Best Friend

I feel that this song is talking about being that friend (A) who's been growing up alongside a real junkie of a friend (B) who's right on the cusp of hitting the OD ceiling. Despite that, A tries to support B through his addiction despite being really worried for his/her health.

First clue comes in the form of the lyric video, which displays the name of the song as an ingredient in a pill with the poisonous skull and crossbones.

Other clues can be found in the lyrics-

The first line in the chorus details the best friend (in this case, B) who is "all strung out". He's pretty obviously getting high on something.

(Also, to note about the choruses- each time they add a new line, meaning B is that much closer to ODing.)

Continuing on the chorus, the full, non-"ooo"ing chorus goes:

"(When your best friend's all strung out) You do everything you can 'Cause you're never gonna let it get 'em down (When you find it all around) Yeah you say it's what you need And hide your eyes when you're close to me (With your feet up in the clouds) You oughta know that I'm here no matter where you want to go (With your head hanging upside down) Well, it comes to waves but it's hardest from the start."

Each of the parentheticals describe a symptom to B's addiction that shows that he/she is high.

Each of the non-parentheticals is A showing their disdain and worry for B's addiction, but is willing to support them anyway.

Moving onto the verses, one particular lyric appears twice: "I've been a river bed." Typically, this where all the sediments and crud land, so it's entirely possible that A has felt like B has taken advantage of their hospitality on more than one occasion.

The first verse describes what A has been to B in terms of his/her patience. A spoken word (a name that was mentioned in vain, just to fill the air), a river bed (above), and a rabid force (a legitimate try to stop B from throwing their life away).

"Dreaming in black and white" is a strange lyric- I suppose it details the fact that A feels as though he has to make very an extreme decision about trying to approach the way B is destroying himself. And being followed by "And color's so oh!" is also interesting, possibly because A is showing disdain for the drug B is taking (which is more likely than not at this point a psychoactive drug), but it could also mean that A doesn't see any leeway to make decisions that have compromises between his black and white.

The second verse details the way A feels about B, once again bringing up the river bed, but also talking about salting the wound (he's tried to heal it, to no avail) and carried more than he can (worrying about his own life as well as B's)

The preverses also have interesting meanings.

"Feelings sleeping in the field again I can feel, I can feel, I can feel It's beginning to end Premonitions smiling in the dark I can see, I can see, I can see The story's starting to arc It dries up"

The majority of this verse talks about a "beginning to [an] end" and "the story starting to arc", meaning that B is in his climax of using way too many drugs and is about to die. "Feelings sleeping in the field again" reminds me of the old adage "to put [x] out to pasture" which means to forget about it and not to worry anymore. I think x in this case stands for either B's sensory feelings or A's mental feelings toward his prospective loss.

"Waves in theta sleeping into dreams I can feel, I can feel, I can feel The celestial beings Wilted pleasures leave you with a breath I can see, I can see, I can see The beauty in the mess"

Celestial beings proves that B is taking psychoactive drugs, causing him to see what he thinks are angels. Wilted pleasures means that B is using more than he used to, because he found his original dosage to be not enough to satisfy him anymore. "I can see, I can see, I can see the beauty in the mess" details A's hearkening back to a time when B used to be much better than they were. There used to be a beautiful person, but now there is nothing more than a messed up drug addict.

Despite his chagrin, A is still there for B, as evinced by the bridge:

"I am here, no matter where you are I'm waiting here with open arms No matter where you are Sometimes you have to wait until it passes by Like a satellite or star No matter where you are"

And afterwards, the lyrics excusing B's behavior found in the choruses before are suspiciously missing, possibly because A gave up and allowed B to succumb to his overdose, perhaps because that's the only way he'll know to stop.

Foster the People took on a similar approach to this sort of subject with Helena Beat, so it's not really surprising to see another drug-related song on Supermodel. Despite the heavy message, Best Friend is still a catchy song about friendship and the bonds that friends have, to be there through the thickest times.