretations of the meaning). Which is pretty much a dangerous way to move forward much faster in a relationship. Riskier but if successful with a faster payoff.

So the rockets taking them all to tonight is talking about the hypothetical first night they go out

Take me, I don't care where
is saying that one is more concerned about who they are going with and cares little for where they are going

Which is a beautiful little analogy of how they feel about the other person. They don't care where the other is going in life, as long as they get to go with them. This says allot to me, its not just faith, its loyalty and a strong passion to want to go for someone that had difficulties with the path they chose to take. This goes for either perspective whether we are the escort or the client.

[Rockets take you all To tonight It's time]

Which gives the song title royal a whole new spin... I mean its comparing the hardships this person went through in life to a royal. But using just royal as the title points towards the base meaning of the word, which is someone belonging to a family of a royal. In this case its the client potentially if they decided to start a family with the escort.

The song makes it out like the writer is blessed to have a chance to be a part of this persons life as to him they are royal in every way that matters. Why else would they name it "royal" referring to: a member of the royal family. Unless this person/the escort started the relationship with the intention of possibly starting a family one day.

I have an optimistic heart and assume this is a story with a happy ending... with a moral that talks of some of the best qualities in others can sometimes be found in the less desirable people. While also bringing to light the way people don't generally have a consideration or care for others emotional needs.

We can assume the client is most likely male and the escort is female. Which doesn't surprise me given the fact def-tones are male and escorts are almost always female. I'm happy to find there are lots of songs deftones write about that are actually structurally complex, using strong themes as a basis to build the mood the music evokes from below the ground.

Thanks for reading yet another one of my song analyses. I haven't been this obsessed with breaking one down in so much detail since I wrote the analysis on "You've seen the butcher". If you have any requests for me to do other deftones songs comment below. ;)