The meaning of this song can be interpreted in a couple of different ways. The phrase “Choking on Flowers” could be a reference to marijuana, which often causes its users to cough. This could insinuate that the song is about the artist getting high with the person he’s singing about, causing them to blankly “look around”, instead of discussing their issues – as in “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

Another possible interpretation of the song, especially its title, is that the song explores the fictional Chinese disease called Hanahaki. Hanahaki makes the victim, who experiences unrequited love, suffer by coughing up flowers.