Teen Idle

A lot of people are saying that this song has a very sarcastic base to it which could be true but when I listen to this song I get the impression that she is singing about her childhood (as i say could be completely wrong and she could have had a great childhood).

My personal view of this song sounds like it was a time in her life where she felt extremely depressed as we can see throughout the song she wants to be something shes not and feels 'Conned' because other people seem to have a better luck in life than her or better things.

Overall I just think the whole song is the different stages and worries people go through when they are really depressed, when your Jealous :'I wanna be a bottle blonde' , Anger/hate 'I want blood,guts', Loss of faith 'Burning up the bible', Regret 'the wasted years the wasted youth', Isolation/lonliness 'Oh god im gonna die alone' and then finally finding that spark of hope

'Only to find, I've come alive Only to find, I've come alive

Oh, alive (Feeling super, super, super!) (Feeling super, super, super!) (Feeling super, super, super!)

I think that the "Idle" instead of Idol in the songs title is showing how instead of being the teenager that people would look up to and wish to be, she lived her youth in an un-fulfilling way and now she regrets it. She regrets living her youth being so pessimistic "instead of being 16 and burning up a bible" and instead she wishes she was a "prom queen fighting for the title".
I think the line "the pretty lies the ugly truth" shows how she would've lied to people hiding the fact that she was living her life being "idle" which is why it's a "wasted youth", because she didn't do all of the things she could've. "the day has come where I have died, only to find i've come alive" could reflect how she only decided to live her life to the full when her teenage years were over.

The song may just be about teens in general (the archetype of the idle teen) or it could've been directly about her, I'm not sure. There could be loads of interpretations of these lyrics though I think, and this is just what i thought xx

I think she is being extremely sarcastic, considering that the title of the song is "teen idle" rather than "teen idol"since the definition of idle is without worth or lacking in meaning. she must mean that all of that teen stuff was not meaningful while the real girls who were "16 and burning up a bible" had so much more worth, even if they wish they were bevaing like the "popular people" most of the album is about that sort of thing, how this world creates nobodys who are fake; or atleast America does anyway. and its better to be real and true to yourself for yourself since that leads to a much healthier lif. i just love her I wish her and her music were around when I was in highschool.

It's a song about Marina throughout her late adolescent years: "...16-20 were kind of blackout years for me. Like I didn't even live them or they didn't belong to my life. I don’t really remember them".

I think that this song is perfect. I believe that it's about someone who spent their teen years as a cynical, negative, person who tried to make herself appear "perfect". But in reality, she wishes that she was like everyone else. She wishes she actually didn't care, instead of just pretending she didn't. She's reflecting on her teenage years, saying she wasted them on trying to be so different from the mainstream, when in reality, she really wanted to have fun and be like them.

"I wanna be a bottle blonde I don't know why but I feel conned"

I think this means she wants to be perfect, beautiful. She doesn't know what's wrong, but she feels conned, like something is wrong or missing in her life.

"I wanna be an idle teen I wish I hadn't been so clean"

Saying that teens that are looked up to aren't clean, rather dirty/naughty.

"I wanna stay inside all day I want the world to go away I want blood, guts, and chocolate cake I wanna be a real fake"

When you're depressed you may want to only stay in your room and sleep. Because sleeping makes the world "go away" for at least a little bit. She wants to be like those fake teenagers.

"Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been, a teen, teen idle Wish I'd been a prom queen, fighting for the title Instead of being sixteen and burning up a bible Feeling super, super, super! Suicidal"

She wishes her teenage years could've been different. When her biggest worries could've been fighting for being prom queen, instead of burning up a bible (losing her faith). Feeling (super, pretending to be fine) but really suicidal.

"The wasted years The wasted youth The pretty lies The ugly truth And the day has come where I have died Only to find, I've come alive"

Her years and youth, wasted. Pretty lies, as in, pretending to be fine, being perfect, secretly with an eating disorder (I'll show proof of that later) She broken and ruined, but in the end, she finds that death is what she was looking for all along, Death makes her feel alive.

"I wanna be a virgin pure A 21st century whore I want back my virginity So I can feel infinity"

I'm not entirely sure on this one, but I think it means she wishes she was a virgin in high school, and a virgin now, so she can lose it. To be more attractive as a virgin, to be a whore. She wants her virginity to feel young again, and pure, only to be a whore.

"I wanna drink until I ache I wanna make a big mistake I want blood, guts, and angel cake I'm gonna puke it anyway"

She wants to forget everything with alcohol. She wants to do something crazy as a mistake, to feel alive again. For the "blood, guts, and angel cake.." I think this is proof of her eating disorder, bulimia. She wants to eat whatever, she'll puke it to be perfect after, though. After all, she does want to be a bottle blonde.

"Oh God, I'm gonna die alone"

She may be narcisistic, but she's worried that no one else will love her for how she is, and her past.

"Adolescence didn't make sense A little loss of innocence The ugliness of being a fool Ain't youth meant to be beautiful?"

Youth is supposed to be beautiful, but for her it wasn't. It made no sense. Her eating disorder, her loss of innocence, still innocent, but not completely. She finds her youth ugly and foolish.

Overall, I think this is a song of her wanting to change her messed up teen years. She wishes could've spent her years better, but they were a horrible, ugly foolish, time for her.

I wish I wasn’t such a narcissist, I wish I didn’t really kiss, the mirror when I’m on my own, Oh god, I’m going to die alone. Adolescence didn’t make sense, A little loss of innocence.

I wish I wasn’t such a narcissist, I wish I didn’t really kiss, the mirror when I’m on my own, Oh god, I’m going to die alone. Adolescence didn’t make sense, A little loss of innocence. The ugly years of being a fool, Ain’t youth meant to be beautiful?

I won't be giving any citations for I feel that you are intelligent and can see what I am referring to.

 I felt that this poem, much like many other of her songs is satiric. It simply goes through all of the things that an uncool, super super depressed, and questioning of her faith teen wishes that would happen to them. Then it talks about all of the things they want giving a sense of in reality they really only make life worse. Then at the end it talks about looking back thinking they wasted all of those years wishing for something that would make their lives worse; all the while not realizing that there were much simpler ways to fix their problems. Lastly it says that the teenager in her has died, which allowed her to grow up and not be so ignorant thus making her be able to live life to the fullest.

This is just my interpretation of the lyrics, but I think it's about a teenager committing suicide and their story becomes well known throughout the world. "Instead of being sixteen and burning up a bible, feeling super, super, suicidal" According to the bible, it is a sin to commit suicide. "The day has come where I have died, only to find I've come alive" She has died and alive is a metaphor for being famous.