I think the context you missed here is that right when Bo decided, "I think I'll get back into live comedy shows again" the funniest thing (COVID) happened, which led to the production of this Netflix special in a house isolated all by himself.
And then he comes in saying "You say the whole world's ending, Honey it already did" meaning the perpetual fear and isolation people have dealt with during COVID, he's been experiencing for years at this point.
@@squalooceano2291 I think it’s just a symptom of jumping into these without any research. I get it, he wants his reaction to be genuine, but this is one project and artist that is drenched in subtext and double entendres. Easily solved by a post analysis
I think people that react to songs from this special without watching the whole thing in its entirety are doing themselves a big injustice. It really needs to be watched start to finish.
Yeah, the extra emphasis on " January of........ *2020* " was really kinda the key to understanding this song. The COVID pandemic shut the whole world down RIGHT as he was gearing up to finally "re-enter" the world and begin performing again. And instead he was forced back into isolation, and it sent him spiraling.
@@Kermarius You realise the whole covid pandemic caused a hell of a lot of people to experience anxiety right? It could be talking about the pandemic AND how it affected his mental health
@@Kermarius Literally never said "the whole point" - I said it would be the key to a newcomer understanding what the song is about (if they haven't watched the whole special). Because if you don't understand what the "funniest thing" he's referencing is, you can't realize that he was forced to not perform live right when he was ready to, and therefore can't realize the frustration and loneliness that he's singing about.
As great as these songs are in and of themselves, digesting the piecemeal, ultimately, does them a disservice; The special as a whole is more than the sum of its parts, and the journey it takes you on is so well crafted.
Perfectly articulated. It’s bittersweet, like I know I’m contributing… I enjoy the reactions, but also I know they miss the really great things about the special
@@DakotaSG the issue with that is that it doesn't work with the "blind reaction" format., unless the creator records their reaction through the whole special and then edits them down into separate parts. I typically agree with your sentiment, but it would make for less compelling content.
The song is from his recent special "Inside", which you probably know by now, but the whole special is basically a story arc of him making the special all by himself in isolation during the pandemic. This song, and a few others, represent the tonal shift in the special where it goes from whimsical and still fun to battling with the hopelessness of depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and loneliness. It's an amazing special. I understand you're a react channel so you can't really watch it in sequence without ruining a bunch of potential videos, but when you've gone through his other songs like "Turning 30", "White Woman's Instagram", "Welcome to the Internet", "Sexting", etc. then I strongly suggest giving it a full watch to appreciate it fully.
Yeah, this whole special is a really important piece of work. Sounds hyperbolic, but he managed to create a perfect time capsule of what it was like to be a privileged suburban American white boy(his words) living through the pandemic, and he did it entirely by himself. It really elevated him from a really funny comedian who sang kind silly but clever songs, to somebody who displays complete mastery of every facet of creating a complete work and putting his unique spin on every aspect of it. Watch it again and pay attention to how he manipulates lighting, audio, framing, editing, and then he choreographs it and performs it himself all in one freaking shot. He's like if Charlie Chaplin had the internet and all the little beat pads and gizmos we have laying around. Oh, by the way the entire arc of the special goes from hilarious to soul crushingly sad. It's his Magnum Opus and he deserves a lot of respect for it.
Did you feel anxious? Attacked? Glad you felt the point of the song. The visuals and melody and lyrics all play into that. It's great that he can express that through media. Absolute masterpiece .
Context during the full special definitely adds to this song. Watching the Kanye Rant before this adds a lot of context as well. This song made has made me cry many times.
Same here. i last until about the line, "So well in fact that in January of 2020" Literally cannot get past that without tearing up. Taking all of this time working on yourself and healing yourself and finally being ready to join the world again RIGHT before the world shuts down is insanely tragic and painful to hear.
In the special, just before this comes on, he has a full breakdown and spends ~20 seconds weeping just off camera. Then the canned crowd comes in and you hear his voice talking like it's the end of a show. He tells the crowd "I just need one more thing, if you think you can do that for me" *cheers* cue song. He did spend 5 years in virtual isolation, self-quarantined, working on his mental health. Then just when he decides he's nearly done that journey and *needs* to get back into the world (he says "need" bc, imo, it's the last step for his recovery) and then quarantine happens. And he's locked alone, in a bachelor suite, recording a new special for over a year. He turned 30 on camera, which was long after he had expected to be finished this. Yes, this song is him "pretending" to be on stage. The inappropriate laugh tracks are where he thinks his audience would laugh at his "jokes" even though he's being serious and grieving. He needs to get out. He needs to be around people again. And he's trapped in his room. For 7 years. The first half of this song is him trying to fill that need with the proxy stage performance. After the story, this is a love song sung by his mental illness and pain, calling him to back. "Got it? Good, not get inside." He freaks out, and yells because no one can hear him, then grabs the camera to FORCE the audience to get out of the seats like he asked. But it's no good, and he collapses again. I think with Bo's Inside special, you should forgo the lyrics and just watch. He conveys a lot visually and half of it happens while you're reading ahead in the lyrics. I don't think he's ever unintelligible in any of these songs, and I suspect it would heighten the experience for you a lot.
If you listen closely, when the crowd is roaring after he picks up the camera, you can hear him break and you can't really tell whether he's laughing or crying but you can feel how much he misses doing the live shows.
@@anonnotanks3756 Right! Like not to deny Bo's struggle with his mental health and the importance of his break for 5 years. Its annoying to me when people act like he stayed in that room and did nothing. He took a break from his COMEDY PERFORMANCES, but he still directed Eight grade which was great, and did the press for it, directed other comedy specials and starred in A Promising Young Woman.
Thanks for the second opinion and extra info, Divya. Bo Often says people need to remember he's playing a character. But, do any interviewers ever get him to explain his lyrics? Or his creative process? Seems sparse.
Definitely got a do yourself a favor, skip the reacts from this special, and just sit down with no cameras and consume it as intended. It’s one of the most important pieces of art to come out of the pandemic and you deserve to be able to appreciate it correctly.
This. 100% this. I watched it when it first came out and by the end was legitimately full on audibly sobbing. It is a gorgeous, hilarious, heartbreaking and human piece of art. Your instruction to consume it “as intended” is spot on. ❤️
Not just important because of the pandemic, this is a huge stepping stone for comedy overall. The pandemic was when nihilistic comedy stopped being comedy and felt like reality. Inside pushed past nihilistic comedy in such a beautiful way. It's one of the most important comedic pieces of this generation of comedy.
This song makes a lot more sense and a much greater impact when watched in the context of the full special. I hope you ultimately watch it from beginning to end, as it was intended.
This song was from his newest special “inside” it was peak of the pandemic, he filmed, produced, edited, created all the songs. He did the ENTIRE special on his own. During quarantine. The point of this was to “emulate” what a comedy/concert crowd is like. Basically the whole “funny” story section is that. His mental health went down hill real fast, the canned laughter was placed there because he framed that as a joke. But he took 5 years to get himself back into a much better mental state. But by that time he felt ready to start doing live shows. The covid came and locked the entire world down, which is basically what he had just been doing by himself for the last 5 years. So in the end he fixed his mental help only for this pandemic to say “no you dont” and tank his mental health. This entire song is him singing his depression. Basically bo had been working to better himself then covid hits and then everyone finally got on the “man everything sucks train” is what he felt like. The line “You say the ocean's rising like I give a shit You say the whole world's ending, honey, it already did” was basically him saying “you’re having a bad time? Who cares, everything sucked before the pandemic this isnt new.”
