What goes around comes around by Justin Timberlake — lyrics analysis.

Justin Timberlake — What Goes Around…Comes Around — YouTube

Hey, girl, is he everything you wanted in a man?
You know I gave you the world
You had me in the palm of your hand
So why your love went away

Analysis — First verse.

‘You know I gave you the world’ is considered as hyperbole because the singer wanted to exaggerate the fact of how he tried to provide everything for his other significant half.

‘You had me in the palm of your hand’ is also considered hyperbole, as the singer tried to illustrate the love he had for his significant other by implying he was under her command.

‘So why your love went away’ is considered as a rhetorical question. The singer is questioning his significant other action of betrayal after all he did to her.

I just can’t seem to understand
Thought it was me and you, babe
Me and you until the end
But I guess I was wrong

Analysis — Second verse.

‘Thought it was me and you, babe’ ‘Me and you until the end’. The repetition of the words ‘Me and You’ was to emphasis for whom the song was written and the disappointment of the singer.

Don’t want to think about it
Don’t want to talk about it
I’m just so sick about it
Can’t believe it’s ending this way

Analysis — Third verse.

‘Don’t want to think about it’, ‘Don’t want to talk about it’, ’I’m just so sick of it’. There was an alliteration on the phrase ‘about it’. The singer refers to what happened with a disgusted attitude.

‘I’m just so sick about it’ is considered as hyperbole as the singer wanted to exaggerate his disappointment.

Just so confused about it
Feeling the blues about it
I just can’t do without ya
Tell me, is this fair?

Analysis — Forth verse.

‘Just so confused about it’, ‘Feeling the blues about it’. The singer referred to Alliteration.

‘Feeling the blues about it’. The singer referred to use hyperbole.

Is this the way it’s really going down?
Is this how we say goodbye?
Should have known better when you came around
That you were gonna make me cry
It’s breaking my heart to watch you run around
’Cause I know that you’re living a lie
That’s okay, baby, ’cause in time you will find

Analysis — Fifth verse

‘It’s breaking my heart to watch you run around’. the singer referred to hyperbole to emphasise his pain.

What goes around, goes around, goes around
Comes all the way back around
What goes around, goes around, goes around
Comes all the way back around
What goes around, goes around, goes around
Comes all the way back around
What goes around, goes around, goes around
Comes all the way back around

Analysis — sixth verse.

The whole verse is repetition.

Now girl, I remember everything that you claimed
You said that you were moving on now
And maybe I should do the same
Funny thing about that is

I was ready to give you my name
Thought it was me and you, babe
And now it’s all just a shame
And I guess I was wrong

Analysis — Seventh verse.

Nada

Don’t want to think about it
Don’t want to talk about it
I’m just so sick about it
Can’t believe it’s ending this way

Just so confused about it
Feeling the blues about it
I just can’t do without ya can you tell me, is this fair?

Analysis — eighth verse

In this verse, the singer used a lot of repetition. For example in the first and second lines, the singer used almost the same sentences but changed one word only.

Is this the way it’s really going down?
Is this how we say goodbye?
Should have known better when you came around
Should have known better that you were gonna make me cry
And now it’s breaking my heart to watch you run around
’Cause I know that you’re living a lie
That’s ok, baby, ’cause in time you will find

Analysis — ninth verse

Nada

Let me paint this picture for you, baby

You spend your nights alone and he never comes home
And every time you call him All you get is a busy tone

I heard you found out
That he’s doing to you what you did to me
Ain’t that the way it goes

You cheated, girl
My heart bleeded, girl
So it goes without saying that you left me feeling hurt
Just a classic case scenario
Tale as old as time girl, you got what you deserved

Analysis — tenth verse.

The singer used metaphor in the first sentence ‘Let me paint this picture for you, baby’ was he referred to painting a picture as expressing his emotions in a different way than he did.

‘My heart bleeded, girl’ is a hyperbole exaggerating the pain of being cheated on.

‘Tale as old as time girl’ is a simile used to make a description more emphatic on how cheating is an old ongoing narrative story as old as when time started.

And now you want somebody To cure the lonely nights
You wish you had somebody That could come and make it right

But girl, I ain’t somebody with a lot of sympathy
You’ll see, see

Analysis — eleventh verse.

‘and now you want somebody to cure the lonely nights’. The word cure is a metaphor by comparing the lonely nights to a disease that is cured by someones love.

I thought I told ya, hey
(What goes around comes back around)
I thought I told ya, hey

I thought I told ya, hey
(What goes around comes back around)
I thought I told ya, hey

See, you should have listened to me, baby
(Hey)
Because what goes around comes back around

Conclusion

This song consisted with a lot of hyperbole to execrate the pain of heartbreaks and the irony of karma. Justin also used a lot of repetition to emphasis that karma will always find its way back.