TWICE "Cry for Me" Lyrics discussion

    I thought I would elevate the tone of discussion on these forums by actually starting a proper discussion about music, rather than just endless comparison threads. So... let's actually discuss the lyrics of TWICE's "Cry for Me", and think about what the song signifies. Here's the official audio with subs:


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    This is actually quite an interesting song to discuss lyrically, because of the way that the emotions evolve throughout the song, and the setting of the relationship drama that it evokes. So, some questions to get us started thinking:


    1) Who is the "her" in that is mentioned in Verse 1, and what do you think is the relationship between "her", the singer, and the target of the song?


    2) Do you think the singer is still in a relationship with the target (i.e. "bad boy"), or is this a post-break-up song, or something else? Maybe just prior to break up?


    3) How do you see the relationship or the singer's emotions evolving between Pre-Chorus 1, Pre-Chorus 2, and the Bridge?


    4) Given the last line, what do you think the singer will do to the target of the song?

    Quote from aespaevolution

    For me, it’s a song about being betrayed and wanting the betrayer to feel as bad as you felt.


    Thanks for responding. Yeah, I agree that there are some elements of that desire for revenge against someone who betrayed you. But then, I think it's also more complex than that, because the chorus says "I keep making reasons to forgive", and Verse 2's last line: "Cry for me, let me please forgive you".


    So how would you interpret those lines then?

    The woman singing this is clearly conflicted. She knows that the man she is in love with is a terrible person who hurt and betrayed her, but despite all that she is still in love with him. She keeps making excuses for him. In the song she expresses wanting to see him cry and hurt so that she can forgive him. implying that he doesn't show any remorse for what he did to her.


    I do think that as the song progresses she is realizing that she can't keep making excuses for him. In the beginning she says she is "not about to let go so easy (Never let go)" and in the bridge "It’s your last chance c’mon. Show me your true love".


    Her brain: dump him. he's an asshole. Her heart: I still love him though.


    4) Given the last line, what do you think the singer will do to the target of the song?


    For me I think the last line signifies the singer finally coming to terms with the fact that what her lover has done is unforgivable and the relationship is dead "I want you to die for me".


    I guess I see the song not just as a revenge fantasy against someone who hurt her but as someone with an internal war with herself and finally coming to terms with the situation.

    Quote from dizzcity

    Thanks for responding. Yeah, I agree that there are some elements of that desire for revenge against someone who betrayed you. But then, I think it's also more complex than that, because the chorus says "I keep making reasons to forgive", and Verse 2's last line: "Cry for me, let me please forgive you".


    So how would you interpret those lines then?

    I feel like although the betrayed girl wants revenge and she feels really bad, she still is in love with the guy, and it’s just too hard to let him go, so she wants him to feel so hurt in a way she could forgive him for his actions.

    This is a great synopsis.


    I agree with a lot of your points.


    I definitely think the singer is still in the midst of the relationship. Either the "her" was/is his other woman currently or his previous relationship, and he is a serial cheater. The singer may have even have been one of his other women while he was with "her".


    But yeah, she's definitely conflicted. Her every other thought contradicts itself. At the beginning, it does seem more like an instance where she wants to make him pay for hurting her, but since he isn't showing any remorse, she is slowly realizing she is falling more in love with him and hurting herself more in the end. She may even be lying to herself saying she is staying to enact revenge, but in the end, she was only fooling herself.

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    Quote from aespaevolution

    For me, it’s a song about being betrayed and wanting the betrayer to feel as bad as you felt.

    Yeah I agree,but that's not all.


    The "her" is for me his ex-girlfriend. When she realized that her boyfriend was toxic and that she couldn't change him, she left. Here, the narrator tells that she won't leave like this, and she explains why.


    We are clearly talking about a toxic relationship here, a girl who cries because of her boyfriend, who apparently seems to want revenge by making him cry too. The problem is that she seems incapable of it. Even though she would like him to cry for her, she is blinded by her love for him and seems ready to defend and forgive him any situation.


    At first, she seems determined to make him cry, and as she says he drives her "mad". The more the song progresses, the more her hatred towards him turns into sadness, because of her love for him, as she says "bad boy, bad boy you really make me a sad girl".


    In the end, she clearly gives up. Her love for him makes her forget her hatred, and she almost begs him to cry for a good reason to forgive him.

    "I want you again by my side"

    "I want you to cry for me, even if it's just pretend"


    She is clearly in a situation where she cannot leave him, because her feelings control her and she loves him too much, even if he does not make her happy.


    "I want you to die for me" : I don't really know what she means by that. Is her boyfriend's death the only way to end this infernal loop? Does she mean she just wants him to be ready to die for her, tears aren't enough anymore. I do not really know.

    "You can just enjoy music without understanding it, music is a universal language." - CL

    That is obviously just my opinion and I may be wrong.


    That was fun to analyze though

    "You can just enjoy music without understanding it, music is a universal language." - CL

    Yes, agreed. It’s about a toxic relationship.

    The guy is an asshole, and now she knows it, but she can’t let it go, then the internal conflict happens.

