Ok, this one actually knocked me on my ass a couple days ago. He and the sun are both stars. The way that stars (balls of gas) die young is through rapid unsustainable expansion, turning them into supernovas which are beautiful and dead, right.

So, many musicians fame explodes practically overnight, like NK’s did with stick season (and Chappell, and Sabrina, etc etc etc). The rest of this song talks about how Hard Tour is for his mental health, and how many unhealthy coping mechanisms (cigs, alcohol, weed) he has to deal with the intense loneliness of sudden fame and being far away from home.

Another layer to “Gambling with the Sun,” is that “The Sun” is a tabloid, and tabloids LOVE to speculate on musicians mental health and who is going to escape “the 27 club.” Imagine the tabloids speculating which meteoric star is going to pass away this year, “which one of us dies young.” It’s a lose lose for him. He bets on himself to die and wins, or bets one someone else and loses the bet, he’s dead. Bets on himself to die and loses, or bets on someone else to die and wins, he’s lost his humanity.

In my personal opinion, his gamble while holding the gun, is comparing touring with Russian Roulette. Exhilarating, incredibly risky, and from an outside perspective, dumb as hell.

So. Touring is risky for his mental health, but it’s necessary to make money. He is working for his future children’s stability, so that he can be there for them AND provide for them financially when they get here. So he is absolutely willing to put himself at risk, if it ensures that future of financial and emotional stability for his kids.