Prey

I thought it could be looked at as a story with two people surviving in a weirdly dystopian society, but something is wrong. Almost like a mind-breaking surreal reality. Something doesn't feel right. Something is watching them all the time, they are trying to survive. But something is chasing them. Like something from The Hex from Warframe or something. I don't know, just weird thoughts of some reality where something isn't right, and they are trying to hide. Maybe aliens, "The Birds Came." Which would enforce the Warframe thing.

If you want a larger-than-life interpretation of this song, have I got an explanation for you! When I first heard this song, I figured it was the thoughts of “divergent”-type character who is considering talking with their lover/close friend who is turning away from the narrator’s point of view to follow the rest of the world’s. To save time on referring to lyrics, use the lyrics above as a reference. Also some parts are repeated so I’ll be skipping over them.

Let’s take a look at the first stanza: Here, the narrator opens by asking their lover/friend to hear the validity of how he views the world by keeping their mind open to his his way of thinking to compare it with the world’s. He reinforces his argument by saying that he also keeps his mind open, which has helped him come to the conclusions he has. We also see that his express of his rebellious views irritates his lover/friend to some degree because he says that if they don’t want to hear what he has to say, he won’t say it, but he is burning inside with the power of his truths against “the birds”

Chorus: The chorus is the most telling of the narrator’s reason for rebellion. The birds here represent both the worldly/society’s and the grand majority’s enforcement of their rules that make people think in one certain way. I personally thought this was about self-definition because the narrator says that he wants him and his lover/friend to define (“fly”) themselves before societal norms demand them to fit their mold and/or mindset (“tells us how”). He also says that they still have a chance against the birds because they aren’t as young and susceptible to their manipulation, and they know what the free-thinking world looked like before the birds spread their ideology. The narrator feels like prey because powerful forces are after his free mind. It is also interesting to note here that the narrator himself still has a foot on the edge because maybe what the birds are saying doesn’t seem all that bad on face value, as in the old saying, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. This is why he says he can’t really explain why he knows that the birds are a destructive force.

The stanza after the first chorus: He adds on to what he said in the first stanza by mentioning his hesitations of trying to convince his lover/friend against the birds. The narrator knows that even if he further explains his suspicions of the birds, his lover/friend will just keep it inside and not do anything about it or even acknowledge it.

This next stanza is heartbreaking: The narrator deeply cares about their lover/friend’s happiness and wishes, which is why he explains that if he doesn’t have them with him, then he’ll never be happy. And when the narrator says they will “slip” and “slide”, he means that he is willing to sacrifice his mind and his quest to convince his lover/friend to his side, to join them in the case that they decide against him and follow the birds’ way of thinking. This is why he says he’ll let his lover/friend “fly”.

The last four line of the song further demonstrates the narrator’s willingness to give up in the fight against the birds for his lover/friend’s sake because he feels like he is fighting them instead of fighting the birds.

I know I’m 5 years too late to post my opinion but to my defense, I only heard this song yesterday for the first time. I also connected this song with our current society’s obsession with organizing people into boxes because, as a young person, I am constantly witnessing my friends defining themselves by their zodiac sign, family history, sexuality, politics and many other things, before changing the label the next week. Some of these people even base their entire lives around one singular label. It frustrates me that while our world wants people to define themselves, it want us to immediately select some of it’s ready-made labels, when in reality, it should take one’s lifetime to have the full picture of themselves. I found that this song could be championing the idea that people should define themselves based on their own terms, as opposed to picking and choosing one of society’s boxes to sit in.

Those are just my thoughts :)

This song is basically about two lovers. Although, he's not sure the girl really loves him so he says to keep her heart open and not closed off. It feels like prey because it's constantly back and forth with the girl. He's wondering it it's his fault about their relationship. He also wants the girl to be free from their relationship, but at the same time she helps him. He wants them to figure out their relationship together Hence the reference "prey" when he actually means praying to god. This is my interpretation, but I might've missed something.

This song is basically about two lovers. Although, he's not sure the girl really loves him so he says to keep her heart open and not closed off. It feels like prey because it's constantly back and forth with the girl. He's wondering it it's his fault about their relationship. He also wants the girl to be free from their relationship, but at the same time she helps him. He wants them to figure out their relationship together Hence the reference "prey" when he actually means praying to god. This is my interpretation, but I might've missed something.

This song is basically about two lovers. Although, he's not sure the girl really loves him so he says to keep her heart open and not closed off. It feels like prey because it's constantly back and forth with the girl. He's wondering it it's his fault about their relationship. He also wants the girl to be free from their relationship, but at the same time she helps him. He wants them to figure out their relationship together Hence the reference "prey" when he actually means praying to god. This is my interpretation, but I might've missed something.

This song is basically about two lovers. Although, he's not sure the girl really loves him so he says to keep her heart open and not closed off. It feels like prey because it's constantly back and forth with the girl. He's wondering it it's his fault about their relationship. He also wants the girl to be free from their relationship, but at the same time she helps him. He wants them to figure out their relationship together Hence the reference "prey" when he actually means praying to god. This is my interpretation, but I might've missed something.

i personally think this song is about two lovers. person a is madly in love just highly insecure and doesn’t want to seem too attached to person b. person b is fading and kinda not in love anymore. person a doesn’t want to bring this up (i don’t wanna fight, i don’t wanna fight..) and also doesn’t think person b would say anything to begin with and claim there’s nothing wrong so as to not upset person a. person a wants them to stay open and honest and trusting, even though they don’t trust b that much. b is being open, but also not really in love anymore. person a’s worried that person b’s gonna start asking their friends if they should break up (the birds). i mean, person b’s already been around their friends a lot more but it’s getting worse. person a doesn’t know how to address the situation and it’s just getting to the point of fear, lack of communication, and no trust in being open.

This song reminds me so much of an interactive fiction story I read recently called OFNA: Birds of a Feather. Like the mention of birds and flying fit with the plot really well as all the characters have bird familiars. The lyrics makes me think of the MC being resistant to OFNA (basically a secret society) and trying to escape. The last part could be not wanting to hurt one of the members that betrayed her? I know no one will get what I'm talking about lol but I'd really recommend playing through OFNA!