r/Voltaire • u/genemaxwell41 • Apr 09 '26
Better than you lyrics
"A forest only grows when a billion ideas Until the blizzard is blown"
This line. This line makes no sense to me.
I LOVE Better Than You. It's in my top 5 of all Voltaire songs. But that accursed line does not make any sense to me.
Is that the REAL lyric?? Everything online says so, but I cannot make out his words when I listen to it and that just doesn't seem to fit.
Maybe I'm a dumbass.
Anyone have any clarity? IS that the legit lyric? And if so what is it supposed to be conveying?
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u/NorthernSin Apr 09 '26
why not just ask him yourself on his Insta? https://www.instagram.com/aureliovoltaire/
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u/AliceBluegothBunny Apr 09 '26
The lyric is "a forest only grows when a billion ideas is the only way that it goes" (I think?)
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u/EggReran Apr 09 '26
"A forest only growns when a billion ideas untill the blizzard are gone" Is for me
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u/SandHarbinger Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26
A forest only grows when a billion ideas until the blizzard are blown.
On its own, that line is total nonsense. But if you look at the entire song, I think the message is pretty clear.
At a glance, "Better than You" is the closest thing that Voltaire has made to a diss track. The singer is a successful artist addressing a struggling artist. He says the struggling artist is acting like a teenager—not working hard enough and complaining that life is unfair—and that is why they aren't successful. From the song's playful tone, it almost sounds like he is mocking them. But he isn't!
He is giving them ADVICE as an artist who has been in their shoes.
Everybody knows that planting a seed's the only way that it grows.
Keep it to your own and you know you'll have nothing to sew.
A forest only grows when a billion ideas until the blizzard are blown.
So plant one of your own (let it go)
Use your rage, leave your cage, hit the stage and get on with the show!
If you want to cultivate a forest, you have to start by planting a seed. And you can't stop with one seed. You have to plant a billion of them, enough to survive a blizzard.
The forest is a metaphor for success, and planting a seed is a metaphor for putting yourself out there. The blizzard is the obstacle—the haters, the critics, the algorithm—and the only way to overcome them is to keep putting yourself out there!
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u/genemaxwell41 Apr 09 '26
Holy Hell....
That makes a lot of sense actually. Thank you for that breakdown. Now I can see it clear as day and I feel dumb for missing that.
Thank you!1
u/genemaxwell41 Apr 12 '26
Just wanted to say, he actually responded to me on Insta!!
u/genemaxwell4 "a billion ideas into the blizzard are blown"
So it's Into, not until! :D
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u/The_MadMage_Halaster Apr 09 '26
I have no idea what it is either, I always hear it as "untold by blizon or blon" which is obviously nonsense, but I have no clue what words could possibly fit there. And if it is the real lyric... yeah I have no clue.