Many people, listening to musical compositions, often wonder what the meaning of the song was, or even what it was dedicated to. Let’s figure out what Madds Buckley sings about in The Red Means I Love You and why the whole song sings so much about blood as a symbol of love. A crazy, obsessive and even crazy love story that led to the murder of a loved one.
History of creation
The song was released on February 25, 2021. This is the first single from Sunset on Summerville. Initially, the singer was inspired by the anime My Hero Academia. In addition to this song, the album features other tracks that were also written under the influence of anime. In the spring of 2021, The Red Means I Love You went viral on TikTok, after which it was able to take first place on the Rolling Stone magazine chart, as well as win 23rd place on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. Moreover, there is both an album version and an alternative one, which was included in the album as a bonus track. Moreover, the alternative version was much more popular than the album or main one.
Meaning of “The Red Means I Love You” – Madds Buckley
The song Madds Buckley – The Red Means I Love You was dedicated not only to anime, but to a specific heroine. The singer dedicated the song to the villain Himiko Toga. The antagonist can transform into any person whose blood she absorbs. Madds Buckley tells the story of a heroine who killed her lover. The title, which appears repeatedly in the song’s lines, sings “Red means I love you”. This is just a direct direct reference to Himiko Toge’s ability to metamorphose by absorbing the blood of another person. All her life she was forced to hide her constant craving for blood, and at a certain moment Himiko could not stand it and killed her lover.
The lyrical heroine of the song is just Himiko Toga, she directly sings about being called crazy and insanely passionate. Also in the text there is a line it’s what’s inside that counts, which can be translated as “The inner world is more important than the outside”, or “What’s inside is important.” If at first glance it may seem that we are talking about the inner world of a person, then this is not entirely true. Most likely, there is some kind of play on words and another emphasis on the frightening superpower to transform into another person up to the voice, absorbing blood from a person (inside a person).
You can see some kind of internal struggle, she was called a maniac and they said that she should be ashamed of what was happening. We are talking about crazy love, where not the last place has blood as a kind of symbol of obsession with a person. Repeatedly, people around her called her crazy because she killed a loved one after a betrayal. But, frankly, this is one of the intrigues of the song, it is not completely clear whether she really has already killed him or only intends to do so, succumbing to her constant craving for blood.
At the same time, an inner fear of one’s own essence can be traced in history. There is an accusation against the second person that the lyrical heroine was abandoned, after which there is an internal struggle between the obsessive desire to see the blood of the betrayer and the insane love for the same person. We are talking about the dizzying feeling that the heroine experiences, stroking the defeated interlocutor. The second person has red traces of a scarlet liquid on his face. Blood generally runs as a leitmotif through the entire musical composition, each time reminding who exactly the work is talking about – Himiko Toga.
In addition, the lyrical heroine admits that she made the decision to kill a loved one, being in a broken state. Moreover, Himiko does not try to justify herself in this song, but only emphasizes that only the lover himself is to blame for this, who brought her to such a state. She was furious and completely out of control of her actions, not aware of what she was doing right now and what it would eventually lead to. In those moments where the blood on Himiko’s face is sung, it is about the constant need of the anime heroine to drink blood, turning into anyone.
The repeatedly lyrical heroine of the song and the antagonist of the My Hero Academia anime reiterates that she is obsessed with her loved one and wants them to be together, even if in such a sophisticated way. The girl is so obsessed with her lover that she is literally ready to become him, drinking the blood and reincarnating, taking the appearance and voice of her beloved. Everything, as long as they become one.
