Cupid is a short song uploaded by Jack Stauber for Valentine's Day on February 14th, 2019 along with a music video. It would later be extended into a full song on June 1st, 2019 as a Patreon exclusive. Prior to its release, the original short version was released on the Micropop album as the 84th track with other songs and archives on June 29th, 2019. The extended version was then later released along with extended versions of Dinner is Not Over, There's Something Happening, and Keyman on February 7th, 2020, under Jack Stauber's Micropop.
Cupid tells the story of someone who develops an unhealthy attraction towards someone that is out of their reach and desperately wants these feelings to end. However, after they continue, the singer eventually ends their own life.
Lyrics
Cupid - Jack Stauber
Music Video
The bolded lyrics were included in the original short.
[Intro]
(Wah, wah, wah, wah)
(Wah, wah, wah, wah)
(Wah, wah, wah, wah)
(Wah, wah)
[Verse 1]
Oh, circumcise my love for you (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
It's far too vapid and aimless (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
I wanna be painless (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
Love soldier, I want closure (Wah, wah)
And a dollar for the bus back home
[Verse 2]
Oh, euthanize my heartbeat (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
As I set more in the concrete (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
The deified love meat (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
Madonna, oh, rare fauna (Wah, wah)
Pack your horror, ride the bus alone
[Bridge]
How can, Cupid
How could you be so cruel?
How can, Cupid
How could you be so-?
[Verse 3]
Oh, circumcise my love for you (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
It's far too vapid and aimless (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
I wanna be painless (Wah, wah, wah, wah)
Love soldier, I want closure (Wah, wah)
And a dollar for the bus back home
Meaning
Cupid is about a crush and attraction that the singer has towards someone that is vapid and meaningless to them in a "love at first sight" scenario. The singer is aware of how "vapid and aimless" the attraction is, yet they are still blindly drawn to it. Despite that, they want to lose this attraction, asking for the "love soldier" to "give them closure" and "euthanize their heartbeat." They also begin to curse out the Cupid deity, asking why they were "so cruel" in giving the singer this unhealthy attraction. The gunshot at the end of the song represents the singer eventually ending their own life, either because they were rejected, or they couldn't take having the attraction anymore. Although excluded in the extended version, in the music video after the song ends, dialogue stylized like a mystery show is heard in the background, wondering if they are going to find any "skeletons in the closet." This is an idiom used to represent an embarrassing secret being hidden from the public, with the embarrassing secret being the singer's unhealthy attraction.
There are additionally some extra theories brought up alongside this meaning. Some theories about the song suggest that the "wahs" sung in the background are actually meant to symbolize somebody crying. In the music video, the ear monster seems to represent a grotesque portrayal of a Cupid character in their head playing around with the singer's "deified love meat." The monster being shot in the eye at the end of the music video also seems to represent the singer shooting out their Cupid to end their sufferings. Also, a theory behind the music video is that Cupid nearly rhymes with Q-Tip, which is why it themes around ears and the insides of it.
Notes
Cupid has since become one of Jack's most famous songs, especially after the Turkey EP successfully generated on YouTube Music in August 2022. The song is known for its very dark story and graphic tone, with its lower instrumentals, background vocals, and most famously the very deep voice Jack uses the sing to song, either legitimate or pitched down. It's also very notable for its dark lyrics, using intense and unsettling terms and metaphors. The song is also considered one of his more sadder and emotional songs for its story and its romantic sound in the extended version.
The music video is also very notable for being one of Jack's scariest projects, as well as arguably being his most violent and graphic music video. The ear monster, although since becoming popular within the community, is infamous for its disturbing appearance, with its raggedy and disjointed look, notably always facing towards the viewer. The gunshot is commonly considered the scariest, yet also most famous part of the video for being unexpected and having uncanny detailed gore, which is not common with Jack's art style. Although these factors often result in discomfort and fear among viewers, the video is still popular and well received for said reasons.
2019 Patreon Leak
Custom thumbnail created by Art Van Loser for the leak.
