Chandelier lyrics by Sia, 23 meanings. Chandelier explained, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Sia – Chandelier lyrics
[Verse 1:]
Party girls don't get
hurt
Can't feel anything, when will I
learn
I push it down, push it
down
I'm the one "for a good time
call"
Phone's blowin' up, they're ringin' my doorbell
I feel the love, feel
the love

[Pre-Chorus:]
1,2,3 1,2,3 drink
1,2,3 1,2,3 drink
1,2,3 1
,2,3 drink
Throw em back, till
I lose count

[Chorus:]
I'm gonna swing from the chandelier,
From the chandelier
I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist

Like it doesn't exist
I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night,
Feel my
tears as they dry
I'm gonna swing from the
chandelier,
From the chandelier

[Post-Chorus:]
And I'm holding on for dear life,
Won't look down won't open my eyes
Keep my glass full until morning light,
'Cause I'm
just holding on for tonight
Help me, I'm holding on for dear life,
Won't look down won't open my eyes
Keep my glass full until morning light,
'Cause I'm just holding on
for tonight, on for tonight

[Verse 2:]
Sun is up, I'm a mess
Gotta get out now, gotta run from this
Here comes
the shame, here comes the shame

[Pre-Chorus:]
1,2,3 1,2,3 drink
1,2,3 1,2,3 drink

1,2,3 1,2,3 drink
Throw em back till I lose count

[Chorus:]
I'm gonna swing from the chandelier,
From the chandelier
I'm gonna live
like tomorrow doesn't exist
Like it doesn't exist
I'm
gonna fly like a bird through the night,
Feel my tears as they dry
I'm
gonna swing from the chandelier,
From the chandelier

[Post-Chorus:]
And I'm holding on for dear life,
Won't look down won't open my eyes
Keep my glass full until morning light,
'Cause I'm just holding on for tonight
Help me, I'm holding on for dear life,
Won't look down won't open my eyes
Keep my glass full until morning light,
'Cause
I'm just holding on for tonight, on for tonight

[Outro]
On for tonight
'Cause I'm just holding on
for tonight
Oh I'm just holding on for tonight
On for tonight
On for tonight
'Cause I'm just holding on for tonight
'Cause I'm just holding on for tonight
Oh I'm just holding
on for tonight
On for tonight
On for tonight
×



Lyrics taken from /lyrics/s/sia/chandelier.html

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Songwriters: Jesse Shatkin, Sia Furler
Chandelier lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Corrected by Siti Nur Syeriena

Chandelier meanings Post my meaning

  • dinglevrinsk
    + 56
    dinglevrinsk
    This song is about the destruction of The Self. It's all about "swinging from the chandelier", which literally means to have sex with as many people as possible. She is also involved with heavy drinking, and she has too many times tried to escaping the pain in her life, so now she has given it all up. This is a song about social suicide; a song about how to completely ruin everything which evolves from an identity. It's about self-destruction, a beautiful song of how to escape life by doing unhealthy things to your body and your mental health then completely disappearing from the surface of the earth.

