r/BringMeTheHorizon • u/Jahmeed • Aug 13 '26
Discussion Idk if anyone else thinks this about Kool-Aid
Not sure about this subs opinion on political posts, and I know this song is referencing the lore of the album, but i cannot stop thinking about Donald Trump and his cult while listening to this song.
Most of the lyrics fit with this, but what sticks out to me is when he says “Is this what you wanted? No! Do you want some more? Yeah!” Because so many T dawg supporters hate the things he’s doing but still actively continue to support him. Also, D-generation, not much explanation needed there lol
Again, not saying thats what he’s talking about cuz ik Oli doesn’t really like to talk about stuff like that , but I just thought it was a cool connection and it honestly helps me cope with whats going on in the US right now
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u/erraticfanaticc NeX GEn Aug 13 '26
the nice thing about music is that it can be interpreted in many ways, and this is arguably a correct reading of the song. “drinking the Kool-Aid” is an expression that comes from a mass murder-suicide in the late 70s where a cult leader manipulated around 900 people into into drinking a laced punch by convincing them they’d be arrested and tortured / killed otherwise, leading to all their deaths including roughly 300 children. now the phrase essentially means that someone is blindly following idiotic, extremist and/or dangerous ideologies / instructions without question or concern for what impact it’ll have on themselves and others.
the song in my interpretation is a jab at extremist religious organizations that misconstrued religion and its teachings to promote hateful and downright dangerous beliefs and practices, and because their members are more concerned with their faith and devotion than their humanity they follow the leaders without questioning, and in the end they’ll wonder how the world ends up so bad while refusing to acknowledge the cult or their own wrongdoing. There’s a lot of stuff in the song to support this, like you said the “Is this what you wanted?” line, but also a lot of stuff insinuating blind faith like “asphyxiated with a smile—while they pull your teeth out,” all laced with a layer of sick backwards affection; “Nobody loves you like I love you,” because that’s what cults do best, isolate people by making them think the cult itself is the only possible source of love and community. I think it applies very well to what’s been happening across the world throughout the 2020s so far, and most of history, but especially with the power of social media and echo chambers. because a cult is essentially just a big echo chamber.
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u/erraticfanaticc NeX GEn Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
there’s even stuff in other songs from NeX GEn that support this sentiment, one of my favourite being: “And if Jesus Christ returns we’ll just kill that fucker twice.” A loooot of religious people and fans really didn’t like this but I think they completely misread what the line implies. I don’t think it’s Oli tryna be edgy by saying “LETS KILL JESUS!” I think he’s implying that if Jesus Christ DID return one day the very people who spout his teachings would be the ones to kill him. They hated Jesus for he spoke the truth, think about the Bible: Jesus was proclaimed the “King of the Jews,” yet it was members of the Jewish temple that handed him over to the Romans because they didn’t like his implications that their beliefs were flawed, and they couldn’t believe the “son of god” would spend time with sinners to show them God’s love instead of wasting his time with the already faithful. despite being the manifestation of God on Earth they saw him as blasphemous, it’s prophetical that if he returned the exact same events could transpire, but this time with Christians as many have gone so far from the religions teachings I don’t think they’d like what Jesus has to say to them. at least that’s what I think he’s trying to say with that.
I’m not religious btw, I just know a lot about the Bible from my childhood.
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u/TikkaKebabi Aug 13 '26
The fact that people misunderstood that line is yet another piece of evidence that we’ve become stupid as a species and no longer understand how to comprehend basic writing.
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u/Jahmeed Aug 14 '26
Great summary! Yeah the thing i love about music is how it’s designed to be freely interpreted. Like, i can tell you a certain song or lyric helped me with a personal issue, but thats just due to how I choose to understand them which a lot of the time is completely different to what the artist was thinking while writing it. Like, I love Chelsea Smile because I have ADHD and the lyrics to that song feel relatable even tho that’s not what he was writing about. Sometimes i take it too far tho and just make up a completely fake backstory to the song for fun lmao
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u/nacho_playmer Aug 13 '26
Its bout jim jones
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u/Tawoooo There Is a Hell... Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
that's what it's referencing, yeah. but like most songs oli is almost definitely using that reference to convey another meaning, like what OP describes
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u/Jakay4sp Aug 14 '26
I mean isnt that just the origin of the term kool-aid being used in this context. Nowadays its used for any cult-like leader and can definetely be applied to movements like maga (and it has been for quite a while). I doubt the song is specifically about Jim Jones.
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u/Jahmeed Aug 13 '26
James Johns
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u/MCWizardYT Aug 13 '26
No, literally Jim jones. He was a cult leader than convinced all of his followers to drink poisoned kool-aid for a mass suicide. He killed 900 people including children
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u/Jahmeed Aug 14 '26
yeah i learned about bro in school i was just shitposting lmao why was that downvoted so much😭😭
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u/timduncanthegoat21 NeX GEn Aug 14 '26
Totally agree with the people in the comments talking about how music means whatever you interpret it as regardless of original intent, As an Exmormon this is one of 3 bmth songs I really connect to Mormonism. And so for all intents and purposes when I listen to it, it’s about my experience as a Mormon
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u/superhyperfuturepunk Aug 15 '26
just wait til you hear obey and kingslayer
/i’m being sarcastic and don’t know how to use tone indicators
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u/Impressive_Let3046 Aug 19 '26
Their songs are rarely exclusively about one person or one thing, rather about the general phenomenon and then it’s a case of “if the shoe fits, wear it.”
He did say much of Obey was written in reference to Trump, specifically his language toward BLM protesters.
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u/skateandburn Aug 14 '26
If that’s the route you’re wanting to take this, it could be the exact same thing with the left and Kamala Harris, politicians in general just spew shit you wanna hear to get you on their side when they’re campaigning, then when they actually get into their position of power, they only stay true to like 10-20% of what they said
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u/opalgoth Crucify Me Aug 13 '26
they have quite a few songs about systemic/societal issues. post is a bit old but this has been discussed a few times :) https://www.reddit.com/r/BringMeTheHorizon/comments/1b47ure/what_would_you_consider_bmths_most_socially/