The extended version has also had an infamous and very rough history prior to its public release, as it is also roughly remembered by long-time fans for being leaked from Patreon onto the internet by multiple users, most notably a user called Art Van Loser. They were also responsible for leaking the alternative version from Patreon. This was the first major situation of Jack Stauber's Patreon content being leaked onto the internet and is often considered the true starting point of the bad trend in leaking Jack's Patreon exclusives onto the internet, or at least what made the trend of doing so more popular. It is considered by most fans to be the most infamous instance of a Patreon leak of Jack's content. Eventually, after the official release of the extended version, Jack would copyright the leak and would force Art Van Loser to private the alternative version due to no plans of a public release for it.
Trivia
Cupid has become the most popular song featured on the Turkey EP in terms of streams and views.
However, its music video does not have the most views off the Turkey EP; instead belonging to There's Something Happening.
The extended version of Cupid was written and produced while Jack was recovering from a bad stunt injury he had gotten into in April 2019 where broke his collarbone and right arm.
However, when Jack finished and uploaded the extended version onto Patreon, he confirmed that he had healed and recovered from said stunt injury.
Jack posted a very deteriorated and grainy looking still from the Cupid music video onto his Tumblr page captioned "happy valentine's day" on the same day the video was uploaded. Jack also separately posted the music video as well. These two posts would eventually be the final posts on his Tumblr before the account mysteriously went inactive, presumed to now be abandoned.
When looking closely at the ear monster, you can slightly see that it has very short hair, though it could also likely be a faint shadow.
Cupid, Al Dente, Tea Errors, and Out the Ox are the only extended songs where the title isn't sung in the original version but is later sung in the extended version.
The extended version Cupid, along with the other songs on the Turkey EP were Jack's first public songs of 2020, unless you count video man.
An alternative version of Cupid was uploaded on Patreon on February 16th, 2019, featuring a more smooth and soft rock sound to it. This alternate version was the result of Jack believing that the final version was too creepy and "had too much meat," and it was an attempt to clean the song up a bit and make it sound less graphic.
It's currently unknown if Jack had sung the song with a deeper tone of voice, or if Jack had sung the song (excluding the bridge) in a higher pitch with his normal voice and pitched it down to match the final version. The latter is supported by the fact that the alternative version of the song is sung in a higher pitch than the original version.
On the original Patreon upload of the extended version of Cupid, the gunshot was completely removed from the ending. However, it was eventually added back when it was released to the public, mainly to connect with the song's story, as well as popular demand from his patrons.
Jack Stauber's Cupid with Inverted Audio (Jack Stauber Wiki v3)
Video attempting to interpret the static voices heard in both versions.
In the original song, a lingering radio static can be heard with many distorted voices and dialogue being heard. When messing with the audio and inverting it, the dialogue and voices are made audible and easier to hear and decipher. The extended version removes the original song's static and dialogue and instead replaces it with a new and updated version of it with different dialogue, and like the original version, can be heard when inverting the audio for the extended version.
Some of the static sound effects used in the background of Cupid seem to later be reused in the will cartoon.
Many fans have pointed out that Angel, a song on the 2019 Micropop album, has a very similar sound and tone to Cupid, with a similar creepy tone and notably the static sound heard in the background.
The extended version of Cupid was posted onto Patreon before all the three songs on the hand EP were even released on Patreon.
As stated above, the extended version of Cupid was posted onto Patreon before the original song was released on Micropop.
Cupid is the only song on the EP that had its original song released on Micropop.
The extended version of Cupid is the longest an extended song has been left stocked on Patreon before releasing to the public, having over an 8 month time period for it to release. It was most likely held back just so it can be released around Valentine's Day as it did, releasing a week before said holiday.
Cupid, along with the extended version of Keyman, were the latest in a month an extended song release, being uploaded a day late from the end of a month.
This, along with the other extended songs on the Turkey EP were infamous for not being officially generated onto YouTube until August 2022, two years and six months after the EP's initial release, causing fans to have to only listen to the songs through unofficial or fan-made uploads on YouTube.
