Can't wait to hear your thoughts and further analysis! Your comments never disappoint! What does this song mean to you? Check out The Warning Playlist: kzfaq.info/sun/PLDKVsMWr0WUTj7psjWEXBDPqPJfYV_-hD - I have another Warning video coming out later this week! ;) Nena

The amount of hours these girls put into their music and reaching out to their fans is off the charts

It's A long Way Top The Top If You Wanna Rock-N-Roll

While I have not been a touring musician, during my working life, I have had plenty of years where I spent 120+ days on the road, flying on airplanes, staying in hotels, living out of a suitcase. I understand this feeling quite well. I don't think this is either a desire to quit, or a plea for sympathy by the band. I think they are just laying it out that many of our dreams can be a lot of hard work, frustration, and exhaustion. I think that can apply equally to tours or relationships or professional sports. When they play this song live, it is powerful. I was fortunate to see them play it twice in Mexico last fall. Ale's bass sound (the sound of the grit and grind of the tour). Dany's vocals (the wail to let me out!). It really had an impact on us Warning Army members who were there. Thanks for your thoughts on HYCAD. I am really looking forward to your commentary on QmQ. That song is one of the stickiest earworms in their catalog for me.

The interesting thing about her lyrics is that you can always interpret them differently. Also keep in mind that it's not just Danny, but all 3 of them. Their tour is not a big bus and private plane, hotel suites etc., but a small bus, small rooms, not even a few hours alone. I wouldn't take the word hell so literally. I have more the feeling that this is about everyone saying that a tour is great and the best thing that can happen. But that there can also be restrictions, frustrations and anger. Especially when you're still on low budgets. Of course, you can also relate it to a toxic relationship. Like many of DPA's texts, things are rarely clear-cut.

They started writing Keep Me Fed while on tour for Error, which was their biggest tour to date, so I agree with you that a lot of these experiences where channeled on the new record's lyrical content. Constanty on the road, lots of interviews and shenanigans surely made the girls more mature and that is represented on these lyrics. Also, gotta say how I enjoy HYCAD more with every new listening. Great analysis (as always) Nena 🤘🏼😊

I've been waiting for your HYCAD vid, absolutely brilliant!. I could write a book but will just refer to "Eyes are always open in the dark". While on their Error tour in Europe, their bus was pulled over at night and boarded by police. Ale didn't even know till a policeman woke her in bed by shining a flash light in her face. No one on a tour bus has any privacy, there's always something going on, always eyes open. The sisters are homebodies, so just that one aspect of touring, lack of privacy, must be really rough at times. Their current tour schedule looks less demanding than 2022 and 2023, which is good to see!. Burnout can wreck a band, HYCAD is a brilliant acknowledgement of that pitfall.

2:48 I actually think the title is sort of saying that their experience touring would be a dream to a lot of people but they don’t see the hell that goes on behind the scenes 🤔

Fantastic as always. Your Initial “toxic relationship” idea is essentially spot-on. We have relationships with everything in life, including our job. (& I too am not saying that is The Warnings situation) & often those “dream” relationships turn out to be (to varying degrees) “hell”. Every band worth anything has a road-dog song. It’s a pretty universal hell chasing that superstar dream. P.S. interesting you mentioned “gaslighting” as apparently that’s part of the inspiration for ‘Que Mas Quieres’. Pau stated (sorry I don’t have the source in front of me) it came out of a chat discussing the meme “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss” (as gen-X I had to look it up … after looking up “meme” of course 🤣) Pau has also said regarding this album as a whole “it’s not that deep” but if we’ve learned anything from The Warning… it’s that Pau’s “not that deep” is bottomless to the rest of us😊

Wow, Dany's explanation lines up almost exactly with the way I interpreted it. My heart was breaking for them, especially Pau, as I believe she writes a lot of the lyrics.

Yesss! Thank you Nena!! Super excited for Q+Q as well 😁

Choke asks for the space to feel one's feelings. The last line here, "Maybe I don't wanna be in this hell you call a dream" might be about creating that personal space to feel feelings without having to answer to assumptions by others. Great discussion (again) and great photo montage.

