{"id":1582,"date":"2025-04-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2025-04-29T19:52:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T23:52:39","slug":"hollywood-forever-a-lyrical-analysis-of-deathbyromys-debut-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/hollywood-forever-a-lyrical-analysis-of-deathbyromys-debut-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood Forever: A Lyrical Analysis of DeathbyRomy\u2019s Debut Album"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Draven Copeland, Editor-in-Chief<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Romy as her Producer character holding a thin mask as the album cover also hints at the horrible truths she sees under the facades around her<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the recent release of her debut album, Hollywood Forever<\/em>, Romy Flores, known by her stage name DeathbyRomy, has brought her unique combination of societal rage and danceable metal-inspired beats that she has used in previous singles and LPs into a full-length epic, quickly becoming my favorite new artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following along track by track, listeners are treated to an artsy self-proclaimed autobiography of Flores\u2019 life in Los Angeles as she grew into her stage name and persona. Along with a few perfectly chosen featured artists, she describes her turn from lonely woman into celebrity in a way that is both brutally honest and explicitly critical; she simultaneously  praises and loathes the city that made her into who she is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the album is titled after the historic Los Angeles cemetery of the same name, critiquing the idea that Hollywood will live forever while eulogizing its many victims. Try to keep up as I give you my best effort to figure the whole thing out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. \u201cSEE U ON THE OTHER SIDE\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    \u201cIf there is a Hell, I will be there waiting for you \/ With a drink and a smile, I will be there waiting for you\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Singing beautiful melodies over a dark and foreboding bass beat, Flores addresses the audience and compares them to herself, showing that their story could be\u2014and possibly is\u2014the same as hers… either way, they will meet in Hell, if there is one. While a fun and re-listenable song on its own, the track serves as an introduction to the overall feel of the album, as well as Flores\u2019 dark yet often relatable storytelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. \u201cLA LA LAND\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \n

      \u201cIt\u2019s a dog eat dog world, god eat god world\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      Shifting into a metal guitar riff and more bass-heavy dance beats, Flores explores the culture of her hometown, describing the many ways that people have to adjust themselves to fit in with everyone around them. From \u201cfake tits\u201d to \u201cfake friends,\u201d she feels that people \u201cfake\u201d so much of their life to fit in that they\u2019ve become \u201cslaves\u201d to the culture. She briefly compares this to the culture of religion, saying that it\u2019s a \u201cgod eat god world,\u201d hinting at her later comparisons between the two throughout the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. \u201cYUNG N RICH\u201d (feat. bodyimage and WARGASM)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \n

        \u201cWoah, I did it again, I said too much \/ Now you won\u2019t pretend we\u2019re best friends\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

        Along with verses by longtime friend, the artist known professionally as bodyimage, and English band WARGASM, Flores describes the young rich kids that she grew up around while \u201chustling to make ends meet,\u201d as she stated in her featured interview with Kerrang!<\/em> magazine. Flores herself never directly lashes out at these kids, instead leaving that to her featured artists, showing that, while she may have feelings of anger towards them, she is mainly focused on her jealousy of their lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. \u201cXXXHIBITIONIST\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n

          \u201cI wanna die when the camera\u2019s flashin’ \/ I\u2019ll do anything, just call action\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

          With creepy horns and heavy guitars backing her up, Flores explores the ways that sex and exhibitionism are used to draw celebrity in today\u2019s society, often at the expense of the individual. While the lyrics never directly disparage this, the tone of the music is unsettling, angry and dark; although she doesn\u2019t say that she hates it, the tone of the song makes you feel like she definitely does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          1. \u201cCITY OF ANGELS\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
            \n

            \u201cYou swear you were made for this \/ I think you\u2019re full of shit\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

            In one of the more traditional hard rock songs on the album, Flores speaks of herself in the second person, mocking the way that she felt people around her talked about her. Instead of support, it seems that people put her down and mocked her, as she says the city is full of angels \u201cwith tar covered wings,\u201d keeping themselves from their own potential by putting those around them down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            1. \u201cCALIFORNIA BABY\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
              \n

              \u201cBleed out for me, don\u2019t cry \/ Bleed out in the sunshine\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

              The most introspective track yet, Flores switches perspectives again to describe herself in the past tense, stating that she \u201cdied young before [she] grew old.\u201d Throughout the song, her cynicism towards the world around her is clear, as she describes the fights and losses she had to go through to get to the point of celebrity, with the overall cost being, effectively, death. It seems that, in the context of the album\u2019s plot, she has finally achieved the celebrity that she has dreamed of as a \u201cCalifornia baby,\u201d but she now feels soulless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                \n
              1. \u201cCALIFORNIA DREAMING INTERLUDE\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                \n

                \u201cI\u2019d be safe and warm \/ If I was in L.A. \/ California dreamin\u2019 \/ On such a winter\u2019s day\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                In an abrupt and timely shift in perspective once again, Flores talks as her past self, \u201cdreaming\u201d that she would \u201cbe safe and warm \/ if [she] was in L.A.\u201d Being the the shortest track and only interlude on the album, the shift from sharp criticism to admiration and hopefulness is brief but impactful; while she feels jaded now, she realizes that she is living the life she thought she wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  \n
                1. \u201cCORPSE KISS\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                  \n

