"Blood and Butter" Is Caroline Polachek's Statement About Emotionally Spiraling Upward

It's a good day to be a Caroline Polachek fan. Forgoing the usual formula of releasing new music as soon as the clock strikes midnight on a Friday, Caroline decided to drop her latest album, "Desire, I Want to Turn Into You," on Feb. 14, 2023, aka Valentine's Day. The loved-up, alt-pop offering is exactly the type of soundtrack needed to accompany Valentine's Day, but it absolutely stands on its own two legs as a solid project beyond that lens as well.

One song that seems to be drawing a lot of attention on Caroline's latest release is "Blood and Butter," an interestingly-titled track that sees the singer exploring some pretty strong emotions. So, what does "Blood and Butter" mean? Keep reading to find out.

Coming in listed as track eight on Caroline's "Desire, I Want to Turn Into You," "Blood and Butter" was actually the fifth single to be released ahead of the album's complete release on Feb. 14, 2023. Caroline teased the song during an interview with The Guardian on Jan. 13, 2023, and it was eventually released on Jan. 31, 2023.

For keen-eyed fans, the concept of "Blood and Butter" didn't just come out of thin air. Prior to its release, Caroline dropped the song "Welcome to My Island." In its music video, fans can see a blood-stained piece of butter sitting on a plate at the 1:50 mark.

While speaking with The Guardian to tease "Blood and Butter," Caroline gave some insight into what the song means to her.

"The upward spiral is maybe the closest thing we can experience to heaven – a kind of heaven on Earth, which we feel in moments of total selflessness and falling in love," she told the publication. "They’re really the moments where you feel yourself turning into something else."

Once the song was released to the public, Caroline's explanation came into even more focus.

The singer dives head-on into exploring the concept of falling passionately into love on "Blood and Butter." This is exemplified through passionate lyrics such as "Say you wanna show me a place / The place is here, the here is inside you," or "Pretty with the critical mass."

Caroline continues to swoon for new love when she sings, "And what I want is / To walk beside you / Needing nothing / But the sun that's in our eyes."

It seems as though the entire song, like Caroline explained, serves as a testament to new love and how powerfully provocative that feeling can be. She continues this mantra when she sings "Lеt me dive / Through your face / To thе sweetest kind of pain," and "Oh I get / Closer than your new tattoo."

Caroline describes how she puts her lover on a pedestal: "Look at you all mythicalogical / And Wikipediated." Furthermore, she notes that she is losing herself as she falls deeper in love, singing, "Look how I forget who I was / Before I was the way I am with you."

All-in-all, "Blood and Butter" may have a curious title, but its meaning is as pure and true to the notion of love as a song could be.