Yo, this is my favorite song from the special. It really tells his story of anxiety and issues and trying to overcome that stuff. As someone that deals with severe anxiety I really feel it.
The concept of laughing about mental health is consistent in Bo's works. The 'joke' is that he says "... having severe panic attacks on stage... which is not a great place to have them", implying that there IS a good place to have panic attacks. You should watch "Can't Handle This" from the special Make Happy, he goes into this idea pretty straight forward and honest with his audience. For a bit of context, Make Happy was the last special he recorded before he "retired".
As some others have said, you should check out his “Kanye Rant” which ties in with this, “From the Perspective of God” is really good. I’d also like to recommend to anyone with anxiety the song “Anxiety” from Jason Isbell, which is very relatable
This song is near the end of his special Inside, where he does an entire special completely alone in a small room over months during the lockdown, slowly going more insane and depressed over time. you really should watch it.
This special can't be watched piecemeal. It's so incredibly deep and brilliant. I echo the sentiment of all the other commenters. I'd also read some commentary before hand. There's so much that goes on that is easily missed.
This special as a whole is pure art and poignant. If "That Funny Feeling" doesn't deserve a grammy, then no song ever has. Bo brilliantly articulates complex feelings and has a view of our society that's wise beyond his years. It's a perfect encapsulation of our narcissistic, nihilistic society that cleverly uses simple juxtapositions to paint his masterpiece. He's a modern day musical Kurt Vonnegut.
I think the point of him putting in laughter from the non-existent audience when he said he was getting panic attacks is because the audience tends to think everything he says is a joke...even when he's being genuine and real. You've now seen "Can't Handle This", and that was the last show he performed before his 5-year break. He, as a creator, desperately wants to perform without having to appeal to others...and being self-aware and real is so jarring to people who come to a comedy show for fake stories and funny made-up jokes that he is almost parodying himself. It's...horribly tragic to hear someone who genuinely believes the world is over...life is done...there is nothing for our children to inherit because we killed the Earth. But because he's a comedian, he has to keep running it back until him talking about it is the punchline.
He is amazing at finding a way of addressing the difficult topics like discrimination, mental health and climate change without coming off preachy. I've rarely seen anyone manage this.
Also his delivery of that line, it’s delivered like a joke. So it’s also probably commentary about people not really paying attention to what he has to say because he’s a comedian, not to be taken seriously.
I'd really recommend watching the whole special for context. This is the penultimate song from it and is essentially a part of the arc of the special as a whole performance piece. It really benefits from the context. I think it's about Bo's complicated relationship with performing and the audience, and his anxieties around that. Like, he desperately needs the audience's recognition and as a performer it's what he craves to be doing, but his anxiety and panic attacks get in the way of that, and the pandemic and lockdowns happened right as he was about to get back into that. He was still working on this special, but doing a special like this lacks that kind of instant feedback and recognition you get from a live audience, and I think that was especially hard on him with his anxieties around performing. There's one song in the special where he muses as to whether or not people will like what he's doing, or even be paying attention or if they'll just be on their phones with it on in the background, but keeps repeating the refrain, "I don't wanna know." There's a ton going on in the special and I'd highly recommend giving it a watch if you haven't.
Pretending to have a crowd to see if it helps him fulfill the last step of his recovery: getting back into the world. It doesn't. The second half is being sung by his depression and illness to him. Pulling him back inside.
All of the songs from the special are great but I completely understand just hearing some of the songs without the context of the full show can be very jarring. This song really is a turning point in the special where shit gets kinda real. The whole special represents kind of the journey people took during the pandemic, started off kinda scary but we found some humor in it, and then some got really depressed after a few months of being home.
The entire Inside special is like a time capsule of the pandemic. I think it's incredibly powerful within that context. 20 years down the road, the songs will still be catchy as hell, but without the context of that damn thing that started in January 2020, it doesn't quite have the impact. watching the special in its entirety really drives home the point that he's "trying to be funny while stuck in a room".
There's a lot of layers to this one. As others have said, its place in the special 'Inside' makes the meaning of this and other songs much more clear. Themes of anxiety and depression which you picked up on are definitely central to this song and the special as a whole. The fact that the song is so beautiful and traditionally "poppy" with phrases like "get your hands up, get out of your seats, all eyes on me" representing the classic call to action of many popular songs in many genres, might be a nod to Bo sort of hiding his sadness behind his music. And then, of course, there's the central monologue, sharing how Bo had struggled with severe anxiety for years causing him to quit performing, then when he finally felt he had reached a state of mental health where he could begin performing live again, Covid hit and forced him to go back "inside".
Context: This piece happens later in the special, after almost a year of complete isolation, with rapidly declining mental health. The song shows by example how in his pursuit of content/art (and Inside is very much a work of art) he's become gradually more unhinged. The whole thing drips with the kind of delirium that's been setting in.
I’ve thought about this special & specifically this song at least once a week since watching it when it came out. It sounds dramatic but it kind of changed my life
Sarcasm. Parody. Comedy. Talent. And notice: he’s all alone in the room. There’s no one to get their f’n hands up 🙌. Covid hit just when he was about to tour after a long bout with panic attacks ... so he did this whole show alone in his room (composed, performed, recorded, lights, etc). He parodies several genres of music and does social commentary (internet use, etc.). It’s brilliant and funny (but is it? Because it’s true and hits hard, Bro). ✨🤪
I think the most interesting article I read that referenced this song was discussing the mental health implications of this song. When you're depressed or BPD like Bo undoubtedly is you feel a desperation for your pain to be seen, but a deeply ingrained shame of not wanting to be seen as your symptoms instead of a person. Deep depressions feel like physical pains and the anger of not being seen hit me SO hard when he starts yelling "get the fck up!" Because it reminded me DEEPLY of being in emergency rooms feeling suicidal and overwhelmed and always hitting a wall of screaming at my immense suffering being minimized to: "Tried yoga yet?" This song made me sob. It saw my pain and it reflected its loneliness. Inside isn't a comedy song special. It's an art film.
I always viewed this as the story of a panic attack, the lyrics constantly put him out of breath like he's panicking. The sudden burst of anger, the whole thing reaks of someone's mind turning against itself.
When I watched Inside, I cried at this song. I felt his pain so fully. And him shouting at me felt appropriate, somehow. And I did stand up, I stood up from my couch and put my hands up in solidarity for all of the people who's mental health has just been decimated by covid, including myself.
I was listening to this song when I received the news that a friend had just died of an overdose. Now I can’t hear it without tears, but I love it. “We’re going to go where everybody knows everybody knows everybody” hits me pretty damn hard.
