Baltimore, MD – Lunatic High has released its latest single, “Paper Roses,” a song that delves into the painful frustration and upheaval caused by a toxic and flawed relationship. The track explores the raw reality of how dysfunction can create a crash-and-burn effect. The title plays off the term “paper tiger,” a symbol of something that appears fearsome but is not. Similarly, a ‘paper rose’ refers to someone who seems beautiful and charming, but is manipulative and abusive. “Paper Roses” is available for streaming worldwide.
The emotionally charged lyrics of the song gain their potency by being expressed from the viewpoint of someone who admires a manipulative and abusive individual, only to suffer the consequences. The lines, “How does it feel to be strong? A Golden Rose in a wasteland. You’re perfect, you don’t need to try. Why am I nothing but flawed?” illustrate the frustration of feeling inferior to someone who seems perfect on the surface. The lyrics “Die, die, dying” are a powerful repetition that captures the pain of being trapped in a toxic relationship, unable to escape.
“Paper Roses” is a deeply emotional song that showcases the band’s ability to capture the complexities of human relationships and emotions in their music. Their last single, “Paralyzed,” is told from the perspective of a tenacious woman fighting to free herself from a degrading and abusive relationship. The intensely-atmospheric track is built on the narrator’s character arc of endurance, liberation, redemption, rediscovery, and self-control.
While both tracks are bathed in bombastic guitar riffs and pulse-pounding percussion that rests comfortably under thunderous and relentless vocals, Lunatic High is more than just the uncaged anguish the track exemplifies. Armed with a name referencing Final Fantasy’s Red XIII the sandpaper-coarse moshpit-ready five-piece of Oliveira, Rob Amarant, Ryan Love, Daniel Scarritt, and Daniel Bonnet is built on the cornerstones of pop-punk personality. Both impassioned champions of the generation’s expectation just to endure crisis after crisis and be ostracized for mental health issues, as well as being jovial disrupters that embody the 90s wrestling stable nWo’s attitude, Lunatic High exists as a cohesive smug unit spawned to make music “guaranteed to punch your ears in the face.”
“Paper Roses” is available now to stream and download on all digital platforms. You can learn more about Lunatic High by following them on Facebook at @lunatic.high, and Instagram at @LunaticHighBand, marvel at their steadfast loyalty to Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Gardner Minshew by following them on Twitter at @LunaticHighBand, and listen to their music on Spotify.
