Carnal: A Dark Pop Hymn to Sin and Afterglow
“Carnal” is a song about the kind of night you swear you’ll never have again—and then keep coming back to anyway. It lives in the tension between consent and control, worship and ruin, tenderness and possession, following two people through one charged encounter from the first hand around the throat to the quiet, breathless collapse afterward.
The story opens with eye contact and a hand on the neck—immediately intimate, immediately loaded. From there, the lyrics zoom in on physical details: swollen lips, sinful sounds, the tremor in a breath, the way a body shifts under someone else’s will. This isn’t a subtle song; it’s deliberately carnal, obsessed with flesh and sensation, unafraid of the darker side of desire.
At the same time, there’s a twisted tenderness running through it. Lines like holding someone close in the dark and “writing sins” along their skin wrap intimacy around transgression, making the touch feel like both a ritual and a crime. The relationship here is addictive more than romantic. Both characters know exactly what they’re doing, and neither is pretending it’s healthy.
The bridge is where the song peaks: a slow, pounding build of quarter-note phrases—“I want… I need… / your sin… your skin… / your breath… your throat… / your heart… your soul…”—that turns raw desire into a mantra. It feels like a heartbeat speeding up, like a mind narrowing down to nothing but need, designed to swell, stack, and almost suffocate before the track finally cracks open.
Then “Carnal” steps into the afterglow. The language shifts from domination to exhaustion: wrecked bodies, mascara on crumpled sheets, laughter that doesn’t have a clear reason. The scene zooms out. The power play is over—for now—but the emotional residue is still hanging in the air. There’s a softness in falling asleep in someone’s arms “breathing softly in borrowed bliss,” but it’s immediately undercut by the final admission that this isn’t over. This isn’t closure. It’s a promise that the cycle will repeat.
“Carnal” is for anyone drawn to dark pop that doesn’t flinch from obsession, shame, and addictive chemistry. It leans into the mess: the way lust can feel like confession, how surrender can look like comfort from the outside, and how two people can destroy themselves a little at a time and still call it love—or at least keep coming back for more.
Carnal
I like that look in your eyes
wrap my fingers tight ’round your neck
that look of surprise
tells me all I need to know
you know that you're mine
I'm drinking from your swollen lips
you taste divine
as you let your body go
The sinful sounds that you make
breathing in the way your body shifts
the tremor in your breath
I can feel it in my soul
I hold you close in the dark
writing sins along your sweet, sweet skin
you let me pull you apart
just to feel me sink back in (grunt)
I want... I need...
your sin... your skin...
your breath... your throat...
your heart... your soul...
we're laying wrecked in the night
mascara stains on crumpled sheets
our bodies feel so right
you laugh and don't know why
you fall asleep in my arms
breathing softly in borrowed bliss
you always fall for my charms
that’s why I’ll never let you go
