Alvvays / Antisocialites / 2017
In Undertow
weary, resigned, quietly devastated
A breakup song that treats the end of a relationship as a physical force rather than a decision, borrowing the imagery of ocean currents to describe how two people get pulled apart faster than either can process. The repeated insistence that there is no turning back functions less as drama and more as exhausted fact.
the end of a relationship inevitability vs choice emotional exhaustion rejection of external meaning-making (astrology, psychology) drifting apart
Who's speaking
A first-person narrator addresses a former partner directly, recounting shared rhetorical questions and mutual evasions; the voice is self-aware and somewhat detached, narrating its own fatigue rather than erupting into it.
What happens
The song opens mid-relationship-collapse, with the narrator watching the other person cling to a 'wave' of feeling or denial while absolving them for a mistake. A question about what's left between them goes unanswered in any direct way, first dodged rhetorically, then metaphorically. By the final verse the question has shifted from 'what's left' to 'what's next,' signaling acceptance that the relationship is over, and the narrator explicitly names the moment to stop holding on.
How it's built
Built on a verse-chorus structure with the chorus functioning almost like a mantra -- the same 'no turning back' phrase recurs with small variations in its trailing clause ('after what's been said,' 'after what was said,' 'after what's transpired,' 'I'm so uninspired'), each shift marking emotional progression rather than new musical material. The second verse mirrors the first almost exactly, reinforcing the sense of a stuck, cyclical argument, until the final verse breaks the pattern by changing the question itself.
Section by section
Opening verse
“try to hold on for as long”
The song begins with an image of someone clinging to momentum rather than facing the end outright. The narrator's quick forgiveness of the other's mistake sets an oddly calm tone for what is actually the collapse of a relationship.
First chorus
The hook's repetition functions as both conclusion and avoidance -- stating the irreversibility of the split so many times that it starts to sound like someone trying to convince themselves.
Second verse
The coping mechanisms listed here (meditation, solitaire, self-defense) read as small, almost absurd attempts at self-preservation, deflating the grandeur of heartbreak into mundane survival tactics. The question about old age and friendship introduces a long-view anxiety about what remains after romance ends.
Final verse
“What's next for you and me”
The shift from asking what's left to what's next marks the turn from mourning to logistics -- the relationship's narrative has ended and only practical next steps remain. The undertow image returns here literally, tying the metaphor directly to the couple's current state of being pulled under together.
Closing chorus
“I'm so uninspired”
The final variation drops the poetic framing for flat admission, suggesting the narrator has moved from heartbreak into something closer to numbness, ending the song on depletion rather than resolution.
Craft
- extended metaphor
- The ocean imagery -- waves, undertow, tossing and turning -- frames the relationship's end as something governed by current and force rather than conscious decision, making the breakup feel physically inescapable.
- anaphora
- The repeated 'no turning' lines build a chant-like insistence, turning the chorus into something closer to a resigned incantation than a dramatic declaration.
- parallelism
- The mirrored 'rhetorically' and 'metaphorically' answers in the two verses highlight how both parties are avoiding a direct conversation, each retreating into a different mode of evasion.
- rejection catalogue
- References to astrology, the moon, psychology, and mood work as a string of refusals -- the narrator declines each available framework for understanding what's happening, underscoring a kind of stubborn literalism in the face of emotional confusion.
Reading it
The most persuasive reading treats this as a song about accepting an ending that has already happened emotionally before it's acknowledged in words -- the narrator isn't fighting the breakup, just documenting its mechanics. An alternative reading could frame the ocean imagery as describing a toxic cyclical relationship where both parties keep getting pulled back together despite knowing better, with 'no turning back' marking a final, hard-won exit from that cycle rather than simple resignation.
Context
Antisocialites (2017) was Alvvays' second album, recorded after their self-titled debut gained them international attention; the band is known for pairing bright, jangly guitar pop with lyrics that are often wry or melancholic underneath. I don't have specific documented context on the writing of this particular song, so this reading is based on the lyric text itself.
Listen for
- How the instrumental brightness contrasts with the resigned, almost deadpan delivery of the vocal
- The subtle changes in the chorus's trailing phrase each time it repeats
- The shift in the final verse's question from 'what's left' to 'what's next'
- Whether the vocal tone shifts noticeably on the final 'uninspired' line compared to earlier choruses
About Alvvays
Alvvays is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and subsequently based in Toronto, Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin, Kerri MacLellan (keyboards), Alec O'Hanley (guitars), and Sheridan Riley (drums).
2011 - present / Canada
Full biography and catalogue