in a 2012 interview, The Used bassist Jeph Howard said that "A Box Full of Sharp Objects" is probably his favorite song by the band.
A few years ago, while preparing to send the album art for b-side collection Shallow Believer to his record label, Bert McCracken scrawled the word “Artwork” across its cover in silver ink. The sentiment, which, to Bert and his bandmates in The Used, resonated with both extreme simplicity and indescribable complexity, said everything without really having to say anything. Now, the Utah band has titled their fourth full-length album with that very word: Artwork.
The group started writing the album after finishing the Taste of Chaos International tour in 2007, slowly collecting and jamming out ideas with no concrete intention beyond making the songs as dirty as possible. The Used, whose last album, 2007’s Lies For the Liars, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200, spent the first half of 2008 in LA exploring and refining these ideas, eventually piecing tangential riffs and melodies into a scattering of songs that contained a surprisingly cohesive sensibility. The band members dubbed the music they were writing “gross pop,” their own new genre of hook-laden numbers that pushed the boundaries of the grotesque. Tracking for the album began in June of 2008 with producer Matt Squire and eventually concluded in February of 2009, primarily at LA studios The Lair and NRG. Between a few sporadic tours, the band spent about three months total recording with Squire where they allowed their creativity to dictate when they worked on something.
“I wouldn’t say it was hard to make any of the record but it definitely was time consuming,” Bert says. “We worked on our time table. The band allowed me to create when I was able to create, which was a good thing. I didn’t feel pressure to force things. There was no specific time I had to do anything. If we were in the studio and I’d been working on lyrics for five hours and nothing came out, we would just try again tomorrow.”
In the studio Squire approached the recording process with a laid-back attitude the band both appreciated and needed. The decision to work with a new producer after establishing a longtime relationship with producer John Feldman, who was at the helm of the band’s past three albums (Lies For the Liars, as well as 2004’s In Love and Death and 2002’s The Used, both of which were certified gold), was derived from a simple desire for change. The Used wanted to see what would happen if they entered the studio with someone different, a process guitarist Quinn Allman compares to “breaking up with your girlfriend not because you don’t love her but because you need to try something new.”
“It wasn’t that we absolutely didn’t want to work with Feldman or that we absolutely wanted to work with Squire,” Bert explains. “It was more that the band needed a change. We wanted to try something different and have it sound a lot different. It took a few weeks for us to get a vibe for each, but once we got used to it, it was really easy. Squire brought in this willingness to try anything and an open mind and a good attitude. I feel like he was really in touch with what the band wanted to do and he was really supportive of our ideas.”
The result is a raw collection of twelve songs that not so delicately teeter the line between being aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single “Blood On My Hands,” which Quinn describes as the song that “sums up everything about The Used,” is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next. “Empty With You,” a track Bert says is “about feeling empty and lonely but as long as you have someone who can feel lonely with you then everything’s okay,” surges with passion and gripping honesty, while “Cut Yourself” balances the album’s predilection for propulsive rage with its quieter, piano-driven exploration of what it means to have someone to lean on.
“This record is more sincere,” Quinn says. “It’s got a sound more reminiscent of the first record. Lyrically, it completely engulfs you and makes you feel safe but it’s all about feeling alone and empty and knowing there’s always a light. If you’re frustrated that much it means you care that much. The lyrics carry you through the record and you’re right with Bert and where he’s at. The music isn’t showing off. It’s just being what it is. I think the fans will appreciate all that.”
“This record is about coming together,” Bert adds. “Whether it’s through positivity or negativity, it’s about coming together through anything.”
Artwork encapsulates the past eight years of a band that’s played tours and festivals like Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Projek Revolution, Give It a Name, Reading and Leeds and SxSW, and sold over two million albums in the States alone, while simultaneously urging them forward. It’s a collaborative effort that drew The Used closer together during its creation. It’s about love and mortality and the basic human emotions we all experience every day. It’s biting and gritty, and it’s melodic and catchy. It’s a new chapter for a band that’s constantly sought to redefine the bounds of pop music—and have always successfully done so. It’s a reminder, as Bert says, “we’re all artists creating our own art just by living it.”
“I Come Alive” is the first single from The Used's fifth album, Vulnerable. It is the first release on the band's own label, Anger Music Group, an imprint of Hopeless Records. The song was released on January 17, 2012. (I Come Alive Songfacts).
