BPD shown in "Everything" by MUNA

(This will also be my attempt for parataxis *) Borderline personality disorder(BPD) is very complex mental disorder, where those who have BPD often experience intense and rapidly shifting emotions, a distorted view of themselves and others(which leads to difficulty maintaining stable and healthy relationships), and suffer from chronic feelings of emptiness. Fear of abandonment is extremely common in those with BPD, as the disorder mainly stems from that, so that fear can be the driving force for maladaptive behaviors like impulsivity, self-harming behavior, and suicidal idealization(source).

Another major aspect of BPD that I've seen is what is known as the "favorite person", where someone who has BPD intensely attaches themself to a person(usually romantic). They put this person up on a pedestal, seeing them as perfect and expecting them to continue being this perfect being. They overlook this person's flaws, and become deeply dependent on this person for their emotional, and sometimes physical, needs. This relationship is extremely fragile, as the person with BPD goes through intense mood shifts, ranging from intense love and admiration to complete anger and hatred. Usually followed by the anger is feelings of regret and sorrow, and desperately plead for their favorite person to forgive them. There is something called "splitting" where the person with BPD rapidly changes their view of their favorite person, because they didn't exactly follow their skewed version of them they had created in their head.

The song "Everything" by MUNA, from the album About U, has lyrics that illustrate these feelings of admiration and love that someone with BPD would have for their favorite person.

From the very start of the song, the narrator speaks about an experience they had, not major by any means, but all they could think about was this person. They wanted to tell this person about every little thing they had seen, trying to find any way to get the attention of this person.

*Then comes the chorus: "Everything's about you to me" and repeats four times; the lyrics are very on the nose for the song; the repetition shows desperation; how the narrator sees anything and everything relating to this person; this person is presumably an ex; the narrator is still attached to the ex.

The second verse comes in, and the narrator talks even more about how something they see they relate this person. It goes into the extremes, speaking about great tragedy and the only thing the speaker can think of, is their ex. This person is the speaker's everything (teehee), and it seems that they have a very similar attachment to their ex like a person with BPD attaches themself to their favorite person.

The bridge. The bridge reads (to me at least) is the sorrow after this person had that intense mood shift about this person, and are desperately trying to get back into their good graces by almost manipulating this person by self-deprecating, saying that they are these things, with the intention to make their ex try to come back to them. When you listen to the song, it's such a heavy verse, the music and the way the singer actually sings the lines is so heart wrenching.

After the bridge, it returns to the chorus, chanting that "Everything's about you to me".

This song encapsulates what it means to have a favorite person, or at least that's how I feel. Borderline personality disorder is a mixed bag, and it's hard to describe what exactly the person feels, but I feel like this song has a good grasp on that one facet of the complexity of BPD.