Fireworks. It’s something more than just gunpowder and chemicals combined in order to create beautiful explosions of colors and designs in the night sky. Fireworks are also something that we can feel in every single fiber of our body when we are experiencing intense emotions in significant moments in our life. Sometimes, these fireworks pop up when we are falling in love, being vulnerable with someone for the very first time, or when everything feels like it is completely falling apart. “Fourth Of July” by Fall Out Boy and “Just Watch The Fireworks” by Jimmy Eat World are two songs that both lyrically examine the feelings of fireworks very similarly, yet in very different ways. Both songs explore the experience of having a difficult conversation in a one–sided relationship that is either over or nearing the end because of lack of emotional vulnerability and trust.. Although Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Jim Adkins (Jimmy Eat World) have very different styles of songwriting and the speaker’s in both of the songs are not exactly in the same situation, the metaphorical and thematic parallels between these two songs seem to be almost mirrored.
“Fourth Of July” – Fall Out Boy
“Fourth Of July” is the eighth track on Fall Out Boy’s album, American Beauty/American Psycho, that was released in 2015. After the very first time I listened to American Beauty/American Psycho, I knew that “Fourth Of July” was immediately one of my favorite songs on the album right off the bat. The lyrics beautifully execute what it feels like to catch up with an ex after a relationship has completely fizzled out. The speaker in this song is very vulnerable in the beginning of the first verse with the lyric, “I’ll be as honest as you let me / I miss your early morning company, if you get me / You are my favorite ‘what if’ / You are my best ‘I’ll never know.’” By the time the first verse is close to an end, the speaker is taking back the vulnerable things he has spoken with the line, “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of it / I just got too lonely.” Even though the speaker wants to be vulnerable, he goes back and forth doing so throughout the entirety of the song. This tug–of–war continues in the bridge with the lyrics, “I wish I’d known how much you loved me / I wish I cared enough to know / I’m sorry every song’s about you / The torture of small talk with someone you used to love.” Ultimately, as much as the speaker wants to be completely vulnerable with his ex, he won’t let himself. As quickly as relationships can start and explode, they can also end just as fast.
“Just Watch The Fireworks” – Jimmy Eat World
“Just Watch The Fireworks” is the ninth track on Jimmy Eat World’s iconic album, Clarity, that was released in 1999. Although this track starts slow, it grows into a giant crescendo while the lyrics simultaneously get more and more vulnerable as the song progresses. The song starts out with the speaker encouraging his partner to be vulnerable with the line, “Here, you can be anything, and I think that scares you / I think that scares you / Here, I’ve been here before but only by myself.” As the song continues, the speaker ultimately seems to get more and more frustrated with the situation because his partner won’t be vulnerable and invest in the relationship the same way the speaker is. In the bridge of the song, the yearning lyrics state, “I said, said, said it out loud over and over / Said, said, said it out loud but what do I know? / Said, said, said it out loud but it did not help / I’ll stop now just so I can hear you / I stay up as late as it takes.” Similarly in “Fourth Of July,” the speaker seems to be questioning himself with thinking that the vulnerability he is expressing is not helping the situation, but he will wait until his partner gives that same level of vulnerability back to him. The speaker in this song has not given up on the relationship yet, even though it’s evident that an end could be on the horizon if vulnerability is not reciprocated.
If you have experienced emotional fireworks in a one-sided relationship, Fall Out Boy and Jimmy Eat World both have a song for you to dive into. If you want to have a song that is a little bit more energetic and witty with its lyrics, listen to “Fourth Of July.” If you want to have a song that is mellow and slow that eventually grows into a loud anthem, “Just Watch The Fireworks” is going to be the one you’ll want to turn up. Both songs channel the yearning of wanting vulnerability, emerging into a space of contemplation, and being scared of change in a relationship.