“I Fall Apart” is a song of pain and anguish brought on by a past relationship.
If someone or something is said to fall apart, it usually means that they’ve broken down in some way, and things aren’t working right. That’s exactly what’s at play in this Post Malone atmospheric jam.
How Malone Fell Apart
In an interview with HOT 97, Post Malone went into his songwriting process that led to such gut-wrenching lyrics. “I bust out the guitar a little bit and just really dive into my really emotional emo side.”
His intense vibrato carries the weight of his agonized lyrics, which are complemented by light guitar strumming that passes weightlessly along to the floating tempo. The song features a choral opening drenched in reverb and a series of strategically applied vocal effects that help express Malone’s yearning.
The instrumentation is fairly sparse until the beat drops and the jam takes a fuller, more electronic feel. There’s artistic use of Auto-Tune on the backing vocals, and a reverse echo adds to the meaning of the lyrics, potentially embodying the regret and retrospection that the narrator is going through.
A Lost Love
“She told me that I’m not enough / And she left me with a broken heart”
These opening lines of the first verse imply a failed relationship. The ex told him in no uncertain terms why she was ending things. She didn’t sugarcoat it or beat around the bush with him. He was in turn devastated and left in a state of heartbreak.
“She fooled me twice and it’s all my fault”
The implication here is that he got back together with the ex, and in so doing, he made the same mistake twice. It’s a clever passing reference to the adage, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” In other words, he should have known better, and he blames himself.
Malone makes repeated use of alcohol-oriented similes in this song to represent his feelings caused by this past relationship. At the end of the first verse, he sings:
“Now there’s so many thoughts goin’ through my brain / And now I’m takin’ these shots like it’s Novocaine”
And again in the second verse:
“Never caught a feeling this hard / Harder than the liquor I pour”
Tattoo my what?
It’s worth noting that the chorus of “I Fall Apart” contains a famously misheard lyric. Malone sings:
“I fall apart / Down to my core”
Instead of, “Down to my core,” many fans still believe that he’s singing, “Tattoo my car.”
Whose Jewels?
“All this damn jewelry I bought / You was my shorty, I thought”
The jewelry reference is slightly ambiguous. One might assume he’s singing about the gifts he bought for the woman he mistakenly thought to be his shorty. But Post Malone’s fans should be well aware of his affinity for fine jewelry and his tendency to use it as a means of flexing. While the former is more likely, the latter option could just as easily apply here as well.
“Feelin’ like I sold my soul / Devil in the form of a whore”
Here, in one fell swoop, Malone professes his ex to be Satan in human form, while at the same time referring to her with a derogatory and chauvinistic term that implies low morals and philandering.
Lyrics
Oooh, I fall apart
Oooh, yeah, mmhmm
She told me that I’m not enough, yeah
And she left me with a broken heart, yeah
She fooled me twice and it’s all my fault, yeah
She cut too deep, now she left me scarred, yeah
Now there’s too many thoughts goin’ through my brain, yeah
And now I’m takin’ these shots like it’s Novocaine, yeah
Oooh, I fall apart
Down to my core
Oooh, I fall apart
Down to my core
Oooh, didn’t know it before
Surprised when you caught me off guard
All this damn jewelry I bought
You was my shorty, I thought
Never caught a feelin’ this hard
Harder than the liquor I pour
Tell me you don’t want me no more
But I can’t let go
Everybody told me so
Feelin’ like I sold my soul
Devil in the form of a whore
Devil in the form of a whore
You said it
No, you said it
No, you said it
We’d be together
Oooh, I fall apart
Down to my core
Oooh, I fall apart
Down to my core
Oooh, didn’t know it before
Surprised when you caught me off guard
All this damn jewelry I bought
You was my shorty, I thought
Ice keep pourin’ and the drink keep flowin’
Try to brush it off but it keep on goin’
Covered in scars and I can’t help showin’
Whippin’ in the foreign and the tears keep blowin’
Ice keep droppin’ and the drink keep flowin’
Try to brush it off but it keep on goin’
All these scars, can’t help from showin’
Whippin’ in the foreign and the tears keep blowin’, yeah
Oooh, I fall apart
Down to my core
Oooh, I fall apart
Down to my core
Oooh, didn’t know it before
Surprised when you caught me off guard
All this damn jewelry I bought
You was my shorty, I thought
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Carlo Montagnese / William Walsh / Austin Post
I Fall Apart lyrics © Emi April Music Inc., Sony/atv Ballad, Songs Of Hear The Art, Nyankingmusic, Posty Publishing, Wmmw Publishing, Universal Music Works
