Risqué
Song Meaning

Risqué is about the all-consuming stress of having a crush on someone who won’t reciprocate or even answer the phone. The lyrics suggest the singer is so preoccupied with this girl that it disrupts his ability to think or create, leaving him “obsessed and stressed” over a relationship that exists mostly in his head 1 3. The recurring image of a “devil on my shoulder” pushing him to keep calling reflects the impulsive, almost compulsive pull of unrequited desire 4, while “birds in my ears” conveys how loud and intrusive those thoughts have become 5.

The meaning

At its core, Risqué is a song about the powerlessness of having feelings for someone who doesn’t feel the same way back, or at least hasn’t shown it. The chorus repeats the question “what’s a crush to do?” after the singer admits “I can’t get a hold of her,” a line fans have read as the frustration of reaching out to someone who simply isn’t responding, despite the singer having no real claim on her time or attention 2. That powerlessness is the emotional engine of the whole track: he isn’t upset because a relationship has gone wrong, he’s upset because there was never a relationship to begin with, just a one-sided crush.

The verses lean into how physically disruptive this preoccupation becomes. “I’m obsessed and stressed with this mess” and “I can’t think of things to write down, to type down” describe someone whose creative and mental faculties are hijacked by thinking about this girl, to the point where he can’t function normally 1 3. That’s echoed in the chorus image of having “birds in my ears,” which fans have interpreted as the noise of his own racing, anxious thoughts about her crowding out everything else 5.

The “devil on my shoulder” paired with “a phone to the other” captures the impulsive side of that obsession: some inner voice keeps pushing him to just call her again, even when it isn’t working, which fits a broader reading of the song as being about the compulsive, almost self-sabotaging behavior that comes with an unanswered crush 4.

The pre-chorus shifts into more overtly transactional and playful language: “medically speaking you’re adorable,” “quite affordable,” “I like them pricey,” and the request to “trick me.” Read alongside the chorus’s theme of chasing someone unreachable, these lines suggest the singer is leaning into a wry, self-aware bit, framing his crush and his own eagerness to be fooled or flattered as a kind of risky purchase or gamble, playing off the title’s meaning of something daring or slightly scandalous. It reads less as a literal claim about the woman and more as a tongue-in-cheek way of admitting he’d rather be deceived into thinking she’s interested than face the silence directly.

Taken together, the song’s meaning centers on the specific ache of wanting someone who isn’t giving anything back: the intrusive thoughts, the compulsive urge to keep reaching out, and the willingness to accept even a fake or exaggerated response just to feel like the crush is going somewhere.

Last updated 2026-09-12