This week I’m going to be analyzing the lyrics of the song Breath by Umi which is a beautiful song about a girl who is watching her lover suffer from some sort of mental illness and having to ultimately accept that she can’t really do much other than let them cope in their own way, no matter how unhealthy that way maybe.
The first verse goes “If I gave you more of me would you give me more of you? Or will I be someone you knew? Know you’re used to being used. I guess this is suicidal, why you so suicidal? And is it my fault when you cry, though? Is it my fault that you hide, though?” Basically this lyric is asking whether or not this woman’s lover would become better if she gave them move of herself, but then again she’s scared of this because what if they become better and decide to leave her? Ultimately the verse ends with her questioning if her “lack of love” is what makes her lover depressed and makes them hideaway inside themselves.
The pre-chorus goes “‘Cause I know you need the drugs to see the light, to feel the life inside your vein. Know you need the drugs to feel alive, to reassure yourself you’re sane”. These are the unhealthy coping mechanisms that I mentioned in the intro of this post. Drugs release dopamine into a person’s brain making them feel temporary relief from whatever they are dealing with and this is what this individual is taking advantage of.
The chorus then goes ” So I know and baby, I know, yeah, that it hurts to breathe, it hurts to breathe it in. And baby, I know, yeah, when it hurts to breathe, I hope you breathe it in”. What she’s saying here is that she knows that since these drugs help, she hopes that when her lover hurts, that they take full advantage of them and their effects, as evident by the statement “breathe it in”.
The second verse then goes “I know you’re trying your best to stay afloat. I can tell it’s harder for you than me, I know. And I don’t wanna seem so insensitive to you, so I just need to find my way to tell myself”. This is the verse where it becomes apparent that the singer isn’t too pleased with her significant other’s methods of dealing with their pain, but she doesn’t want to say anything for the fear of seeming insensitive. It’s the whole “you don’t know what I’m going through argument” that she’s afraid of and she even admits that she doesn’t.
The bridge goes “Is it you that you’re fightin’? And is the pain subsidin’? You staring at yourself in the mirror, self in the mirror, seeing that things don’t change”. Despite how many drugs this person is taking, they aren’t changing and that’s tearing them apart even more.
The pre-chorus and chorus play again and then the song fades out. I love this song because it really does a good job of depicting the way one feels when they’re in a relationship with someone who is incredibly depressed and the futile feeling that no matter what you do, you can’t fix them and seeing the way they cope with that depression tears you apart. This song hit close to home because I dealt with a situation very similar to the one that was sung about, so I can extra appreciate the message that Umi is delivering through her lyrics.