Sympathy Magic Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Memory fails me, names and faces blur
There is only after, or before
Am I so different? Have I changed?
I do not recognise my face
The scar fades but pulls inside
Tugging at me all the time
Chewing on a feeling and spitting it out
Crouched in a ball gown
Anxious and ashamed
The vague humiliations of faith
[Chorus]
I do not find worthiness in virtue
I no longer try to be good
It didn't keep me safe
Like you told me that it would
So come on, tear me wide open
A terrible gift
Let the chorus console me
Sympathy magic
[Verse 2]
And light coming in the window just so
And the wind through my fingers
The only God that I know
And it does not want me on my knees to believe
Head high, arms wide
Aching, aching, aching
[Chorus]
And alive
And alive
So I don't have to be worthy
I no longer try to be good
It didn't keep me safe
Like you told me that it would
So come on, tear me wide open
'Til I'm losing my mind
'Til I cannot contain it
La-da-da-da-da-da-da
[Bridge]
So come on, come on, I can take it
Give me everything you got
What else? What else? What else? What else?
So come on, come on, I can take it
Give me everything you got
What else? What else? What else? What else?
[Outro]
Sympathy magic
Sympathy magic
So come on, come on, I can take it
Sympathy magic
Sympathy magic
So come on, come on, I can take it
(Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Sympathy magic (Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Sympathy magic (Come on)
Sympathy magic (Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Sympathy magic (Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Sympathy magic (Come on, come on, come on, come on)
Sympathy magic (Come on)
Ah
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Sympathy Magic Song Meaning (Florence + The Machine)
“Sympathy Magic” arrives as the third single from "Everybody Scream", the forthcoming sixth studio album by "Florence + The Machine" (front-woman Florence Welch) released on October 27, 2025 via Polydor and Republic. The track was co-written and co-produced by Welch alongside Aaron Dessner and Danny L. Harle.
Artist & Album Context
Florence Welch has long been known for her sweeping vocals and emotionally charged, often mystical songwriting. This new album marks a consciously darker, more primal turn: influenced by her recovery from life-threatening surgery on the “Dance Fever” tour and a deep immersion into spiritual mysticism, folk horror, and healing practices.
With themes of vulnerability, transformation, and liberation at its heart, Everybody Scream is described as Welch’s most personal work to date.
Meaning & Lyrics Interpretation
At its emotional core, “Sympathy Magic” is an invocation: an unflinching look at the waning of faith in conventional virtue and the emergence of a more visceral, raw sense of self-worth. The opening verse — “Memory fails me, names and faces blur / There is only after, or before” — evokes disorientation and identity loss, as though the narrator is searching for a coherent self after trauma. The scarling image of a fading scar tugging inward suggests that while wounds may fade externally, their force lingers internally.
The chorus sharpens this into a declaration: “I do not find worthiness in virtue / I no longer try to be good / It didn’t keep me safe like you told me that it would.” Here, Welch confronts the promise of moral correctness — the idea that “being good” equals protection — and finds it wanting. Instead she welcomes a ripping open, a gift that’s “terrible,” allowing the “chorus [to] console me: Sympathy magic.” The phrase “sympathy magic” itself feels like a talisman: a spell one casts when traditional systems (religion, virtue, obedience) no longer suffice.
The second verse opens the door to light and wind, to the only God the narrator recognises — one unbound by kneeled prayers or script: “Head high, arms wide / Aching, aching, aching.” That physicality (“arms wide”, “aching”) reinforces the body as site of faith and tension rather than abstract dogma.
Finally the bridge loops into repetition — “So come on, come on, I can take it / Give me everything you got / What else?” — as though the narrator is ready to receive whatever comes, ready to endure and transform. The outro’s incantatory repetition of “Sympathy magic” leaves the listener suspended between invocation and release.
Real-Life Inspiration
In interviews and press releases tied to the album, Welch links this material directly to a period of recovery and reckoning. After emergency surgery and a close brush with death, she says she turned to unconventional healing — ritual, mysticism, witchcraft and the body’s limits — to confront what it means to be healed and strong.
In this light, “Sympathy Magic” emerges as both personal exorcism and collective anthem: the survivor refusing the bond of “worthiness”—the idea that trauma should only be survived if one remains pure or good—and instead embracing a different type of power: one born of wound, radical acceptance and transformation.
What It Represents
For the listener, the song becomes a cathartic space. It invites you into the messy, unglamorous reality of healing: the blur of memory, the tense longing to be safe, the slow realization that safety isn’t always natural or guaranteed. And yet, therein lies a magic: not the tidy kind you find in fairytales, but the one you summon when you’re wide-open, vulnerable, and ready to be changed.
For "Florence + The Machine", it signals a further shift toward the unfiltered and elemental: voice, body, ritual and resonance. There’s no grand metaphor too heavy here—just the raw terrain of being alive, flawed, uncontained and reaching.
In short, “Sympathy Magic” is a hymn for the wounded, a war-cry for the unworthy, and an offering for anyone who’s felt that their survival came not from being good but from saying: “I can take it. Give me everything you got.”
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FAQ Section
Who sung the song "Sympathy Magic" by Florence + The Machine?
The song "Sympathy Magic" was sung by Florence + The Machine.
Who wrote the song "Sympathy Magic" by Florence + The Machine?
Florence Welch & Danny L Harle.
Who produced the song "Sympathy Magic" by Florence + The Machine?
Florence Welch, Danny L Harle & Aaron Dessner.
Music Video
Song Details
Artist: Florence + The Machine
Album: Everybody Scream
Genre: Rock
Language: English
Released: October 27, 2025
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