A Cautionary Tale Lyrics by Laufey

The music mirrors this feeling so well. I read that Laufey often blends jazz with indie-pop, and you can hear it here. The arrangement feels sparse, probably centered around a gentle piano or acoustic guitar, which lets her voice carry all that emotion. Her vocal tone isn’t overpowering—it’s soft, almost fragile, but with this piercing honesty. You can hear the exhaustion in her delivery, especially when she sings about losing her dignity. It makes the confession feel so real.

The bridge is where it all shifts for me. She stops just looking at her own pain and tries to understand his. “Inside you, there's a guiltless child who never saw his mother smile.” That line is a gut punch. It’s a moment of unexpected empathy in the middle of her own hurt. She sees the brokenness in him, the reason he is the way he is. But then comes the resolve: “I can’t fix you.” It’s not angry; it’s just final. The shattering hourglass—what a powerful image for running out of time and patience.

This song leaves me feeling a strange mix of sadness and strength. It’s comforting, in a way, to hear someone articulate that feeling of giving too much. It’s like Laufey is saying, “I’ve been there too, and we can learn from this.” There’s no sugarcoating the pain, but there’s no wallowing either. Just a clear-eyed look at a relationship that failed and the person she had to become to get out of it. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most loving thing you can do for yourself is to walk away, even if it leaves you with nothing but a story to tell.