They did an interview where they talked about things on tour that they did not enjoy, looking for a laundrymat to wash clothes, not being able to shower after a show because the bus did not have the amentities, not being able to eat properly or have personal space when needed. THey said they love perfroming but sometimes really missed the comforts that we all tend to take for granted. The song is a collaberation of the waruing and prossesional song writers so I would suppose that like the listeners the authors also find different meanings in the lyrics.

A labor of love.

They love making music, they thrive every time they succeed. The first time The Warning spoke about how hard it is to pursue the dream (then) they wanted to have, was at the Ted X show in 2017, when Ale spoke about all the hardship they had to go through and after every solved problem, they where presented with "another one and another one.." And their passion was visible when Pau spoke to the audience about not being able to sleep at night but from the hardship they got stronger and didn´t let go because "it is all coming true in the end". They love making music and playing it for the World, and these women are fighters, they know nothing comes free. And it is this conviction which has brought them where they are, and to Japan in June. The Warning are a special breed, intelligent enough to be able to step out of the box they are in and watch life with the eyes of a writer or artist. Due to their ability to understand life they can put words to things they have never experienced personally. I love this band, they embody so many of my own convictions an ways of life. As usual it´s interesting to listen when you deliver your analysis, because they are insightful.

Great analysis! I think a lot of The Warning's songs are about blowing off steam. Notice that the lyric video of this song starts out with scenes from the front seat of a tour bus… Being on the road as much as they are can be very stressful. Whatever can go wrong will, so you have to be paranoid enough to prepare for it. They are very lucky to have their family, creative and forward-thinking managers, and a tightly knit team traveling with them. Many bands are not that lucky! DPA/TW have a support group and they hold each other accountable. A lot of bands fall into depression, drug abuse, and debauchery, not necessarily in that order, but debilitating behavior, nonetheless. I can just hear them screaming this song (or similar sentiments) in frustration when the bus breaks down on the way to a gig... And then they address the problem, perhaps as they describe in the first few lines of *S!CK.* A famous motivational speaker I once heard talked about the desire to quit something worthy of completing when it gets tough to endure the journey. He said, "It's perfectly okay to WANT to quit. But most of the time, you should tell yourself, it's NOT OKAY to quit, unless continuing is suddenly unwise or dangerous." I know I've been "in too deep" many times, but somehow I kept going. I found "something to believe." Maybe I didn't want to dream it... I wanted to do it, so I did it. But I loved to hate it... and wouldn't give it up for anything. None of that makes it any easier, but sometimes a primal scream makes you feel better and restores a bit of focus. All that said, the great thing about their lyrics is that they are cryptic and universal enough to be taken many different ways. I totally get the "toxic relationship" interpretation. I considered that, too, but Dany's statement does make sense. We all sometimes project our own life experiences onto others' words. I'm constantly hearing things I know I can take several different ways, and if I don't ask for clarification, I usually take them the wrong way. And I often say things that others take in a completely different way than intended! Communication is equally 100% the responsibility of both the sender and receiver. With lyrical music, though, we don't often get to ask the writer what she meant.

Good analysis. A lot of great pics as well. Captures who they are.

I think the "you" isn't someone else, but our own thoughts.

Music and performing ARE their DNA. This song is like Bob Segar's song about being on tour, "Turn the Page" covered by Metallica. "Running out of things to say" could also apply to being around the same people everyday in a confined space like the tour bus and aircraft, you just run out of conversation stuff. "This hell you call a dream" I think is meant to us, who think touring is glamorous and fun filled, like they are full filling a dream, but in reality being away from home and having the comforts of home becomes like a "hell" of sorts, e.g.; there is clip of Pau washing her hair while Lalo holds her and Carlos pours water over her from a water bottle to rinse her hair. I like how Dany pronounces the word "animal" as "animol", and you can see her in the live performance purposefully rounding her mouth to pronounce an "o" in animal. I say she "Danifies" the word. More is also pointing to the song "More."

I think you've pretty much said in your analysis based on Dany's quote that this isn't a desire to quit or to complain. They've said even recently that they love playing for the audience, for the fans. Pau even said in an interview that touring is brutal in every sense of the word, but in the same interview said that they love the energy the crowd gives back and makes them so happy. I've heard songs from many rock bands about this topic of touring being difficult - AC/DC "Highway to Hell" and Triumph's "Suitcase Blues" to name a couple.

