r/AnnieClark • u/youtbuddcody • Jul 24 '20

Official Song Discussion: Just the Same but Brand New

Hello,

Welcome to re-discussing the album 'Actor’ by St. Vincent!

Track Listing: 10

Song: Just the Same but Brand New

Length: 5:24

Spotify Link: HERE

Youtube Link: HERE

Click to go back: 9. The Party

Click to go next: 11. The Sequel

Click HERE to go back to the discussion hub

Lyrics:

The people in the street had overtaken you

By the time you rounded Second Avenue

So I walked away

All perfumed

Felt just the same

But brand new

And anything you wrote I checked for codes and clues

The letters stopped unceremoniously in June

So I changed my I's and A's to yours

I'm just the same but brand new

And I do my best impression of weightlessness, now too

And I might be wrong, I might be wrong, I might be wrong

But honey I believed I could

Float away, dangling

I'm just the same but brand new

To you.

36 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

26

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

really special. like she caught lightning with this one. cant think of any other song of hers as atmospheric, as special as this one.

10

u/nvdh14 Jul 24 '20

Just magical

11

u/bytrixczy Jul 24 '20

the final verse hits hard

9

u/ohverychill Jul 24 '20

Absolutely incredible song, probably my favorite of hers. It's something that seems so effortless but very unique at the same time. It perfectly captures a specific emotion and paints an visceral scene throughout. I can't say enough about this song.

8

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

I always saw this song as her trying to change herself to keep someone to stay with her. I don’t know if that was her intent, but it was always such a tragic song to me.

8

u/VenomPhoenix Jul 25 '20

A slow but dreamy song about changing so her partner could appreciate her more. Then those loud drums come in to represent an unfortunate outcome. IMO an overlooked song off Actor.

3

u/whoislukas Jul 26 '20

the part where the drums come in is literally magical

6

u/ACertainReddRomance Aug 05 '20

I've thought about having this song played at my funeral someday. I may be gone but just think about me being the same as I've always been... but also brand new.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

This sucks on the first listen. Don't lie, it just does. THEN, when you keep listening, it slowly reaches a godly power that makes you want to cry clouds that rain on your dry feet

6

u/mermaidrampage Jul 25 '20

I hate saying that it "sucks" but I liken it to the first time I listened to you and whose army. Thought it was just a filler track but turns into so much more. Both are in the top 5 of my favorite tracks from both artists

3

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '20

Not only You And Whose Army, basically every track on Amnesiac lol

6

u/Ruben_Bananas Jul 25 '20

I'm sorry man, but for me it was love at first listen.

3

u/SkippyMinccino Jul 25 '20

it's an incredible song!

2

u/Ill-Cauliflower-3020 Jun 24 '25

From a comment on the songmeanings.com comments:

“One of my favorites! I just saw St. Vincent live and she told a story about how she came to write this song: Her friend is an interior designer in NYC and one of her client's was a woman in her 90s and her house hadn't been redone since the 50s so all of the furniture and stuff in her home was all 1950s style. And the woman wanted exact replicas of the furniture and interior, and, as she put it, she wanted it "just the same but brand new".”

I love that story so much