Everybody Dies In Their Nightmares

"Everybody Dies In Their Nightmares" is a raw and poignant confession of XXXTENTACION's severe struggles with mental health. The song's primary meaning revolves around the feeling of being mentally imprisoned, a theme articulated in the recurring line, "Tired of feelin' like I'm trapped in my damn mind". This lyric captures a state of profound anxiety, depression, and hopelessness, where one's own thoughts become a source of torment. The nighttime and sleep, typically periods of rest, are transformed into metaphors for death and a terrifying descent into one's own consciousness, a place the artist desperately wants to avoid.

The track delves into themes of existentialism and escapism. The feeling that life is a "damn game" and a "damn lie" points to a deep sense of disillusionment and a struggle to find authenticity and meaning. To cope with this pain, the artist adopts a stance of emotional numbness, stating, "That's why it's tatted on my face that I'm damn numb." He paradoxically feels pain only when he feels love, leading him to avoid vulnerability and meaningful connections, which he describes as "fire starters like lit matches". This self-imposed isolation is a defense mechanism against further hurt. The song is a stark, unfiltered look into a psyche battling suicidal thoughts, despair, and the cyclical nature of mental anguish, making it a deeply relatable piece for many listeners facing similar struggles.

The song plunges into a state of profound mental distress and a desperate plea against succumbing to the darkness that nighttime represents. It opens with a sampled, ethereal voice urging, "Don't go to sleep," which acts as a recurring warning. This isn't a simple call to stay awake, but a metaphor for fighting against death or losing consciousness to overwhelming, painful thoughts. The speaker is in a battle with their own mind, a place that should be a sanctuary but has become a terrifying prison.

The core of the narrative is a cyclical feeling of entrapment and despair. The central lines, repeated like a mantra of agony, express a deep weariness: “Tired of feelin' like I'm trapped in my damn mind / Tired of feelin' like I'm wrapped in a damn lie / Tired of feelin' like my life is a damn game.” This reveals a profound sense of helplessness and disillusionment. The mind is a cage, life feels inauthentic, and existence seems like a cruel game. This culminates in the stark confession of suicidal ideation, specifically a desire to “die in the nighttime,” the very time when the internal battle is most intense and isolating.

The speaker explores the paradoxical nature of their emotional state. They acknowledge that love, an emotion typically associated with warmth and connection, is the primary source of their pain. This has led to a self-protective numbness, a state he wears openly, as if “tatted on my face.” To avoid this pain and the torment of being alone with his thoughts, he seeks constant distraction, admitting he’s “really never alone in the night time.” This involves superficial relationships, changing partners frequently (“Change hoes like clothes, I can't get attached”) because he views emotional connection as dangerous, like “lit matches.” He feels lost and actively avoids forming deep bonds. This isolation extends to the outside world, as he avoids public spaces, using the metaphor of “traffic” to represent the chaotic and meaningless interactions of life that he wishes to escape. The repetition of these themes throughout the short track emphasizes the inescapable, looping nature of his depressive and anxious thoughts.

"Everybody Dies In Their Nightmares" was released on August 25, 2017, as the fourth track on XXXTENTACION's debut studio album, 17. The song was written by Jahseh Onfroy (XXXTENTACION) and Ciara Simms. The production was handled by Potsu, with co-production credits to John Cunningham. The track is built upon a prominent sample of the song "this really makes me wanna die" by the enigmatic lo-fi artist Shiloh Dynasty. Specifically, it samples Shiloh's haunting vocals from a clip dated July 27, 2015. Potsu, the producer, crafted the instrumental around this sample, creating the song's signature atmospheric and melancholic lo-fi beat. This collaboration was part of a broader trend on the 17 album, where Shiloh Dynasty's vocals were sampled on multiple tracks, including the hit "Jocelyn Flores," contributing significantly to the album's overall sound and emotional weight. The album itself was a departure from X's more aggressive earlier work, presenting a more vulnerable and emotionally raw side of the artist.

The song's rhythmic and rhyming structure is a key component of its overall effect. The tempo is approximately 130 beats per minute (BPM) with a 4/4 time signature. XXXTENTACION delivers his lyrics in a distinctive rapid-fire rhythm, a stark contrast to the languid, lo-fi beat. This creates a sense of urgency and frantic thought within a slow, depressive soundscape. The flow is relentless, with multi-syllable rhymes that add to the lyrical complexity. For instance, in the chorus, he rhymes "damn mind," "damn lie," and "damn game" with the concluding "nighttime," creating a tight, cohesive, and impactful stanza. In the verse, he uses rhymes like "attached" and "matches," and "attachments" with "traffic." The lyrical rhythm is almost a continuous stream-of-consciousness, with few pauses, enhancing the feeling of being overwhelmed by an unceasing torrent of negative thoughts. The interplay between his fast, anxious vocal rhythm and the slow, melancholic musical rhythm perfectly encapsulates the song's central theme: a racing mind trapped in a state of depressive lethargy.