I fully agree on your analysis in the context of what Dany said in the interview. I'd add though that "hell you call a dream" may refer to the fact that people see their life as a dream life without considering all that's going on behind the scenes and all the hard work that's involved rather than them being sold it as a dream. I have a massive amount of respect for the girls and what they're doing because this is a really hard life even though they're doing what they enjoy most. Without Dany's explanation I'd have thought the same as you.

8:45 Another 'drowning' reference, one of Pau's favorite metaphors used in Choke, Breathe and Martirio. ("En tu Martirio ahogate" translates 'in your martyrdom drown yourself')

I love The Warning, even fun songs they make can mean many different things to many different people. That is the perfect formula for good music. I think the song says moderation is key, too much of exactly what you want can create a hell you call a dream.

The cage could also be that they have worked so hard for this and have no fallback plans for anything else. If you think about them as a band, they were a band for 8 years before they started touring seriously. This song was written in Oct of 2022 when they hadn’t even been seriously touring for a year yet. I’m sure there were alot of surprises for them about touring life. Pau told the story about touring in Europe and not being able to take a shower for a week sometimes. She said her hair felt so bad that she wore a hat while performing. If you watch some of their European concert shows from fan cams, there are shows that she is wearing a hat. Also one of the vlogs show the crew helping her wash her hair in a parking lot with bottled water.

It’s also important to understand that they are young and they are experimenting different sounds, I think the “Error” album is a rock album and “keep me fed” is a pop rock album. Some people are commenting how overproduced this new album is and some other people are getting very angry. I believe we need to support them regardless of genre. This is their way to share with us their worries, thoughts and opinions. In my case I will support them no matter what they do, because they don’t have to keep me happy, they just need to be happy with what they do. That’s what matters to me.

I think that the lines: "Ready and out for the kill. If this can't bring me to life, then what will?", could represent the moment when they first step on stage hoping for a great show and the resulting uplift in adrenaline, energy and post-show good spirits experienced from it (temporary as they may be), until it's back to the mundane grind off stage. I traveled and performed for decades, and personally for me, that was pretty much the mindset. I can totally relate.

This is one of those songs that I didn't really like the first time I heard it, but the more I listened to it the more I grew to love it.

I think that this song was a bit of a vent to let off steam, or release the pressure safety valve which ever you believe is the most likely case. It’s a great song and a masterpiece of lyrical genius and musical composition, it’s really relatable to as well everyone has these sort of feelings, but don’t really know how to express them, so can be really frustrated with it all. Music is a great way of expressing your emotions, and an outlet that can act like a safety mechanism.

Great Nena. I really enjoy these deep dives. I think these lyrics are an extrapolation on a moment in time. We all have these moments in our lives when a thought crosses our minds - something we don't really believe, but a sort of impulsive impression of an idea. As writers, DPA are really good at taking these random thought/impressions and expanding those ideas into dramatic and powerful songs. For example; 'If kharma doesn't hit you then I will' doesn't mean Pau would actually punch the person she's writing about - the line is just a dramatic extrapolation of the feeling she had at the moment of betrayal. Anyway, this was a very enjoyable video Nena. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Hey Nena, great analysis. I had not seen the song in that context, but it does make sense to me as I have also spent years travelling for my work. One has to be carefully to find a balance not to miss important things in one's family life (like kids' birthdays) - travel to/from, hotels, restaurants, etc. is definitely not the thrill, meeting people face-to-face, sharing experiences, hard and good times together is. Looking forward to QmQ analysis - that songs has burned into my brain.

Great Analysis Nena! As someone who has been following them since 2015, I've always wanted them to get the recognition they deserve, but the thought of them burning out from touring scares me a little... I hope they'll be able to find balance and fulfillment in their lives, I wish them happiness above all else!!!

😊Nena Concert tours can be a brutal endeavor, especially for newbies learning the ropes. On the road thru the air, not in Monterrey anymore. Jet lag, lack of quality sleep, food poisoning, influenza, fatigue, without the comforts of home, no home cooking, unanticipated mishaps, etc etc. Without doubt, the team continues to learn to be better and better at maintaining health and happiness while sharing their live performances around the world. The seasoned successful group Metallica adapted by scheduling two weeks of concerts followed by three weeks of recovery, then repeat for fifty concerts per year. They also have traveling with their team a healthcare provider, and a nutrition minded chef.

