Forever ... (is a long time)
Halsey
"Forever... (Is a Long Time)" (stylized in sentence case) is a song perform… Read Full Bio ↴"Forever... (Is a Long Time)" (stylized in sentence case) is a song performed by Halsey. It is featured as the fifth track on her third album, Manic. It was released on January 17, 2020 through Capitol Records.

Forever ...
Halsey Lyrics


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I spent a long time
Watering a plant made out of plastic
And I curse the ground for growing green

I spent a long time
Substituting honest with sarcastic
And I curse my tongue for being mean
Weightless, breathless restitute
Motionless and absolute
He cut me open
Sucked the poison from an aging wound
Now fifty thousand war cadets
Would cower at this small brunette
It's a nice surprise knowing six feet high
Would reach and grab the moon if I should ask

Or just imply that I want you to be more light
So I could look inside his eyes
And get the colors just right
Just right, just right
Just

But love built, God built provinces
Built calluses, break promises
'Cause I could never hold a perfect thing
And not demolish it
What am I thinking? What does this mean?




How could somebody ever love me?
Talk to your man, tell him he's got bad news coming

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Halsey's song "Forever ... Is a Long Time" revolve around the singer's struggle with toxic habits, her own inadequacies, and her relationship. She admits to spending a long time being cruel and dishonest, and now regrets it. She also reflects on how she spent time watering a plastic plant and feeling resentful about the greenery of the world. She juxtaposes these moments of hopelessness with the possibility of redemption, as she describes herself as weightless and motionless, undergoing a restitute. She portrays herself as a survivor, having been opened up and had her poison sucked out. The lyrics hint that she has become stronger and more resilient than she was before. The singer further challenges herself to remain open to the possibility of love, which she recognizes to be difficult to hold on to. She wonders how she could ever be deserving of love and suggests to the recipient of her affection that he is in for a heartbreak.


The song's lyrics are replete with metaphors and images that help to paint a picture of the singer's inner turmoil. The plastic plant that she waters is a metaphor for her own desperate attempts to keep something alive that is not truly alive. The plastic symbolizes something fake, superficial, and artificial. The plant is therefore an allegory for her own internal struggles, which are also fake and superficial. By cursing the ground for growing green, she blames the outside world for her own troubles. The metaphorical language persists throughout the song, with the singer relating her own body to a wound that has aged and is infected. The sucking out of the poison by an unnamed "he" evokes a sense of catharsis.


Line by Line Meaning

I spent a long time Watering a plant made out of plastic And I curse the ground for growing green
I wasted a lot of time trying to make something fake grow and now I'm angry at nature for making real things grow.


I spent a long time Substituting honest with sarcastic And I curse my tongue for being mean
I spent a lot of time being sarcastic instead of honest and now I regret it because I realize I was mean.


Weightless, breathless restitute Motionless and absolute He cut me open Sucked the poison from an aging wound Now fifty thousand walking deads Would cower at this small brunette It's a nice surprise knowing six feet high Would reach and grab the moon if I should ask Or just imply that I want you to be more light So I could look inside his eyes And get the colors just right Just right, just right Just
After being hurt, someone helped heal my wounds and now I feel powerful. I can make the impossible happen and I want to see the beauty in everything, especially in the eyes of the one I love.


But love built, God built provinces Built calluses, break promises 'Cause I could never hold a perfect thing And not demolish it What am I thinking? What does this mean? How could somebody ever love me? Talk to your man, tell him he's got bad news coming
Love takes time and effort to build, but it may still break and promises may be unkept. I have a tendency to ruin perfect things so I'm not sure how someone could truly love me, and I feel like someone I care about is about to be disappointed in me.




Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Ashley Frangipane, Benjamin Levin, Magnus Hoiberg, Nathan Perez, Peder Losnegaard

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@Marielos002

"Forever ... (is a long time)"

I spent a long time
Watering a plant made out of plastic
And I curse the ground for growing green

I spent a long time
Substituting honest with sarcastic
And I curse my tongue for being mean

Weightless, breathless restitute
Motionless and absolute
He cut me open
Sucked the poison from an aging wound
Now 50, 000 war cadets
Would cower at this small brunette
To my surprise not six feet high
Would reach and grab the moon if I should ask

Or just imply that I wanted a bit more light
So I could look inside his eyes
And get the colors just right
Just right, just right
Just

Built love, built God, built provinces
Built calluses, break promises
'Cause I could never hold a perfect thing
And not demolish it
What am I thinking? What does this mean?
How could somebody ever love me?
Talk to your man, tell him he's got bad news coming



@samridhi835

i was just reading halsey's poetry book. and in the book she also has an entire poem with the same name, the first part is the same but the rest is different. here is her album :-

FOREVER… IS A LONG TIME
I spent a long time
watering a plant made out of plastic,
and I cursed the ground for growing green.
I spent a long time
substituting honest with sarcastic
and I cursed my tongue for being mean.
Weightless, breathless, restitute.
Motionless and absolute.
You cut me open,
sucked the poison
from an aging wound.
And now 50,000 war cadets
would cower at this small brunette.
To my surprise,
not 6 feet high,
who’d reach and grab the moon,
if I should ask, or just imply
that I wanted a bit more light,
so I could look inside his eyes,
and get the colors just right.
I spent a long time
calling all my parts by evil nicknames,
and I told myself they hate me too.
But you spent a long time,
tending to a home that’s burning in ames
and your patience made me love you.
Build love, build god, build promises
build calluses, then build provinces
’cause I have found
somebody who would build life,
then demolish it.
And we could simply hit rewind,
to live it all a thousand times
nd views in fucking Kathmandu,
to watch it from a dierent height
(and we’d comment how the sun shines)
I searched the world
to nd
you hiding inside me
the whole damn time.
Weightless,
breathless,
restitute…



@jaishibrahim1702

"Forever ... (is a long time)"

I spent a long time
Watering a plant made out of plastic
And I curse the ground for growing green

I spent a long time
Substituting honest with sarcastic
And I curse my tongue for being mean

Weightless, breathless restitute
Motionless and absolute
He cut me open
Sucked the poison from an aging wound
Now 50, 000 walking deads
Would cower at this small brunette
It's a nice surprise knowing six feet high
Would reach and grab the moon if I should ask

Or just imply that I want you to be more light
So I could look inside his eyes
And get the colors just right
Just right, just right
Just

But love built, God built provinces
Built calluses, break promises
'Cause I could never hold a perfect thing
And not demolish it
What am I thinking? What does this mean?
How could somebody every love me?
Talk to your man, tell him he's got bad news coming



All comments from YouTube:

@venuss4781

Halsey said on her twitter that this is a song about the journey of falling in love and then sabotaging it with your own paranoia and insecurity. And even the title goes the same way as the song. Forever (happy) ..... (taking a break, the piano break, uncertainty) is a long time (paranoia). It's like saying I will love you forever, then thinking, will I? Forever is a long time, will they be able to do that? Will I be able to do that? ITS FUCKING GENIUS.

@katherineself8040

I’ve never even thought about it that way!! 🤯🤯

@aylin2906

They also refer to this in Whispers when they say “I sabotage the things I love the most.”

@gaabrie.l

An alternative name of this would be happy paranoia then?

@paintingdreams290

@@gaabrie.l ngl i'd love if the song was called that

@gaabrie.l

@@paintingdreams290 yeah

@Jowitaxoxo

This woman makes you think. Her lyrics are intelligent and deliberate and so refreshing. What a beautiful time to be alive and share this space with such a remarkable soul.

@josesandoval2658

Did she write her music thou?

@kim3295

Jose Sandoval she does. Obviously there’s ppl that help her tweak it and make changes, but the overall inspiration for the songs are her own life experiences. In a recent interview she said that this song was originally one of her poems...we know that songs are still poetry too, but you can tell that this started as a spoken poem. Does that make sense? 😆 sometimes I’m not as good at articulating my point the same way I hear it in my mind lol

@josesandoval2658

Kim mie I’m a huge Taylor fan and this gave me Taylor vibes and I was told she didn’t write her own music that’s why I wanted to find out thank you

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