A Chaotic Review of So Much (For) Stardust by Fall Out Boy

DISCLAIMER: this is just my interpretation of the album so you don't have to agree, but if you wanna get mad about it please for the love of god go find someone who actually cares and waste their time instead.

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You know that lyric from Hum Hallelujah that's like “i could write it better than you ever felt it”? Well long story short this album is concrete proof that that is true. These are my favorite things about it.

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1. Love From The Other Side

“we were a hammer to the statue of david” i love this line as a visual but also because it feels like a big ‘fuck you’ to criticism, like doing the unexpected, changing and growing to reflect both yourself and the state of things also the idea of expectations and breaking them—redefining art in a way that reflects the culture of the people and the world that is consuming it etc “what would you trade the pain for” — recurring line pushing the idea of pain being a sign of life//a good sign//humanity, smth abt how trading away pain takes away the spark of life with it—eg what would you trade life//pain//humanity for?? And is that trade worth it???

“love from the other side of the apocalypse” eg pandemic, but also idea of new beginnings, the other side as in the other side of adulthood/growing up//their own growth as musicians but also as people

‘Nowhere left for us to go but heaven’—take on life/success, once you have everything you want, what else is there but ‘heaven’ (or the idea of what comes next? Specifically in having seen everything there is to see and wondering about the only thing left to know-eg ‘heaven’)“Summer fallin through our fingers again” feels like time is moving too fast eg falling through your fingers—recurring theme of lost time and wishing for that time back also sort of relations to covid and pandemic, especially that first summer and everything that happened during that time

2. Heartbreak Feels So Good

Kind of timed???? Rhythm, but subtle???? “Is there a word for bad miracle” lmao good question “the futures up for grabs''—interesting parallel to meaninglessness theme cont in “could we please pretend this won't end” lyric—beginning of running ending theme but building up to a more existential, nihilistic vibe

“It was an uphill battle, but they didn't know we were gonna use the road as a ramp to take off”—connection to previous song in discussion of their success and criticism—w the first verse“nobody said the road was endless” (existential/ending theme) sort of reference to their success, but also them as a band taking advantage of the opportunities they were given and then dealing with these accusations of ‘selling out’ or going mainstream etc

“we said we'd never grow up”—comparison or kind of parallels with “cure for growing older” (futct) change in perspective/not wanting and then facing the idea of growing up and how that time changes perspective —also using bridge as like??? Building block?? to hold back the tide/rhythm until break into last chorus is so good

3. Hold Me Like a Grudge

love the buildup to faster lyrics, “When you ask how i've been i know you mean well”—sort of feels like when someone asks you how you are but the truthful answer would upset them etc\ also just knowing that they mean well but you still can't fix yourself for them

“thaw out my freezer burn feelings for 20 summers'' 20 summers as in the 20 years they've been a band but also ‘thaw out feelings’ as sort of reference to putting these feelings into words and understanding yourself through the things you have written (same)—also interesting parallel between freeze/frozen vs summer—eg burn/heat etc.—pete said in an interview somewhere that he likes playing with opposites (which is sick af because i talk about that (far less eloquently) in day 3/4 of madhouse) anyway this is a great example

Prechorus painting this picture of darkness//spacey? and holding it back until the main chorus i love it—w idea of comets and the night sky—fits the visual sort of night/moonlight/shadow -y vibe also album in general w space/’the void’ vibes of overall existential themes “Screaming at the stars like nightlights” love the sort of connection drawn between the stars and nightlights—adds to the night sky vibe—smth about using ‘nightlights’ as a sort of signal for safety and applying it to the stars—? Alternative sort of visual—darkness being broken by light as a sort of savior—like when you walk outside from somewhere really dark “running middle fingers through the red lights” legend “I guess I'm getting older 'cause I'm less pissed When I can't get onto the guest list To the end of the world,” Of course there's that end of the world theme again, plus idea of ‘guest list’ as in making the end an ‘event’ (referenced again in stardust)

w title/chorus—grudge as a word associated with spite/anger vs hold me as a sort of comfort put together (OPPOSITES AGAIN and i still love it) “The world is always spinning, and I can't keep up” and “silent killers are these years coming like waves”—kind of tie to line from other side “summer fallin through our fingers again” with reflections on wasted time and the idea that time is moving too fast/feeling like you can't catch up with the world/do all the things you said you’d do