    The “I want you to die for me” can be interpreted as the only way the mental hell loop ends, like she is so exhausted of wanting him to suffer (but knows deep inside this is just an excuse to forgive him and let him come back).

    i think its about a current relationship that is toxic/one that is coming to an end. Several of the lines seem to indicate that the SO has already moved on but Twice hasn't been able to yet hence the "want you to cry even if it's pretend". Twice knows this relationship is harmful but they are being blinded by love, one that is not being reciprocated in the way they want so they are unhappy but unwilling to walk away. I interpret the ending line as being a declaration of their hopes for their SO, to have their SO be someone who would willingly "die" for them as a passionate expression of their devotion and love for Twice, but they know in the back of their minds that their current SO isn't that kinda person so it is nothing more then a wish unfulfilled.

    Interesting interpretations, everyone, and I agree with a lot of it. However, I'm going to throw in an alternative interpretation which I think makes things even more interesting and complex:


    - The singer starts off NOT in love with the target, but rather was planning to get into the relationship and break his heart as revenge for her friend (his ex-girlfriend). Thus, she states at the beginning that she "knows there's no point in trying to change you", but "unlike her I'm not about to let go so easy". (In my interpretation, this means that the ex-girlfriend has gotten over him, and is trying to forget, but the singer still wants revenge and refuses to let go of this matter of him being an asshole to her friend.) She further explains her plan in the first pre-chorus:


    "As if I don't know anything,

    Baby no more real love

    I will stay by your side

    Then in the end break your heart"


    In other words, she's pretending to not know that he's a cheater (even though she does know), and is deliberately trying to get close to him in order to break his heart and make him feel regretful. She doesn't believe in real love - she's just doing it while masking her feelings of hatred: (i.e. "You don't know me, L O V E or hatred. Instead of goodbye I wear an innocent smile" - the guy can't tell that she's masking her hatred, and pretending to love him)


    But then by the end of the first chorus and Verse 2, she finds herself losing her hatred of him, and finding herself wanting to forgive him. If you contrast Pre-Chorus 1 ("Baby no more real love... in the end break your heart") with Pre-Chorus 2 ("Just like real love... Show me your true love"), she moves from a cold hatred that disbelieves in love to someone who desperately wants the pretend-relationship to be real love.


    This is further emphasised by an interesting conceptual twist in the Bridge: "Love is so toxic, it makes hatred melt away". This is fascinating because it's a reversal of how you would normally expect the word "toxic" to be used in a relationship. Here, LOVE is the toxin that destroyed her hatred, not hatred being the toxin that destroyed her love. She's mourning the death of her hatred, not the death of her love.


    And so, the meaning of the line "cry for me" becomes complex and changes over the course of the song, from "CRY for me", to "cry FOR ME". In other words, at first she just wants him to cry, to show his remorse for being a "bad boy". But by the end, she wants him to cry FOR HER, to signify that he cares for her. Because then she finally has the excuse she needs and justification to outwardly let go of her hatred and enjoy the relationship. But if he can't, then she can't officially forgive him, and must make him die for her. *cue yandere vibes*

    Alright, sit down, grab your popcorn and juice box and enjoy


    So, I think the song is about having an ex-lover who was a serial cheater. However, it's not your typical break up song, there's a vibe that is sent that shows that the main character has crawled out of her shell and back for revenge. It's more darker than you think. Referencing the ever-occurring cry for me lyric, the main character definitely cried and cried a lot after the break up because she loved this ex-lover. So she was basically like "no, I'm not going to let this control me anymore" and that determination turned into anger for something more sinister.


    However, I think all Twice title track songs and this special song follow a story line and one main theme: Love. At the beginning (LOA), they are looking for someone to love, since they are adored by many but not one of them is as special as the future lover. For TT - Signal (with Knock Knock kind of being an oddball), the main thing of those songs were trying to confess their love to a crush or being too shy. Likey was an oddball, then we have Heart Shaker where they finally confess their love. In WIL they want to know what love really is, and each movie reference was their thought of love was. Skip DTNA, and Yes or Yes and Fancy are confessing their love. Then they date, and I feel like they break up because Feel Special was all about friendship and confiding in friendship after a breakup and through tough times.


    Then we have 2020. M&M was them finding someone knew, but pay attention to the music video. In a nutshell, there are in the Garden of Eden. There's an apple that appears many times, which is the forbidden fruit like in the Bible. They eat the forbidden fruit and I Can't Stop Me is all about being consumed by darkness, which the English version of that song more clearly explains this. Then we are back to CFM and the lover back in More and More is new but it turns out they really loved them so they cried about it but in CFM they keep mentioning another girl and comparing themselves to her which suggests that the lover was a cheater.


    Eating the forbidden fruit has became more problematic and the forbidden fruit started clouting their minds. The sorrow they once felt and spent days on now turned into pure hate. The song progresses slowly has telling their struggles after the relationship and escalating quickly to pure anger and hatred. At the end of the song, Chaeyoung's lines were "I want you to die for me" which creepily suggests death of the ex-lover. Even the single teasers were suggesting a darker concept then usual.


    I hope that they continue this interesting storyline. Even though it may confusing to some people, I totally see it (after watching a few theories but I was able to conclude with my own theories)


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    Quote from primazaza

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