Many of the lyrics that Vic Fuentes writes for Pierce the Veil are personal, self-admittedly first starting out as poetry scribbled down in notebooks. The story behind "Bulls in the Bronx," however, is somewhat different. Vic received an email from a pair of fans whose friend, a 16-year-old girl, had recently committed suicide. The email included a link to girl's Tumblr. Speaking to Mind Equals Blown, Vic said that "it was one of the most haunting things I've ever seen. There were things on there where she would say how she thought she was worthless, ugly, all of this crazy stuff. That whole thing really stuck with me for a while, and I wrote this song about her." The song is written from the perspective of a nameless narrator and describes her efforts to find love and beauty in a world that seems intent on denying her both. The song's imagery grows steadily grim and more depressing, finally culminating in a tragic conclusion. Vic keeps the lyrics imprecise and universal, so that this could be any sad and lost person, not necessarily the girl who inspired it.
The song is the lead single off of the band's 2012 album, Collide With the Sky. According to Vic Fuentes, the title refers the importance of being able to find away to distance yourself from all the chaos in your life. "When the ground crumbles beneath you," he explained on his Tumblr, "your first instinct is to run and jump to safety, and it's the moment where you're suspended in the air that I want to focus on. It's about freeing yourself from the things that are breaking or falling apart in your life, and inspiring a sense of hope from desperation."
The song's music video was directed by Drew Russ and shot on location in Pasadena. The clip finds the band performing the tune live in a 100-year-old house as two young lovers meet in secret and are transported into a bull-fighting dream world only to have their rendezvous interrupted by an enraged father. "I really wanted to have a story people could relate to, as well as have a fun supernatural element to fit the bridge of the song," Russ told MTV News. "To me, this is such a standout song, and when the bridge hits, it almost transports the listener to another place. I really wanted to represent that on camera."
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.