”part time soulmate, full time problem” i love this sm—to me it kind of seems like having this connection with someone that isn't necessarily a good one, but w reference back to the ‘nobody else to call’ idea from the first verse eg part time vs full time as in being with this person and having someone vs being a ’problem’ by yourself—as reference to mental illness reminiscent of line from 7 minutes in heaven (futct) ”i don't do too well on my own” also parallel of soulmate vs problem—soulmate as connotation of ‘meant to be’ vibes vs problem as in ‘something is wrong’

“Know it's inside me but i've got no map to my own treasure” love this sm—idea of not being able to find yourself but also not being able to do things you want for whatever reason//connections w previous line—diamond as the treasure—also that instrumental rise into chorus is so good

“I thought i knew better, i thought it would get better” i love this line because same ofc, pete just gets me, but also sort of connection/same vibe as lines from muse and stardust “I used to think it’d all get better” “it gets harder when it never gets better” etc

“I'm like a storm on the horizon” can be interpreted in both ways—darker vs lighter as in storms as a more ominous sign vs storms that bring water to places that need it etc—super cool in the sense that they are the same but also opposites??? one word that sort of contradicts itself??? it's the opposite-lover’s dream and i live for it

4. Fake Out

Interesting change from darker rhythm to rise into being more upbeat vs darker lyrics ”remember us like this forever, but this can't last, won't last”—sort of contradiction in forever vs not lasting—comparison to abap, first cause this song reminds me of favorite record but mostly because of concepts in centuries/immortals “remember me for centuries” and then slow sort of realization across albums that being remembered matters just about as much as the world—eg not at all

“Or do I just need more therapy?” iconic—rise into chorus rhythm sort of held back, before it lets go i love

“Buried alive inside my dreams, but it was all a fake out” love the buried alive visual as something that traps/hurts/kills you and then addition of ‘dreams’ as success kind of makes the point clear—being buried alive by anything will kill you—and once you're buried you basically can't get out

“We all started off as shiny dimes, but we got flipped too many times”—having to learn things the hard way and losing a part of yourself (eg shine) because of it/ ”futures that never came and pasts that were never going to change” —living with the things you do good and bad, even if they bury you alive

The main rhythm/chorus, just the kind of upbeat background is so good—buildup at like 2:50 and instrumental going out into sort of harmony leading to last chorus literally gives me chills every time i love it so much

5. Heaven, Iowa

“I've unspooled on the floor” love—Also the eulogy line is so good—love the idea of lyrics/writing asking direct questions—the “half the love” choral part buildup “i will never ask you for anything except to dream sweet of me” feels kind of like ‘you are all i need/i will love you forever/we’re soulmates etc etc’ then vs doing just that in “would you read my eulogy”—parallel in a tragic way, like being the last thing you can do for someone—‘i will never ask you for anything except this one really big difficult thing’

“scar crossed lovers” sort of an opposition to the classic ‘star crossed lovers’ in the context of that being those ‘fated’ to be together by the universe or whatever vs scar crossed as exactly the opposite—eg lovers who should never have been together//the worst possible pair//bring out the worst in eachother dysfunction/companion themes) ‘scar crossed’ vs classic ‘star crossed’—brings the same connotations of tragedy without having to spell it out

smth about checking myself out forever lyric as connotation of death and then parallel to next line “i'm saving this all for later” how can you save it for later if you check out forever?? (more opposites i will never shut up) forever as sort of last memory of person untouched because you will never see them again etc

“They don't know how much they’ll miss, at least until you’re gone like this” they in reference to relationship but also sort of feels spiteful? (god how do i say this without sounding like a bitch???) ‘Gone like this’ eg dead but also brings back this idea of being remembered—how you think people will remember you vs how they actually remember you vs how you want them to remember you etc etc “half your life you've been hooked on death” (this is a personal attack pete how dare you) feels like an iykyk moment so understand it if you understand it or don't if you don't

