From shame to glory: Therapist reacts to “Prequel” by Falling in Reverse
“Pardon me if that came off rude, I just have a bad attitude
With the world and not just with you, it's the side effects of abuse
I admit I'm a little strange, I don't think that I'll ever change
I survived a whole life of pain, you could say I escaped my fate
I'm a cynical, egotistical, unpredictable, hardenеd criminal
And I can be a little hypocritical, but I'll admit it straight to your face
I'm unbrеakable, irreplaceable, undeniably inspirational
I used everything I had available to make me the person I am today.”
This is really interesting from the very beginning. Cinematically, every music video for this album have been insane. You can tell this one is his villain origin story. I'm imagining that this is a prequel to “Ronald,” and he's saying, “I want to be a better human. I want to be good. But it's hard because of everything that I've been through, and these are the side effects of abuse.”
Hurt people hurt people. 99% of the time, people do not act bad or mean or evil because that's the way they are. It's because they have been hurt.
“And I'm a little strange
and I don't know that I can change.”
This is just a powerful, powerful narrative saying, “This is the way that I am. And I need you to know that I am the way that I am because I've been hurt. I've survived a lot, and I don't know that I can be any different.”
“I'm just hoping that my testimony will inspire y'all to stop acting phony
Pardon me if that came off weird, I don't mean to be mean, I swear.”
He really bends genres while he’s saying, “I used everything I had available to make me the person I am today. All of the good, all of the bad. I used every single bit of it to get me to be this place, to get me to be a popular monster.”
And he's acknowledging all that he is. From the cynical and egotistical to the unbreakable, to the inspirational. He’s owning, “I am all of these things. I'm not just one of these bad or good things. I am everything.”
That is really powerful.
“When everything falls apart
Why have you forsaken me?
When everything falls apart
Heavy is the crown, you see.”
The last part is really interesting, because in the video he's like Jesus getting nailed to the cross, which combined with the lines, “Why have you forsaken me?” That is a biblical line. Even if you don't believe in Jesus or Christianity, we can use this story as an archetype to talk about this song where Ronnie is pulling the reference in.
In the story of the Bible, Jesus is hanging on the cross saying, “Why have you forsaken me?” similarly to Ronnie.
This line “heavy is the crown.” We see him crowned at the beginning of this song. Oftentimes when we think of crowns, we think of power. We think of privilege. But in reality, a lot of times the crown is not chosen or earned. It is inherited. It is something that passes down through a geneological lineage. It's not something that you work for. It's not something that you choose. It's something that's given to you.
A lot of people feel with their mental health, “Why have you forsaken me? Why do I have to deal with this? Why do I have to carry this burden? I didn't choose this. I didn't do anything to earn it. And it's heavy. This burden is so heavy, it's so hard for me to hold.”
“Why have you forsaken me?” is also the end part of “Chop Suey,” another popular metal song that he's deriving a reference from, I think. And something interesting about that is when Serj, the lead singer of System of A Down, was thinking about lyrics, one of the top comments on our reaction video says that he asked the producer Rick Rubin for ideas.
Rick told him to pick a random book off the wall. And he picked up the Bible and found, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” The rest is history.
We can set aside the religion of Christianity and just use the story of Jesus. And he was another person who had a crown that was burdensome. His life was to die, and he didn't deserve that. And for Ronnie, this whole song is about the burden of his crown. It's Ronnie processing the burden. It's processing everything that comes with it.
One of the burdens of being a popular monster is that you receive criticism. If we think about the crown as only popularity or success, then we might not think that we have a crown. But when we think about the crown as a burden, as something that is inherited, often that we did not choose? Everyone has a crown.
Most people see the crown as glory. But the truth is that to get through the glory of the crown, we have to go through the burden of the crown.
Most people only see the glory. They don't see the burden. And if you cannot carry the burden of your crown, then the glory becomes shame. You either think that you are a fraud because you're not carrying it wel, or you have other people telling you that you're a fraud. So either way, the only way to get to the glory of the crown is to get through the burden of it, to acknowledge that this is heavy, that sometimes it's not fair. That sometimes, “I didn't choose this, I don't want this. I inherited this. This was put on me, but it still is my responsibility.”
When you're in a place of wearing a crown that is burdensome and you're crying out, “Why have you forsaken me?” You feel like you're doing it alone. You feel like you don't have people around you who can help you carry the weight.
Having other people around you to help you carry the weight helps you move from the burden of the crown to the glory of the crown. It's just so important.
I'm curious, what is your burden? What is the weight that you are carrying? What is the crown that you are wearing that maybe you didn't choose? Please share on our anonymous support forum.
And if you want to be someone who helps other people carry the weight of their crown, that takes away the burden, that makes it less likely that they're going to shout, “Why have you forsaken me?” Then please sign up to volunteer with us. We need people like you to help us all carry the burdens of our crown. Get started: heartsupport.com/swat
