Posted by Soap is one of the most popular songs by Melanie Martinez. She released it as the second of her debut album Cry Baby, and it quickly became one of her most beloved songs ever made. The bubbles you hear in the song have a hidden meaning, and the soap is a metaphor for something deeper inside her. This article will explore the meaning of the song lyrics, following the explanation the singer gave about it.
You can find the official video of Soap below.
Soap: inside the lyrics and their meaning
Soap is about how complicated it is to express love to your significant one when you feel strong emotions, when you are scared that he won’t be able to deal with them. In the lyrics, Melanie Martinez mentions the soap while regretting that she talked about her feelings, wondering if she better washes her mouth out with soap, a popular saying when something “dirty” comes out of your mouth. From this point of view, she feels that speaking out her love was wrong. The bubbles in the song’s drop recall precisely the sound of soap bubbles popping.
Melanie has uncomfortable feelings about her need to express what she feels, and she uses the metaphor of the water running out of the faucet, filling the tub, and soaking her boyfriend. That’s exactly how the song begins:
Think I just remembered somethin’
I think I left the faucet runnin’
Now my words are fillin’ up the tub
Darling, you’re just soaking in it
But I know you’ll get out the minute
You notice all your fingers prunin’ up
She feels insecure, afraid that he will just run away after the words come out of her mouth. The image of water also appears later in the song when she compares her talk to throwing a toaster in his bathtub:
Should’ve never said the word “love”
Threw a toaster in the bathtub
She believes she made a mistake talking about what she feels. But on the other side, she feels she cannot keep those words inside herself forever. For so long, she tried to behave, to avoid talking about it, but it could not last. She shares this in the song by using again water as a metaphor.
I’m tired of being careful, gentle
Trying to keep the water warm
Let me under your skin
Uh-oh, there it goes
I said too much, it overflowed
Why do I always spill?
Going on with her metaphor, keeping the water warm means holding it inside herself, whereas once you let it out, it can get cold. The conflict inside her is clear: she needs to vent it out, but she feels it will be too much for her man to handle. That’s why she thinks she “overflowed” and “spilled.”
I’m sick of all the games I have to play
What’s the alternative, though? Putting all your effort into hiding what you feel? That’s a game nobody wants to play for too long. And if you did it for days or weeks, you end up exploding at some point, and words come out of your mouth like a waterfall. Or like a running faucet. And it’s easy then to regret what you said.
I feel it coming out my throat
Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap
God, I wish I never spoke
Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap
This is how Melanie Martinez commented on this song in an interview with ELLE magazine:
“Everyone is allowed to be vulnerable. I think women and men and dogs and cats and ants and aliens can all express themselves and be vulnerable.
‘Soap’ was written about my current boyfriend when we were first talking. I felt too scared to say how I felt about him and thought if I told him it’d be like throwing a toaster in his bath. So I washed my mouth out with soap. I think anyone can really relate to this song. I’m sure there was a time in everyone’s life where they felt too scared to say how they felt so they ‘washed their mouth out with soap.'”
The booklet of the Cry Baby album also has a meaningful illustration that furtherly explains the soap image.
After all, Soap is a song about the way we all love. Love is one of the strongest emotions we feel, and the meaning of the lyrics delves into our insecurities while expressing it.
Read other popular song lyrics and their meaning on Auralcrave
The complete lyrics
Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap
Think I just remembered somethin’
I think I left the faucet runnin’
Now my words are fillin’ up the tub
Darling, you’re just soaking in it
But I know you’ll get out the minute
You notice all your fingers prunin’ up
I’m tired of being careful, gentle
Trying to keep the water warm
Let me under your skin
Uh-oh, there it goes
I said too much, it overflowed
Why do I always spill?
I feel it coming out my throat
Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap
God, I wish I never spoke
Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap
I feel it coming out my throat
Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap
God, I wish I never spoke
Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap
Think I got myself in trouble
So I’ll fill the bath with bubbles
Then I’ll put the towels all away
Should’ve never said the word “love”
Threw a toaster in the bathtub
I’m sick of all the games I have to play
I’m tired of being careful, gentle
Trying to keep the water warm
Let me under your skin
Uh-oh, there it goes
I said too much, it overflowed
Why do I always spill?
I feel it coming out my throat
Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap
God, I wish I never spoke
Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap
I feel it coming out my throat
Guess I better wash my mouth out with soap
God, I wish I never spoke
Now I gotta wash my mouth out with soap
