The song feels like an act of vulnerability and authenticity because he's showing us a darker side of himself, that is just as true & real to him as his other sides. We know from his previous songs he has at least 2 sides: the genius side and the physically ill side. It's easy to empathize with these, appreciate them, and value them. But with 'Illest of our Time' I think he shows us a 3rd side that is harder to empathize with -- the dark/twisted side of Ren. The lyrics are brutal, twisted, violent, to some degree. And they are also him. And that's fine--we all have some 'twistedness' in us--we just conceal it to different degrees. Ren in this case is revealing his darkness, putting it on display for all to see. His final scheme lyrically here ties it all together by suggesting he is a 'fallen angel' with tattered wings, banished from heaven. But then he says 'Living with depression is a blessing in disguise, never second guessing intuition getting wise.' His depression helped him grow wiser, more self-aware, & Ren exposing his dark/twisted side like this, unapologetically, could be seen as an act of self-awareness-borne-from-suffering, authenticity, and vulnerability. His wearing white, I think, is meant to contrast the partial perception we might form of him (heroic, savior, goodness, vulnerable, soft) against the violent backdrop of animals fighting each other in an abandoned warehouse.
The song feels like an act of vulnerability and authenticity because he's showing us a darker side of himself, that is just as true & real to him as his other sides. We know from his previous songs he has at least 2 sides: the genius side and the physically ill side. It's easy to empathize with these, appreciate them, and value them. But with 'Illest of our Time' I think he shows us a 3rd side that is harder to empathize with -- the dark/twisted side of Ren. The lyrics are brutal, twisted, violent, to some degree. And they are also him. And that's fine--we all have some 'twistedness' in us--we just conceal it to different degrees. Ren in this case is revealing his darkness, putting it on display for all to see. His final scheme lyrically here ties it all together by suggesting he is a 'fallen angel' with tattered wings, banished from heaven. But then he says 'Living with depression is a blessing in disguise, never second guessing intuition getting wise.' His depression helped him grow wiser, more self-aware, & Ren exposing his dark/twisted side like this, unapologetically, could be seen as an act of self-awareness-borne-from-suffering, authenticity, and vulnerability. His wearing white, I think, is meant to contrast the partial perception we might form of him (heroic, savior, goodness, vulnerable, soft) against the violent backdrop of animals fighting each other in an abandoned warehouse.