King Tuff is a U.S. recording artist from Brattleboro, Vermont. His real n… Read Full Bio ↴King Tuff is a U.S. recording artist from Brattleboro, Vermont. His real name is Kyle Thomas.

His first album, Was Dead, was released in 2008. His eponymous album was released on 29th May 2012, charting at twenty-one on Billboard's Heatseeker Albums chart. The album also entered the CMJ charts at fourteen, eventually climbing to number two. His most recent album, Smalltown Stardust, was released on Sub Pop in 2023.

Anthem
King Tuff Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Sing the anthem
A song of the dead
Sing the love song
That rots in your head
Find the answer
Don't ever look back
There's blood to splatter
And skulls to crack

Sing the anthem
Of the underworld
Sing the love song
For the ugly girls
Pray you'll always
Be a fucked up kid

So pledge allegiance
To the blood and shit

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of King Tuff's song Anthem carry a rebellious and defiant tone. The song starts with the title itself, asking the listener to sing the anthem, which is a song of the dead. This line can be seen as a call to embrace the darker side of life, to revel in the shadows that exist within oneself. The next line, "sing the love song that rots in your head," adds to this theme of embracing the darker side, as the love being referred to is not a typical love but a twisted, decaying version of it.

The following lines, "find the answer, don't ever look back," suggest a sense of urgency and a need to discover something important. The ambiguity of what this answer could be serves to highlight the mysterious and unsettling nature of the song. The chorus then returns, with "sing the anthem of the underworld, sing the love song for the ugly girls." Here, the song takes a turn towards embracing individuality and celebrating those who don't conform to societal standards of beauty or normalcy.

The final line, "so pledge allegiance to the blood and shit," further cements the song's defiance of societal norms and expectations. It encourages the listener to pledge allegiance to the crude and unrefined parts of life, to embrace the messiness and ugliness that comes with it. Overall, Anthem is a song that exalts in the darkness and celebrates individuality, urging the listener to join in on this celebration of the unconventional.

Line by Line Meaning

Sing the anthem
Scream out loud the cacophonous tune of this piece of music

A song of the dead
A melody that commemorates the departed souls

Sing the love song
Bellow the composition about the passion that perishes within your brain

That rots in your head
That decomposes inside your skull

Find the answer
Discover the solution to the enigma

Don't ever look back
Never gaze rearward

There's blood to splatter
There exists blood to be sprayed everywhere

And skulls to crack
As well as crania to shatter

Of the underworld
Belonging to the subterranean realm of the dead

For the ugly girls
Dedicated to unappealing women

Pray you'll always
Hope that you'll perpetually