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I want you to notice
But you just don't see
The show is wasted on you
So I perform for me The xx – Performance

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At the start of the song, Romy is “performing” to impress a lover. Now, she’s doing it because it’s what she wants to do—a sign of greater self-confidence and self-esteem.

If you want to change how you look or behave, then do it, but do it for yourself, not just to impress someone else.

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277

5 years

wow 😢👏

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I'll put on a performance
I'll put on a show
It is a performance
I do it all so
You won't see me hurting
When my heart it breaks
I'll put on a performance
I'll put on a brave face The xx – Performance

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We all wear masks in order to please other people and help us get through the day. Romy compares her own deliberate mask-wearing to a performance, which is what she does for a living. She uses her performance skills to try and control how she comes across and hide her heartbreak from her ex.

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If I dance like I'm on a stage
Will you see I seem out of place? The xx – Performance

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There are two types of dancing: the unchoreographed sort you mostly do for fun, and the heavily organised sort performers do in order to look good. Romy’s dancing to impress, not to enjoy it. If anyone’s paying attention to her, she should seem out of place at the party or club.

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If I scream at the top of my lungs
Will you hear what I don't say? The xx – Performance

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What Romy screams isn’t important. She doesn’t care if anyone hears what she does say. Instead, she wants her former belle to look past that and realise why she’s screaming. She’s lonely and miserable, but afraid to just admit that, suggesting unresolved confidence issues.

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They all say I will become a replica
Your mistakes were only chemical The xx – Replica

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Others say the narrator is becoming more like their parents, but the use of “only” suggests that the narrator knows that they’re making mistakes much deeper than the other person’s “chemical” mistakes.

Those “chemical” mistakes could be related to drink or drugs, or could be an allusion to the neurotransmitters associated with feelings like love or mental illnesses like depression. Heavy stuff—if the narrator thinks they’re making bigger mistakes, then it’s pretty serious.

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114

6 years

There is absolutely a conversation about mental illness here–depression, addiction, all of it. I wonder if the speaker is afraid of getting help/treatment for his disease. From a personal viewpoint, it’s terrifying to think about taking a medication that “cures” you but also changes you. Maybe “replica” here is you but only the shell. When you’ve created a self identity that embraces these abnormalities, the idea of stripping these away is incomprehensible.

Also, so many around you during these times of “getting help” excuse your actions, “your mistakes,” as only products of your disease. When your disease is part of your internal identity, though, your mistakes feel so seismic. When those around you don’t punish or reprimand you, you turn that guilt inward, and it turns into self-hatred.

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Marked this as a stretch ?

7 years

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7 years

Might be a stretch, but when speaking of mistakes being chemicals, they might be speaking on DNA. They might be saying, don’t worry about your mistakes/flaws, they were all inherited.

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7 years

The narrator doesn’t wish to end up like or make the same mistakes as their parents (i.e. a replica) but at the same time, doesn’t blame their parents either.

The next line alludes to the fact our thoughts are nothing but the result of chemical reactions, we cant really put the blame on anyone else, its “only chemical.”

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peyton aydt

Marked this as restating the line ?

7 years

i think the line “your mistakes were only chemical” refers to being in love with someone who you lost. the chemicals in your brain betrayed you.

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Marked this as a stretch ?

7 years

My take on this: Romy is speaking directly to the listener. She’s saying that we become more like our parents as we get older…something we cant control. A lot like the chemical neurotransmitters in our brain. I.e mental illness

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122

7 years

I think its like, when we are becoming more old, more like our parents we look. more like a “replica”, i dont think is about drugs at all. the “chemical”, i think, is about chromosomes and all that stuff

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Replica The xx – Replica

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Driven by Oliver Sim’s looping bassline, Romy’s haunting guitar hooks and mellow keyboards and a stripped-down piano melody from Jamie, “Replica” evolves the intimate, mid-tempo and emotional ride of their previous songs and adds a dash of colour and rushing melody. The song is about the group resisting repeating their parents' mistakes and/or breaking away from self-destruction.

Interviewer Tom Lamont of The Guardian writes

“Away from the rehearsal I sit down with Sim and tell him the lyrics to Replica register, to me at least, as a kind of confession. A child of addiction, growing up to worry he has become an addict himself, wondering if the problem is unavoidable and hereditary or whether he can go down a different path. Does that sound accurate?”

