Sleep Token - "Caramel"
When it was originally announced that Sleep Token will be releasing a song titled “Caramel” - everyone pretty much expected that it will be a continuation of the song “Sugar” from the very first long play album - “Sundowning”. While the latter led the message of addictive nature of love and heartbreak, “Caramel” is potentially the very first song of Sleep Token that is not strictly about love relationship... But rather a dark side of fame, certain wrongful fan related behaviours, and a reality of being masked artist.
Even though instrumentally 2nd single from “Even in Arcadia” (or more likely “the offering”, as the band likes to describe their songs) is – once again – an outstanding piece of work bending many genres of music that clearly portray a variety of moods... the overall atmosphere of this piece is almost pushing to talk about its meaning. And there seems to be a lot to be unpacked in regard to lyrical sphere of it.
“Caramel” is not a sweet song lyrically despite its sweet title. To fully understand what we are getting with this single – the background of earlier albums is pretty important to outline. It is pretty crucial that Vessel – the vocalist and lyricist – is no stranger to being vulnerable in his written pieces. A lot of their older songs are about a deep, (presumably) messy breaks up and hurtful parts of relationships they could have had before with their mysterious lovers were a big part of Sleep Token lyrical identity. However, “Caramel” is vastly different from older albums and EP contents. This time Vessel turns a table and for very first time they want to shine a light on a matter of Sleep Token’s rise to fame that wasn’t all pretty. While some artists thrive from being in limelight, the band members and Vessel, per ”Caramel” lyrics, do not. They feel exposed, chased, and infinitely trapped by the new situation that is rapid rise to fame. “Terrified to answer my own front door” or “(...) they try to shout my real name just to get a rise from me” sounds like a real anguish for the anonymous ensemble who just wants people to enjoy their music and have their private lives away from the conventional understanding of stardom. It genuinely feels this is a call to fans to step back to the point where they can be characters on stage but be different people in real life. Moreover – it is not like that the band doesn’t appreciate their supporters. They do. But what’s really important and should be the main outtake of this song is that we all need to realise where is the line of loving music and invading someone’s life. Maybe it might be too much for some understand that someone craves anonymity while performing for masses... Yet it feels important to learn enjoy music without needing to know every detail of someone’s life.
For that reason, we should all understand that Sleep Token is not a typical band that we usually see in metal and rock scene. They aim to give meaningful, emotional music that combines sounds in the unique way... but they also want their mystery with masks to be in place and respected. “Caramel” is distinct point of that – they don’t want to be hurt or petrified by fans, but they want to convey their music in a deeper, respectful way. And hopefully – it will stay like that moving on. Because every human on Earth deserves to live in peace and do for living what they love without a fear nor pain.
Sleep Token’s upcoming 4th long play “Even in Arcadia” is set to be released on May 9th via RCA records. To support this release alongside two newly released singles, the band will also tour the largest venues in the USA for 17 dates. The sold out tour dates are as follows:
