Never did I ever think I would be embracing my cringe elementary/high school memories of emotionally connecting to “emo” music in my late 20’s, let alone writing about it. That being said, when you have an emo music epiphany you have to chase that idea and share it as far as possible.
I put emo in quotations because a lot of people think it means this:
If you’re like me, this makes you viscerally mad. Emo music, in my world anyways, was music that used the outline of pop-rock/punk themes and applied lyrics to them that made them easily connectable to early to late teenage kids, generally about girls/guys that didn’t like them. This mercilessly rang true for me, and not (necessarily) this eyeliner-ed, hair-straightening scene kid gif-ed above.
That’s Dashboard Confessional comes in with their smash hit, Vindicated. Walking my dog late at night shuffle blessed me with this song and its 3:21 seconds of pure emo gold. Naturally, it dawned on me – this song shows the blueprint of every early to mid 2000’s emo music template perfectly and it needs exploring.
Let’s start with the music. Quick swelling guitar and drums kick off a pregnant pause to start the track, but are quickly met with vocals that hush the instruments and push them to the background. As the melody shifts to emphasize the vocals, the only time they’re allowed to jump back up again is during the yelled/screamed chorus:
“Vindicated
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I’m right
Swear I knew it all along and
I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself”
Art.
Outside of the instrumental music, the script of lyrics in the song walk you through the ever-present (and depressing) themes of: self-deprecation, self improvement, glorifying the person the song is about, and lastly a cliff-hanger conclusion leaving this emotionally one-sided love story open.
Self-Deprecation: This song is basically about a guy having such low confidence that he shit talks himself out of a possible relationship so, there are more than a few examples; “I am selfish, I am wrong,” “I am flawed,” or even the begging for her to let him “slip away” four times, followed by a a specification, that it is against the current he is slipping, only to have slip away repeated four more times.
Self Improvement: the examples of self-deprecation were all immediately followed by how he’s making himself better, you know to show he’s worthy of the girl he’s fawning over
– “I am selfish, I am wrong” = ” I am right, I swear I’m right”
– “I am flawed” = “But I am cleaning up so well, I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself”
Glorifying: This can almost fall into self-deprecation because he’s basically talking up this girl to the point where she’d have no interest in a simp like him, right? Examples include: the hope of a chance with her being “So mesmerizing so hypnotizing,” and one touch from her making him fall too deep “To ever swim against the current.”
Cliff-Hanger: “Slight hope; It dangles on a string; Like slow spinning redemption” Need I say more?
All in all, this has been a shockingly deep look into an unforgettable Emo track etched in all of our “never could be repaired” 12-18 year old broken hearts. I feel vindicated just talking about it, to be honest, and also embarrassingly shocked at how much this song resonated with me.
Don’t get it twisted, the blueprint to an emo song as explained here is not a shot at Christopher Carrabba and the age-less tunes of Dashboard, but rather a glorification of it. After all, where would I be if I didn’t think to myself “fucking finally, at least this guy knows what heart break feels like” at 13-years old.
Revolver 