    It's a song of a person who is having a breakdown and finally putting an end to it with a solution which ends with taking her own life. Putting an end to her miser-ability after engaging in promiscuity and being infected with AIDS.
    1 reply
  • U
    + 43
    Unregistered
    Its about unhappiness of being unloved and unwanted. The first writer had it right about self-destruction. But it is also about being ashamed of her life and what has happened to make her hate herself so much - the fact that she only feels loved when a man wants to use her for s**. I don't believe its about suicide, just a cry for help to escape from her nihilistic existence through drink and s** - she is numb emotionally, mentally and physically - this is her only existence and the only way she can hold onto her life - the only way to get through the days.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 28
    Unregistered
    My impression that I take away is that Sia always performs this song with her back to the audience & is always with a child or child-like dancers in a house like environment. It's not just the song to take into consideration; it's the visual component as well. The dance is a mime of a child pretending to be already grown up, looking forward to doing adult things like drinking & dancing (basically clubbing), going to work, etc. from an idealistic viewpoint. There is no parent because she, he or they are actually are at work or out clubbing so the child is free to dance wherever in the house. Sia's song though is the adult's point of view that they're not doing this to have a fun time; the drinking & dancing is being used as a coping technique to deal with life's real challenges instead, including the disillusionment that adult life hasn't cracked up to what she imagined to be when she was the child. So, on the surface, when you listen to it, you hear it from the child's PoV but if you read into the song more, you hear the adult's PoV as well.
    Add your reply
  • t
    + 21
    tellitlikeitis
    Few people alluded to six as a child. They partly get it. The one who wrote it is a child growing up and separating sia by saying as a child, misses the point. Here it is. She, Sia is a child. We all are. As time passes, we add on layers. Never doubt this fact, it is proven and you can test for yourself, no matter what age! Now, having said that, do you see the difference in some of the intepretations? Only the ones that say that it is Sia as a child, have it. Almost right. It is Sia now speaking from her inner child. She may be remembering or acting out on recent events in her life. Or acting on behalf of someone else who was "hanging from a chandelier" so to speak. At any rate, it is a beautiful song and the video completes what otherwise is a somewhat romantic fatalistic pov. In other words, seeing the video version makes the song more sad because we tend to be shocked to our senses when we realize there is a child witnessing or experiencing these things. I think this theme has been used many times. It is however, the first time I think we have seen the artist alluding to something more than what anyone could bear to guess or state. Sexual abuse, as a child or a teen. Or even as an adult. Rape or some other form of sexual assault. Again, do not doubt this sad fact. It is in greater numbers than we yet know. A terrible thing for anyone at any age to go through. Of course, especially the younger loss of innocence is an unspeakable crime. There in lies the problem. And which I suspect Sia may really be alluding to here. If so, this is a landmark song and video production in trying to suggest to us there is something more. And the hope is that the dialogue will speak the rest. Her song is the spark, the video the wind and the dialogue is the fire!
    Add your reply
  • s
    + 14
    Stephany Leroux
    For me, especially in the beginning, this song is about pushing your feelings away or deep inside you. For me wanting to swing from the chandelier is more about wanting to feel free of all the burden of holding in your emotions. Living like no matter what you say or do it's all going to be forgotten by tomorrow. "I'm holding on for dear life" to me is about holding on so tightly to keeping everything bottled up. "Gotta get up now gotta run from this" reminds me of how it feels to want to run away. "Help me" is just perfect. To me it's looking at where you are and begging for help to make it better. I've felt so trapped in my life and this song's lyrics make me feel like I just have to get away and start being myself.
    Add your reply
  • c
    + 10
    cherryboy
    I thought the song ties into the video, but is much deeper than it seems. It's like a mini-novel, an adult full of despair and pain, being kept alive by the dancing of her inner child. Swinging from the chandelier can mean partying, but it also represents hanging herself and being free in death. She drinks to forget, gives her body to feel something and regrets it the next day, only to repeat. Her inner child is still full of life and is blaming her for letting it come to this. I thought it was much darker than most other interpretations. I loved this song.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 8
    Unregistered
    She is a lost soul, feeding off of her hate and sadness in herself. She's traumatized. And needs to let go and move on. Like most of us, we've all been "molested" by this society and we need to face it and distinguish. And its not "happiness" that's going to "fix it". Connect to the Devine Mother, she resides in all of us, male or female. Heal yourself, love will prevail.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 8