As other people said (although I think it's good to put it all together): 1) You had a good grasp of why it was shot this way and why he used this specific color palette, BUT: 2) Watching "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" (which I think was his last live performance) + knowing context of "Inside" helps with grasping the full meaning; although I think knowing just one of those can give you enough context if you'll pay enough attention to what he says/sings and what's happening on the screen 3) He put emphasis on "January 2020", because of pandemic, which is "funny thing" that happend, leading him to isolation and spiraling back to his mental breakdown 4) "Got it? Good, now get inside" and "you say the world is ending - honey, it already did" lines are also relating to pandemic 5) It's not that he just misses performing live: he NEEDED getting back to people, because it should have been the final part of his recovery; instead he had to isolate himself, ending up exactly in the point where he was in the beginning, before his recovery process 6) Laughs in inappropriate parts was accurate simulation of what was happening on the stage while he was getting real or was having panic attacks during his live shows. "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" is good example, but you'll find it in any of his show when he tries to get real or deliver a message. And people are laughing every time, basically showing that they didn't understand anything he said/sang (or just didn't care), even when he was completely straightforwad about it. All the parts with laugh tracks are meta commentary on how his fans don't care at all about what he tries to convey. And don't care about him at all, which is more understable, but still kinda hurtful - whole panic attack and depression thing delivered in this song (and especially in "Can't Handle This") is partially about how you can feel even more hopeless and alone when being surrounded by people who claim to know you, while they don't get anything you say at all 7) "Get your f*cking hands up" refers directly to "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" while words "pray for me" are supposed to show us that he's having panic attack right now and he's spiraling down again 8) In this song, Bo's not only singing his depression, the part after monologue (from "are you feeling nervous" to "everybody knows") is in some way sung BY his depression and anxiety. When you realize it, all those verses have different, deeper and darker meaning 9) Part where he starts being aggressive is demonstration how panic attacks may look like. It's also supposed to make viewer feel uncomfortable and anxious, same as looking deep into the camera or grabbing it and spiraling around the room (which is also metaphor for him spiraling deeper into depression and anxiety). It's good that you felt out of place and nervous, 'cause it was the purpose of it; it was supposed to give viewer glimpse into anxiety. It's too bad that you looked mostly at the lyrics when he was looking deep into a camera saying "look in my eyes", maybe you'd have this feeling from the beginning (it really helps to understand this song) 10) The other reason he's being aggressive (and reason for his panic attack) is that not only doesn't anyone understand what he's saying, but also nobody's even out there to hear anything out. He's just alone in his suite recording something he should have finished long time alone while having no one to talk to. This aggressive behaviour represents cries for help and Bo tries to show us, that psychologically it's something that's happening to people around us in real life while we just ignore it and laugh, judge those people or freak out There are probably many things thet I didn't grasp myself (especially related to visual layer), but I think that the things I mentioned are enough to get the message on the basic level.
Breaks my heart that people hurt themselves mentally and physically to perform and entertain other people. A lot of us don’t deserve someone like Bo Burnham.
I know I'm just piling on at this point, but almost every song in this special makes more sense or just has more meaning when you watch the entire special. But still loving you're reactions to it.
To understand this better, I think you need to hear "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)". It was the last song he performed before quitting live performances.
Remember what happened in January of 2020?. The "Inside" special is a mix of funny and deeply introspective. He made it all himself in a single room. The lighting, sound, set design, not to mention the music, was all just him. He recorded himself going through it like we all were.
Now that you’ve heard a few from his special you should really watch if from start to finish. The vibe of this song, and many others, will make sense and it will kind of tell the full story
I loved your reaction when he screams at the camera and then grabs it! Some people have described that part as liberating, but I find it quite jarring and violating, so I empathized with your reaction! If you haven't heard it yet, Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant) is a great prequel to this because it's from the time period that he was having the panic attacks and specifically addresses his anxiety with performing.
Yeah this is his love letter to performing. He misses it despite his mental incompatibility with it. Despite the one-sided, love/hate nature of the relationship from his standpoint. Even moreso in this bittersweet COVID limbo after working for YEARS to get back to a place where he could enjoy performing live responsibly for himself. MrL - to be fair to Bo, your hands are not where they’re supposed to be as per his direction
Please, please, please watch the entire show "Inside" to fully get the whole feeling and meaning of all the songs. It's truly a journey of mental health and decline, shown through his experience during the first year of quarantine.
Some context is, 2020 quarantine, dealing with depression leading up to it and dealing with that. He took a break prior to 2020 to work on his anxiety as well, and was almost ready to to start touring again. He went through, alot of mental anguish (along with alot of us) due to isolation as well. He also has issues around a need for external validation at being a performer. All this culminated in the final song of the special He did all by himself in his isolation, he had a bit of a breakdown about whether to even finish the special. This song is a synthesis of all of that, such a beautiful transmutation of a lot negative feelings
The comedy in his music/art is funny because it depressing as hell, but true. I relate to it because when viral videos began he was there with bo yo and new math. The theater kid anthems of the early 2000's Then with "Inside" he destroyed modern comedy again. But also showed he had grown with the rest of us that grew up with him. Depressing but hilarious, modern day american Gogol lol 😂
When he yells “get the fuck up” it really resonates with people who have anxiety and depression because we get stuck inside and don’t do anything productive and just fall into a deeper depression
Def recommend watching his prior special Make Happy in it’s entirety followed by this special Inside in itself entirety. Much more impactful and makes more sense thematically
They aren't in the same special, but I think "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" also adds some context to this song. It was the last song in his last special before he went on the hiatus he references and it gives you an idea of where he's come from mental health wise. Also it's a really stunning performance, definitely recommend it next/soon.
i’d pay for your patreon if you react to all of inside or even just do a review of the full special. it’s truly remarkable and it would be really sad if you never got to see it.
Weird song but became so hypnotizing to me I listened to it for about 3 days straight. Felt like a zombie the whole time in the best way. I was a happy pawn and that’s a damn hard feeling to create in a man like me
I am not sure if someone already commented this but the applause when he is bearing his heart relates to when he has performed and was baring his soul and people were laughing and clapping through it
I think you should watch the entire special. That will put it in context not just this song but everything from “inside”. I wasn’t a huge Bo fan but I have a new respect after watching it.
Something you mentioned, about what Bo was talking about was incongruous with the laugh track, this is a thing he uses in several of his pieces. It is a comment on itself often; there are several examples in Kanye Rant to. It’s a song that sounds like a vibe but also leaves you feeling gutted. Good times lol
when I saw this for the first time, I was in my living room tripping on a decent dose of shrooms. I stood up as Bo requested. It seemed like a plea to dance with him so that maybe we could not feel alone during lockdown. "Come on in, the water is fine" accompanied by him lifting the camera really pulled me into the room with him. It brought me to tears. Hell of a special.
Considering Bo Burnham is a comedian, this song is easily my favourite track of 2021. The whole show was incredible, poignant, hilarious and heartbreaking. Genius.
I think this song fits best within his whole netflix performance of 'Inside'. It's like an accumilation of the 'self' character that he built in that performance. So much of the whole thing was about the how people feel during covid and quarantining and depression. I think ppl can get the most out of this song after watching the whole thing.
