Brew (Live at The Garage)

The song opens with a sense of positive reflection, an acknowledgement of personal growth that ought to be celebrated rather than questioned. However, there's an immediate shift to introspection, questioning the reasons behind self-imposed burdens. The continuous questioning in the lyrics conveys a sense of frustration and confusion. It implies a journey from self-acknowledgment to an entangled state where the individual can't seem to break free from self-inflicted complexity.

As Declan McKenna's lyrics move into the chorus, the frustration becomes more palpable, with the repetition of 'So hard' emphasizing the difficulty and the struggle. This refrain acts like a wall of emotional sound, portraying an internal battle that keeps circling back to the same problem: the act of making things more challenging than necessary.

The second verse takes a more accusatory tone, probing about the character's perceived specialness and lack of thought behind their actions. It suggests a journey into self-awareness, confronting the egoistic tendencies that contribute to the complications faced. McKenna's use of words like 'quiet', 'calm', 'perfect', and 'precious' is dripping with irony, hinting at the dissonance between the persona's self-perception and their actions.

Delving further, the pre-chorus implies that there's an element of pretense, suggesting that faking or façade is part of the problem. This reflects a deeper emotional exploration where the individual acknowledges not just the challenge but also the inauthenticity that could be causing the difficulty. The outro, with its relentless repetition of 'So hard', underscores the cyclical nature of the struggle, while the parenthetical 'it's not that hard' offers a glimmer of realization that the difficulty might be an illusion or self-created.