Verified continues to be a home for artists who want to break down their lyrics. To celebrate the new year, Genius is looking back at the Top 10 episodes of the series (based on YouTube views). It features an array of thoughtful, insightful, and fun episodes from songwriters ranging from Mitski, Boygenius, and Hozier to Tyla, Lola Brooke, and Laufey. Here’s a roundup of the year’s top performances based on views.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 This is the first record where I absolutely stopped caring what people think.
00:05 If it feels right, other people will feel it too.
00:09 I had a feeling it was going to do well, but what it did was like, "What the heck?"
00:13 I was always very sheltered. I never really dared to
00:16 really express exactly how I felt about someone.
00:18 I wrote it from such a vulnerable place in my heart.
00:22 Like a couple people have been like, or corporations have been like,
00:24 "Let's do a lyric breakdown." I'm like, "I'm saving it for Genius."
00:26 "Saving it for Genius." And we're here now, so that's so cool.
00:29 ♪
00:36 ♪ Black hole opened in the kitchen ♪
00:39 ♪ Every clock's a different time ♪
00:46 ♪ It would only take the energy to fix it ♪
00:56 Black hole, it's like this limitless, unfathomable thing in time.
01:00 Also this limitless, unfathomable thing in the kitchen.
01:04 It's so domestic and changing the clocks is actually so easy.
01:08 So it's like these things that should be easy about life
01:12 are actually tied to these things that feel like you can't even touch them,
01:16 which is a flavor of mental illness that I think a lot of people deal with.
01:23 Just not being able to actually do executive function to deal with something.
01:27 Too tired to piss, too full of piss to sleep.
01:30 [laughter]
01:33 Every night.
01:34 And that's this guy, I think. That's this version of us.
01:39 ♪ There for the grace of God goes you ♪
01:41 ♪ Smiling when I ask if she's bored yet ♪
01:44 ♪ Wonder if we took it too far ♪
01:45 ♪ There but for the grace of God goes you ♪
01:48 There's a spin on, I believe,
01:50 a gentleman watching some people being taken off to be executed saying,
01:53 you know, "There but for the grace of God goes I."
01:56 So it's almost me flipping it almost to be like,
01:58 "I wish I could be in that position. I wish I could be going with you."
02:01 ♪ And I love Vermont but it's the season of the sticks ♪
02:05 ♪ And I sock your mom, she forgot that I existed ♪
02:10 ♪ And it's half my fault but I just like to play the victim ♪
02:13 ♪ I'll drink alcohol till my friends come home for Christmas ♪
02:18 ♪ And I'll dream each night of some version of you ♪
02:21 ♪ That I might not have but I did not lose ♪
02:25 ♪ Now you're tired tracks in one pair of shoes ♪
02:29 ♪ And I'm split in half but that old half to do ♪
02:33 I always like to throw a good mom exchange into my songs if I can.
02:38 And this one I felt like was particularly sad,
02:41 just the idea that there was a person that was,
02:43 tangential to your life for so long that completely forgot about you.
02:47 ♪ Don't you notice how I get quiet when there's no one else around ♪
02:57 ♪ Me and you in awkward silence ♪
03:00 ♪ Don't you dare look at me that way ♪
03:06 ♪ I don't need reminders of how you don't feel the same ♪
03:12 I talk a lot but when I'm with someone I really like, I get quiet.
03:16 And I guess I'm kind of addressing to this person,
03:18 I'm like, "Don't you notice I get quiet when it's just the two of us
03:22 and it's just me and you in awkward silence?"
03:24 And they're like looking at you, kind of in a loving way but not really.
03:30 Then you're like, "Don't look at me that way."
03:32 It's just like a reminder that you actually can't have them.
03:36 ♪ Take me to church ♪
03:36 ♪ I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies ♪
03:40 ♪ I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife ♪
03:44 I have to say, yeah, the magnificence of cathedrals,
03:46 but you wonder, "Okay, who paid for that?"
03:48 And it's everybody.
03:49 It's everybody who lived in its shadow.
03:51 And look, there's some misunderstanding as well about where I come from.
03:55 Like, I've come from a Catholic family,
03:57 but the idea of confession and that there's one person in a community
04:00 who hears everybody's secrets is such an outrageous power imbalance.
04:06 ♪ Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time ♪
04:10 ♪ You and I drink the poison from the same vine ♪
04:14 ♪ Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time ♪
04:17 ♪ Hiding all of our sins from the daylight ♪
04:21 The chorus is really the climax in the story in "Daylight."
04:26 I was giving into darkness that grew in my life like a root beneath a tree.
04:33 I knew I should be giving more into the light.
04:35 ♪ A little context if you care to listen ♪
04:38 ♪ I find myself in a shit position ♪
04:40 ♪ The man that I love sat me down last night ♪
04:43 ♪ And he told me that it's over, dumb decision ♪
04:46 Ray, what is it?
04:47 "Dumb" or "Done?"
04:48 Basically, I recorded it as "Done Decision," D-O-N-E.
04:52 And then Tia, shout out Tia, when I played her the first demo,
04:56 she's like, "Oh, 'Dumb Decision,' that's sick. I love that lyric."
04:59 And I was like, "Oh, it's actually 'Dumb Decision,' but I like that more.
05:03 So let's just do that."
05:04 I didn't re-record it.
05:05 I was just like, "Let's just write in the lyrics and I'm sure it'll be fine."
05:08 Yeah, but people was like, "Is it 'Dumb,' is it 'Done?'"
05:11 But it's both.
05:12 Every time my dad took me to the corner store,
05:26 he would always put on his fake Spanish accent
05:30 when he's ordering something or purchasing something in the store.
05:32 So that's where that came from.
05:33 I was like, "Give me beso, show me some love."
05:36 That's why I was like, "Don't play with it, don't play with it.
05:38 Give me beso, show me some love."
05:40 Guys, talk is cheap.
05:57 Guys know how to talk.
05:58 They'll promise you the world.
06:00 They'll tell you this, that, that, that.
06:01 But when it's time to show, then, "Dololo, there's nothing."
06:05 I hate that.
06:05 Like guys that just talk?
06:07 Nah.
06:07 I was just thinking about how sad it was that,
06:28 not that I had to die, but that I had to stop living.
06:31 Because I love living life.
06:35 I love people.
06:36 I love the world.
06:37 And so I was thinking, "I wish this love in me that is temporary
06:42 could go up to the eternal moon and keep shining down with it."
06:48 (upbeat music)