“twice the dreams but half the love”—more w dreams “be careful what you bottle up, the chemistry is a mess it seems but me i'm still a sunbeam” couldn't tell you why the first two lines have the same vibe but they do—also chemistry line ties to one from sophomore slump (futct)(and one of their most underrated songs i will die on this hill) ”we’re the chemists who found the formula to make your heart swell and burst” eg their ‘formula (lyrics/music/style etc) and then in context w ‘chemistry is a mess it seems’ as sort of how music has changed over the years, how their ‘formula’ changed it and what that formula is now, also not how they might conform to this new formula, more like how they make it conform to them

6. So Good Right Now

Opening beat is so good mixed with vocalization, very upbeat—“i got this doom and gloom in my mind, but i feel alright” similar vibes w “i'm not sad anymore” (also later doom lyric in flu game) but in a way that feels more complicated?? “I feel alright” alright in the sense that despite the world going to shit i'm feelin alright

“feelin so good til we crash and burn” sort feels like being stuck in a cycle—feeling good until you don't anymore eg crash and burn ”drive until the engine just gives up” interesting pairing of driving visuals vs lyrics about crash and burn etc—compare to repetition of this line later changing ‘engine just gives up’ to ‘engine just gives out’ give up vs give out—working hard but driving yourself into the ground vs giving up on the things you want and being miserable—sort of same vibe as line from muse “all this effort to make it look effortless”

love the fast bridge buildup into chorus, matches opening and closing with same rhythm etc, bridge has that same crazy sort of flow, like the lyrics match the music sort of??

7. The Pink Seashell (feat. Ethan Hawke)

Ayyyyy love the pink seashell visual—spoken sort of interlude tying main themes together—eg realization of the world’s meaninglessness—vs what matters to you as individual, small things that bring joy in a meaningless world and how they affect/change/interact with each other also return to sort of futct/folie vibes with the spoken words mixed into the narrative then tipping point into muse as reaction to confronting these truths

8. I Am My Own Muse

buildup into main rhythm/chorus “here i am not sure you should take a chance” as in ‘i don't know if i'm worth taking a chance on’ “i like playing dumb, letting you figure me out” love

”drop a bomb on all the things we dreamed about” (more w dreams esp visual of destroying them) but also destruction as recurring visual w ”smash all the guitars” also kind of fits in with this angry vibe “till we see all the stars”—feels kind of like ‘well nothing matters so i can do what i want’ but also that kind of existential vibe changing into more like ‘we’re watching the world go to shit’

“angels but they never came” love that in ‘the world is ending and there is no god/angel/deity coming to save us’ kind of way but also sort of facing/coming to terms with existential truths etc “another day spent hoping we don't fall apart” love this w idea of ‘we’ being interpreted in different ways—we in reference to this dysfunctional relationship theme—making ‘fall apart’ ref to breakup/end of relationship, then ‘we’ in reference to humanity and state of the world etc making ’fall apart’ into the end of the world—fit in w existential sort of theme—-repetition of earlier line ”drop a bomb on all the things we dreamed about” vs usage in previous verse as sort of individual dream then here feels more general like the dreams of humanity being destroyed by the end of the world etc

Love the slow decreased volume in leadup to “I'm just trying to keep it together, but it gets a little harder when it never gets better” (hit me like a fucking TRAIN i was not ready for this realization lmao)

9. Flu Game

I LOVE the intro to this song, just the rhythm paired with the sort of?? cadence/timing of the lyrics “I guess to you now i'm just a face in the crowd”

“all your little dooms” love this—making dooms not exactly synonymous with anything but sort of general understanding of what it means??? also connection to line from so good right now “i've got this doom and gloom in my mind” still, understanding of feelings and connection between different usage of doom in each instance ? (Also Mike Tyson/Van Gogh line is iconic)

“All this love i've got to keep to myself”—/“all this effort to make it look effortless” /“Oh, please, I can't be who you need me to be”—these three lines feel like they are evoking the same sort of melancholy feeling—trying so hard and failing, disappointing someone/something, but also just loneliness and the desire to be appreciated

“Confront all the pain like a gift under the tree”— i love the visual of pain under a christmas tree and confronting that pain by unwrapping it like its a gift when its exactly the opposite

“every candles gotta run out of wax, one day no one will remember me when they look back” recurring theme of being remembered but also running out of time

