What does Carousel mean?

Melanie Martinez: Carousel Meaning

Album cover for Carousel album cover
Get "Carousel" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Carousel Lyrics

Round and round like a horse on a carousel, we go,
Will I catch up to love? I could never tell, I know,
Chasing after you is like a fairytale, but I,
Feel like I'm glued on tight to this carousel

Come, come one, come all,
You must be this...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Dec 3rd 2016 !⃝

    The song is based off of Cry Baby's love for this boy . She's chasing the boy, but just 'like a horse on a carousel' you go in this constasnt circle but you'll never catch up to the horse in front of you. That horse in the front being the boy. And when he 'steals her cotten candy heart' he doesn't give her his heart in return.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 28th 2016 !⃝

    Personally, I believe this song is not just about a little girl that runs after a boy that she fell in love with. Falling in love is like a wild goose chase, and once you fall in love, it can be hard to stop. Hence the "carousel" of emotions. "You must be this tall, to ride this ride, at the carnival," I believe this means that love isn't for everybody. They have height restrictions at amusement parks for safety reasons, so that "height restriction" might mean that you must be prepared to go on the wild goose chase of love. "Will I catch up to love, I can never tell," she isn't even sure that the boy can fall in love with her back.

    Well, you get the idea.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 23rd 2020 !⃝

    Crybaby is in a relationship, but her boyfriend hardly notices her or cares for her. Crybaby wishes he would see her, feeling like she will never catch up to love. "Round and round like a horse on a carousel" Crybaby is just going around in a circle; you can't get to the horse in front of you.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 10th !⃝

    My interpretation of the song Carousel by Melanie Martinez is that Cry Baby feels that she will never catch up to love, that it's just going in a circle and never going anywhere.

  5. Blue_Azu
    click a star to vote
    Mar 9th 2023 !⃝

    I think that this song is about being in love but y healthy way but she can'tnot in a ver just stop being in love with the guy so she's "glued" on the "carrousel", the carrousel probably represents how we feel when we are in love, like going round and round on until we get dizzy. "You must be this tall to ride this ride" Not everyone can love in a healthy way and only some of us are able to do it, not everyone is made for love or are just not mature enough. "But you already bought the ticket and there's no turning back now" means that even if we don't like being in love, we can't just stop loving someone even if it hurts.

    This song is sfro me omfg. Sorry if I had some mistakes, I'm just good at english but it's not totally perfect sometimes :) and remember it's just my opinion

  6. anonymous
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    Sep 3rd 2022 !⃝

    In Carousel, Crybaby has her first love interest (Alphabet Boy). She wants their friendship to be more, but Alphabet Boy doesn't love her and only sees her as a friend, so it's like a carousel. Crybaby chasing after Alphabet Boy, but she can never get closer (their relationship will never go to the next level) because they're both always going at the same speed. In the end, in alphabet boy, she sees that she doesn't need him and moves on.

  7. anonymous
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    Jun 21st 2022 !⃝

    Cry Baby is in love with a boy (Alphabet Boy), but she feels like she's "glued on tight" to the "carousel" and can't reach out and grab him. Eventually, she finally reaches him, but discovers that he's not worth her love. Melanie made another song called Alphabet Boy, about Cry Baby breaking up with him because of how controlling he was.





    (wow half of this paragraph was about Alphabet Boy when the entire paragraph was supposed to be about Carousel...)

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 5th 2022 !⃝

    Crybaby is probably frustrated because she just fell in love and she doesn't understand how love really works in a romantic relationship. She is chasing after her love and they don't understand that crybaby feels a romantic way to them. Crybaby is chasing after them. in the lyrics "Feel like I'm glued on tight to this carousel" Crybaby feels as if she can't let go of them. I'm not sure what the gender of the person she's in love with is so I'm referring to that person as "them". This is my theory, have a great day!

