Faded Beauty Queens
The Thrills Lyrics

The opening lines of “Faded Beauty Queens” by The Thrills immediately strike the listener with their evocation of artifice and illusion: “How did you do it? ‘Well,’ she said, ‘smoke & mirrors… / Anything for love / Anything for love.’” Here, the singer is in dialogue with a female character who is likely responsible for the smoke and mirrors, whether that means manipulating the singer’s affection or creating some kind of public persona. The repeated refrain of “anything for love” contributes to the impression that love itself is also a kind of illusion, or at least that the lengths people go to in order to find it are sometimes insincere or self-serving.

The verse following this sets up a contrast between that kind of false love and “low expectations,” which are “breathing down my back.” The singer seems to imply that these expectations are more authentic, as there is “no grudge unworthy of holding,” suggesting that he is not willing to compromise his own values or morals for love. However, the repetition of “I know that won’t be hard” indicates that he is still in some way struggling with these expectations or norms.

The chorus then arrives with its mysterious declaration of “faded beauty queens,” and the repeated line “Well I don’t know how we ended up here,” which could refer to the unexpectedness of the love affair or simply the singer’s confusion about how he became the person he is today. The second half of the chorus adds some more context to this image: “Wide-eyed and new money / With faded beauty queens…” The sense of disorientation only intensifies with the bridge, which describes “making teenage boys feel / like a Christmas tree” and the ominous line “I know you dread the day, when it’s any other way.”