Annotations for We Are Fucking Fucked

Lyric: Tsunamis of hate are gonna find us
Annotation:
While the lyrics clearly talk about natural disasters early on this verse (wildfires, earthquakes), they bring up the  tsunami here (also a natural disaster) as a metaphor for the  hate speech, spreading both in social media and in populist movements across Europe.

Lyric: A life in crisis, mutated virus
Annotation:
Bellamy makes another reference to COVID-19; the use of the term “mutated” points to the  numerous mutations the virus has been suffering since its appearance in China in 2019. At the time when the song was written, one big medical concern about mutations was the risk of the new variants being more dangerous, more contagious, or  vaccine-escaping.

Lyric: A life in crisis, a deadly virus
Annotation:
An obvious reference to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for  COVID-19 2-year global pandemic. The virus sadly led to over  7 million deaths up to 2025, with mortality rates ranging up to  over 4% in underdeveloped countries depending on the specific mutation. Its extreme infectiousness led the majority of national governments to effect repeated  lockdowns or other social distancing measures, resulting in a true  crisis in different sectors of the economy.

Lyric: We’re at death’s door
Annotation:
Implying that the world’s end is near, be it for pollution, war, human or natural disasters, diseases or technology (as also said in  Drones (2015)).

Lyric: It’s a losing game
Annotation:
Bellamy goes on erasing all faith for a better world, painting it red and black, with only blood and darkness. To say the game is already lost is to give up immediately, implying that world’s evilness became so enormous that we can’t even see it entirely to change it.

Lyric: The black vacuum of the universe, it was designed
 To swallow us whole
Annotation:
This line clearly refers to a  black hole. It resembles  Black Holes & Revelations (2006) vibes, lyrically and instrumentally.

Lyric: You really believe
 We can survive all of this?
Annotation:
Matthew starts this song going pessimist — a thing fans have been asking a lot, as a part of the “old Muse” pack, alongside with “Muse got rich and started to write optimistic lyrics like everything was flowers”. Obviously, for a ton of reasons, Bellamy’s late lyrics don’t even come close to his old writing, but  We Are Fucking Fucked stands clearly as an attempt on sounding like they once were.

Lyric: Hey, hey, hey, fuck off
Annotation:
As civilisation tumbles through the song to the point it’s every man for themselves, people scrambling for supplies start to dispute and become unreasonable and angry. This may also be a reference to fear of contagion and social isolation during the abovementioned COVID-19 pandemic.

Lyric: Stockpile
Annotation:
Reference to  panic buying and stockpiling of food during the first phase of COVID-19 pandemic and in times of crisis in general.  Empty shelves in UK in March 2020. Matt clarified the concept in a tweet: https://twitter.com/MattBellamy/status/1563610132587524097?refsrc=twsrc%5Etfw

Lyric: Another world war
Annotation:
Referencing emerging conflicts in the world at the time and after the recording of Will of the People from 2019-22 (Ukraine, Isreal etc.)

Lyric: Wildfires and earthquakes I foresaw
Annotation:
Wikipedia – By the end of 2021 a total of 8,835 fires were recorded, burning 2,568,948 acres (1,039,616 ha) across the state. Matthew Bellamy lived in LA at the time of the incident and experienced wildfires near his home.

