Born and raised in the Philippines, Valiant Vermin is a rising star with he… Read Full Bio ↴Born and raised in the Philippines, Valiant Vermin is a rising star with her own signature, experimental sound. Her album, ‘Singles’, radiates its own feminine energy through a distinctive bedroom pop sound infused with electronic synths. Real name Bettina Campomanes, she describes her persona as a “bedroom project by some college chick”; she is now based in New York and currently attends university at Bard College while simultaneously making her mark in the music industry.

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Dust
Valiant Vermin Lyrics

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If I gained such pleasure
With someone to measure
How much I had to forget
The lights go dim
And just for a whim
I'd having nothing to regret
If I gained such pleasure
With someone to measure

How much I had to regret
The lights go dim
And just for a whim
I'd having nothing to forget

When the light comes crawling
Through the creases of wooden floors
When the mist comes seeping
Between spaces of open doors
When the gleam comes crashing
Through the blue diaphanous glass
You know things will soon come to pass

If I gained such pleasure
With someone to measure
How much I had to forget
The lights go dim
And just for a whim
I'd having nothing to regret
If I gained such pleasure
With someone to measure
How much I had to regret
The lights go dim

And just for a whim
I'd having nothing to forget

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Valiant Vermin's "Dust" appear to be a contemplative rumination on memories and the passage of time. The singer seems to be reflecting on the pleasure that they have experienced in forgetting things, possibly painful memories or regrets, and the idea of measuring what they have forgotten with someone else. The repetition of the lines "If I gained such pleasure / With someone to measure / How much I had to forget / The lights go dim / And just for a whim / I'd having nothing to regret" suggests a fixation on this concept of measuring and forgetting.

The second stanza, which begins with "When the light comes crawling," paints a vivid picture of a specific moment, possibly a morning or the beginning of a new day. The imagery of light creeping through the wooden floorboards, mist seeping through open doors, and gleaming through blue glass sets a melancholic tone, as if the singer knows that with the new day comes the possibility of more memories and regrets to be forgotten.

Overall, the lyrics of "Dust" present a bittersweet meditation on the human experience of memory and forgetting, and the duality of pleasure and regret that comes with the passage of time.

Line by Line Meaning

If I gained such pleasure
If I found joy in my life

With someone to measure
Having someone to compare myself with

How much I had to forget
How much I have to let go of

The lights go dim
The end of something

And just for a whim
For a brief moment

I'd having nothing to regret
I would have no regrets

When the light comes crawling
When the brightness of life starts to emerge

Through the creases of wooden floors
In the cracks and imperfections of life

When the mist comes seeping
When uncertainty and confusion start to appear

Between spaces of open doors
During moments of transition and change

When the gleam comes crashing
When life's brightness can't be ignored