"Earthbound" is about the mental health challenges that Accidental Savannah Buist dealt with for most of her life. She told Songfacts: "I wrote 'Earthbound' as a reminder that even when it feels absolutely hopeless, it won't always be that way. It's a reminder that those struggles with mental health don't define the whole of me, and they won't hold me down."
The poetic lyrics are highly abstract and consequently opaque, but piecing them together with the key provided by Buist's mental-health statement, they seem to be her saying that she has done something regretful: I can't take it back I wish I'd never opened my mouth I'm in shock But she refuses to let that mistake bring her down.
In the context of this song, being "earthbound" means being held down by the gravity of one's mistakes and personal challenges. "To the core, I'm a carnivore, I will never be earthbound" is Buist's way of saying that for all her mistakes she's still an aggressive predator who is built to succeed. She's not the victim in this game. She's the hunter.
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