hyper-analyzing Ice in my Oj by Hayley williams / Ramble #11

hyper analyzing this song because i’ve been thinking about it so much. 

Although i must preface that this is my own personal interpretation of this song!!!! of course they might not all be true or maybe exactly what Hayley meant but idk, art is meant to be interpreted and it’s good for the ol’ brain to think about it…. ANYWYASYYYSSSSS

i haven’t looked at genius, i haven’t looked up any song meanings, yes there’s a lot of songs with really obvious meanings.

I planned on analyzing the rest of the album, but i feel like most songs speak for themselves.. well also i do also listen and pay attention to some songs more than others…..

anyways might analyze for songs in the future 

Ice in my oj:

Honestly to me this song is the main reason i wanted to write this blog post. It’s one of my favorites from the album.. it’s so good. Anyways. This song comes across to me as a song about being in the music business at such a young age and growing up in it literally. The song starts off with the chorus of a song by Mammoth City messengers which is a project Hayley sang on when she was 12-13 years old. It seems like she’s both paying homage to that but also the way she sings it in contrast to the original song. rather than upbeat and jumpy, she sings it slow and steadily. Almost with what seems like exhaustion. I feel like these lyrics were a little intentional, like she repurposed them in some way. The lyrics go as such:

“I’m spinning circles and I can’t deny

Floating on your love like a butterfly

got me jumping inside, thinking about you”

This feels like the sudden appearance of fans and love and support that comes with having new-found notoriety, but then the next lyrics counteracts that positivity

“No secrets, no games to play

it’s alright, it’s okay, I’ve never felt this way

got me jumping inside, thinking about you.”

This immediately shows the drawbacks to having popularity, being as young as Hayley was, having no privacy and it’s no longer being some sort of dream she could “play with”. It was a reality. Followed up by “It’s alright, it’s okay, I’ve never felt this way” which just shows how she approached how unfamiliar this was

then of course the iconic

“I’m in a band!”

this one’s obvious. well maybe if you’re unfamiliar with the “Paramore is a band.” This was something Hayley was constantly repeating and even wore on shirts to get people to pay attention to other people in the band other than herself. I remember this interview, i don’t know exactly which one but hayley explains how everything wrong with the band also seemed to just be put/blamed on her, so she took a lot of it personally or to heart. SOMETHING along those lines, i’d have to find the interview again..

“I got ice in my OJ

I’m a cold hard bitch

Lotta dumb motherfuckers that I made rich

Might go back to Mississippi 

Careful I won’t take you with me”

I feel like this is super obvious as well.. but i digress. “Lotta dumb motherfuckers that I made rich” Obviously people who’ve exploited her throughout the years (not very rare in the music industry..), I mainly think of her 20 year long record deal with Atlantic Records.. that she signed when she was what, like 18?? that’s insane. Even if it was 4-5 ish albums or something, that’s a LOT. “Might go back to mississippi, careful i won’t take you with me” Hayley is from Mississippi, so basically going back to her roots, and the line after that comes across to me as that some said people feel owed her roots or that they “are” her roots themselves.

then the rest of the song continues with the same chorus and then screaming “I’m in a band”, I feel like the repetition does represent how repetitive this career is (wow how insightful..), and rather than being a full song, it’s dragged out and repeated endlessly feeling more exhausted and rinse and repeated. Like this whole experience she’s had in the music industry and in Paramore just feels likes a constant fight.

anyways that was my interpretation. lmk yalls opinions and any other thoughts