I know pretty much everyone is already explaining the meaning of this song in the comments, but I feel like it’s the kind of song you can’t truly understand or appreciate without knowing the context it was made it. He’s been open about his panic attacks in past interviews and such, but it wasn’t necessarily widely known. So this is basically him explaining to his fans why he stopped and why he’s decided to return. I think the laugh track is for a few reasons. He intended, as he said, to go back to performing live, but since covid happened it was impossible. So the laugh track is meant to fill those spaces where he anticipates the crowd would probably laugh. The thing is tho, he was telling us through his comedy that he was leaving. His last live special, Make Happy ended with the Kanye rant, which was basically like a cry for help, an admission of his own failure to fix his mental health, and a farewell to his audience. But so few of us caught the true meaning and quite literally laughed off his pain, thinking his words were exaggeration or overstated simply for the sake of being comedic. So the laugh track is reacting to things that really aren’t funny. Like him having panic attacks and covid starting. What I took from this personally was this was him opening up and saying he’s coming back. He’s better mentally now to handle it, but even so no matter what there’s always going to be shit happening, the world is essentially ending. There nothing he can do about that so he’s saying he’s just going to keep going and he wants us to get up and and put our hands in the air “like we don’t care”. Everything is uncertain so just forget about it all for a moment. As far as his style in this one, sometimes he’s channeling a particular artist (like in his Kanye rant) sometimes it’s just as simple as the genre fitting the style of his lyrics. Like you said, it sounds like it would be on the radio. That’s the goal. To sound like it’s legit, but when you really listen you hear that it’s totally different that radio messages. I would honestly recommend, once you’ve reacted to all the songs you want, to go and watch Inside all the way through. And I recommend watch Kanye rant first (I can’t remember if you’re done so or not). I think it will have a much bigger impact and will make so much more sense that way.
This was the first Bo Burnham song I ever heard, so you can just imagine how confused I was. But, my reaction was kinda similar to yours: I immediately thought that this sounds like a contemporary hit from the radio - weeknd or something - but still a bit off, weird, and disturbing. I had no clue that the speech in the middle was actually the whole point of this song.. and pretty much summed up his whole career thus far. And I also got a bit scared because of the aggressive part. That being said: in retrospective, this song was a fantastic way to start Bo Burnham journey. This is very much what Bo is today, and watching his older stuff now just gives it so much more perspective. Ironically, the second Bo Burnham piece I watched was the Kanye Rant. Which is DEFINITELY the next one you ought to see. These two songs are tied together, they are like siblings with a five year age gap. I wish you have the sense to ask some guideance and go through his stuff in somewhat logical order. It makes so much more sense like that.
I think the laughter is a reference to when the audience laughed when he opened up during "Can't Handle This." In that song he even says how "you can tell them anything if you make it funny, make it rhyme." Sad what happened to Bo, I've loved him since the beginning, and I'm glad he was able to get over his demons
The canned laughter regarding his panic attacks on stage took me back to his Kanye Rant performance where the majority of the audience didn't seem to "get" he was being serious. Even while I was watching it, I was like, "Why are they clapping?! Are they not listening to what he is saying?!" First special that made me cry. And it still does.
"All Eyes On Me" is one of my favorites from the album (and I think the album is filled with bangers). If you like Bo’s work, you might like this edit I made using clips from his show "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous" set to his song "Goodbye" (from the "Inside" special): ruclips.net/video/iyqYtC7saDM/видео.html
4:40 Yes exactly. He put that laugh-track in there deliberately. I'm not sure if it has to do with people cheering at him when he was singing that he can't handle it right now (which is when he was having the panick attack)...
With the context of the other comments I would like to add that Bo Burnham's ability to portray his struggle with mental health means that many many people have found comfort in his work building a strong feeling of connection and a certain element of protectiveness towards him, myself included. There are some songs that people feel very strongly about, this being one, "Kanye Rant" is another. Listen with your heart and tread softly please.
The laugh track in the background, especially during the part when he's talking about his anxiety is to further show his revelation that because he's a funny dude, no matter how serious his songs, people will laugh. Art is Dead is a good show of this, that song is very unfunny and really true and sad but the audience laughs there asses off at it during the live performance of it.
If you’ve ever had even just 1 severe panic attack, (especially in public because they’re completely random) this song hits FAST & HARD. Also, if you have…. I feel you. They SUCK. You will get through them though because you are tough & you are a fighter! ❤
The laughter in my opinion as he mentions the panic attacks was the laughter that happened on stage as he had the panic attacks. He kept going, he has been a performer since high school or earlier. I doubt he panicked and left stage everytime.
If you watch the Netflix special from beginning to end, it's incredibly moving as much as it is hilarious. It's exactly what i needed. I, too, turned 30 in quarantine. My birthday is at the end of July, his is at the beginning of August. I laughed so hard watching this special, but just like Rick and Morty, it's the existential emotional hooks that i was left with in the end. ❤
I think the context you missed here is that right when Bo decided, "I think I'll get back into live comedy shows again" the funniest thing (COVID) happened, which led to the production of this Netflix special in a house isolated all by himself.
And then he comes in saying "You say the whole world's ending, Honey it already did" meaning the perpetual fear and isolation people have dealt with during COVID, he's been experiencing for years at this point.
Yeah how did he miss that? It was really obvious.
@@squalooceano2291 I think it’s just a symptom of jumping into these without any research. I get it, he wants his reaction to be genuine, but this is one project and artist that is drenched in subtext and double entendres. Easily solved by a post analysis
@@ralaxgaming but what kinda research do you need to understand what's been happening for more than 2 years tho LMFAO
I think people that react to songs from this special without watching the whole thing in its entirety are doing themselves a big injustice. It really needs to be watched start to finish.
Yeah, the extra emphasis on " January of........ *2020* " was really kinda the key to understanding this song. The COVID pandemic shut the whole world down RIGHT as he was gearing up to finally "re-enter" the world and begin performing again. And instead he was forced back into isolation, and it sent him spiraling.
And one of the next lines about the world "ending, baby it already did " is talking about covid as well
I mean the whole song is about anxiety, but go off
@@Kermarius
You realise the whole covid pandemic caused a hell of a lot of people to experience anxiety right?
It could be talking about the pandemic AND how it affected his mental health
@@kookiescream9840 yeah I know, but the op said "the whole point" was COVID. Which it's not
@@Kermarius Literally never said "the whole point" - I said it would be the key to a newcomer understanding what the song is about (if they haven't watched the whole special). Because if you don't understand what the "funniest thing" he's referencing is, you can't realize that he was forced to not perform live right when he was ready to, and therefore can't realize the frustration and loneliness that he's singing about.
As great as these songs are in and of themselves, digesting the piecemeal, ultimately, does them a disservice; The special as a whole is more than the sum of its parts, and the journey it takes you on is so well crafted.
Perfectly articulated. It’s bittersweet, like I know I’m contributing… I enjoy the reactions, but also I know they miss the really great things about the special
Agreed. MrBLoyd should watch the entire special.... on here maybe 👀
Absolutely. I would recommend anyone watch the whole special before you just listen to the songs separately.
@@DakotaSG the issue with that is that it doesn't work with the "blind reaction" format., unless the creator records their reaction through the whole special and then edits them down into separate parts.
I typically agree with your sentiment, but it would make for less compelling content.
Yes, this song hits entirely different in the context of the show. It was the right show at the right time.
