Feel Real

I think this song is about how you feel after a really bad break up. I think it’s about when you’re in the stage where you are trying to convince yourself that you are okay when your not, but you are slowly trying to make yourself realize that eventually things will be okay although right now things suck.

But looking at things lyric by lyric I think it goes like this:

“Now you've got to breathe It's only where your feet fell”

Okay right here I think the speaker is telling himself “now you have to breathe” like he’s trying to calm himself down by saying “it’s only where your feet fell”. It seems as if the speaker may have up to this point blamed himself for how bad everything went and he’s telling his self to breathe because it wasn’t his fault or her fault things just happened.

“People are so cool Somebody wants you”

Here it seems like he’s telling himself that people are cool or that everyone isn’t like your ex and that someone somewhere wants you. It seems like the speaker may be feeling like they won’t be able to find anyone after the person that they’ve just broken up with.

“A lover come back, I wanna dance like her, Like nobody's watching But nobody's watching”

I think here the speaker could be talking about a few things, but what I feel mostly that he’s saying is that when he sees his ex it’s like she’s gotten over everything and she seems happy. Whether she is happy because she’s finally found peace, gotten with someone else or something else. I think he is saying that he wants to find happiness again or at least some type of peace and be free from the pain that’s he’s feeling, but he can’t right now because he’s not over it. It also seems that with the last line “but nobody’s watching” he feels like he can’t be free or ‘dance like anyone’s watching’ because literally nobody is watching. I think because generally when you say “dance like no on is watching” people are in fact watching, but you don’t care because you are only worried about yourself and you’re free. I think the speaker is saying that literally there is no one watching or cares about him enough to watch so he can’t dance like no one is watching because really no is watching. He is still bound by the pain of the break up.

“Forever meant nothing when we had nothing”

I think this line means that when you are in a relationship with someone you feel like you are going to be together forever or that you will feel this feeling forever, but when you break up “forever” doesn’t mean anything anymore because you and that person have nothing. I think that’s why he says “Forever meant nothing when we had nothing” because now that they have broken up there is no forever.

“Feel real Now”

In this line I think he could be saying one of two things. 1. I think he could be saying that the break up feels surreal to him and that he needs it to “feel real…now.” I think because when you’ve been in a relationship especially with someone you’ve been with for years if it doesn’t work out, for a while you feel like it isn’t real and I think the speaker is telling himself that he needs it to feel real. It’s like he is trying to tell himself that yes you are broken up and that yes it did happen. It’s as if has been trying to convince himself it didn’t happen so he’s now trying to make himself deal with it. 2. I think this part could be saying that maybe toward the end of the relationship the speaker and his ex still tried to make it work, but they both knew that it wasn’t the same like how at first they could feel the love and it was there, but now it’s like they have to force it. He may be saying to his heart or feeling like “feel real…now” like he’s trying to command his heart to feel what it once felt or at least feel something because he feels nothing because there is nothing between them anymore. I feel like it may be more of the first one, but the second works also.

“Forever meant nothing when we had nothing”

Same as above

“Even when you know Hits you hard, Leaves slow, comes back fast When you can't take You don't swallow your pain Been around once It'll be around again”

This part I believe the speaker is saying that even when you have come to terms with the break up it still hurts and the pain hits you hard and it’s hard to let go. I think he saying that the pain leaves slowly, but even when it does leave the tiniest thing whether it be a picture, a song on the radio, or something that reminds you of that person and you’ll be right back where you started. I think he’s saying that the pain leaves slowly, but can come back fast. Then when he say’s “when you can’t take you don’t swallow your pain.” I think he is saying that you can’t deal with the hurt and the pain you choose to ignore it or dwell in it instead of dealing with it. Then at the end he tells himself that it sucks right now, but you’ve loved once it will happen again. I think he’s telling himself that if you can just get through the pain things will be better eventually.

“Forever meant nothing when we had nothing Feel real Now Forever meant nothing when we had nothing “

Same as above

“That's the time it took To calm these things Better to have been with than live without it Hold yourself, howl and scream Finally feel everything joining underneath.”

I think the speaker is saying here that it’s taken time to calm his feelings and get some semblance of control. Then he tells himself that it’s better to have experienced love and the relationship than to have never had it at all. Then I think with the last two lines he tells himself to do whatever you need to do to get over everything and get past the pain whether it be to scream, hold yourself all day, eat ice cream etc. But I think he is saying, especially with the last line, that it is imperative that he start to let go and deal with everything because nothing is changing and the longer he refuses to deal with it the worst he will eventually feel.

***The rest of the song simply repeats and I think he just reiterates what I explained above. I think at the core this song is a break up song with some bit’s of hope splashed in. I think the song takes the stance that right now it sucks and right now it feels like the world is going to end, but eventually when the pain is gone you will be better off, but first you have to feel the pain in order to let go of it.