The Strangers Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Teya 

Cover art for The Strangers lyrics by St. Vincent

To me, this song is about a jilted lover. She's discovered that her significant other is a liar and a cheater. She says that she threw her flowers in his face at her sister's wedding, and you can picture her being pissed when she sees him and throwing her bride's maid flowers at him. "Paint the black hole blacker" to me, refers to her anger building as the situation escalates. And worse, he's shown up at her sister's wedding to confront her, potentially ruining her sister's day. It talks about how he had a black eye when he showed up and that he looked as if he was wanting to finish a fight. The song also makes mention to some other problems they were having, like finding playboys under his mattress. And she asks him what really seperates her from the other girls he has lieing in his bed. However, for all her anger, she goes out of her way to say that she wasnt really dating him to "win", but that she was going for the thrill of it until she got bored. .....So, Iguess in the end, if she didnt really care, then she didnt lose too much.

i think the playboy under the mattress is a metaphor meaning the other girls he has been sleeping with