Music Review: All-American Rejects "Gives You Hell"

All-American Rejects
Gives You Hell
Album: When The World Comes Down
Year: 2008
       
                  Tyson Ritter is glad to see karma has bit his ex-girlfriend in the spiteful            “Gives You Hell.”
                A dispassionate guitar opens the single, setting a detached tone.   He’s free. If he knew leaving his ex-girlfriend made him feel like himself again, he would’ve done it a long time ago. He’s not putting it on. It’s a genuine happiness he’d lost. He thinks of his ex, who is likely maintaining the status quo and demanding others to do the same. She will never know what it’s like to think for herself. It’s has to be a tough pill to swallow. (“I wake up every evening/With a big smile on my face/And it never feels out of place/And you're still probably working/At a nine to five pace/I wonder how bad that tastes.”)
                
          In the chorus, on the off-chance he runs into his ex, she wants him to feel some major pain and regret. (“When you see my face/Hope it gives you hell/Hope it gives you hell/When you walk my way/Hope it gives you hell/Hope it gives you hell.”)
                 
               According to her, the way she lives is absolutely perfect. The decision to put her job first before him meant that she would get everything she wants: success, wealth, respect from peers. But she’s stressed and lashing out at others people. She’s struggling and he’s heard she may get fired from her new, dream job. (“Now where's your picket fence love/And where's that shiny car/And did it ever get you far/You never seemed so tense love/I've never seen you fall so hard/Do you know where you are.”)
                    In the pre-chorus, he says choosing to end the relationship he ever made. He has no intention of getting back together with her. (“And truth be told I miss you/And truth be told I'm lying.”)
              
             An extended chorus is sung. He adds that a sweet boyfriend will go unnoticed by her and she won’t ever appreciate what she has. (“When you see my face…You find a man who treats you well/Then he’s a fool/I hope it gives you hell.”)

                    In the bridge, he knows she’s regretting her choice. She’ll think of what exactly what she did. The questions won’t ever stop. (“Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself/Where'd it all go wrong?/But the list goes on and on.”)
                    
                       The pre-chorus is sung again.
                 
                          The extended chorus is sung three times.

                       She won’t ever know how awful she made him feel about himself. She made him feel useless and nonexistent. However, he no longer wants anything to do with her. She will plead for sympathy and then use it against the person the first chance she gets. (“Now you'll never see/What you've done to me/You can take back your memories/They're no good to me/And here's all your lies/You can't look me in the eyes/With the sad, sad look/That you wear so well.”)
                  
                   The extended chorus is sung twice.

                  In the final section, he wants her to know she can’t hurt him anymore and that she was in the wrong. (“When you hear this song/I hope that it will give you hell/You can sing along/I hope that it puts you through hell.”)
                 
                Ritter wants payback. He wants to watch her destroy herself and then beg, hope and yearn to be with him. Then she says the words, he will dump her as cruelly as possible. He wants her to pay. However, his petulance undermines his point and makes him petty.
 
                                  The  childish  “Gives You Hell” is too caught up in its own revenge fantasy.