Once again I think you are spot on in your assessment and empathetic relationship with their personalities... They are truly blessed to at least have such a genuinely beautiful family and family-like tech crew to tour with... Also I think that as songwriters they have always written songs that reflect archetypal imagery and experiences... The addiction to desires is a prominent theme for example... Thank you for your presentation! Well said!

Good stuff, Nena. Love your warm heart and intelligence. 😊

Hi Nena HYCAD is Amazing.

And to think that just a small percentage of bands make it relativately big to live well or decent, it's just nuts. I mean, the amount of work and talent that any artist or band has to have to be considered by a large amount of people and give them a good life it is really limited. Of all the carrers in general, I think being an artist- musician is the most difficult one. It really is the love of it the only fuel that keeps them going without knowing what it'll bring them at the end. I guess the "hell" most artist live while doing it, it will become at the end part of their greatest memories.

❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥~Viva~The~Warning~❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥

Another great analysis. I think you covered everything spot on. For me it will always have a different interpretation that I relate to more, but that's just another reason they are such great writers.

By the way, my apologies for misquoting the lyric as "ready or not for the kill" (the graphic is correct, not what I say) - I had the lyrics wrong when only the live version was available, and I completely forgot I had it wrong :)

I feel that in the line “The hell YOU call a dream”, “you” refers to all humans, and the dreams that we all have to achieve power, riches, control, or fame; and how only the few who achieve it actually experience the “hell” of maintaining the dream. There are plenty of examples of successful leaders, moguls, rock stars who personify the saying “it’s lonely at the top”. TW and their team are clearly experiencing these struggles on their way to the top.

Aloha, really nice analysis. I like the way your mind works...the paths you traverse given the images and lyrics the Ladies present...really well done! Mahalo! #APDVillaReality

Something else I thought of while on a run. The message in this song applies to astronauts who have been put in isolated habitats to simulate a Mars mission to determine the psychological, emotional, and physical effects of extended periods of isolation in a confined environment. Months as compared to a few weeks of a band on tour. And their environment is much more controlled. There is no change in scenery, no internet, no net flicks, and only limited communication with mission controllers. Sure, there is all the glamor of being a Mars mission astronaut, but the reality is much different than the reality. Also, when you're around someone for short periods, you may not notice small habits or think they are cute. But, one day, you may wake up and be in a particular mood, and that little quirk might not go over so well now. The stress is not saying anything, and the annoyance really builds up, or say, "Will you stop doing that?" Which is not going to go well, especially if they say "How about you? You're not perfect either." Either way, there is a stressor in this situation that may otherwise not happen. Which creates "Hell You Call A Dream" situation.

As always on point

Don’t get me wrong, I love this band and have supported them and met them many times, they are wonderful human beings. They are putting across in this song what all people that have full time jobs endure day in and day out. So I don’t think they are saying ‘poor me, I have to do all of this stuff to keep people happy’. But if it is then they don’t know or realize that they are no different than the average working stiff that has to put up with all sorts of bullshit just to get by in life. What I’m saying is this song represents all people that go to work day in and day out liking it or not.

I think this song has the same theme as AC/DC's song Highway to Hell, which is also about touring.

Love this!! Great job as always!🤟🤟🤟

Can’t disagree with anything you said. It’s a song, they need to write dramatically, and they know exactly how to do it. As someone pointed out, they were writing these songs during the few days off they had between shows, so it’s easy to imagine the pressure feeling like being trapped in a cage. Their support network is strong and i think they handle it well. Thanks, great analysis as always.

Think about it. They grew up with this passion. They did work very hard. Very hard at their own pace. Playing when it happened. Recording when they could. Doing social media. Selling merch. Patreon. The only pressure was their own on themselves. Now they are a signed band. On tour. They have to produce. Lots of people depend on them performing. Performing in a business sense. More songs. More gigs. More fans. The pressure they feel to maintain their social media presence that got them their fans. They might have felt tired when this started because, school, practice, gigs… less time with friends, ya, boys. Underwater from the start.

