Miranda Lambert is a loved Country Singer. She has written many country songs, and is popular among the American audience. She also came in the headlines after a rough patch in her relationship with Blake Shelton. It was during the same time that she released the song “Vice”.
Vice was a hot seller. The lyrics connected with the audience, and they were quite progressive for the year 2016. It even came on the Rolling Stones list of top tracks of 2016.
Vice is a crisp title for the song. The song moves around the vices that the singer has picked. The life of the singer is wrapped in different vices and that is what is picked from this song. Vice lyrics meaning is a journey of the singer. She is telling the story of her days, of her life. So the core theme is vice and that is why the title fits perfectly. It is also a relatable theme. A lot of us have a lot of problems around us – also caused due to our own vices. Often these themes are overlooked but Lambert picks this up. She is brutally honest in the song, speaking of very specific instances. It is unclear whether these belong to her real life or reference from around.
What Does the Intro Mean?
Steady as a needle dropping on a vinyl
Neon singer with a jukebox title full of heartbreak
Thirty-three, forty-five, seventy-eight
When it hurts this good, you gotta play it twice
Another vice
The intro of the song is anecdotal. Lambert is great at narrating a story, and the intro feels like a narration of another story. She paints a picture of a room with different elements. The lyrics are so smooth that you can easily paint a picture in your imagination. Lambert also talks of heartbreak in the very first paragraph. She talks of the behavior wherein we binge listen to heart break songs. A lot of us still listen to many heartbreak songs when we are under the blues. She is doing the same. She is replaying the songs. She is somewhat stuck in that situation. The intro ends with the lyrics “another vice”. This sets the tone of the song. Listeners understand that they will be hearing more about the vices in the life of the singer..
Verse 1 – What Does It Mean?
All dressed up in a pretty black label
Sweet salvation on a dining room table
Waiting on me
Where the numb meets the lonely
It’s gone before it ever melts the ice
Another vice is explored in the first verse. The singer is ready in the classic LBD – Little Black Dress. She is talking about intoxication in this verse. Her lyrics are poetic – even when conveying such a vice. She says that it is alcohol that is helping her out. She is drinking to escape her emotions. She is feeling lonely – probably because of the heartbreak. Also, she says that she is numb. There are not many emotions that she can feel. It is the alcohol that can contain her condition. She is so eager to escape her state that she drinks as soon as it is poured.
She is not drinking to enjoy or for a good time. She is drinking to escape. This is another vice of the singer. This verse is quite relatable because many of us have had drinks as a vice. We have tried to intoxicate ourselves to make us feel differently.
What Does the Chorus Mean?
Another vice, another call
Another bed I shouldn’t crawl out of
At 7 AM, with shoes in my hand
Said I wouldn’t do it, but I did it again
And I know I’ll be back tomorrow night, ooh
Lambert talks of another vice in the chorus. This might be due to the drinks she had – or it can be an unrelated event. It is the vice of engaging with strangers. She spent the night with someone and now she is on the run. It is probably that she was with someone she does not know well – because it is early morning and she is on the road. She knows that this behavior is toxic but she is unable to escape it. She wants to improve but she is introspecting herself. She knows that she might repeat the same behavior the next day. This is a toxic cycle that she is stuck into. There is meaningless interaction and she is pushing herself down a shallow lane.
An interesting part of the chorus is the use of the word ‘another’. Lambert knows that there is not a single vice. Rather there are many vices, so she is talking of just another vice of hers.
Verse 2 – What Does It Mean?
I wear a town like a leather jacket
When the new wears off, I don’t even pack it
If you need me
I’ll be where my reputation don’t precede me
Maybe I’m addicted to goodbyes
In the second verse, Lambert talks of another vice. This seems like an emotional one – the one that is damaging her relations. She is hinting at her behavior of moving and shifting. She wants to escape her problems and her vices, and maybe her way to do this is to just escape that particular town. Her reference to a town to a leather jacket hints that she has moved to many towns, leaving behind regrets and stories in every town. She is aware of the image she has, and she is also trying to leave that image behind. She moves to a place where no one knows her, and people do not make judgments about her.
The last line of this verse is very emotional. Because she is shifting towns, she has to say goodbye to all the people she knew. Given that she constantly shifts, it is hard to imagine how many goodbyes she had to say. Maybe this is the reason that she is saying that she is addicted to goodbyes. Vice lyrics meaning is that there is a toxic habit that is hurting us but we can not escape it. We keep on repeating the same cycle.
What Does the Chorus (2) Mean?
Another vice, another town
Where my past can’t run me down
Another life, another call
Another bed I shouldn’t crawl out of
At 7 AM with shoes in my hand
Said I wouldn’t do it, but I did it again
And I know I’ll be gone tomorrow night
Mm, another vice
The chorus repeats again, and there is the partial repetition of lyrics. From the chorus it becomes clear that Lambert is trying to escape her past. She is trying to move ahead from the mistakes she made. She is aware of her vices but she can not do anything. All she can do is move away and start again.
Verse 3 – What Does It Mean?
Standing at the sink now, looking in a mirror
Don’t know where I am or how I got here
Well, the only thing that I know how to find
Is another vice
Verse 3 gets, even more, real and raw. Vice lyrics meaning is that a vice completely changes you. Lambert again paints a picture of a mirror and a reflection that is not hers. She can not recognize the person who is in front of her. She does not know where she is or how she even got there. It all seems very blurry to her, and she is lost. The last lyrics of this verse is heart-wrenching – she talks of finding another vice. She knows that she is addicted. It is her personality now to be involved with vices. She can not escape this part of hers.
What Does the Outro Mean?
Mm, another vice
Yes, another vice (ah, yeah, ah, yeah)
Ooh, another vice (ah, yeah, ah, yeah)
Another vice (ah, yeah, ah, yeah)
Another vice (ah, yeah, ah, yeah)
Another vice (ah, yeah, ah, yeah)
The outro of the song is a melodious sad singing of the phrase ‘another vice’. Lambert best recognizes herself as someone who is always on the lookout for another vice. She is reiterating those words in the outro. She has no way out, and she is forced out of habit and nature. It is just another vice after another. This is how her life is, and she is sad about it. But, sadly, there is not much she can do about it.
Conclusion
Vice lyrics meaning resonate with many of us. We might not be stuck in a cycle of many vices but there is always a vice that bothers us. Lambert powerfully talks of her toxic relationship with herself – she is forced by her own nature. This captures the attention of the heartbroken, the ones who have been through similar paths. The song is well-worded and liked by many.
