A Verse-by-Verse Exploration of the Existential Labyrinth of “Pickle in the Fridge” by TJ Mack (Brian Jordan Alvarez + Josh Mac)
i was scrolling through reels haphazardly when i was stopped dead in my tracks by these words:
“i got a pickle in the fridge”
and this face:
until “pickle in the fridge,” i was quite unfamiliar with the wild and wacky personas of Brian Jordan Alvarez, nor had i known any of the music stylings of Josh Mac, but upon this reel and this tune entering my life, the melody has haunted me ceaselessly.
but it’s not only me. around the house, at any given moment, either mar or i can be heard whispering about brined cucumbers inside our refrigerator. (and mind you, she HATES pickles).
we have spread the “pickle in the fridge” gospel to all our friends, some shocked that this is what we constitute as humor and/or music, some understanding what compels us about this song without question.
but as we have had this song on repeat over and over and over and over and over and (seriously) over again, i began to really pay attention to the intricate and existential quandary posed by “pickle in the fridge.”
today, i wanted to untangle this mystifying earworm of a tune because beyond the silly filter and banging beats lies a story worth unwrapping.
let’s do this:
verse 1 gives us:
pickle in the fridge
i got a pickle in the fridge
i got my wife all over me
but there’s a pickle in the fridge
so we begin with the exposition, there is a pickle in the fridge and then, immediately, TJ Mack gives us the rising action that his wife is all over him. sounds delightful right? to have your loving (maybe i am inferring a little here, but i hope she is loving) wife all over you? and yet, AND YET, our final line in the verse returns TJ Mack’s attention to the pickle in the fridge.
from verse one, we are primed to understand that this is a song not merely about a pickle in the fridge, but about DESIRE. yes, this is a song about want, about longing, about how the mind spins around the things we crave. and we can be assured this song is about desire as TJ Mack moves swiftly into verse 2:
when my wife is at work
i touch the pickle in the fridge
when my wife is at home
i do not touch the pickle in the fridge
to ignore what stares us so plainly in the face would be idiocy. in the confines of his privacy, whilst not surveilled by his wife, TJ Mack touches the pickle in the fridge. beautiful! just beautiful!
but there is madness as well, for we learn that when Mack’s wife IS at home, he does NOT touch the pickle in the fridge. but it’s clear he wants it, he wants it so badly but he fears the consequences. and how we do know? from verse 3 of course:
’cause there’s a pickle in the fridge
i’m gonna crunch with it my teeth
but if my wife sees me do that
she gonna be so mad at me
now i have to wonder, and perhaps you do too, is TJ Mack forbidden by his wife from having pickles? does she only want to keep them for herself? it’s clear he loves pickles, so clear! we have to keep listening to verse 4 to keep learning:
when my wife buy pickle at the store
she put a pickle in the fridge
but then she get so mad at me because
then there’s no pickle in the fridge
okay, now we’re getting some more insight — Mack’s wife is the one who purchases the pickles and brings them home. so, it makes sense that she would be upset if the pickles she bought weren’t there, but does that mean she is not one to share with her husband? does she know he loves pickles so much? is Mack not allowed to buy pickles because something horrible has happened due to his dill-addiction?
perhaps Mack’s wife is indeed aware of TJ’s passion for pickles, but she also understands the devastation he faces when they are out of pickles, for pickles are not forever (though one might wish they were). there may be some credit that needs to be given to Mack’s wife regarding her understanding of desire given that in verse 1, despite being all over her husband, Mack can only think of the pickle in the fridge. i mean, just look at verse 5:
you know there’s pickle in the fridge
’til you eat the pickle in the fridge
when you eat the pickle in the fridge
there’s not gonna be anymore pickle in the fridge
here we see TJ Mack coming to a revelation regarding the desire of tangible things that, i think, his wife knew already: if there is a pickle in the fridge, and you eat it, there will no longer be any more pickles in the fridge to eat.
and while maybe not enough to call it a verse, TJ Mack delivers a singular, haunting line as Josh Mac expertly drops the beat so we can hear the raw, beating emotion of:
there’s no more pickle in the fridge…
goodness, the anguish and emptiness that often comes from sinking our teeth into the thing we have dreamt about and chased for so, so long.
but there is not a moment to spare because at the 58-second mark, Mac brings back the flourish of instruments and harmonies as TJ Mack dives into one of the most heart-wrenching and devastating confessions a singer has given us in a long, long time:
and my wife is mad at me
i wish i had a pickle
his wife knows how this will hurt him, the lack of a pickle. and while Mack, at this moment, needs empathy so desperately, his wife, who has seen him go down this road so many times, cannot help but fall into anger. and this anger, about the pickle in the fridge, only pushes Mack to wanting a pickle more. he wishes, HE WISHES, for a pickle in this time of deep emotional crisis, pleading that:
there’s just a pickle in the fridge
you know i looking for a pickle in the fridge
i looking for a pickle in the fridge
but i only find egg
and the song ends.
the quest for a pickle leading to the eating of the pickle leading to more hunger for a pickle leading to the disappointment of only finding egg. Mack, with aplomb, lays out the vicious cycle of desire so clearly, but also leaves us with the danger of fixating too deeply upon these desires, especially of tangible, disappearing objects.
there is a beauty in desire and also something so sinister about it at times. TJ Mack, in “pickle in the fridge,” is learning and exploring what those lines and boundaries are, and what happens when you cross them.
this song’s message, at its core, is such a simple concept conveyed so complexly— it’s one we may scoff at as too trivial to be worthy of making in today’s age where we think we are so self-aware and evolved, but haven’t we all, at some point, been TJ Mack? aren’t some of us him? right now?
we all have something we crave and desire so badly that the mere logic of wanting it is madness.
we all have a pickle in our fridge somewhere. i hope you both never find it and do.
