Interpretation of Payphone By Maroon 5 Ft. Wiz Khalifa

Notice the pattern of all my blogs or articles? It’s that they’re always connected to nerdiness technology! Today I would like to share with you my interpretation of my favorite song: Payphone!!! So what’s the connection with technology, you ask? Well, there’s the word payphone on the title and for your information, telephones including payphones are sincerely connected with technology.

 

So here we go. Don’t judge too much, okay?

 

Before we start further, I would like to mention that I consulted genius.com for this too, mixed with my own experiences and interpretation.

 

Verse 1

 

I’m at a payphone trying to call home

All of my change, I spent on you

Where have the times gone
Baby, it’s all wrong, where are the plans we made for two

 

So, the song starts with Adam Levine being on the payphone. If this were a short story, the narrator is establishing the setting. Then, Adam Levine talks about both the changes he made for the girl as well as the literal change he supposedly used to call the same girl (therefore, “change” here acts as a homophone).

 

It is therefore implied that he changed too much for this girl that he can’t take it anymore.

 

Nobody knows what causes a person to change too much for someone; however, I can tell you that it is obvious, that that special someone is mostly likely immensely significant to you, for you to do that.

 

Then, he tries to remember the moments they had and the plans that they made that weren’t realized.

 

Verse 1

 

Yeah, I, I know it’s hard to remember
The people we used to be
It’s even harder to picture
That you’re not here next to me

You say it’s too late to make it
But is it too late to try?

And in that time that you wasted
All of our bridges burnt down

 

 

You know the feeling when you’ve been too away from each other for  too long that you forget

what makes you unique in the way that you lived and treated each other nicely? That is what basically is happening here.

 

Although they changed hoping that it would help them, the opposite of what they expected is what happened.

 

His object of affection expressed something like it is too late for reconciliation. Still, he asks whether it is too late to give it another try (mushy). During the time that was spent afar from each other, their relationship was destroyed; thus, time was most likely or probably wasted then.

 

Pre-Hook

 

I’ve wasted my nights
You turned out the lights
Now I’m paralyzed
Still stuck in that time when we called it love

But even the sun sets in paradise

 

Again, since the relationship ended, it made Adam Levine feel like the time he spent with her is now wasted; he feels like he is paralyzed while remembering the past when the relationship was still working. He concludes then that maybe the saying is true that nothing lasts forever.

 

 

Hook

 

I’m at a payphone trying to call home

All of my change I spent on you

Where have the times gone? Baby, it’s all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?

If happy ever after did exist
I would still be holding you like this

All those fairytales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I’ll be sick

 

Again, the setting is introduced: he is at a payphone. Moreover, the change that he spent calling her through the payphone, and the changes he made for her is reiterated; as well, as the remembrance of their lives together; and the plans they made which are now gone.

 

In reference with the fairy tales with lines like “…they lived happily ever after,” he is optimistic that if ever there were happy endings in real life, their relationship would still be whole.

 

In real life, everything is completely complicated despite fairytales suggesting otherwise. Moreover, he’s sick of hearing love songs because they probably remind him of the not-so-happy ending that happened to their relationship.

 

 

Verse 2

 

You turned your back on tomorrow
Cause you forgot yesterday

I gave you my love to borrow
But you just gave it away

You can’t expect me to be fine
I don’t expect you to care

I know I said it before
But all of our bridges burnt down

 

Adam suggests that instead of focusing on the good things in the relationship, she focused on the bad and gave up without giving second thought on whether to still maintain it or not. It is more likely that despite Adam giving his 100% in the relationship, love-wise, it was one-sided.

 

Adam says that she doesn’t even notice the hurt she caused him; which is probably one of the reasons why the relationship failed.

 

Again, with the time her girl being distant, Adam suggests that the girl wasted time being distant as everything that is keeping them together is now gone.

 

I don’t want to include the part of Wiz Khalifa here no offense, because of some inappropriate words. Regardless, you can always check genius.com for it’s interpretation there if you are curious. Here is a link to genius.com’s take on it http://genius.com/Maroon-5-payphone-lyrics.

 

I love how songs help us express feelings and stuff we couldn’t express otherwise. Don’t you think?

 

Has this reflection helped you in anyway? Let me know what you think on the comments section.

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