Released: 2024
Jessie Reyez’s “Child of Fire” is a lyrical exploration of the artist’s complicated relationship with love, trust and emotional vulnerability, where she defies fear and enters a confrontational stance for self-liberation. The song captures Reyez’s struggle with finding genuine love and the fear she harbors in opening up to it, layered with an introspective look at the paradoxes and ironies of life.
The opening verse, “Good guy, so bad, You wanna be the good guy so bad…“, sets the tone for the song, expressing skepticism towards the pretentious ‘good guy’ attempts of an unauthentic lover. Reyez lyrically calls out the person devoid of sincerity, standing her ground with verses like “L’s for ‘lies’ and L’s for ‘loser’ too, So I ain’t cutting no slack.” Lines like “Begging me to p-p-pipe down, Nah, nah, I wanna fight now” encapsulates her fiery spirit, unafraid to confront the twisted reality.
“Nothing but red flags and yellow tape, White chalk and I still stayed” raises the flag on the relationship’s toxicity that she endured. The metaphor is borrowed from crime scenes, indicating the alarming, cautionary undercurrent of misgivings and emotional harms endured, yet, she kept persisting.
In her striking verses “If God is making the calls, Then God must be irony’s roommate…“, Reyez candidly examines life’s ironies and the times when divinely orchestrated events can seem deeply paradoxical. The lines speak to her sense of timing, ironic considering when she finally feels ready to welcome love, she fears it’s too late.
Choruses “An angel asked me if I’m scared to fly…The Devil asked me if I’m scared to die…I’m scared of love, I’m scared to open up” is a powerful testament to her real fears: The fear of love, the fear of emotional openness, and fear of vulnerability. It’s not the literal fear of heights or dying but dealing with wounds of love that scare her the most.
As the song continues, “Broken and a little traumatized, a little Gemini, A little apathetic“, Rezez doesn’t shy away from articulating her emotional state and personality type, hinting at her astrological sign, Gemini’s dual nature, and a certain level of emotional detachment stemming from past experiences.
The closing lines “Are you scared of heights or flying? (Nope), Are you scared of deep-sea diving? (Nope), What about Lucifer’s fire? (Nope)” echo the central theme, establishing that while she is unafraid of literal dangers, it’s the real emotional trials – love and vulnerability – that strike fear into her heart. In true Reyez’s fashion, “Child of Fire” is a raw, unapologetic exploration of the tough, complex facets of love, relationships, and self-realization.