    Unregistered
    Basically, as a child, Sia's parents only bought alcohol. Hence why in the video, the girl is rubbing her belly after waking and sits down with no food in front of her (& their house is clearly not of high class so instead of buying food, they're spending it on alcohol). All she could do to survive was drink, and so it became a habit to party "I'm the one 'for a good time call', phone's blowing up -- ringing my doorbell 'I feel the love, feel the love'." She's clearly not actually "feeling the love". She wants her parents to stop drinking so much and actually care for her, but since they fail to do that, she's throwing parties for people to show their love.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 7
    Unregistered
    Only a true Alcoholic-Addict understands the essence of this song. it's about being trapped in your mind with your thoughts, wishing you could be anyone else but you; constant self loathing, disgust; demoralizing behavior us a part of our illness, for again, we are being someone else; it's a vicious cycle in trying to escape from hell's limbo, by crawling through that latch door called chemical-dependency, over and over and over again. Swinging from the chandelier, is a metaphor for booze and sex. Like I said, any form of escape from our reality. Our mind us our prison, and the booze/pills/powder,etc. is our Savior. But a Savior with an ulterior motive I.e. depravity, demoralization, death. It's esoteric.
    Add your reply
  • s
    + 7
    SilverMaknae
    This song explains the feelings of people trying to relieve their pain by partying and drinking. The people who think that no one loves them or no one wants them. They thought they do not belong. They try to relieve this feeling by drinking as I said. No one really realize how they are feeling and shut themselves out trying to do vulgar things.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 6
    Unregistered
    I think it is about being addicted to someone who then doesn't love you back so you start drinking and finally decide to end it. Not realizing that life is worth living after all and many people don't know how to accept the fact that people are going to give up on you not everyone is going to love you. You will have people who talk you behind your back and you will have people who say that they will always be there but they wont it is the truth not everyone will be there they are going to tell you that not knowing that it is going hurt your feeling it is just the way the world is, so never think that everyone is going to be there for ever and if they are there for ever it wont be a nice ride you will have problems and you will fight and the person might come back around or they might just give up but that is just the way life is life sucks nothing is perfect but you just have to make the best of it and not listen to peoples negativity because that is one thing that is always going to be there.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 5
    Unregistered
    Sia has openly admitted that she had a drink problem. The song strikes me as her reflecting on her past, the hell she went through, trying to be a "party girl" but covering up a deep sadness within her,. The alcohol was her way of coping, and she didn't want the party to end but when she sobers up "Sun comes up" she is full of remorse and self hatred.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered
    I don't think the song has anything to do with s** but what is going on within herself it's a battle she is constantly feeling the pill of recalling childhood in the sense that she feels reality is just another version of a dream the song is deep it can go anyway but for me she has pain so much pain she feels and assumes that Her emotions are childlike but also adult like so she drinks to forget who she is flying like a bird and feeling the tears dry tells me she feels alive when she cries and the chandelier is a metaphor for life crazy or sane life she continues to unfold herself throughout that specific night and probably every other night the calls to her and the door bells she feels the love but it is fake her thoughts are more so alone she's alone we all are alone in a sense and she grapes that feeling of fear even when surrounded by people the routine in the actual video tells a lot to that beautiful dance tells me it is her inner self fighting loving and living all in one song and she dances to her own beat she doesn't care what other people think she doesn't want to care it's like a portion of her perception of self but also of the world that chandelier swinging from it is also like a pendulum back and forth ups and downs and her inner child or soul just goes for the ride and really loves it.
    Add your reply
  • p
    + 3
    Ppfautz1
    This is most simply about addiction. Using drugs and alcohol to push down the feelings. The biggest clue comes when she talks about "here comes the shame" the next morning. There is no greater shame for an addict/alcoholic than the next day, after the havoc from the day before. She talks about living like tomorrow doesn't exist, for me this means she doesn't know if tomorrow is coming or if she even wants it to.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 3
    Unregistered
    She had a heavy night of drinking, did stupid things like we all have after drinking and was ashamed, which is why she performs it with her back to the audience. Sure, the drinking is no doubt an escape from whatever, but it's no more than feeling ashamed from overindulging.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered
