Malcolm Todd has made himself a name in music within a short timespan, and although his newest album “Do That Again” came out earlier this summer, he’s been topping charts before summer. When Todd dropped “I Just Got Mad” on July 9, despite the recent release of his album, fans buzzed in excitement to see what the singer had dropped next.
The song opens with the lyrics, “I just got mad / I’m really bad at not being attached / I’m really cool until I have to talk / Now all of the words I know, I just forgot.” Todd describes an emotionally volatile way of approaching love. He confesses how his communication style becomes sporadic as he trips over himself mentally when he is angry with his partner. He can pretend to hold himself together until the confrontation, where he blanks and can’t properly express his feelings. This struggle with confrontation and being upfront with a partner is relatable — although the line delivery reads a bit too on-the-nose. It would’ve benefited from a more symbolic approach or subtle allusion to the issue, as it loses its punch from being so plainly said.
Todd sings later in the song, “What to do, I’m over love / It’s so overrated to me / I miss your touch, I hate your guts / I hate how I can’t ever leave.” In these lines, Todd expresses the back-and-forth mental battle of a toxic relationship. Recovering from the waves of emotional confrontation he sang about previously, he feels exhausted and his perception of the relationship has been diluted to a burden he describes as “overrated.” He simultaneously cannot help but miss the affection of the person he holds resentment towards. This shows the struggle of wanting to walk away from a bad situation, but being too emotionally attached to the person to do it.
Todd’s lyrics really hit on different attachment styles and the internal conflict within ourselves about where to go next. This section of lyrics is better delivered than the prior verse, however, they still feel a bit casual and lose some of the delicate sentiment such an emotional topic typically comes with.
Directly following that verse, Todd sings, “But I can’t be good for us / ‘Cause I tend to care too much / So I hold it in instead / Then I lose my head, baby.” Todd pours himself into the relationship both mentally and emotionally, so this pent-up anger manifests itself as a volatile moment where he gets lost in his own head. This is hard hitting for listeners who have bitten their tongue in a relationship to keep the peace and drive themselves mad over bottled up emotions. Todd acknowledges how this mindset makes it easy to lose oneself, as he lost himself trying to care deeply for a relationship that forced him to suppress the extent of his emotions in favor of not coming off too strongly or “caring too much.”
Todd’s more blunt lyric style remains consistent in a recurring passage of lyrics, where he sings, “Well, I’d like to take you to eat / What do you think, do you think about me? / I think about all the things I’ve done wrong / And how it would hurt if you don’t like this song / Sorry, I just got—.” The first and last lines of this excerpt are brasher, more sporadic and unpredictable — they resemble an unstable mindset of a person in a suffocating relationship.
Todd reveals more worries about his partner, saying it would hurt if they didn’t like the song, alluding to previous lyrics where he confesses to caring too much. This is well-written symbolism — it’s not actually about the song, but his fear of how his partner would react to him expressing his feelings the way he has been in his lyrics. This is another layer of complexity within this section of lyrics that makes it stand out from the rest of the song, which lacks that symbolic touch.
The song closes out with these same lyrics, showing a continuous cycle of emotional suffocation and repeated anger in the wake of a pattern that refuses to be solved. Todd finds himself always caring too much, always giving too much of himself to try and keep the relationship together, that he can’t help but allow his fear of it falling apart to seep into the final verse of his song.
To preface the conclusion of this analysis, the single itself isn’t bad. The beat is easy to follow along with, the lyrics are relatable for any hopeless romantic to bump their head to, but it lacks depth. It feels less crafted than his previous songs, the lyrics less subtle or symbolic, leaning more blunt and straightforward. The beat is catchy enough, but doesn’t make the song stand out or give it a sense of uniqueness that would separate it from a song like “Roommates,” which has a similar beat but more complex lyricism.
The main critique of the single is how the beat feels repetitive and the lyrics come off a bit choppy. Todd’s blunt-forward lyric style in the single isn’t unwelcomed, but needs the assistance of a strong beat in order to not seem repetitive and blend in with the rest of his discography. However, his playful lyrics and emotional connection with audiences is definitely maintained through the harsh reality he presents — relationships are an angry space to live in when you put all your energy to try and keep the peace with someone who cares too little.
Audrey Phoukong is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at aphoukon@uci.edu.
Edited by Avani Kumar and Luis Ortiz.
