Annotations for Showbiz

Lyric: [Outro]
Annotation:
The outro introduces us to  Matt Bellamy’s highest note in leading vocals recorded in a studio. While the song starts quiet with its lowest note being a C3, this final section speeds it up and Bellamy reaches an impressive G5 by the end using falsetto register, making the song’s vocal range one of the widest in the band’s discography. The same G5 is hit in  “Survival” and  “Micro Cuts” too, though only as backing vocals in the first, and way less sustained in the latter.  “We Are Fucking Fucked” reaches an even higer A5, but only as backing vocals.

Lyric: And visions of greed you wallow
 Rhythms of greed you wallow
 Rhythms of greed you wallow
 Rhythms of greed you wallow
Annotation:
Strong hyperbole depicting the antagonist’s true intent towards the main character: they only aim to take advantage of him, exploiting his patience. The same double-faced attitude can be found in  “Sunburn”: Come waste your millions here Secretly, she sneers In a possible second interpretation of the song, the ‘showbiz’ refers to the actual music show business. These lines point out how many music corporations turn artists into instruments for profit-making, and how the speaker refuses to be one of these instruments, instead, being whatever they want to be when it comes to their music.

Lyric: Trying to please you for too long
 Trying to please you for too long
Annotation:
The speaker has been attempting to conform to what certain fans and corporations want them to sound like to make themselves mainstream, and thus suppressing and “controlling (their) feelings”. However, the speaker has grown tired of this and is now refusing to do so, instead, expressing themselves how they want to.

Lyric: And they make me
 Make me dream your dreams
 And they make me
 Make me scream your screams
Annotation:
The chorus talks about all the different social situations where we feel pushed to fulfill others' intentions and desires instead of our own. In a second possible interpretation, the song could also refer to how the music industry tries to turn bands and singers into some kind of product to earn money on: Matt refuses to be a “product” and let the music industry decide his place in the  show-business. In the chorus Matt explains how it feels when the music industry tries to make him obey them and their ideas of how his music should sound. But he doesn’t want to follow their dreams and help them to turn his band into something “mainstream”, he wants to follow his own dreams, his own idea of how his music should sound.

Lyric: Forcing our darkest souls to unfold
 And forcing our darkest souls to unfold
 And pushing us into self-destruction
 Pushing us into self-destruction
Annotation:
The more you control your anger and/or sadness the stronger the feelings get until  it feels like you’re going to explode, it makes you go crazy and can lead to physical symptoms as well. These lines are also related to the album theme – people wearing masks (personas) in a big play called society. Society and its expectations forced the protagonist’s soul to the darkest state, suppressing their true self by not caring about them, being unsympathetic and – worse – using them as a pawn in their show.

