“Pillowcase” is the last song on Diva Bleach’s latest EP, No Fun. At first listen, “Pillowcase” by Diva Bleach might seem like a breakup song— the narrator clutching the pillow on which their love used to sleep—and this may be so. However, when you look closer at the lyrics of this “sparkly pop rock” ballad, it seems like the song might actually be dedicated to a dead pet. “Your water bowl stays empty on the kitchen tile” is the line in this song that initially suggested this to me. If this isn’t in fact a song about a dearly departed dog or a fondly remembered feline, though, it certainly poses a metaphor about the kind of emptiness that resounds in one’s life when they lose their love; it might feel a lot like the loss of an integral member of one’s family— a pet. The echoing “it feels so wrong to be fine” feels a lot like the initial shock that comes with loss, but even though the meaning of the song is very sad, its sound is that of an absolute banger.
If you like Avril Lavigne, Paramore, and 2000’s pop rock, this is the song for you, with a driving beat, sparky electric guitar, and lively-yet-emo vocals that scream early 2000’s pop-rock girl band. The lead singer Sydney belts, “Now this house that we grew up in, it feels vacant/Every time that I walk through the door, I still look to the couch where you waited” elicits the image of a long-standing presence, now gone forever. In these lines, I can imagine the narrator of the song growing up with the pup or kitten that she had since she was a child, and of course, outliving this friend. Relationships are a lot like pets— we love them, they get old, and then they die.
Listen here:
Written by Lola Works
Velvet Noise 