"Everybody Dies In Their Nightmares" employs a unique combination of musical and literary techniques to achieve its raw, emotional impact.
Literary Techniques:

• Repetition: The chorus loops multiple times, mirroring the cyclical and obsessive nature of the depressive thoughts described in the lyrics. This repetition drills the feeling of being trapped into the listener's mind.
• Direct Address and Confessional Tone: The lyrics are intensely personal and read like a direct stream of consciousness, creating an intimate and confessional atmosphere that allows listeners to connect deeply with his pain.
• Metaphor: As detailed previously, X uses metaphors like being "trapped in my damn mind," "traffic," and "lit matches" to give tangible form to abstract feelings of anxiety and emotional pain.

• Sampling: The song is built around a haunting vocal sample from lo-fi artist Shiloh Dynasty, which sets the melancholic, atmospheric tone.
• Vocal Delivery: XXXTENTACION employs a rapid-fire, almost monotonous rap flow. This delivery style contrasts with the emotional weight of the lyrics, suggesting a sense of numbness and quiet disaffection, as if he is grimly accepting his fate.
• Minimalist Arrangement: The production by Potsu is minimalist, focusing on a simple lo-fi beat. This sparse instrumentation allows X's vocals and lyrics to be the central focus, enhancing the song's intimate and claustrophobic feel.
• Short Song Length: At only 1 minute and 35 seconds, the song's brevity makes it feel like a sudden, intense glimpse into a moment of crisis, leaving a lasting impact without overstaying its welcome.

"Everybody Dies In Their Nightmares" became a standout track from XXXTENTACION's commercially successful and culturally significant debut album, 17 (2017). Upon its release, the song charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 42, and also entered charts in numerous other countries, including Canada, the UK, Sweden, and France. The song has achieved multi-platinum status in the United States (3x Platinum), the United Kingdom (Platinum), and other nations, indicating its immense popularity and lasting appeal. Critically, it was often highlighted as one of the best songs on the album and was ranked by XXL as one of X's best songs ever. The track, along with the album 17, was pivotal in solidifying the emo rap genre's place in the mainstream. Its raw depiction of mental health struggles resonated deeply with a generation of young listeners, who found solace and a sense of being understood in its vulnerability. The song's massive streaming numbers, exceeding 1.8 billion on Spotify alone as of mid-2024, attest to its enduring legacy and impact. Its influence continues through its use in countless social media edits and its status as a landmark track representing the unfiltered emotional honesty of XXXTENTACION's music.

The song is rich with symbolism and metaphors that paint a vivid picture of mental anguish.

• Sleep and Nighttime: Sleep is used as a powerful metaphor for death or a state of being trapped with one's own thoughts. The plea "Don't go to sleep" is a desperate cry to stay conscious and alive, to avoid the nightmares—both literal and figurative—that dominate the darkness. Nighttime symbolizes isolation and the peak of his mental struggle, the period when distractions fade and he is left alone with his demons.
• The Mind as a Trap: The most direct metaphor is the feeling of being "trapped in my damn mind". This imagery conveys a sense of being imprisoned by his own negative thought patterns, anxiety, and depression, with no clear path to escape. The looping chorus musically reinforces this feeling of being stuck in a cycle.
• Traffic: The line "I don't really go outside 'cause I hate traffic" serves as a metaphor for the chaos and meaningless interactions of everyday life. It represents his desire to withdraw from the world and avoid getting entangled in situations or relationships that he perceives as overwhelming or superficial.
• Lit Matches: Attachments and relationships are compared to "fire starters like lit matches," symbolizing their potential to ignite and cause pain. This metaphor explains his avoidance of vulnerability and deep connections as a defense mechanism against getting hurt.

The most significant recurring element in the song is the chorus: "Tired of feelin' like I'm trapped in my damn mind / Tired of feelin' like I'm wrapped in a damn lie / Tired of feelin' like my life is a damn game / Nigga really wanna die in the nighttime." This section is repeated multiple times, functioning as the song's central thesis. Its repetition is purposeful, creating a mantra-like effect that emphasizes the cyclical and inescapable nature of his depression and suicidal thoughts. It acts as a hook that is both catchy and deeply disturbing, hammering home the core emotional state of the artist. Another key recurring motif is the sampled line from Shiloh Dynasty, "Don't go, don't go to sleep." This phrase opens the song and reappears at the end, bookending the track. It serves as a haunting warning and a plea, framing the entire piece within the context of a struggle against succumbing to the darkness, whether it be sleep, unconsciousness, or death itself.