Oliver Sim confirmed the interpretation and elaborated “that was a big thing to deal with, over the past couple of years. Just kind of dealing with my relationship with using [drugs]. With drinking. And, um. And also my parents. Yeah.”

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Driven by Oliver Sim's looping bassline, Romy's haunting guitar hooks and mellow keyboards and a stripped-down piano melody from Jamie, "Replica" evolves the intimate, mid-tempo and emotional ride of their previous songs and adds a dash of colour and rushing melody. The song is about the group [resisting repeating their parents' mistakes](http://www.thefader.com/2017/01/10/the-xx-interview-i-see-you) and/or [breaking away from self-destruction](http://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/9997-ill-be-your-mirror-how-the-xx-found-themselvesand-their-vibrant-new-soundin-each-other/).

Interviewer Tom Lamont of *The Guardian* [writes](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/15/the-xx-brave-new-world-pop-perfectionists-i-see-you) 
>"Away from the rehearsal I sit down with Sim and tell him the lyrics to Replica register, to me at least, as a kind of confession. A child of addiction, growing up to worry he has become an addict himself, wondering if the problem is unavoidable and hereditary or whether he can go down a different path. Does that sound accurate?"

Oliver Sim confirmed the interpretation and elaborated "that was a big thing to deal with, over the past couple of years. Just kind of dealing with my relationship with using [drugs]. With drinking. And, um. And also my parents. Yeah."

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I care for you still
And I will
Forever
That was my part of the deal
Honest
We got so familiar Frank Ocean – White Ferrari (Magazine Version)

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Frank assures this person that he has and will continue to love and care for them, upholding his part of the deal. From the iconic Acura Integra that was focused on in “Acura Integurl” to his Tumblr post confessing his love for this BMW E30, Frank has shown his own love for cars. It appears he’s doing this here as well, using the White Ferrari as a metaphor for the love and experienced shared with an unnamed individual.

Upon the release of Blond, Frank once again took to Tumblr to express his feelings. He asks “How much of my life has happened in a car,” among other things. He then describes his life and it’s changes with various cars being present. These cars include a GT3 RS, “Sinewy Crossover SUV,” and a Mclaren F1 worth $16 million dollars. The title “Blonde” itself is derived from a picture of a blonde-haired girl strapped into the seat of a car.

As far as people go, Frank assured his first love that while they weren’t together, he still loved him.

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Frank assures this person that he has and will continue to love and care for them, upholding <i> his part of the deal</i>. From the iconic Acura Integra that was focused on in ["Acura Integurl"](http://genius.com/Frank-ocean-acura-integurl-lyrics) to his Tumblr post [confessing his love](http://frankocean.tumblr.com/post/3281311793/still-in-love-with-you) for this BMW E30, Frank has shown [his own love for cars.](http://www.gq.com/story/frank-ocean-is-a-long-time-car-snob) It appears he's doing this here as well, using the White Ferrari as a metaphor for the love and experienced shared with an unnamed individual.

Upon the release of <i>Blond</i>, Frank once again [took to Tumblr](http://frankocean.tumblr.com/image/149245577141) to express his feelings. He asks "How much of my life has happened in a car," among other things. He then describes his life and it's changes with various cars being present. These cars include a  GT3 RS, "Sinewy Crossover SUV," and a Mclaren F1 worth $16 million dollars. The title "Blonde" itself is derived from a picture of a blonde-haired girl strapped into the seat of a car.

As far as people go, Frank [assured his first love](http://genius.com/889923) that while they weren't together, he [still loved him.](http://genius.com/889711)

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I didn't care to state the plain
Kept my mouth closed
We're so familiar
White Ferrari Frank Ocean – White Ferrari (Magazine Version)

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Frank didn’t bother to tell the person he is dropping off that he loves them; it is “plain” to see and obvious, so he lets them leave in silence.

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Should it all fall down
You'll have been my favourite mistake The xx – Dangerous

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Sheryl Crow’s “My Favorite Mistake” is about a cheating ex-lover. The phrase is now a common way of talking about an enjoyable relationship that didn’t work out.

While Oliver accepts that their relationship could end, that doesn’t scare him because he’ll still have the good times they had together.

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I let you out at Central Frank Ocean – White Ferrari (Magazine Version)

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Central may refer to Central City, a neighborhood in Ocean’s hometown of New Orleans. The neighborhood is a historic center of African American culture.

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