Sold My Soul
The Used Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Left blind from the brightness of your halo
No one shines like you do
My filthy mouth and broken words,
This small disease that leaves me crawling
Crawling to you
Crawl under ground for comfort,
From falling
Sold my life to bring the rain, maybe to wash me clean
Sold my soul to stop the pain,
Hoping you'd set me free
All your pills, are you sane?
You never took it, lay it all on me
You can lay it all on me
I took every chance to lash my tongue,
You wear these scabs just like an angel
There's something about you
Whole rip of things I've done,
Seems like this disease is slowly spreading
Start running, what would you do?
I crawl under ground for comfort,
Stay out of my mind to keep from dying
From dying
Sold my life to bring the rain,
Maybe to wash me clean
Sold my soul to stop the pain,
Hoping you'd set me free
All your pills, are you sane?
You never took it, lay it all on me
You can lay it all on me
Could you forget that what I said?
And how I died inside my head
We're starting over, not pretending
That the best is dead
Under pain you feel you're old,
And times I should have known
Don't keep it inside, let it out and let it all on me
Sold my life to bring the rain,
Maybe to wash me clean
Sold my soul to stop the pain,
Hoping you'd set me free
All your pills, all the pain
You never took it, lay it all on me
You can lay it all on me
The lyrics of The Used's song Sold My Soul speak about a person who feels like a worm, crawling towards someone they idolize. The line "left blind from the brightness of your halo" suggests that the person they idolize is held in high regard, almost like an angel. The subject of the song admits to having a "filthy mouth and broken words", reflecting a feeling of self-hatred and unworthiness. They also admit to having a small disease that leaves them crawling towards the person they idolize.
The lyrics also mention the idea of selling one's soul to stop the pain, suggesting a feeling of desperation and the willingness to do anything to alleviate the suffering. The line "all your pills, are you sane?" suggests that the person they idolize may be taking medication for their mental health, but may not necessarily be sane. The repetition of the line "you can lay it all on me" seems to reflect the desire to help and alleviate the other person's pain.
Overall, the lyrics of Sold My Soul convey a sense of desperation, pain, and unworthiness, while also touching on themes of idolization and self-sacrifice.
Line by Line Meaning
I think about the worm that I've become,
I feel like a lowly creature compared to you
Left blind from the brightness of your halo.
You are a shining beacon of light that I cannot look at directly
No one shines like you do.
You are incomparably bright
My filthy mouth and broken words,
I say things crudely and my speech is impaired
This small disease that leaves me crawling.
My problems make me feel weak and helpless
Crawling to you.
I am seeking your help and support
Crawl under ground for comfort,
I retreat into isolation when I need to feel safe
Stay close to the deck for keep from falling.
I hold on tight to the things that keep me stable
From falling.
Because I am afraid of losing control
Sold my life to bring the rain, maybe to wash me clean.
I am willing to sacrifice everything for a fresh start
Sold my soul to stop the pain, hoping you'd set me free.
I am desperate for relief from my suffering and I look to you for that help
All your pills, are you sane?
I question the effectiveness of your solutions
You never took it, lay it all on me.
I take responsibility for the failures in our relationship
I took every chance to lash my tongue,
I said things out of anger and hurt you
You wear these scabs just like an angel.
Despite your emotional wounds, you maintain a strong and graceful presence
There's something about you.
You have an ineffable quality that draws me to you
Whole rip of things I've done,
I am deeply remorseful for my past actions
Seems like this disease is slowly spreading.
My problems are infecting other parts of my life
Start running, what would you do?
I am afraid of the consequences of my actions and don't know how to move forward
Stay out of my mind to keep from dying.
I avoid thinking about certain things to avoid hurting myself
From dying.
Because I am afraid of losing myself completely
Could you forget that what I said?
I regret the hurtful things I've said
And how I died inside my head.
I have been suffering in silence
We're starting over, not pretending
We are trying to move forward honestly and without illusions
That the best is dead.
We acknowledge that things will never be the same as they were before
Under pain you feel you're old,
I feel like I've aged a lot due to the emotional pain I have experienced
And times I should have known.
There are things I should have realized sooner
Don't keep it inside, let it out and let it all on me.
You can trust me and rely on me for support
All your pills, all the pain.
I recognize the extent of your struggles with mental health
You never took it, lay it all on me.
I am willing to take on your burdens and help you find relief
Lyrics © THE BEST MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: QUINN ALLMAN, JEPH HOWARD, ROBERT MCCRACKEN, DANIEL WHITESIDES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind