Paramore, This Is Why: the lyrics and their meaning

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This Is Why is the first song released by the American rock band Nashville in five years, and as you can imagine, people are incredibly excited to hear new music from them after such a long time. The track is the first single announcing their album of the same name, and its lyrics have a sharp, deep meaning. In this article, we will discover more about the song’s message, and you will also find the complete lyrics at the end.

You can find the official video of the song below.

Paramore: This Is Why [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

This Is Why: the song lyrics and their meaning

This Is Why is a song about feeling different than the rest of the world. In the lyrics, the singer criticizes how people express their opinions and claims her right to stay away from the rest of the world.

The song’s lyrics make it clear that the author feels profoundly different than others. Hayley Williams, Paramore’s singer and leader, has always admitted to being psychologically affected by her complicated relationship with others. For the same reason, the band took a break after 2017, trying to cope with the pressure of public visibility and musical success. Their aversion towards what people say is clear from the song’s beginning:

If you have an opinion
Maybe you should shove it
Or maybe you could scream it
Might be best to keep it

To yourself
To yourself

Everybody has the right to have opinions, of course. Paramore points out that people don’t need to express their views so loudly and publicly, as it often happens nowadays on the Internet, trying to impose their effect on others. This aggressivity concerned the band and ultimately led them to take a break from their public presence.

This is why I don’t leave the house
You say the coast is clear
But you won’t catch me out
Oh, why?
This is why

It doesn’t matter how nice the world can be outside: figuratively, the singer prefers to stay shut at home, alone, with a door separating her from the rest of the world. The door represents a safe border that marks the personal space and separates it from the outside. If she crosses the door, the world becomes uncertain, full of risks and instabilities, as the following lines declare:

One step beyond your door
It might as well have been a free fall
One step beyond your door
Falling down an endless hall
One step beyond your door
Might as well have been a free fall
One step beyond your door
And I’m floating like a cannonball

The world out there seems ruled by a never-ending battle where people try to stand out from others with their temper. From Paramore’s point of view, that’s the human side that leads people to interact with others aggressively, and aggression always has terrible consequences: that’s why the band mentions crimes and the “survival of the fittest,” implying that society became a jungle where you try to impose yourself over others through public opinions.

Better have conviction
‘Cause we want crimes of passion
Survival of the fittest

After all, that’s the meaning of the lyrics inside This Is Why: we don’t like the way the world has turned, with so many people screaming their positions aggressively over others; we prefer to stay away from them, isolated in our personal space, with a robust door separating us from the world.

Read other popular song lyrics and their meaning on Auralcrave

The complete lyrics

If you have an opinion
Maybe you should shove it
Or maybe you could scream it
Might be best to keep it

To yourself (To yourself)
To yourself (To yourself)

This is why I don’t leave the house
You say the coast is clear
But you won’t catch me out
Oh, why?
This is why

Better have conviction
‘Cause we want crimes of passion
Survival of the fittest
You’re either with us or you can keep it

To yourself (To yourself)
To yourself (To yourself)
To yourself, yourself, yourself
To yourself (To yourself)

This is why I don’t leave the house
You say the coast is clear
But you won’t catch me out
Oh, why?
This is why

This is why I don’t leave the house
You say the coast is clear
But you won’t catch me out
Oh, why?
This is why

One step beyond your door
It might as well have been a free fall
One step beyond your door
Falling down an endless hall
One step beyond your door
Might as well have been a free fall
One step beyond your door
And I’m floating like a cannonball

This is why I don’t leave the house
You say the coast is clear
But you won’t catch me out
Oh, why?
This is why

This is why I don’t leave the house
You say the coast is clear
But, oh no, you won’t catch me out
Oh, why?
This is why