The Draw

I interpreted this song as being about mental illness, particularly depression.

They have the choice of the 'familiar', continuing in their depressed state, and the 'great unknown', which is trying to get better, but trying to get better could make them worse before they succeed.

'Don't listen to your friends' this whole verse is fantastic, the contradiction of 'see the despair behind their eyes', and 'they only care and want to know why'. It shows how their friends are worried, but then it suggests that the friends are only worried because there's some big gossipy detail they don't know, and they just 'want to know why'. It completely downplays the friends' concern, and that's like the paranoia nagging at the back of your mind; you can't talk to them, they just want to know because it's some scandal.

The chorus of 'the draw'; the depression, those bad thoughts 'pulling me back'. Here he's facing his choice, he could try to get better, but he has 'the draw' 'pulling me back'. The repetition shows how it's there constantly, and its like he's winding himself as he's thinking about it. He's aware that it's there, and he's panicking, because he's losing a battle he's not even decided to fight yet.

Then you have the next verse, and this one is as if he's hit rock bottom. He's realised that he's 'drifting', he knows he scared of 'words that they might say', but in the end he's more 'scared of being left behind', and this is the turning point. This is the point at which he decides to fight, because he's too scared to carry on and let himself become worse.

At which point, he sees his friends for what they've really been trying to do. 'Just listen to your friends... they only care and hope you're alright'. He's telling himself, reassuring himself; you can do this, listen to them, they're there and they care.

The draw's still pulling him, it always will do, but now it's different; he's decided to fight and he knows he's not alone. The draw's pulling him back, but his friends are pulling him forward. He can fight this, and he can overcome it.

I think this song is about a life lived in a state of addiction. At first he distrusts his friends motives and doesn't care about his own well being

"Don’t listen to your friends See the despair behind their eyes Don’t listen to your friends They only care and want to know why".

Only when he listens and trusts his friends can he help himself out, but always, he feels the draw. Pulling him back to that life.

Listening to that song, I kind of thought of social anxiety.

In the first verse he talks about the familiar, the things he is used to, things which are inside his comfort zone. But on the other hand, he sees 'the great unknown'. He sees this world full of things he doesn't know and which also scare him. He can see what happens outside his comfort but he rather stays home, the security he experiences inside of his comfort side draws him back from doing the things he sees outside. Describing these nights as wild seems kind of ironic but they seem more secure and that's what people with (social) anxiety need.

He doesn't trust a lot of people because he might have not experienced real friendship due to his anxiety. He tells himself to no listen to them because they only want to know what's wrong with him. Maybe he's annoyed of all these questions and thinks that they're all just desperate themselves. He doesn't know and cannot explain what's wrong with him either, so he just says to not listen to friends because they wouldn't understand.

He can feel the draw, that feeling which is pulling him away from participating in life but keeping him inside his comfort zone.

He wonders if what he feels is normal or if he's slowly going out of his mind. He's also insecure about himself, he gives too much about what other people might say about him and his state. But wondering if he's okay maybe gives him this turning point. When he's home, when he's staying inside his comfort zone, things seem different and maybe also better for him, but at the same time he is scared of being left behind. So he could try to change that, try and go out, experience different things and not letting the draw pull him back from his one life.

Then he also trusts his friends, he knows that they will understand if he tells them about his struggles. He says that they care about him and they hope he's okay. In the beginning he doesn't want to talk to his friends because he's afraid they might not understand but then he realizes that he can trust them, that they will understand if he just tries.

To me, this seems like he's trying to put an end to his old feelings. He does feel that draw which is pulling him back but he has to try to resist this draw. He might feel it a lot in the future but he has to try to fight it.

I don't really know and I might be completely wrong but these were my thoughts about The Draw.

I think this song is about the fears of being away from home for a long time (the great unknown), perhaps for an amazing opportunity, but can feel the draw of being at home where everything's familiar and they feel safe.

As someone who's struggled with self harm this song was overwhelmingly about that for me. But then I listened deeper and though it could be about any form of addiction or mental health issue. Depression, self harm, anxiety to name a few. And maybe it was written like that specifically. So that anyone who listens to it and struggles with a mental health issue or addiction can see it relating to them, and so they feel as if they aren't alone.

I also think that The Draw is about depression and about suicidal thoughts.

"The great unknown" refers to what happens after death, and the stanza about "Don't listen to your friends" is about how when you tell your friends about your thoughts and you're problems, they're very comforting but you feel like "they only care once in a while" but in the end they don't really care about you. The contrasting stanza about "Just listen to your friends" is how your friends actually feel, and while you might not believe it, they really want you to be ok.

"Round your mind rings the words that they would say" is thinking about what everyone will say if you commit suicide, how those will love you will hate themselves and feel guilty and basically what they would say about your death.

"The draw" is referring to being drawn back into depression/self harm/thoughts of suicide. There are a lot more interpretations I could say but you have to agree and feel with this interpretation to understand.

My friend sees it in a completely different way (she thinks it's about people judging your life choices), and I love how it's open to interpretation (though I was surprised that she didn't see it the way I did; it was a real eye opener).

I'd also say it's about a kind of addiction, or maybe a traumatising experience wich he's caught in. 'Don't listen to your friends, see the despair behind their eyes' could mean that he shouldn't listen to what his friends say, but he should see how desperate they are about him and his situation. And that he can't worry about his friends because the Draw is constantly pulling him back and so he can't really realize what's important and what isn't.

I'm sorry about my bad english btw

We all interpret art through the lens of our own experience. Anyone who has overcome any sort of addiction(physical,emotional,spiritual)understands the pull to continue;any obsession becomes the draw. Advice is plentiful, friends are concerned- to a point- but the draw is a constant challenge. The lyrics & arrangement of The Draw are spot-on; you hear-you feel- The desperate temptation/ indecision

Same as a couple of others, I always thought this song was about being addicted, probably drugs. How Dan's trying something new and he gets addicted to the lifestyle of that drug. And he gets paranoid, or one of the people who got him to take the drug in the first place tells him that his friends aren't really his friends and that they don't really care about his welfare. In the second verse, Dan's singing about the fact that he's gone too far with the addiction and that all his friends are going to leave him behind as if they're going to mature, settle down etc. Then he's possibly saying to himself that his friends do care and they're only trying to help him, but the draw of the drug is pulling him back to it.

I think this is about peer pressure/envy and feeling like you and your life are less good than other peoples' when really those other people are only pretending to have it better and also feel envious of others. The "draw" that's pulling the speaker back is these outside forces, these supposed "friends" of his, making him feel this way, when in fact he has plenty to be happy about in his life.