#SongLyricSunday | Roots – In This Moment

#SLS is hosted by Jim over at A Unique Title For Me. If you’re new to #SLS, you can join in the fun or check out all of the other song choices for today by clicking on the theme link below.

This week’s theme is: Promise|Vow|Oath

My choice today is for Promise. In This Moment is my all-time favorite female metalcore band, except only the lead singer is a woman, but that still counts, right? I love everything about Maria Brink, she’s amazingly talented, capable of singing every range from soft to screamo – and she sounds just as incredible live as she does recorded.

Fans are aware of Maria’s unfortunate past from what she’s revealed in several of her songs and vague confirmations in interviews. Her father sexually abused, then abandoned her at a young age, leaving her with a drug-addicted mother, and then she was pregnant with her son by age 15, living and working alone to raise him. She eventually helped her mother fight and overcome her drug addiction–that experience and what she watched her mom suffer through is the purpose behind the band’s hit single “Blood.”

“Roots” is from In This Moment’s 6th studio album, Ritual. While she’s known for keeping personal meanings of lyrics to herself, stating that she loves the way people can connect with them with their own meanings and interpretations, “Roots” is definitely something about her background, and according to Livewire, Maria broke down partway through the live track.

Regardless of the meaning, the message is clearly about self-empowerment: taking all of the things that should break you and using them to make yourself stronger. A recurring theme for In This Moment. Enjoy!

I thank you for all the lives you’ve led
I thank you for every word you said
I thank you for walking away

I thank you

I thank you for the promises you broke
For always watching, watching while I choke
I thank you for teaching me

Yes, I thank you for the hurting

I bite down a little harder
My blades a little sharper
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

Strike back a little harder
I scream a little louder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

I’m stronger than I ever knew
I’m strong because of you

I hit back a little louder
Fuck you a little harder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

I thank you for the hole you dug in me
Filled it with cement, sunk me in your sea
I thank you for being so obscene

I thank you

I thank you for never facing me
Swimming in the mud, never coming clean
I thank you for nothing in between

Yes, I thank you for leaving

I bite down a little harder
My blades a little sharper
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

Strike back a little harder
I scream a little louder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

I’m stronger than I ever knew
I’m strong because of you

I hit back a little harder
Fuck you a little louder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

You wanna know why I like the pain, you say?
There’s a sick part of me thankful for the hate, I
I stay positive and I, I push forward, ya see?
I, I gotta do the right thing for my family!
So I smile and I say to the world this is fine, as these fucking parasites eat up my spine,
So I asked you once, and I’ll ask you again
Where do your roots start
And where do your roots end?

I bite down a little harder
My blades a little sharper
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

Strike back a little harder
I scream a little louder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

I’m stronger than I ever knew
I’m strong because of you

I hit back a little louder
Fuck you a little harder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

I’m stronger than I ever knew
I’m strong because of you

I hit back a little louder
Fuck you a little harder
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow
My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

My roots, my roots
Run deep into the hollow

My roots, my roots

♫♪♫ ❤ ♪♫♪

Songwriters: Maria Brink / Chris Howorth / Kevin Churko • Roots lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights Management

I do not own any rights to this song, lyrics, or video. All rights remain with the artists and their respective agents/labels. No copyright infringement intended.