I believe this song speaks of the consequences of abandoning your beliefs and follwing your 'pride'. The song seems to be on a hypothetical level (at least for me). As if she's trying to say 'what if'. However inevitably her selfish thoughts lead her to peril (thus the 'cliff'). As exciting as the 'free fall' may seem, she ultimately 'realizes' how the consequences are severe and the only aspect of her life that can save her has been turned off (thus the title). From here on there is too much damage done to be reversed or restored so she keeps living without any motive just finding 'shortcuts and false solutions' to get by. I was slightly baffled by the use of the lines;
"We're taking shortcuts and false solutions
Just to come out the hero"
The "hero" may aswell have inverted commas on them in the lyrics just by the way she sings the song here. I believe there is a link between "demon" in the first verse and "hero" in this one. As if she's realized the one that led her stray used deception and made himself out to be a saviour only to lead her to destruction and therefore she is now trying to distance herself from him. Her capability for seeing the 'demon' for what is it is demostrated in this verse:
"Well, I can see behind the curtain
(I can see it now)
The wheels are cranking, turning
It's all wrong, the way we're working
Towards a goal that's non-existent
It's not existent, but we just keep believing"
The whole song you can depict to be two voices in Hayley's head: one telling her to try the notion of listening to her pride and abandoning her belief;
"I wanna know what it'd be like
To find perfection in my pride
To see nothing in the light
I'll turn it off, in all my spite
In all my spite, I'll turn it off
Just turn it off
Again, again, again"
However another voice counter-acts this and presents the consequences of becoming stray:
"And the worst part is
Before it gets any better
We're headed for a cliff
And in the free fall
I will realize I'm better off
When I hit the bottom"
I believe this song speaks of the consequences of abandoning your beliefs and follwing your 'pride'. The song seems to be on a hypothetical level (at least for me). As if she's trying to say 'what if'. However inevitably her selfish thoughts lead her to peril (thus the 'cliff'). As exciting as the 'free fall' may seem, she ultimately 'realizes' how the consequences are severe and the only aspect of her life that can save her has been turned off (thus the title). From here on there is too much damage done to be reversed or restored so she keeps living without any motive just finding 'shortcuts and false solutions' to get by. I was slightly baffled by the use of the lines;
"We're taking shortcuts and false solutions Just to come out the hero"
The "hero" may aswell have inverted commas on them in the lyrics just by the way she sings the song here. I believe there is a link between "demon" in the first verse and "hero" in this one. As if she's realized the one that led her stray used deception and made himself out to be a saviour only to lead her to destruction and therefore she is now trying to distance herself from him. Her capability for seeing the 'demon' for what is it is demostrated in this verse:
"Well, I can see behind the curtain (I can see it now) The wheels are cranking, turning It's all wrong, the way we're working Towards a goal that's non-existent It's not existent, but we just keep believing"
The whole song you can depict to be two voices in Hayley's head: one telling her to try the notion of listening to her pride and abandoning her belief;
"I wanna know what it'd be like To find perfection in my pride To see nothing in the light I'll turn it off, in all my spite In all my spite, I'll turn it off Just turn it off Again, again, again"
However another voice counter-acts this and presents the consequences of becoming stray:
"And the worst part is Before it gets any better We're headed for a cliff And in the free fall I will realize I'm better off When I hit the bottom"