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 1st 2021 !⃝

    I think that the song "Carousel" is a childhood moment at an amusement park, recreated into a song, why? It gives me a childhood aura, and with the lyrics, "Come, come one, come all, you must be this tall to ride this ride at the carnival." I think that that lyric represents what someone working at that carnival said to present the place, and said to someone who's not tall enough for a ride, from a memory, into the lyrics of the song. I also think that the clothes she was wearing are a replica of what she wore as a child, but in a theme for the music video.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 1st 2021 !⃝

    I think that the song "Carousel" is a childhood moment at an amusement park, recreated into a song, why? It gives me a childhood aura, and with the lyrics, "Come, come one, come all, you must be this tall to ride this ride at the carnival." I think that that lyric represents what someone working at that carnival said to present the ride, and said to someone's who's not tall enough for a ride, from a memory, into the lyrics of the song. I also think that the clothes she was wearing are a replica of what she wore as a child, but in a theme for the music video.

  11. anonymous
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    Jan 6th 2021 !⃝

    In carousel Crybaby see's someone she wants to spend the rest of her life with But he doesn't like her the way she feels about him, he could probably like/love her a little bit. (This my theory)

  12. anonymous
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    Dec 15th 2020 !⃝

    Crybaby loves a boy and is chasing after him, trying to get him to love her. But she can't quite catch up to love with him. Crybaby is a little too shy to tell him she likes him because she grew up in an unstable household. The part were it says "my horse is too slow" shows that she really likes him but can't get to him. (Her hoarse being her mind telling him she likes him) she is trying to seduce him to the point where he tells her that he likes her but crybaby just can't make him like her.

  13. anonymous
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    Oct 2nd 2020 !⃝

    This song is about Crybaby’s first love. She is so in love with him but he isn’t in love with her. She then realises that love is just doing the same thing over and over again, spinning in circles, like you do on a carousel. Also, it’s like she and the boy are on a carousel and the boy is on the horse in front of her but Crybaby can never catch up with him (meaning he will never fall in love with her)
    I listened to K-12 on August in 2020 and I decided I liked her a lot! Don’t hate me just because I didn’t know her since her first album! I didn’t come from TikTok anyways. Why yall spreading hate on people from TikTok? That’s what I want to know. They’re just like you, they like Melanie, they just found out about her from TikTok!

    Love, Melanie and Billie lover

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 20th 2020 !⃝

    Crybaby falls in love with this boy at the carnival. However, their relationship is one-sided. Crybaby knows chasing him is "like a fairytale" but she feels like she's "glued on tight to this carousel". The boy stole her 'cotton candy heart' and now she's stuck riding. Like a carousel, you go around in a circle, and although the horse in front of you is so close, you can't get to it.

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 30th 2020 !⃝

    Okay I'm sorry but I saw an animatic of this for IT chapter One on YouTube and now the only way I can look at it is through Reddie goggles so don't blame me please and thanks. If you don't know what Reddie is...where have you been, hon? Look it up.

  16. anonymous
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    Dec 14th 2019 !⃝

    This is the first time Crybaby fell in love. How she went to the carnival with a boy and it was all fun and games till she fell in love with him.

    It seems like she's close to him and glued on tight. She loves him so much but their love is kinda tragic. But she doesn't wanna leave him because she loves him. She feels like she can't catch up to love cause of him.

    The boy in the song also broke her heart cause of the phrase, "Right right when I'm near you it's like you disappear, where'd you go? Mr. Hodunidi you're a freak show" Which probably means how he loves her is crazy.

  17. anonymous
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    Nov 25th 2019 !⃝

    Crybaby is singing about falling in love with a boy that chasing after him is like a fairytale. She can never catch up him though and is wondering when she will. Her love for him goes round and round like a carousel.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 14th 2019 !⃝

    "Carousel" is labeled as indie pop, described by Melanie herself as, "My feeling in love with someone and being stuck on the same ride and trying to grab them but I never reach them".

    (wikipedia)

    No offense, but I like other singers than this singer.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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