Halle Bailey, Angel: the song lyrics and their meaning

Anticipated as one of the most intense songs she ever made, Angel is the single released by Halle Bailey in August 2023. The song is her first step in her new solo journey and a personal answer to how her life and career are changing. Besides experimenting as a solo artist after her releases as part of Chloe x Halle, her life changed after being picked to interpret Ariel in the 2023 Disney movie The Little Mermaid. This song is also a personal perspective on this change. Let’s explore the lyrics and their meaning: you’ll also find the complete lyrics at the end.

You can watch the official video for Halle Bailey’s Angel below.

Halle - Angel (Official Video)

Watch this video on YouTube.

Angel: the song lyrics and their meaning

Angel is a song about loving and accepting our flaws. In its lyrics, Halle compares herself to an angel: a creature that can have scars and troubles but is still an entity made by God. With its lyrics, Angel implies that we should love ourselves in all parts, including the ones we don’t like.

The lyrics explain all this in a particularly poetic way: Angel is addressed to those who do everything they can to get rid of their flaws, trying to exchange them with something else. A desperate effort to be perfect instead of accepting and loving ourselves.

Do you still mistake your flaws for property?
Somethin’ that just don’t sit right with you
But Heaven knows, Heaven knows
Your wings can’t weigh you down

But those are our wings. These flaws make us unique — a single, unreplicable creation to be proud of. And like angels, if life brings us down because of what we are, our self-love will always save us. That’s the meaning of “landing on clouds,” the lyrics you hear in Angel.

God-sent, you’re an angel
Heaven wears your halo
They know you’re an angel

It’s fair to believe that Angel was also inspired by the personal experience lived by Halle after being the protagonist of The Little Mermaid. Being selected as “the black Ariel” didn’t make everybody happy, and Halle was attacked by many after the choice was disclosed. That’s probably the considerable effort Halle Bailey needed in terms of self-esteem and confidence: being attacked by the masses is hard to manage if you don’t have a strong respect for yourself. The lyrics mentioning swimming and her identity as a black girl can be read as a reference to all this.

Do you ever make it out of your head?
Do you still swim in your thoughts?

Black girl here, Black girl with the Black girl hair

With its poetry, Angel wants us to love ourselves fully, embracing our scars and flaws, and that’s the real meaning behind its lyrics: the world is not an easy place to live in, and when times get challenging, we can only rely on the image we have of ourselves. When everything is against us, we are the only ones who can save ourselves.

The complete lyrics

Do you ever make it out of your head?
Do you still swim in your thoughts?
Do you still mistake your flaws for property?
Somethin’ that just don’t sit right with you
But Heaven knows, Heaven knows
Your wings can’t weigh you down

But angels make a way somehow
And if we fall, we fall on clouds

Black girl here, Black girl with the Black girl hair
Took a little sunkiss just to look like this
God-sent, you’re an angel (Angel)
Angel (Angel)
Angel (Angel)
Angel (Angel)
Heaven wears your halo
They know you’re an angel (Angel)
Angel (Angel)
Angel (Angеl)
Angel (Angel)

I’m a big deal, I gеt sick and tired of holdin’ it in
Rich blood, you can probably see the gold in my skin
I’m more than a girl, won’t let the troubles of the world
Come weigh me down

But angels make a way somehow
But if we fall, we fall on clouds

Some might hate and they wait on your fall (Ah)
They don’t know there’s a grace for it all (Ah)
My flaws don’t make me
Beautiful and real are you, they cannot compare, all you
Perfectly a masterpiece in all of me, even my scars
Even my scars, yeah

Angel: the song lyrics and their meaning

The complete lyrics

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