Terraform

What a song! To me, it's a classic sad story of two people who felt drawn to one another but couldn't get over themselves enough to see how they were both making things worse. It seems like they were meant to be in each other's lives, to hit each other deep, but whether or not they are meant to continue is undetermined.

- Catapulted, finally made it go. Parabolic, fighting a stranglehold.

Tear me from it, fears were manifold, terraform it, I was an embryo.

It's like they tried to find balance or leave many times but he finally got it to work (the catapult). Parabolic - like a swing going back-and-forth from one side to another, I'm unsure whether this is about the swing of the relationship leading to or the stages after the departure being similar to a catapult where there's an up and then a huge crash. I am inclined to the latter. He felt too afraid - too immature and in stages far before being able to handle a relationship of this maturity - an embryo.

The song title - terraform - which means to transform (a planet) so as to resemble the earth, especially so that it can support human life. Here it seems like he's using it as a verb to own what he was doing this whole time - playing pretend.

- It might be a little while, but maybe we'll realign soon. Made to reassign, but find me a little time to

He knows something needs to be fixed, that he's being "reassigned," but he's not emotionally ready. He hopes to come back to her somewhere inside of him, an almost not being ready to fully let go.

- Half euphoric, fixing the ratios, teleport me, I've been pushing the envelope.

He's a bit manic on his own trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix himself after this big end of a phase.

- All ironic, given the way she slowed. You're iconic, given the way you froze.

< Hopeful Chorus >

Call me out, stay platonic, I'll find a chaperone...

...wait around, forget mnemonics, I'll regret it years ago.

Spare me all the ceremony, dialling in all your pheromones, to cite a life in histrionics! The way you left was apropos.

Here's where it gets juicy! Where the emotions build, where his "terraforming" seems to happen. He obviously loves her, but he's sick of her "histrionics" - or over-dramatizing everything, i.e. attention-seeking behaviors. It seems like they really couldn't just drop their bullshit and talk it out. He's calling her out for freezing, dramatizing, and essentially being a hypocrite, all the while still pining for her.

Love this song!