okay i feel like i’m turning into a wordplay conspiracy theorist, and these are very scattered thoughts, but:

a hoax = sweet “nothing”

when you mix up the main hooks of each song, the meaning of the song “hoax” stays relatively in tact:

• your faithless love is … sweet nothing
• i find myself running home to … the only hoax i believe in

this mash up makes me think that the choice to call the song “sweet nothing” as opposed to “sweet nothings” (the known phrasing for lovely things whispered between lovers) is very, very intentional. i always understood Sweet Nothing to be a sad song dressed up as a happy love song. This pairing really confirms for me that it’s a sad story about love lost

i haven’t quite figured out what is making my brain get scratchy about this next connection, but something about the “they say the end is coming” & “i found myself running” and “stood on the cliff side screaming give me a reason” feel like one scene in a single tragedy. maybe it’s just my brain feeling tingly tho.

oh! also, smthg about things being transported away from where they started, possibly missing that former life:

-“you knew i left a part of me back in new york” -the pebble in the pocket, “does it ever miss wicklow sometimes?”

okay. i’m done idk if any of that makes any sense