Face Value

The Story So Far's song 'Face Value' delves into the emotional turmoil of unreciprocated love and the frustration that comes with it. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a person grappling with their feelings of anger and rejection. The opening lines, 'I let the furnace of my anger / Heat where you lay / It never burned you, it just kept the cold at bay,' suggest a deep-seated resentment that never quite reaches the object of their affection. Instead, this anger serves to protect the singer from the cold reality of their unfulfilled desires.

The repetition of 'Write it over and over again / The same chords the same end' highlights a sense of monotony and hopelessness. The singer is stuck in a loop, unable to move past their feelings or change the outcome. This is further emphasized by the lines, 'Is it so hard to think like we used to? / It’s nothing I can’t prove / To my stubborn self,' which reflect a longing for the past and a struggle to convince themselves that things can go back to the way they were.

The chorus, 'I can’t control you / Selfish if I do / All of the plans that you made never included me,' underscores the central theme of the song: the realization that the other person never considered them in their future plans. This acknowledgment of being left out and the inability to control the situation adds to the singer's frustration and sense of helplessness. The song captures the essence of unreciprocated love, the pain of being excluded, and the internal battle between holding on and letting go.