Meaning of Who Wants To Live Forever? (feat. Judeline)

by Nine Inch Nails · 2024

The song “Who Wants To Live Forever? (feat. Judeline)” by Nine Inch Nails is about grappling with mortality, the fleeting nature of time, and the struggle to find meaning and connection in the face of inevitable loss and impermanence.

This song has been Shazamed over 23,877 times. As of this writing, Who Wants To Live Forever? (feat. Judeline) is ranked 154

Who Wants To Live Forever? (feat. Judeline)’ by Nine Inch Nails is a haunting song about time, loss, and the fleeting nature of life. We’re going to break down the feelings and ideas behind this track to see why it hits so hard. ⬇️

️ From the very first lines, the song wraps us in a mist of melancholy and uncertainty. The world it creates feels both familiar and distant, a place where memory blurs and nothing seems quite real.

The chorus is a desperate plea—”Please hold on to me / All of us are here to die”—and it punches straight through our armor. There’s an aching vulnerability as we hear the admission that all we ever really had was time, precious and already slipping away. Sometimes, when we’re lost or scared, we want someone to anchor us, even as we know that nothing lasts forever, and that realization stings.

In the verses, lines like “Can’t remember why / Something in my eye / Something in the way it feels here” paint a picture of confusion and sorrow, the kind that creeps up in quiet moments. It’s as if the singer is peering into the mirror and not recognizing the person staring back, weighed down by regret and the passage of time. The subtle ache in “Saw it on your face / We all know a place / I don’t want to be here anymore” hints at shared pain and the universal urge to escape when things hurt too much.

⏳ Then comes the refrain—”Who wants to live forever?”—repeated like a mantra or a dare, dissolving any illusion of immortality. The more the phrase echoes, the more it morphs from a question to a resignation, suggesting that endless existence might be more curse than blessing, and fading away isn’t just possible, but maybe inevitable.

Like a ghostly whisper in a darkened hallway, the song reminds us that time is all we truly possess, and the fear of vanishing is what binds us together—even as it pulls us apart.

Writer(s) of Who Wants To Live Forever? (feat. Judeline):