BoyWithUke “Ghost” Official Lyrics & Meaning | Genius Verified
BoyWithUke sat down with Genius to discuss his latest hit “Ghost.” The ballad is produced by the singer-songwriter himself and off his upcoming album Burnout. On today’s episode of Verified, BoyWithUke talks about making songs without his signature ukulele, his definition of ghosts, artist he draws inspiration from and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00So, this is actually one of the first of many songs that I've made without using the ukulele.
00:06For me, that just means, first of all, change, and then growth.
00:09I didn't want to be stuck making ukulele songs all the time, because I feel like after a
00:14certain point, it just gets stale, and I wanted to challenge myself, experiment, and that's
00:18like, I think, in essence, what music is all about.
00:27So, Ghost has a title.
00:28I think Ghost can represent multiple different things.
00:32I mean, the most obvious thing is getting ghosted, which is not always a bad thing.
00:35But I also think Ghost can be a person, or even a relationship, where you think that
00:41something is there between two people, but there isn't.
00:44You don't know if it exists.
00:46You don't know if ghosts exist.
00:48Ghosts are also a little bit scary.
00:59So, the hook was written as a sort of response to one of my favorite songs of last year,
01:06maybe two years ago.
01:07Bad Habit by Steve Lacey.
01:09Good song.
01:10I wish I knew you wanted me.
01:12The hook for this song is, I should have told you when I had the chance.
01:16In my head, the imagery was slow dancing with this princess, and then they dissipate and
01:31see the air.
01:32I think that's symbolic of a relationship.
01:34The relationship fades away, or maybe they fade away from your life.
01:38Maybe they ghosted you.
01:46I have not been to Aberdeen, but I have been to London.
01:49The only reason I wrote that line was because of the second line, which is,
01:53from inside a coupe and from inside a private limousine.
01:55I have not been in either, but I wanted to rhyme limousine with Aberdeen, because I like
02:00the way those syllables sound.
02:02They roll off the tongue really pleasantly.
02:03It's like, limousine, Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
02:13This is a bit more personal, actually.
02:15It's sort of my view on designer clothing, or expensive clothing in general.
02:19At least for me, there's no point in wearing stuff like that, especially if there's no
02:23one to share it with.
02:29So Saint Augustine is a saint, I think, in Christianity.
02:33He, I think, popularized or created the Latin saying, creatio ex nihilo, which means creation
02:41out of nothing.
02:42I don't want to seem too narcissistic.
02:43I feel like that's sort of how my career sort of started, sort of like out of nothing.
02:53I had a song called, Two Moons, about a dream I had where I was lost in the woods, and I
02:56feel like I'm still lost, which is okay.
02:59It's okay to be lost.
03:14When I make songs, I layer it heavily, but for this bridge, I wanted to take everything
03:26out.
03:27So it's just, I think there's synths, and then there's my vocals, and there's just one
03:31line, and it's a take I did.
03:33And I really test myself.
03:35There's some scratchiness in there, but the type of scratchiness that I really, I like,
03:39scratches my brain.
03:40It bridges the two sections together, the slow, moody one, into the high-paced, almost
03:45chase scene-like.
03:47It's bridged together by the vocals.
03:59In my head, the imagery was, okay, so this person that you adore, let's say, for example,
04:05the ghost, enter the room, and it's like, holy crap.
04:08And in my head, it's like a chase scene.
04:09It's like you're running away, and they're chasing you.
04:11It's like a ghost.
04:12Ooh.
04:28I do find it hard to sleep, but not because of ghosts.
04:30But when I was younger, I used to be terrified of ghosts and all things supernatural.
04:35Very scared of the dark.
04:36Now, those two things, I'm not really scared of ghosts, because ghosts are just us, but
04:41dead.
04:43But I still find it hard to sleep.
04:57So I have been told I can be weird and off-putting.
05:00It's unintentional.
05:01It's just who I am, and I don't want to be unintentionally creepy.
05:05One of my biggest insecurities is coming off as needy or codependent, which I'm not.
05:21The ending of the outro, the verses, I wanted to add some sort of plot twist.
05:25So it was like, this ghost that I thought was chasing me, turns out I was the ghost.
05:30Not sure what that means yet.
05:32I'm sure someone will find meaning in that.
05:33In the background vocals, in that part specifically, if you listen, you hear like, I kind of just
05:37spell it out.
05:38I say, I was the ghost.
05:40It's been me.
05:43I think she thinks I'm on the spectrum.
05:46I'm pretty sure she wants to leave, and I don't blame her.
05:48So that was actually written off of, based off of real experiences I've had.
05:52So a few months ago, I was going on some dates, and there were two people in particular that
05:57they genuinely thought I was autistic.
06:00First of all, I thought that would explain a lot.
06:01I'm not diagnosed in autism, but I do think I'm neurodivergent in a way.
06:07My partner now definitely still thinks I'm weird.
06:10Maybe not off-putting, though.
06:11On-putting.