No One Ever Gets What They Want

"No One Ever Gets What They Want" is a song by Romo, the sixth and final song from her sixth studio album Tambora. The song will be the album's first and only single, scheduled for release on February 19, 2021. The song marks Romo's first co-production collaboration with Indigo Peak's Andre Cassenove in 12 years.

At four minutes and fifty-three seconds, "No One Ever Gets What They Want" is the shortest song on Tambora and of Romo's two surprise-released albums in 2020-21. Romo designed it to be a reverse of "Madame Bullshit", which starts angry and ends melancholy, by including ballad-like verses and an angry, defiant hook. Cassenove co-produced the hook portion of the song, with Romo aiming for the overall work to "remind people why they loved Romo in the first place."

Composition
The song was written when Romo thought the album needed a song that reminded people why they became fans of hers during her 2008-11 run. It combines the introspective alternative pop of her two self titled albums with an electropop-inspired bridge co-produced by former production collaborator Andre Cassenove of Indigo Peak.

Lyrics
The song's first two verses tell the story of a couple who get rich off the suffering of others, and the effect it has on society, up until their empire crumbles when a natural disaster destroys their home and their business operations. The narrator, who has faced setbacks in life resulting from the couple taking advantage of her despite putting in the hard work that she had been told would lead to a great reward, initially feels resigned that her voice carries no power because she does not have the wealth to back it up, until expressing a defiance in the song's chorus that provokes her to stand up for herself ("You take all I have, giving nothing in return / Take any more from me, I will make you burn").

The first verse concludes, "I moved mountains to get here, risking myself for reward / Nothing to show for this blood and sweat, but a meager mouse." The lyrics are a reference to one of Aesop's fables, The Mountain In Labor, in which a mountain labors and produces only a mouse; it's frequently used as a metaphor for things that hold much promise but deliver little, and Romo is believed to have drawn inspiration from the underperformance of her single "Madame Bullshit" despite an aggressive and highly visible campaign to get the song to #1 (it only debuted at #5, and when her grievances came to light the single crashed on the charts). Romo's lyrical inspiration from her career setbacks and Aesop's fables build on the two songs on Tambora that were released ahead of the album, "The Scorched Earth" and "Lupus (Or...)".

Romo also builds upon album's overarching theme of relating the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 to modern times and exploring the idea of the Earth rebelling against humanity for damaging it in the first words of the second verse ("They stand on the apex of a loose cannon / At the very moment when nature seeks vengeance against its creation"). She also references the Book of Job in the Bible, alluding to the losses of his children and his wealth despite his service to God. The penultimate lines of the third verse, where Romo theorizes her generation will fail to impart wisdom on future generations because her elders failed to do the same for them, is a criticism of the excesses and conservative political leanings of the Baby Boomer generation.

Some music journalists made comparisons to the Foo Fighters' 2007 single "The Pretender", which contains a "who are you" bridge that builds up to a scream, because of Romo's reliance on a shouted "WHO! ARE! YOU!" in the chorus.

Track listings
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Promotion
Romo confirmed an in-studio collaboration with Indigo Peak on January 18, 2021, three days before the release of Tambora; the session involved the making of "No One Ever Gets What They Want". A day later, Romo announced a partnership with Cards Against Humanity for a Romo-themed expansion pack.

Music video
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Critical
"No One Ever Gets What They Want" received mostly positive reviews from music critics, many of whom complimented Romo for bridging her lyrically deep and musically experimental songs with her hookiest work. Critics also praised the reunion of Romo and Indigo Peak, whose partnership in the late 2000s led to career highlights like "Schizo Pop".

Commercial
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