The song is from his recent special "Inside", which you probably know by now, but the whole special is basically a story arc of him making the special all by himself in isolation during the pandemic. This song, and a few others, represent the tonal shift in the special where it goes from whimsical and still fun to battling with the hopelessness of depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and loneliness. It's an amazing special. I understand you're a react channel so you can't really watch it in sequence without ruining a bunch of potential videos, but when you've gone through his other songs like "Turning 30", "White Woman's Instagram", "Welcome to the Internet", "Sexting", etc. then I strongly suggest giving it a full watch to appreciate it fully.
Bump because it's exactly what I wanted to say
All of this.
I agree. This whole special was good when each piece is seen in isolation. It becomes an artistic masterpiece when seen as a whole.
Yeah, this whole special is a really important piece of work. Sounds hyperbolic, but he managed to create a perfect time capsule of what it was like to be a privileged suburban American white boy(his words) living through the pandemic, and he did it entirely by himself. It really elevated him from a really funny comedian who sang kind silly but clever songs, to somebody who displays complete mastery of every facet of creating a complete work and putting his unique spin on every aspect of it. Watch it again and pay attention to how he manipulates lighting, audio, framing, editing, and then he choreographs it and performs it himself all in one freaking shot. He's like if Charlie Chaplin had the internet and all the little beat pads and gizmos we have laying around. Oh, by the way the entire arc of the special goes from hilarious to soul crushingly sad. It's his Magnum Opus and he deserves a lot of respect for it.
@@Allarra1 🙌
Did you feel anxious? Attacked? Glad you felt the point of the song. The visuals and melody and lyrics all play into that. It's great that he can express that through media. Absolute masterpiece .
Yep, slightly unsettling eye contact, but the lyrics and tone lure you into a false sense of security and then BAM! ANXIETY.
To be honest I found it relaxing
Context during the full special definitely adds to this song. Watching the Kanye Rant before this adds a lot of context as well.
This song made has made me cry many times.
I came here to say essentially this. That context is SUPER important.
Same here my friend. For a very long time I couldn't listen to this without breaking down. It still gives me chills.
Same here. i last until about the line, "So well in fact that in January of 2020" Literally cannot get past that without tearing up. Taking all of this time working on yourself and healing yourself and finally being ready to join the world again RIGHT before the world shuts down is insanely tragic and painful to hear.
Late reply but I think watching the Kanye Rant would explain the laughter in response to his admission of having panic attacks.
In the special, just before this comes on, he has a full breakdown and spends ~20 seconds weeping just off camera. Then the canned crowd comes in and you hear his voice talking like it's the end of a show. He tells the crowd "I just need one more thing, if you think you can do that for me" *cheers* cue song.
He did spend 5 years in virtual isolation, self-quarantined, working on his mental health. Then just when he decides he's nearly done that journey and *needs* to get back into the world (he says "need" bc, imo, it's the last step for his recovery) and then quarantine happens. And he's locked alone, in a bachelor suite, recording a new special for over a year. He turned 30 on camera, which was long after he had expected to be finished this.
Yes, this song is him "pretending" to be on stage. The inappropriate laugh tracks are where he thinks his audience would laugh at his "jokes" even though he's being serious and grieving. He needs to get out. He needs to be around people again. And he's trapped in his room. For 7 years.
The first half of this song is him trying to fill that need with the proxy stage performance. After the story, this is a love song sung by his mental illness and pain, calling him to back. "Got it? Good, not get inside." He freaks out, and yells because no one can hear him, then grabs the camera to FORCE the audience to get out of the seats like he asked. But it's no good, and he collapses again.
I think with Bo's Inside special, you should forgo the lyrics and just watch. He conveys a lot visually and half of it happens while you're reading ahead in the lyrics. I don't think he's ever unintelligible in any of these songs, and I suspect it would heighten the experience for you a lot.
As many times as I’ve seen Inside, his pain and vulnerability in that moment totally destroys me. Every single time.
If you listen closely, when the crowd is roaring after he picks up the camera, you can hear him break and you can't really tell whether he's laughing or crying but you can feel how much he misses doing the live shows.
"He did spend 5 years in virtual isolation, self-quarantined"
What do u mean? He directed Eighth Grade and did all those interviews. Isolation?
@@anonnotanks3756 Right! Like not to deny Bo's struggle with his mental health and the importance of his break for 5 years. Its annoying to me when people act like he stayed in that room and did nothing. He took a break from his COMEDY PERFORMANCES, but he still directed Eight grade which was great, and did the press for it, directed other comedy specials and starred in A Promising Young Woman.
Thanks for the second opinion and extra info, Divya. Bo Often says people need to remember he's playing a character. But, do any interviewers ever get him to explain his lyrics? Or his creative process?
Seems sparse.
Definitely got a do yourself a favor, skip the reacts from this special, and just sit down with no cameras and consume it as intended. It’s one of the most important pieces of art to come out of the pandemic and you deserve to be able to appreciate it correctly.
This. 100% this. I watched it when it first came out and by the end was legitimately full on audibly sobbing. It is a gorgeous, hilarious, heartbreaking and human piece of art. Your instruction to consume it “as intended” is spot on. ❤️
Not just important because of the pandemic, this is a huge stepping stone for comedy overall. The pandemic was when nihilistic comedy stopped being comedy and felt like reality.
Inside pushed past nihilistic comedy in such a beautiful way. It's one of the most important comedic pieces of this generation of comedy.
This song makes a lot more sense and a much greater impact when watched in the context of the full special. I hope you ultimately watch it from beginning to end, as it was intended.
"Kanye Rant" is a great follow-up to this. It is the last thing Bo did before his five-year hiatus
This song was from his newest special “inside” it was peak of the pandemic, he filmed, produced, edited, created all the songs. He did the ENTIRE special on his own. During quarantine. The point of this was to “emulate” what a comedy/concert crowd is like. Basically the whole “funny” story section is that. His mental health went down hill real fast, the canned laughter was placed there because he framed that as a joke. But he took 5 years to get himself back into a much better mental state. But by that time he felt ready to start doing live shows. The covid came and locked the entire world down, which is basically what he had just been doing by himself for the last 5 years. So in the end he fixed his mental help only for this pandemic to say “no you dont” and tank his mental health. This entire song is him singing his depression. Basically bo had been working to better himself then covid hits and then everyone finally got on the “man everything sucks train” is what he felt like. The line “You say the ocean's rising like I give a shit
You say the whole world's ending, honey, it already did” was basically him saying “you’re having a bad time? Who cares, everything sucked before the pandemic this isnt new.”
Yo, this is my favorite song from the special. It really tells his story of anxiety and issues and trying to overcome that stuff. As someone that deals with severe anxiety I really feel it.
The concept of laughing about mental health is consistent in Bo's works. The 'joke' is that he says "... having severe panic attacks on stage... which is not a great place to have them", implying that there IS a good place to have panic attacks.
You should watch "Can't Handle This" from the special Make Happy, he goes into this idea pretty straight forward and honest with his audience. For a bit of context, Make Happy was the last special he recorded before he "retired".
I wouldn't say retired I would call it gone on hiatus
@@bennichol1510 Thats why I put Retired in quotations. And I may be wrong, but I believe Bo had fully intended on retiring from live comedy for good.
