Daylight cover art

Daylight

Joji English

Verse 1

Wide awake, gettin' half-past zeroIt's gettin' heated, so I leave the windows open(Leave the windows open)Preoccupied with a late night B-rollRight now, laying here alone is heaven(Here alone is heaven)

Pre-Chorus

And I've been a hero, helplessI'm in hellAnd I've cried up and down in these hallwaysBlamed myself

Chorus

Bad luck, I don't wanna be home at midnightSun's up, I don't really wanna fight the daylightI don't care if you moved onI'm not layin' in bed with a fucked-up headI'm not layin' in bed with a fucked-up

Verse 2

Sun-dried on the backyard patioDrunk eyes 'cause I didn't give it a home runYeah, yeahYou're hiding on the FM radioI sing along just to sing my thoughts at someoneYeah, yeah

Pre-Chorus

And I've been a hero, helplessI'm in hell (I'm in hell)And I've cried up and down in these hallwaysBlamed myself

Chorus

Bad luck, I don't wanna be home at midnightSun's up, I don't really wanna fight the daylightI don't care if you moved onI'm not layin' in bed with a fucked-up headI'm not layin' in bed with a fucked-up
What the song means

The song follows a restless narrator who cannot sleep, stuck awake late at night with the weight of a failed relationship. The heat and open windows suggest discomfort and a need for air, and being alone feels like a strange kind of relief, because company would only bring more pain. He blames himself for what went wrong and wanders through the same rooms where he has cried.

The mood shifts from the quiet, feverish night of the first verse to the harsh glare of the second. He pictures a former partner who has moved on, and he hears them on the radio. Singing along becomes a way to say his feelings to someone who cannot hear them. The chorus keeps returning to the same dread: being home at midnight feels like bad luck, and the coming sunrise forces him to face a reality he would rather avoid.

The key images carry most of the meaning. "Hero" and "helpless" show someone who wants to be strong but feels powerless, and "hell" describes how the pain feels from the inside. The hallways stand for a home full of painful memories. Daylight represents the truth that morning brings, which he is not ready to confront. The blunt phrase about a messed-up mind is an honest admission that he is struggling mentally, not just sad.

Key phrases explained
half-past zero
00:30 in the morning, the hour just after midnight — A casual way of saying he is still awake very late at night.
B-roll
Supplementary footage used in films and videos — A film term; here it suggests his mind is replaying scenes from the past.
fight the daylight
Avoid or resist facing the new day — An image for not wanting to confront the truth that morning brings.
fucked-up head
A messed-up, troubled mind — Blunt slang that expresses mental turmoil and sleeplessness.
didn't give it a home run
Didn't achieve a decisive success — A baseball idiom suggesting he failed to win the relationship or make things right.
Song info
Release date
2020-08-06
Album
Nectar
Written by
Joji, Diplo, Sarah Aarons, Maximilian Jaeger, Greg Kurstin
Produced by
Diplo, Maximilian Jaeger, Greg Kurstin

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Joji

12 songs

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