I think it's really "simple"... We see the glitz, the glamor, the roaring/adoring crowds, but we don't see the hours spent writing, time in the studio, traveling from Point A to Point B, and everything that that entails, doing sound checks, getting sick on the road, etc. From our perspective, it's a dream, but the whole package can be hell. That doesn't cover some of the points you bring up as well, which equally apply, such as no time for a private life outside of "the business". They have given us a peek behind the curtain, as it were, into what that life entails, but even that barely scratches the surface. I'm reminded of a line from "Turn the Page", by Bob Seger "You don't feel much like riding, you just wish the trip was through".

This song reminds me of Bob Seger's Turn the Page

Just switch the human relationship with the relationship musicians have with their band & the rigors of touring & it makes sense both ways. The Warning is reaching new heights & that increases the pressures & the expectations. The reality of a dream is never what you think it's going to be. All good lyrics can be applied in more than one way; people take out of a song what applies to their own lives, which is why artists like Bob Dylan & Michael Stipe don't like explaining their lyrics. They don't want to mess with people's own interpretations.

i never thought this was about a relationship. i believed, wrongly it seems, that it was about a work/professional situation that started out exhilirating but deteriorated to the point of feeling trapped and intense, inescapable drudgery. i might have overthought it a bit. but, hey, it’s art.

Neil Peart wrote about the druggery of thevroad, the exposure of fame and fortune, and the demand for privacy while being so exposed. "Limelight" exoresses that beautifully. "HYCAD" offers a similar take.

"This hell YOU call a dream". From the moment the band started to take off, all of us said, " Dreams can come true". But like you say, it is open to interpretation. And when they performed this song live, all three were suffering from the flu. When you watch Breathe, sung by Pau playing a piano all by herself, very sick, in front of 8,000 fans, a song she said she would never perform live because it was so personal to her, you can see the pressure they put on themselves to please their fans.

❤❤❤

Good analysis as always. I think it's no coincidence they chose to release these four songs from 'Keep me Fed' first. If you put S!CK against HYCAD, it can be viewed as describing the opposites of being musicians. Living your life to the fullest getting most out of it but it certainly has it's downsides as you explained in this video. Same thing goes with More and Que mas Quieres but this time about their relation with the fanbase. On one hand as artists with an ever expanding group of fans you leave most of them begging for more while a vocal minority tries to dictate what to do with your music telling constantly what more they want. Ultimately you have to follow your own path and trust that everyone keeps coming back because you're confident in what you present to them. I think Q+Q is them saying we see all the feedback good and bad and no matter how many tell us what to do with our music, they still keep coming back to what we decide to make. Anyway that's my theory about these songs, I'm curious about your take on it.

I think you have the right of it - the song is more cathartic, a release of feelings and emotions. And yes both "dream" and "hell" might be extremes but meant for artistic expression. I do like how the song can be interpreted in many ways, such as your original interpretation of a toxic relationship -- I'm sure there are tons of fans where this song will help them in that regard. That said, I think April 2024 might be a complete dream/hell since they will be touring Europe and playing nearly every day!

I could be wrong but I also have a feeling it could be about toxic relationships and collateral damages. Could it be in the same spectrum as Narcisista? If it is, the maturity in which they openly speak about the topic is amazing. What they do musicaly is phenomenal, but the lyrics go straight to the point.

I always wonder if the cage is their fame/popularity. While they have a ton of success, they are forced to isolate and hide away from the public. Friendships, relationships, etc. all seem not to be practical or maybe possible without a lot of planning and sacrifice. The years of their youth are passing by, while they are living a life apart from everyone else. Who knows. One thing is certain - they write serious lyrics and they always can be interpreted many ways.

Just to be a smarty-pants, their explanation is exactly what I thought it thought it probably was. I have very different explanations for 23, sick and Amour than the official explanation.

Does anyone know where I can find the clip (or article) of Pau discussing the inspiration for QmQ? I would love to review it before I do my analysis to see her mindset. Also, was Pau the primary lyricist for HYCAD and QmQ? :) I have another Warning video coming out later in the week, but it isn't a lyrical analysis ;)

🥰🤘

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Recommend a lyrical breakdown of Freeze The Fall-Daughters Of Witches.

I'm not sure if anybody has realized that they are still touring with their parents and a long term manager Rudi. At their young age this was needed. I'm not sure if everybody has kids, but at their age, they are trapped and need some release.