@@nyxdarkness1 oh right
As some others have said, you should check out his “Kanye Rant” which ties in with this, “From the Perspective of God” is really good. I’d also like to recommend to anyone with anxiety the song “Anxiety” from Jason Isbell, which is very relatable
I don't think you can fully get this song without the Kanye Rant
This song is near the end of his special Inside, where he does an entire special completely alone in a small room over months during the lockdown, slowly going more insane and depressed over time. you really should watch it.
This special can't be watched piecemeal. It's so incredibly deep and brilliant. I echo the sentiment of all the other commenters. I'd also read some commentary before hand. There's so much that goes on that is easily missed.
This special as a whole is pure art and poignant. If "That Funny Feeling" doesn't deserve a grammy, then no song ever has. Bo brilliantly articulates complex feelings and has a view of our society that's wise beyond his years. It's a perfect encapsulation of our narcissistic, nihilistic society that cleverly uses simple juxtapositions to paint his masterpiece. He's a modern day musical Kurt Vonnegut.
;)
@@anonnotanks3756 ? Lol
I think the point of him putting in laughter from the non-existent audience when he said he was getting panic attacks is because the audience tends to think everything he says is a joke...even when he's being genuine and real. You've now seen "Can't Handle This", and that was the last show he performed before his 5-year break. He, as a creator, desperately wants to perform without having to appeal to others...and being self-aware and real is so jarring to people who come to a comedy show for fake stories and funny made-up jokes that he is almost parodying himself. It's...horribly tragic to hear someone who genuinely believes the world is over...life is done...there is nothing for our children to inherit because we killed the Earth. But because he's a comedian, he has to keep running it back until him talking about it is the punchline.
He is amazing at finding a way of addressing the difficult topics like discrimination, mental health and climate change without coming off preachy. I've rarely seen anyone manage this.
Also his delivery of that line, it’s delivered like a joke. So it’s also probably commentary about people not really paying attention to what he has to say because he’s a comedian, not to be taken seriously.
I'd really recommend watching the whole special for context. This is the penultimate song from it and is essentially a part of the arc of the special as a whole performance piece. It really benefits from the context. I think it's about Bo's complicated relationship with performing and the audience, and his anxieties around that. Like, he desperately needs the audience's recognition and as a performer it's what he craves to be doing, but his anxiety and panic attacks get in the way of that, and the pandemic and lockdowns happened right as he was about to get back into that. He was still working on this special, but doing a special like this lacks that kind of instant feedback and recognition you get from a live audience, and I think that was especially hard on him with his anxieties around performing. There's one song in the special where he muses as to whether or not people will like what he's doing, or even be paying attention or if they'll just be on their phones with it on in the background, but keeps repeating the refrain, "I don't wanna know."
There's a ton going on in the special and I'd highly recommend giving it a watch if you haven't.
The way he tells you to get up and the room spinning is him showing how the anxiety has already come back. It's the anxiety truly singing this song.
You gotta watch Inside from the beginning to fully get it, along with the Kanye Rant from the end of Make Happy at bare minimum
Your reaction just made me realize that the concert vibe is deliberate. Working through the anxiety by recreating the scene.
Pretending to have a crowd to see if it helps him fulfill the last step of his recovery: getting back into the world. It doesn't. The second half is being sung by his depression and illness to him. Pulling him back inside.
@@Brooke-rw8rc that's part of the process.
All of the songs from the special are great but I completely understand just hearing some of the songs without the context of the full show can be very jarring. This song really is a turning point in the special where shit gets kinda real.
The whole special represents kind of the journey people took during the pandemic, started off kinda scary but we found some humor in it, and then some got really depressed after a few months of being home.
The laugh track was put in by Bo himself, he was actually in an empty room, by himself
This whole album is truth wrapped in fire
"Got it? Good. Now get inside."
One of the most powerful likes in the song. Punches me in the gut every time.
The entire Inside special is like a time capsule of the pandemic. I think it's incredibly powerful within that context. 20 years down the road, the songs will still be catchy as hell, but without the context of that damn thing that started in January 2020, it doesn't quite have the impact. watching the special in its entirety really drives home the point that he's "trying to be funny while stuck in a room".
There's a lot of layers to this one. As others have said, its place in the special 'Inside' makes the meaning of this and other songs much more clear. Themes of anxiety and depression which you picked up on are definitely central to this song and the special as a whole. The fact that the song is so beautiful and traditionally "poppy" with phrases like "get your hands up, get out of your seats, all eyes on me" representing the classic call to action of many popular songs in many genres, might be a nod to Bo sort of hiding his sadness behind his music. And then, of course, there's the central monologue, sharing how Bo had struggled with severe anxiety for years causing him to quit performing, then when he finally felt he had reached a state of mental health where he could begin performing live again, Covid hit and forced him to go back "inside".
Context: This piece happens later in the special, after almost a year of complete isolation, with rapidly declining mental health. The song shows by example how in his pursuit of content/art (and Inside is very much a work of art) he's become gradually more unhinged. The whole thing drips with the kind of delirium that's been setting in.
I’ve thought about this special & specifically this song at least once a week since watching it when it came out. It sounds dramatic but it kind of changed my life
Sarcasm. Parody. Comedy. Talent.
And notice: he’s all alone in the room. There’s no one to get their f’n hands up 🙌. Covid hit just when he was about to tour after a long bout with panic attacks ... so he did this whole show alone in his room (composed, performed, recorded, lights, etc). He parodies several genres of music and does social commentary (internet use, etc.). It’s brilliant and funny (but is it? Because it’s true and hits hard, Bro). ✨🤪
This hits harder if you watch the whole special. The scenes right before this song really put it into context.
Its unfortunate when people hear this song before watching a lot of his older material, or at least the Kanye Rant
I think the most interesting article I read that referenced this song was discussing the mental health implications of this song. When you're depressed or BPD like Bo undoubtedly is you feel a desperation for your pain to be seen, but a deeply ingrained shame of not wanting to be seen as your symptoms instead of a person. Deep depressions feel like physical pains and the anger of not being seen hit me SO hard when he starts yelling "get the fck up!" Because it reminded me DEEPLY of being in emergency rooms feeling suicidal and overwhelmed and always hitting a wall of screaming at my immense suffering being minimized to: "Tried yoga yet?" This song made me sob. It saw my pain and it reflected its loneliness. Inside isn't a comedy song special. It's an art film.
I always viewed this as the story of a panic attack, the lyrics constantly put him out of breath like he's panicking. The sudden burst of anger, the whole thing reaks of someone's mind turning against itself.
When I watched Inside, I cried at this song. I felt his pain so fully. And him shouting at me felt appropriate, somehow. And I did stand up, I stood up from my couch and put my hands up in solidarity for all of the people who's mental health has just been decimated by covid, including myself.
There needs to be a lot more discussion about what "Got it, good, now get inside" truly means.
I was listening to this song when I received the news that a friend had just died of an overdose. Now I can’t hear it without tears, but I love it. “We’re going to go where everybody knows everybody knows everybody” hits me pretty damn hard.
