Released: 2022
Sink your teeth into this. “I Burned LA Down” by Noah Cyrus is a profound exploration of heartbreak and regret. The pulsating heart of this song is a raw dissection of the aftermath of a love that has left one devastated and wondering what if, written with the metaphor of burning down a city.
Let’s get real. The first couple of lines, “You left a hole in my chest when you left / And my heart followed you out the door” couldn’t be more plain-spoken. The love of her life has broken her heart, leaving a gaping hole and her heart is helplessly chained to them, metaphorically trotting out the door with the person who owns it.
Moving on to, “And I stood and bled in the hall, watched it all / And the mess that it left on the floor / If I gave you less, would you want me more?” Noah reflects on the emotional carnage left behind. She’s questioning whether her whole-hearted love was too much, leading to her abandonment. Hurt and confused, she wonders whether all she had to do was give less to receive more love.
The chorus throws around a fiery metaphor, “Yeah, I burned LA down and you left me there”. She’s not literally torching LA, folks, but she is expressing the extent of her emotional damage, likening it to burning down a major city. The person she loved not only left her heartbroken but walked away in the midst of her emotional destruction, abandoning her when she was at her lowest.
She repeats, “Ooh, embers in the dark / Can look just like shooting stars / To a bitter, broken heart”. These lines illustrate optimism born out of despair. She’s saying that even in her bitter, broken state, she can still find beauty in her sadness, comparing the embers of her burned heart to shooting stars in the dark.
Nearing the end, Noah reveals, “You can’t make a God of somebody / Who’s not even half of a half-decent man”. She’s criticizing herself for holding her former love on a pedestal, acknowledging that they weren’t even worthy of her affection. It’s a late and powerful realization that brings another layer of bitter-sweet depth to the song.
The song ends where it began, “You left a hole in my chest when you left / And my heart followed you out the door”, she’s in the same spot, her heart still in the hands of the one who left her broken. It’s a poignant reminder of the cyclical nature of heartache, and the struggle to break free from it. Noah’s track is a chilling portrayal of the devastation love can wreak on the human heart.