I kinda feel bad purchasing a M&G for a TW show I'm attending, but I have a feeling this tour year will be the last one those will be offered. They will be too big. I remember Tati from Jinjer hating to do M&G, because she is such an introvert and it was overwhelming to her. I don't think they do them anymore, someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

I🖤TW🤘

I think you have seen this with a lot of musicians. What starts out as a hobby turns into a passion, then a career. during the time of the love affiar with writing and touring. It turns into a job/business where you have people depending on you for their income. The stress of keeping it going can be enormous. It has happened to a lot of bands they have to meet the contract obligations. They quality of the product suffers. The Warning put on a great live show they are the best live band i have seen in 25 years. When will the grind get to much and they just go through the motions. When will management only think about the $$ and push them to hard and they will just stop. I hope never I love this band. This is just my .02 as a former business owner who's hobby turned into a business and I ended up selling because the fun was sucked out of it. I did make a lot of money however, it did ruin my love of what I did.

When i first saw the lyrics for this song i thought that it was a rather dramatic and exaggerated point of view . It's the managements job to make sure that they have enough breaks inbetween or they could reach burnout quite soon . I take the lyrics with a pinch of salt though , just a melodramatic stance , which although may be some truth in the lyrics , they are exaggerated to make it more dramatic and interesting for the listener .A bit like a front cover news story being exaggerated to sell more copies , situation.

...lov Ur reaction n on point...I believe the hell U call a dream is the fans injecting their opinions that r irrelevant...the fans make it demanding...look @ Narcicissta...

its like john Lennon song, Help!

Wait a second! First the cover of the new album has a strong Moving Pictures vibe, new we discover HYCAD is their Limelight! Is it subconscious or completely intentional?

You discuss this as if Dany wrote the song, but it's well known that Pau usually writes the lyrics. Do we know for a fact that this one's by Dany?

u r0ck nena!! 🤘😍🤘

My big concern is that TW is going to pace over. The tour schedule is way too tough in my opinion. Day by day a show, travelling overnight in a tour bus. Frustrating to realize having visited the nicest places over a continent, but no chance to get to know or to explore them personally - they have to travel to the next gig. On the long run such livestyle will be toxic. So what is the plan? Fast success for a probably short time until a mental break down? Or sustainable growth with a good work/life balance? And not to forget they are beautiful young ladies and I will not believe that music will play the only role in their young life. As you said, no time for romantic relationships. Family is great but this is only one half of life. So I'm curious for how long they are prepared to burn for their passion. It would be a shock for many of us in case TW would quit and not being able to change to a more healthy attitude to their only passion - to create and perform exquisit meaningful music - rock music.

Not every song is about relationships….

Personally, I'm not buying any of this...to me this is an expression of feeling trapped in a life not in their control...it's going to take a lot of convincing to get me to believe that the parents and management haven't pushed a lot of this onto them... Do us a favor and analyze the 10th anniversary video...I find many of the quotes in that video very disturbing...Pau saying after the Ellen appearance " I guess this our job now" at the age of 12...Dani "I remember little Dani being very frightened"...Ale in tears considering working outside the circle... These girls never had a childhood...their youth was spent learning a trade, and then being put on a stage...and now as young adults their careers have been further influenced by an expanding team of managers, agents, promoters, label execs...they're quickly moving up from "Band" to "corporation"... Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan...even went so far as joining their Patreon for a spell...I wish them nothing but the best...but at the same time I can't help but worry for them...

She’s probably at a age were she wants a relationship with a man, and maybe wants to rest a little.

Your analysis keeps using “she” presumably meaning Dani. Is Dani the primary songwriter in the band?

👑💖✨🔥⚡🚀🤘🏽

What most people don’t realize is that at this point in an artist’s career, the suits at the record label are running them into the ground trying to squeeze every last dime they can out of them, scheduling shows and interviews, etc. The need for a break doesn’t compute with the corporate machine. DPA may have retained creative control in the contract, but I guarantee there’s pressure from on high happening that we’re not privy to. It’s the nature of the beast, and when a band has been independent for as long as TW was, it can be quite shocking-and exhausting-to encounter the brutal capitalist side of a recording contract, and it can absolutely test the limits of one’s love for the craft.