I would legit watch you react to the full Bo Burnham special as a complete piece
As other people said (although I think it's good to put it all together):
1) You had a good grasp of why it was shot this way and why he used this specific color palette, BUT:
2) Watching "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" (which I think was his last live performance) + knowing context of "Inside" helps with grasping the full meaning; although I think knowing just one of those can give you enough context if you'll pay enough attention to what he says/sings and what's happening on the screen
3) He put emphasis on "January 2020", because of pandemic, which is "funny thing" that happend, leading him to isolation and spiraling back to his mental breakdown
4) "Got it? Good, now get inside" and "you say the world is ending - honey, it already did" lines are also relating to pandemic
5) It's not that he just misses performing live: he NEEDED getting back to people, because it should have been the final part of his recovery; instead he had to isolate himself, ending up exactly in the point where he was in the beginning, before his recovery process
6) Laughs in inappropriate parts was accurate simulation of what was happening on the stage while he was getting real or was having panic attacks during his live shows. "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" is good example, but you'll find it in any of his show when he tries to get real or deliver a message. And people are laughing every time, basically showing that they didn't understand anything he said/sang (or just didn't care), even when he was completely straightforwad about it. All the parts with laugh tracks are meta commentary on how his fans don't care at all about what he tries to convey. And don't care about him at all, which is more understable, but still kinda hurtful - whole panic attack and depression thing delivered in this song (and especially in "Can't Handle This") is partially about how you can feel even more hopeless and alone when being surrounded by people who claim to know you, while they don't get anything you say at all
7) "Get your f*cking hands up" refers directly to "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" while words "pray for me" are supposed to show us that he's having panic attack right now and he's spiraling down again
8) In this song, Bo's not only singing his depression, the part after monologue (from "are you feeling nervous" to "everybody knows") is in some way sung BY his depression and anxiety. When you realize it, all those verses have different, deeper and darker meaning
9) Part where he starts being aggressive is demonstration how panic attacks may look like. It's also supposed to make viewer feel uncomfortable and anxious, same as looking deep into the camera or grabbing it and spiraling around the room (which is also metaphor for him spiraling deeper into depression and anxiety). It's good that you felt out of place and nervous, 'cause it was the purpose of it; it was supposed to give viewer glimpse into anxiety. It's too bad that you looked mostly at the lyrics when he was looking deep into a camera saying "look in my eyes", maybe you'd have this feeling from the beginning (it really helps to understand this song)
10) The other reason he's being aggressive (and reason for his panic attack) is that not only doesn't anyone understand what he's saying, but also nobody's even out there to hear anything out. He's just alone in his suite recording something he should have finished long time alone while having no one to talk to. This aggressive behaviour represents cries for help and Bo tries to show us, that psychologically it's something that's happening to people around us in real life while we just ignore it and laugh, judge those people or freak out
There are probably many things thet I didn't grasp myself (especially related to visual layer), but I think that the things I mentioned are enough to get the message on the basic level.
It’s pretty awesome he won a Grammy for this song!
Breaks my heart that people hurt themselves mentally and physically to perform and entertain other people. A lot of us don’t deserve someone like Bo Burnham.
I know I'm just piling on at this point, but almost every song in this special makes more sense or just has more meaning when you watch the entire special. But still loving you're reactions to it.
To understand this better, I think you need to hear "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)". It was the last song he performed before quitting live performances.
Remember what happened in January of 2020?.
The "Inside" special is a mix of funny and deeply introspective. He made it all himself in a single room. The lighting, sound, set design, not to mention the music, was all just him. He recorded himself going through it like we all were.
Now that you’ve heard a few from his special you should really watch if from start to finish. The vibe of this song, and many others, will make sense and it will kind of tell the full story
'All Eyes On Me' is an order, an observation and a fear.
You have to watch Bo’s “Kanye Rant” it will give you a lot of context on this special and this song. Also it the song where he stopped doing comedy
I loved your reaction when he screams at the camera and then grabs it! Some people have described that part as liberating, but I find it quite jarring and violating, so I empathized with your reaction! If you haven't heard it yet, Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant) is a great prequel to this because it's from the time period that he was having the panic attacks and specifically addresses his anxiety with performing.
Yeah this is his love letter to performing. He misses it despite his mental incompatibility with it. Despite the one-sided, love/hate nature of the relationship from his standpoint. Even moreso in this bittersweet COVID limbo after working for YEARS to get back to a place where he could enjoy performing live responsibly for himself.
MrL - to be fair to Bo, your hands are not where they’re supposed to be as per his direction
Please, please, please watch the entire show "Inside" to fully get the whole feeling and meaning of all the songs. It's truly a journey of mental health and decline, shown through his experience during the first year of quarantine.
The crowd reactions are part of the art. You have to remember they're added by him.
Some context is, 2020 quarantine, dealing with depression leading up to it and dealing with that. He took a break prior to 2020 to work on his anxiety as well, and was almost ready to to start touring again. He went through, alot of mental anguish (along with alot of us) due to isolation as well. He also has issues around a need for external validation at being a performer. All this culminated in the final song of the special He did all by himself in his isolation, he had a bit of a breakdown about whether to even finish the special. This song is a synthesis of all of that, such a beautiful transmutation of a lot negative feelings
The comedy in his music/art is funny because it depressing as hell, but true. I relate to it because when viral videos began he was there with bo yo and new math. The theater kid anthems of the early 2000's
Then with "Inside" he destroyed modern comedy again. But also showed he had grown with the rest of us that grew up with him. Depressing but hilarious, modern day american Gogol lol 😂
When he yells “get the fuck up” it really resonates with people who have anxiety and depression because we get stuck inside and don’t do anything productive and just fall into a deeper depression
I can’t wait for more Bo Burnham ‘Inside’ song reactions! They are all so good.
Def recommend watching his prior special Make Happy in it’s entirety followed by this special Inside in itself entirety. Much more impactful and makes more sense thematically
They aren't in the same special, but I think "Can't Handle This (Kanye Rant)" also adds some context to this song. It was the last song in his last special before he went on the hiatus he references and it gives you an idea of where he's come from mental health wise. Also it's a really stunning performance, definitely recommend it next/soon.
i’d pay for your patreon if you react to all of inside or even just do a review of the full special. it’s truly remarkable and it would be really sad if you never got to see it.
I definitely recommend watching his full special. It leads you down the path to this song. Everything will make sense if you do this.
Weird song but became so hypnotizing to me I listened to it for about 3 days straight. Felt like a zombie the whole time in the best way. I was a happy pawn and that’s a damn hard feeling to create in a man like me
The laugh track is a play on how ppl would laugh at his serious material.
8:04
He got ya a second time!
The laughing was a soundtrack he created literally everything from the music to the beats to the whole show by himself
Hands up, head down is the pose of a martyr. 🍻
I am not sure if someone already commented this but the applause when he is bearing his heart relates to when he has performed and was baring his soul and people were laughing and clapping through it
his laugh in the song when he is genuinley having fun, i love it, it makes me so happy but also its so sad
I think you should watch the entire special. That will put it in context not just this song but everything from “inside”. I wasn’t a huge Bo fan but I have a new respect after watching it.