10. Baby Annihilation

continuing spoken lyrics rather than singing i'm always here for that

“An alligator prince with crocodile tears,”—i love the phrase ‘crocodile tears’ and then thinking about it with context of an alligator prince—false sympathy but also believing that you are better than those “below” you

“Permanent head-cold dreams”—kind of like a fever dream, but this fever won't go away—kind of like the whole world/circumstances/life is a bad dream

“Time is luck, and I wish ours overlapped more, or for longer”—i just love the idea of time as luck, and how that changes in regards to one specific person—eg wishing you were lucky enough to have more time w this person

“Orange leaves but we're the ones falling off trees” along w “I'm just melted wax on a birthday cake, another year fades away”—more in reference to time running out

“Stuck in a wasteland we covered in glitter and broadcast just for a little serotonin”—recurring visuals of the world as a sort of ‘wasteland’/being destroyed vs the desires of those who try and cover that up and try to convince everyone that the glitter is gold

“This palace was crystal, but the world was a cruel joke”—reminiscent of opening line but in a more broad sense—we are so busy making palaces out of crystals that we don't notice the world going to shit—and then in reference to those who notice and want to do something about it—"If you want a job done right, you gotta do it yourself"

“What is there between us, if not a little annihilation?”—humanity as destroyers—of each other, the world etc.

11. The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years)

Ok first the title—’kintsugi’ i had to look it up but basically it's the japanese art of putting broken pottery back together with gold, which ofc speaks for itself

Love the comparison of humanity to medication and doses especially in reference to being the wrong dosage for someone (eg next line) “i know i'm not your intended dose”-then into-“were going low low..” idea of lowering a dosage within the context of medication as humanity eg by lowering the dose they lose that person sort of vibes also consequences of lowering dose in terms of how it affects them and the relationship

"got the wrong insides" first thought was this line as a reference to mental illness—eg ‘wrong’ as in not working as it should—alternatively someone on genius made a connection to tttyg’s postcards from a plane crash “my insides are copper i'd kill to make them gold” connotating ‘wrong insides’ as reference to higher value of gold over copper and tying that in to self worth etc etc

”I miss the way that i felt nothing” tie in to idea of meaningless/existential themes but also to ‘chemical haze’ line—drugs, alcohol etc, but ‘I miss the way i felt nothing’ also in reference to fact that some anti depressants are known to put your emotions into a sort of numb state rather than the popular notion that they automatically ‘fix’ you-

“Passed my old street, the house i grew up in” adding to the sort of nostalgic vibe of the song w tie into ending themes eg ‘roll the highlights’ and ‘miss the way that i felt nothing’ esp w ‘miss’ as keyword making it much more nostalgic etc. “I felt you at the beginning but needed you at the end” ’you’ various ways to understand eg ’you’ as drugs/alcohol vs ‘you’ as medication vs ‘you’ as relationship/person who is gone now—how each fits in it's own way—smth along the lines of feeling the change in medication until you don't anymore//building up a tolerance (meds and alcohol/drugs) etc

“stop me if you have heard this all before” reminiscent of line from get busy living/dying (futct) “this has been said so many times that i'm not sure if it matters” w knowledge that nothing actually matters, change to addressing whether or not something has been heard by you as individual rather than said by the world as a whole

“You don't know me anymore, we're going low low..” lowering dosage-eg spending less time with this person

(this is probably my favorite song on the whole album partly because it has the same feel as disloyal order(folie) which is like my favorite song ever)

12. What a Time To Be Alive

“the views so pretty from the deck of a sinking ship” love this as a sort of symbol of watching the world end—also sinking ship lyric one of a few lines across albums that reference sinking ships (one of my favorites is from what a catch donnie (folie) w “the captains goes down with the ship so when the world ends will god go down with it?”) but with this song, it is more reminiscent of one from don't you know who i think i am? (infinity) “we walk the plank on a sinking ship” difference within same general idea?? eg walking the plank vs appreciating the view—parallel but also kind of the same situation/attitudes and perspective change etc

“Lightning bolt brain” love that esp in reference to human brain having electrical currents that power thought/movement/other brain things etc