    This song is about how someone turns to all the wrong things to try to feel better about their situations. The meaning is very deep & a lot of people can relate to this masterpiece, however, many people tend to look at the song for happier purposes. Parts of the song, such as "won't look down, won't open my eyes", can be translated to the understanding that someone isn't ready to come to terms with their problems. This has lead them to a path of self destruction by using drugs & having people around who simply care for what they have & not for them. In the beginning of the song where Sia says " party girls don't get hurt", this is stating the matter of how she feels. If she's always doing things to keep her high, she'll never go low. This song is so beautiful & it's meanings behind it beautiful chorus & melody really help make it a catchy favorite of many.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered
    I think its about being unloved and unwanted and she bearly asks for a help in being addicted to the things she did just to escape from the heavy pain that she's feeling so I really like this song because actually I'm starting to feel related to this song so uhmm... If you don't even heard about his video kindly listen to it because this is very beautiful and heart touching.
    Add your reply
  • l
    + 2
    lakerpt
    Glad to see so many different opinions and how each one's vision of the world makes it perfect to so many viewpoints.
    I don't see the sex there, but after reading a bit of the comments, I do agree that it's Sia's inner-self speaking up, she's trapped by the thing that helped her grew up. Yes, the alcohol and self destruction is evident, but it's not only that.
    We usually try to run through a lot of stages in our lives doing what looks good and don't care about the after effects, we are so blinded by the possible outcome that we ignore the bad effects it can have to ourselves and to our surroundings.
    Our reality changes, our mentality and actions towards everything change and it's like seeing someone grow: if you see them everyday you'll need a picture of the past to see how much it has changed, else you won't even notice a real change had occur, either being it good or bad.
    I do not know her, so I cannot speak for her, but I can say this: even thou a lot of people have it really hard in life, I'm sorry you too had to go through that, and this goes a for almost everyone. Starting with the scars from our childhood to what made us what we are today, we all had a lot of tough choices to do and most of us have been led to ways or things we didn't want in our lives.
    All in all, we lived it, some of us still do and even tho this for me is a real call for help, it's also sharing what her ways led her to as a first person experience so we are warned and think a little bit better if we really wanna be led like that.
    It's a warning for each and every one of us to open our eyes and take hands in our own lives, because we are all messed up.
    Peace.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered
    I think the song is about being a person who love to party but when it all catches up to her she goes mentally insane and she does crazy things so that's why she says she is going to swing from a chandelier and drink a lot. I also think the song is based around lots of drinking and doing other kinds of illegal activities.
    Add your reply
  • h
    + 1
    HuddySMACK7
    Sia is trying to tell us not to run away from our problems. She runs away through drinking and partying, but it doesn't work as seen in,'Sun is up, I'm a mess Gotta get out now, gotta run from this Here comes the shame, here comes the shame'. She wants people to learn from this and not to run away from your problems cause they will just get worse.
    Add your reply
  • j
    0
    Jane3of5
    Sia recently spoke of her bipolar disorder on "The Voice". Drinking is self medicating and enables a bipolar person to let go and not worry about what others think. They can be the life of the party. And I agree that sexual abuse may have occurred because a bipolar child (it's rare, but can actually begin very young) would very easily be coerced into believing anything that would convince them to keep it a secret. I think the song is very liberating. All of the above answers gave me another perspective.
    Add your reply
  • m
    - 1
    mamajo
    It's about a thought, which turns in to an emotion which turns in to an action. The thought is: "This life s**ks, the emotion is: I'm so sad I need to forget, the action is: "dull the pain by the use of whatever will dull it.
    If we can change the thought (which may not even be reality) we can change the emotion and action that follows. It's a very sad situation that unfortunately so many relate to and buy in to.
    Add your reply
  • p
    - 6
    patetiskv
    It's a song about being in love with alcohol and misusing it for the purpose of escaping life's pain in a completely weak way, which is pathetic. This song promotes abusing drugs and alcohol instead of finding real happiness and pleasure in life. Just like the other mainstream hits.

    Disgusting. Really.
    Add your reply
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    Top meanings Post my meaning

    • dinglevrinsk
      + 56
      dinglevrinsk
      This song is about the destruction of The Self. It's all about "swinging from the chandelier",... Read more →
    • U
      + 43
      Unregistered
      Its about unhappiness of being unloved and unwanted. The first writer had it right about... Read more →

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