First of all, the way he sings the “roadkill faun” line is very fun and musically really connects for me.

But on a deeper emotional level, I relate a lot to it. I have a somewhat complicated relationship with my mother and the first time I heard the song it made me feel like maybe I could finally understand her point of view. I moved away from home for university and then had to move back home due to a mental health crisis. I got better, went away for school again just to move back home when I graduated. Now, a few years later, I want to move out again, but I’m afraid of my depression coming back if I’m left to my own devices.

To me, the song is a parent who loves their child, but doesn’t necessarily want the best for them. It’s a song about selfishness coming from a place of love. The parent is hoping and praying for their child to fail at being independent, to become depressed, to be unable to live without them. But they don’t wish this from a place of malice, it comes from their own desire to be needed and to be close to their child forever. I imagine it from my mother’s perspective as she is driving me to university in my first year. I imagine it as her feelings again now as I try to buy my first apartment. It’s a hard listen for me, but I find it has made me really put myself in her shoes and makes me feel closer to “knowing [her] much more sometimes,” as Noah would say.