                  \u201cSitting in a grave half alive \/ I know I\u2019m gonna wake up on your mind\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                  I would say this song is both lyrically and stylistically like Flores\u2019 personal version of Rob Zombie\u2019s \u201cLiving Dead Girl;\u201d it\u2019s got a fun beat, sexualizes\/romanticizes corpses (in a spooky gothic way, not a genuinely unsettling\/disturbing way), and feels a lot like something you\u2019d hear at a club around Halloween. It\u2019s definitely a respite from the very emotionally heavy lyrics in any of the songs thus far, as Flores seems to declare that she\u2019s found love even though she believes herself to be effectively dead. While it\u2019s never made totally clear whether this \u201cundead love\u201d is solely physical or not, her attitude towards sexuality in this track feels positive and even hopeful in comparison to the emotionally negative things she associated it with previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    \n
                  1. \u201cLITTLE DREAMER\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                    \n

                    \u201cLike how you stare right through me \/ Living on a prayer, getting high on a dream\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                    In what is easily one of my favorite tracks on the album, Flores speaks both in the first and second person, interestingly shifting tone with each one. When speaking in first person, she is at first nihilistic and upset with her life, as she \u201c[doesn\u2019t] wanna try anymore;\u201d later, she finds a sense of confidence in violence, as she proclaims herself to be \u201cultraviolence\u201d (a term that originated in Anthony Burgess\u2019 novel A Clockwork Orange<\/em>) as a way to \u201cdrown out the silence.\u201d When speaking in second person during the chorus of the song, she speaks to the part of herself that she remembers in the album\u2019s interlude, inspiring herself to move forward with the dreams that she had before she became jaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      \n
                    1. \u201cBITCHFAMOUS\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                      \n

                      \u201cAnd, still, you kiss me when your lips were drippin\u2019 lies \/ Laying with me, so vindictive all the time\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                      With this song, Flores becomes her own \u201cJudas,\u201d saying that she is \u201ca liar and a cheat;\u201d in her own words, she\u2019s \u201cbitchfamous,\u201d referring to the fact that being infamously a bitch grew her fame. The \u201clove\u201d she spoke about in \u201cCorpse Kiss\u201d is totally gone, as she lies and cheats with her \u201csorry excuse of a lover,\u201d whom she interestingly compares to \u201cJesus, Mary, [and] motherfucker,\u201d playing both on the fact that her lover may only be known as the lover of a sacred woman and the album\u2019s analogy of fame with religion. At this point, \u201clust and greed [have] become the same,\u201d another side effect of her rise to fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        \n
                      1. \u201cKILL OR BE KILLED\u201d (feat. Jayden Hammer and Team Death)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                        \n

                        \u201cDevil works hard, but I pull the trigger faster\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                        In easily the heaviest song on the album musically, Flores and fellow musician Jayden Hammer declare their bloody revenge on \u201cMen [that] say \u2018you can\u2019t make a wife of a whore\u2019 \/ But walk around ran through.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s kill or be killed\u201d is repeated multiple times throughout the song, adapting the \u201cdog eat dog\u201d (or \u201cgod eat god\u201d) world into Flores\u2019 vision and mocking the ideology of the men in cultural power now that she has power to fight back with the fame she has gained. I love the entire vibe of this song, it feels a lot like something you might find on a Poppy or Violent Vira album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          \n
                        1. \u201cPRAY TO ME\u201d (feat. Palaye Royale)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                          \n

                          \u201cTake my wings and tear them off \/ Tie my hands to the edge of your cross\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                          My favorite track on the album, \u201cPray to Me\u201d is Flores\u2019 final actualization of everything she has built up to thus far; although she is allowing herself to be a victim of fame and is the \u201creason that you suffer,\u201d she encourages the listener to \u201cworship [her] forever\u201d so she may actualize her dream of becoming an artist and achieving success. In the context of the album\u2019s analogy with religion, Flores has gone from being among followers to becoming the followed, becoming the god that the non-famous idolize and worship. It\u2019s simultaneously a condemnation of the deification of cultural stars and an assumption of the role she plays as a famous artist (echoing the themes of Marilyn Manson\u2019s Mechanical Animals<\/em> album).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            \n
                          1. \u201cIF I DIE YOUNG\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                            \n

                            \u201cI hate you \u2018cause you bring me to my knees \/ And it\u2019s hard to pray when you\u2019re falling to pieces\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

                            In the most vulnerable song in her entire discography, Flores declares both hatred and love towards whomever she is addressing; while it\u2019s hard to tell exactly who she\u2019s talking to, possible answers that come to my mind are her city, her life, herself (as she has spoken to herself multiple times throughout the album), or someone she cares for. While she is hateful because she\u2019s overcome with the weight that is put upon her, her love for her intended recipient is \u201cthe armor [she] needs,\u201d to get through it. My favorite part of the song is its final bridge, as she sings \u201cIf I die young \/ Burn this city to the ground.\u201d While she accepts her life and her fame, she will not accept an early death because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            That\u2019s what everything she says on the album means — to me, at least. The tone and overall theme of the album are clear, even if the plot isn\u2019t as much; she is critical of the culture in Los Angeles (and greater America) while exploiting it to achieve the dreams of her youth at the expense of her own innocence. The overall presence of death in almost every song gives urgency to her message, as the side effects of fame tend to lead to it whether literally or figuratively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            I\u2019m definitely biased, but I\u2019d give this one a 10\/10 and recommend it to anyone that likes a good gothic vibe with their music, especially if their music includes modern metal\/pop vibes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                            By Draven Copeland, Editor-in-Chief With the recent release of her debut album, Hollywood Forever, Romy Flores, known by her stage name DeathbyRomy, has brought her unique combination of societal rage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions\/1660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}