‘hold me’ esque line just sort of coming and going from one song to another and how it changes to fit each instance i love it “neon in the nighttime” first the sort of opposite vibes—eg ‘neon’ as a bright light/color vs nighttime as the dark/black but also kind of has the same vibe as so good right now in that ‘i'm going neon’ feels kind of like being at this high manic point but still knowing that it will end ‘crash and burn’—these two songs feel to me like a really good not parallel but kind of progression?? from so good near the beginning being upbeat but kind of dismissive/ignoring this impending fall from high point/end of the world vs here w ‘what a time to be alive’ as sort of embracing or accepting truths but also ‘nothing left to lose’ vibe—satire/sarcasm eg ‘wow we get to watch this historic event’ vs that event being the end of everything you've ever known etc

“They say that i should try meditation” (don't it doesn't work) “but i don't wanna be with my own thoughts” (same) “it never felt that much like medication” in comparison to meditation—kind of gives off the idea that ‘being with my own thoughts’/meditation as the opposite to medication

“When i said leave me alone this isn't quite what i meant”/ “the vultures getting too full to fly” as basically the world is going to shit but also the sense that we made it into this

13. So Much (For) Stardust

Open on sort of darker rhythm and then the sort of stop thing??? “I'm in a winter mood dreaming of spring now” love this as a representation of feeling low—winter as darker feelings vs spring as brighter feelings—interesting use of not exactly opposites—Spring and winter rather than summer and winter—but then next line “burnin myself down” like flying too close to the sun icarus vibes—heat as brighter feelings, but too much heat will start to burn etc

“The stars are the same as ever but i don't have the guts to keep it together” kind of like ‘everything has returned to normal, but somehow you still can't ‘keep it together’ vs before—“stuck in the permafrost”bring back winter/cold as feeling low-’permafrost’ giving this idea that that winter will never pass

“Stuck in a lonely loop”back to this idea of being stuck in a cycle, kind of just the knowledge that no matter how high you are/great you feel you will always fall eventually and nothing can change or stop that

“So much for stardust” stardust as humanity (which pete has talked about in a few places) eg ‘so much for humanity’ tying in to apocalyptic/end of the world vibes but also stardust as in fame—how it's not what you think etc etc “thought we had it all” in terms of success but what’s the point of success at the end of the world?

“Can't take my thoughts and i am awake” revisiting idea from time to be alive “i don't wanna be with my own thoughts” so “i need the sounds of crowds” to drown out the thoughts that hurt to think about

“You were the sunshine of my lifetime what would you trade the pain for”love this esp as a line from the first song used in the last one, sort of sense of closure but also reestablishing these ideas that began forming in the earlier song vs how they all fit together here

grudge—“I thought i knew better, i thought it would get better” muse—“it gets harder when it never gets better” and then here in stardust—“I used to think it’d all get better” recurrence of notion that things are supposed to get better—and slow realizations that they don’t—progression from grudge ‘i thought it would get better’—eg beginning of new idea ’thought’ as kind of starting to distance yourself from this notion, then into muse’s ‘it gets harder when it never gets better’ as a statement of surety in this idea, and then closing out with stardust ‘i used to think i'd all get better’ as final understanding//reflection on past selves and how you have come to understand the world i love this so much i will never shut up about it

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OVERALL:

The narrative of this album is immaculate—going from questioning existence to.. Not exactly coming to peace with, but sort of accepting meaninglessness as its own sort of existence—progression of songs and how they build their own narrative in the space of one song while simultaneously pushing main themes/overall ‘story’—exploring themes of time and moving too fast but also wishing that you could get that time back—playing with how they depict pain/sadness vs joy/happiness—through seasons, temperatures, opposites etc—struggling with the idea of being remembered, i love this esp in comparison with abap—(centuries/immortals) and the slow understanding across years that nothing actually matters—how that changes view/ideas/goals and just the idea of how you want to live with this knowledge

—transitions eg seashell into muse is something they’ve done a few times and i LOVE it (esp in folie) just coming to the end of a song and being able to hear the start of the next one is one of my favorite things ever. the last 4 years has been put into real actual words that are so accurate and hit so hard i can literally feel it

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lyrics that physically hurt me:

“half your life you've been hooked on death”--heaven iowa

“it gets harder when it never gets better”--muse

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my top 3--kintsugi kid, grudge, fake out