Art Is Hard - Intellectual

Much like the rest of the song, this is tongue-and-cheek considering the notes for this album have a play of sorts in them with stage directions and characters. You don’t really learn more about the album in the album liner for this album, but the play format makes you feel like there should be something more that you’re missing.

Baskin-Robbins, an ice cream chain whose tagline is “31 Flavors,” actually serves hard-packed ice cream, not soft-serve. “Double-dipped” here could mean two scoops, i.e. a double serving (hard-packed ice cream is also called “hand-dipped,” for the act of scooping). It also could mean double-dipped in a chocolate or candy coating, as soft-serve cones sometimes are.

This passage seems to deride lyrics that, like soft-serve ice cream, are cheap and popular among a broad audience, but uninspired, without substance, and unsatisfying for the artist.

He is tired of spitting the same shit again and again and trying to live the life he writes and express it in a different way.

Kasher also adds another line of meta introspection, how even this song is another attempt at selling his pain. However, instead of selling heartbreak, he sells the woes of being an artist who sells heartbreak.

Another comment on the laziness of the “routine” songwriting he’s preaching against. “I have to write ANOTHER verse? Forget it.”

He hates that his band is cool based on the relationship aesthetic that he has created.

You got to try over, and over, and over again to succeed if you don’t the past couple of tries. You do it over and over again until you get comfy with the repetitive nature of your actions.

Who cares about his sentiments, he knows this record sells, so he is willing to sacrifice his heart by falling in love, fucking it up and then writing music about it.

The continuation of the critique of the state of indie music at the time.

The core meaning of the album is further concreted in these first few lines: indie music should be a celebration of diversity from the mainstream as well as other indie artists. However, the main character sees repetitious trends propagating throughout the music, causing it to be stagnant and unrelatable.

These trends are also prevalently themed throughout this album: the concept album, the pain of love lost, sensitivity in general: he is describing the growing popularity of “emo”.

At this time “emo”, originally a sub-genre of punk, was quickly gaining traction in the mainstream, causing acts such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and many others to glob onto the rising trend.

Cursive stops short of outright accusing these bands of “selling out”, because after all, nothing is more overdone in the underground music scene than accusing bands of selling out.

You have to fail in order to succeed. These lyrics relate to the quote, “an arrow must be pulled back in order to be shot forwards.”