Something you mentioned, about what Bo was talking about was incongruous with the laugh track, this is a thing he uses in several of his pieces. It is a comment on itself often; there are several examples in Kanye Rant to. It’s a song that sounds like a vibe but also leaves you feeling gutted. Good times lol
^First person to mention Kanye Rant. ~Great comment.
when I saw this for the first time, I was in my living room tripping on a decent dose of shrooms. I stood up as Bo requested. It seemed like a plea to dance with him so that maybe we could not feel alone during lockdown. "Come on in, the water is fine" accompanied by him lifting the camera really pulled me into the room with him. It brought me to tears. Hell of a special.
You have to watch the special on Netflix called "inside"
Considering Bo Burnham is a comedian, this song is easily my favourite track of 2021. The whole show was incredible, poignant, hilarious and heartbreaking. Genius.
I had this and "That funny feeling" on my playlist for the longest time. Bo is a great musician, I hope that someday he will put out a whole album.
This is soooo deep needs alot of re listens and thinking
Gotta watch the whole special in one sitting.. it’s an art piece, and it’s great.
I think this song fits best within his whole netflix performance of 'Inside'. It's like an accumilation of the 'self' character that he built in that performance. So much of the whole thing was about the how people feel during covid and quarantining and depression. I think ppl can get the most out of this song after watching the whole thing.
This one you really gotta watch the whole special to feel the vibe. It's so good.
Bro I'm so happy you're getting into Bo. Subscribed!
I know pretty much everyone is already explaining the meaning of this song in the comments, but I feel like it’s the kind of song you can’t truly understand or appreciate without knowing the context it was made it. He’s been open about his panic attacks in past interviews and such, but it wasn’t necessarily widely known. So this is basically him explaining to his fans why he stopped and why he’s decided to return.
I think the laugh track is for a few reasons. He intended, as he said, to go back to performing live, but since covid happened it was impossible. So the laugh track is meant to fill those spaces where he anticipates the crowd would probably laugh. The thing is tho, he was telling us through his comedy that he was leaving. His last live special, Make Happy ended with the Kanye rant, which was basically like a cry for help, an admission of his own failure to fix his mental health, and a farewell to his audience. But so few of us caught the true meaning and quite literally laughed off his pain, thinking his words were exaggeration or overstated simply for the sake of being comedic. So the laugh track is reacting to things that really aren’t funny. Like him having panic attacks and covid starting.
What I took from this personally was this was him opening up and saying he’s coming back. He’s better mentally now to handle it, but even so no matter what there’s always going to be shit happening, the world is essentially ending. There nothing he can do about that so he’s saying he’s just going to keep going and he wants us to get up and and put our hands in the air “like we don’t care”. Everything is uncertain so just forget about it all for a moment.
As far as his style in this one, sometimes he’s channeling a particular artist (like in his Kanye rant) sometimes it’s just as simple as the genre fitting the style of his lyrics. Like you said, it sounds like it would be on the radio. That’s the goal. To sound like it’s legit, but when you really listen you hear that it’s totally different that radio messages.
I would honestly recommend, once you’ve reacted to all the songs you want, to go and watch Inside all the way through. And I recommend watch Kanye rant first (I can’t remember if you’re done so or not). I think it will have a much bigger impact and will make so much more sense that way.
This song won a Grammy people.. well done Bo!!!❤
This song gives me goosebumps over and over every single time I listen to it.
This was the first Bo Burnham song I ever heard, so you can just imagine how confused I was. But, my reaction was kinda similar to yours: I immediately thought that this sounds like a contemporary hit from the radio - weeknd or something - but still a bit off, weird, and disturbing. I had no clue that the speech in the middle was actually the whole point of this song.. and pretty much summed up his whole career thus far. And I also got a bit scared because of the aggressive part.
That being said: in retrospective, this song was a fantastic way to start Bo Burnham journey. This is very much what Bo is today, and watching his older stuff now just gives it so much more perspective. Ironically, the second Bo Burnham piece I watched was the Kanye Rant. Which is DEFINITELY the next one you ought to see. These two songs are tied together, they are like siblings with a five year age gap. I wish you have the sense to ask some guideance and go through his stuff in somewhat logical order. It makes so much more sense like that.
I think the laughter is a reference to when the audience laughed when he opened up during "Can't Handle This." In that song he even says how "you can tell them anything if you make it funny, make it rhyme." Sad what happened to Bo, I've loved him since the beginning, and I'm glad he was able to get over his demons
This song makes you smile but also want to cry from sadness. It feels like death is trying to talk you into his car.
The canned laughter regarding his panic attacks on stage took me back to his Kanye Rant performance where the majority of the audience didn't seem to "get" he was being serious. Even while I was watching it, I was like, "Why are they clapping?! Are they not listening to what he is saying?!" First special that made me cry. And it still does.
"All Eyes On Me" is one of my favorites from the album (and I think the album is filled with bangers). If you like Bo’s work, you might like this edit I made using clips from his show "Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous" set to his song "Goodbye" (from the "Inside" special): ruclips.net/video/iyqYtC7saDM/видео.html
Really need to go back 5 years and watch the Kanye Rant now.
4:40 Yes exactly. He put that laugh-track in there deliberately. I'm not sure if it has to do with people cheering at him when he was singing that he can't handle it right now (which is when he was having the panick attack)...
With the context of the other comments I would like to add that Bo Burnham's ability to portray his struggle with mental health means that many many people have found comfort in his work building a strong feeling of connection and a certain element of protectiveness towards him, myself included. There are some songs that people feel very strongly about, this being one, "Kanye Rant" is another. Listen with your heart and tread softly please.
Thank you for this ❤️
If I can ask potentially for the next song, Goodbye by bo burnham from the same special is very good.
The laugh track in the background, especially during the part when he's talking about his anxiety is to further show his revelation that because he's a funny dude, no matter how serious his songs, people will laugh. Art is Dead is a good show of this, that song is very unfunny and really true and sad but the audience laughs there asses off at it during the live performance of it.
Its about all of us and how we are living through social media, our isolation and fears and the struggles amplified by the pandemic.
dude .. U got it !!! ... (without knowing the background of it) dude U got it ...
If you’ve ever had even just 1 severe panic attack, (especially in public because they’re completely random) this song hits FAST & HARD. Also, if you have…. I feel you. They SUCK. You will get through them though because you are tough & you are a fighter! ❤
FAME ON FIRE - THE HILLS version of the Weekend is absolutely amazing
The laughter in my opinion as he mentions the panic attacks was the laughter that happened on stage as he had the panic attacks. He kept going, he has been a performer since high school or earlier. I doubt he panicked and left stage everytime.
If you watch the Netflix special from beginning to end, it's incredibly moving as much as it is hilarious. It's exactly what i needed. I, too, turned 30 in quarantine. My birthday is at the end of July, his is at the beginning of August. I laughed so hard watching this special, but just like Rick and Morty, it's the existential emotional hooks that i was left with in the end. ❤
Bo utilizes 5th wall introspective. Also, this song encapsulated how it felt living during COVID.
8:03 hahaha I love how he's frightened even when hearing it the second time, after unpausing
Go watch the entire special. Right meow, sir.
this one is best viewed after "can't handle this". both songs are about him not being able to perform, in totally opposing ways