Roisin’s Reading Rumble: Round Two
Character Playlist: Keefe Sencen (if the link doesn’t work, here are all the songs anyway with the lyrics linked, along with explanations)
@camelspit @arson-anarchy-death
1: For a Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic - Paramore
This song is about Keefe’s tendency to run from his problems.
Who is the speaker? Possibly Sophie, or Fitz, or Elwin, or Dex. It really doesn’t matter, because it’s all the same.
The point is that Keefe never was going to stay. All through Neverseen when Sophie has to try to convince him to take a moment and make a plan, and then in Unlocked when they’re trying everything to “fix” him and nothing works...
“You never wanted to stay / I put my faith in you, so much faith / And then you just threw it away” — after dedicating so much attention to him, he still runs, because there wasn’t an option he could see where he doesn’t leave. He’s putting them in danger by staying, so he won’t.
“Just talk yourself up and tear yourself down” — That’s Keefe in a nutshell.
2: doomsday - Lizzie McAlpine
This song is about Keefe’s lack of control in his own legacy.
He wants to be able to take control. He travels to Loamnore in Legacy because he thinks he can escape Gisela’s plan for him, but she’s ready. His new ability is unlocked no matter what he wants.
“I don’t get a choice in the matter / Why would I? It's only the death of me” — his coma and his ability are out of his control. The betrayals, the experiments, his entire life, it’s already planned for him. He doesn’t get a say.
3: Guiltless - dodie
This song is about Gisela’s attitude toward Keefe, and how she expects him to react.
“You opened a door that a kid shouldn't walk through” — literally Nightfall. She uses his blood to open the door and create her beasts, literally molded him into something she could use. “Ooh, don't say it's genetic“ — Come on.
“Is it real? You believe you're guiltless / Oh, I can tell you believe you're guiltless” — Gisela consistently points out that it’s all for his own good, that he’ll understand later, that he should be thanking him.
4: Metabolism - The Strokes
This song is about Keefe’s reach for perfection and the Vackers, while he knows he can never reach it.
“I wanna be outrageous / But inside, I know I'm plain” — He wants so badly to stand out, to get attention and acclaim like Fitz and Alvar, his old hero. But he knows that he’s tarnished, even before Gisela is revealed. He uses comedy and pranks to make his name known, because he thinks there’s nothing worth knowing about who he really is.
“I wanna be somebody / Wanna be somebody like you” — Similar ideas. He wants to be anyone but himself.
5: midnight love - girl in red
This song is about Keefe not wanting to be the last resort for Sophie, even though he can’t say no to being around her.
“I know I'm the last one / You try to call but / I always give in / To give you it all” — After Sophie fights with Fitz, she turns to Keefe. He’s not the boyfriend, not the first option, not really with her, but he’s there for comfort. And he can never turn her away.
“I can't be your second best / Close but not your favorite / I keep going back for more / Where there's nothing from before” — He wants to “let them be happy” like Alden urges. But he can’t say goodbye to her, even when he feels like a consolation prize.
6: Burned Out - dodie
This song is about Keefe not being truly known by anyone, and his cries for help being ignored as just another joke.
“’But they love you’ / Over and over, ‘They love you’” — He’s famous and wanted at school, known for his pranks and his jokes and his looks. But they don’t really see him for what he is.
“Cry for help, I am not joking / I might just leave soon” — All his tears and breaks aren’t taken seriously until they happen, with Sophie being the only one who truly notices and helps the first time in Neverseen. He covers up any breaks with joking, but the result is a “Boy Who Cried Wolf” where no one can tell when he’s actually being serious.
7: Wake Up - Meet Me @ The Altar
This song is about Keefe knowing he’s broken and trying so hard to heal, but it’s near-impossible.
There’s a whole verse dedicated to needing to wake up and fix all that they’ve messed up, knowing they’ve made so many mistakes. Keefe knows he’s broken everyone’s trust in him time and time again, he knows he wouldn’t have had a new ability if he’d stayed away from Loamnore.
“I know I need to figure this out / It's all on me now” — he also blames himself alone for these problems, and tries to fix them all on his own by running away, not waiting for Sophie or the Black Swan or common sense to catch up.
8: it’s my turn - MisterWives
This song is about Keefe’s urge to just snap and run away, as well as his distaste for consequences.
“Watch as I'm running away / Just let me go / I'm not gonna stay” — probably doesn’t need an explanation
“I'm sick of saying sorry / I'm sick of always having to explain / Couldn't breathe underneath all the pressure” — Keefe loves saying things like “Just trust that I know what I’m doing.” when there is so much proof that this is not true. He doesn’t like being held accountable and he also doesn’t like always being shamed for things he definitely did.
9: Control - Halsey
This song is about Keefe scaring everyone with his new powers and not knowing how to handle it.
“And all the kids cried out, ‘Please stop, you're scaring me’ / I can't help this awful energy / God damn right, you should be scared of me / Who is in control?” — His ability is something new and dangerous, since he can’t control it. He scares his friends, even the ones who have accepted him for the disaster he is. Can Gisela control him? She implanted the tracker in his heart, after all.
“I'm bigger than my body / I'm colder than this home / I'm meaner than my demons / I'm bigger than these bones” — he doesn’t know himself anymore. He seems like something new and far too powerful.
10: Rue - girl in red
This song is about how Keefe tried to change himself, tried to fix himself, but it all failed.
“All the crazy shit I made you do / The long nights you held me through” — the treehouse sleepovers with Sophie, all of Elwin and Dex’s contraptions and solutions, which he feels like he forced them to do. They stayed with him and he just ended up causing them more distress when none of it worked and he was still broken.
“Yeah, I tried / To get it off my mind / To leave it all behind” — Keefe’s attempts to diagnose himself, to discover why he hadn’t found out about Gisela earlier, the sticky notes on the walls, no sleep, and eventually running away when it was all too much. He tried. It just didn’t work.
In conclusion,
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