Fire's Chill Pick - September 2025

 Whatchu know about Fire’s love of music?

Every single month he has a Fire’s Chill Pick 

I’ve been blogging 4 years man I’ve got that devotion, yeah

I feel like an astronaut in the ocean, ayy

Okay, yeah that might be my worst ever Fire’s Chill pick intro and the one I did for “Soda Pop” exists. 😭

Anyways, this month’s chill pick is a bit...let’s call it different. So what are we reviewing this month?

Masked Wolf - Astronaut In The Ocean

Release: January 6, 2021

Genres: Trap, Pop Rap

This is different in that it’s a song I’ve already reviewed multiple times in my 2021 best list (and its redux) and you already know that I love the song. So I’m not gonna be reviewing this song technically (though if you want my rating fsr it’s a 9/10 lol). Call it ruminating on thoughts I’ve actually had since 2021. By this point you probably know Australian rapper Masked Wolf’s massive crossover hit “Astronaut In The Ocean”, which cracked the top 10 in the spring of 2021 and was pretty much roundly clowned upon for its lyrics making no sense and kinda serving “lyrical miracle” on the whole. This didn’t help when Masked Wolf said in a Genius.com interview that this song was about depression despite the lyrics not really supporting that theory. So today I’m gonna try giving Masked Wolf’s song actual meaning.

Let’s start with the actual title, an astronaut in the ocean, what could that possibly mean? Let’s weigh three potential meanings for that metaphor:

1) feeling out of place (like what Masked Wolf said)

2) training for a mission (astronauts do train in the ocean to simulate low gravity)

3) returning from a successful mission (astronauts land in the ocean after completing a mission)

Let’s go through the lyrics now and see if we can find any clues leading to any of these meanings, starting with the first chorus:

What you know about rollin' down in the deep?

When your brain goes numb, you can call that mental freeze

When these people talk too much, put that shit in slow motion, yeah

I feel like an astronaut in the ocean, ayy

What you know about rollin' down in the deep?

When your brain goes numb, you can call that mental freeze

When these people talk too much, put that shit in slow motion, yeah

I feel like an astronaut in the ocean

You could interpret rolling down in the deep when paired with the mental freeze lyric as being lost or out of place, so that could point to meaning #1.

Now the first verse:

She say that I'm cool (Damn straight)

I'm like, "Yeah, that's true" (That's true)

I believe in G-O-D (Ayy)

Don't believe in T-H-O-T

She keep playing me dumb, uh (Play me)

I'ma play her for fun (Uh-huh)

Y'all don't really know my mental

Let me give you the picture like stencil

Fallin' out in a drought

No flow, rain wasn't pourin' down (Pourin' down)

See, that pain was all around

See, my mode was kinda lounged

Didn't know which, which way to turn

Flow was cool, but I still felt burnt

Energy up, you can feel my surge

I'ma kill everything like this purge (Ayy)

Okay, the G-O-D, T-H-O-T lyric definitely doesn’t support meaning #1, but the way it’s delivered in the song could be seen as braggadocious (very flimsy and weird flex but still). The “she” in this verse also says that Masked Wolf is cool and she’s playing him dumb, the rest of the verse is then him seeming to detail an adversity or moment of questioning and then he suddenly gets motivation to go on (see the last two lines of the verse). In a sense you can say that in this verse Masked Wolf is training to disprove the haters. Maybe that’s his “mission”; he’s training for his mission to become a successful rapper and disprove the haters. That points towards meaning #2. Even the bridge kinda points to this!

Let's just get this straight for a second, I'ma work (Yuh)

Even if I don't get paid for progression, I'ma get it (Uh, get it)

Everything that I do is electric (Ayy)

I'ma keep it in a motion, keep it movin' like kinetic, ayy (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

See? Even if he doesn’t get success out the gate, he’s gonna keep working. Then the second verse:

Put this shit in a frame, better know I don't blame

Everything that I say, man, I seen you deflate

Let me elevate, this ain't a prank

Have you walkin' on a plank, li-li-li-li-like

Both hands together, God, let me pray (Now let me pray), uh

I've been goin' right, right around, call that relay (Masked Wolf)

Pass the baton, back and I'm on

Swimmin' in the pool, Kendrick Lamar, uh (Ayy)

Want a piece of this, a piece of mine, my peace a sign

Can you please read between the lines?

My rhyme's inclined to break your spine (Spine)

They say that I'm so fine (Fine)

You could never match my grind (True)

Please do not, not waste my time (Wolf)

Now he’s in a relay race? Maybe the relay race is a metaphor for him finally at his peak, seeing the success (though honestly maybe if he used the word “Olympics” somewhere in there that could communicate that better)? His rhyme’s inclined to break your spine and you better not waste his time and you can never match his grind. Maybe this is pointing to him completing his mission of being a successful rapper? That points to meaning #3. Then the chorus repeats for the end, and now the “astronaut in the ocean” is him returning from his mission of being a successful rapper.

Wait, so we have equal evidence for all three interpretations. So, final conclusion to this song’s meaning? This song is a three-part story of rising from a place of loneliness and despair to training for his successful mission of being a famous rapper to him ultimately reaching that goal. Todd In The Shadows has frequently brought up the term “‘I’m back bitch’ single” where the only purpose of the song is to be loud and empty to reassert a big artist’s talent. However in one of his One Hit Wonderland episodes, he made a passing mention to an “‘I’m here bitch’ single” that essentially is the same as the “I’m back bitch” single except it’s from a new artist on the scene saying “You’ve never heard of me, but I’m here to stay and I’m the most important person in the room right now”. What “Astronaut In The Ocean” is, in short, is an “I’m here bitch” single.

Of course, this is a half-joke article, Masked Wolf essentially admitted to freestyling the entire song when he tried to claim it was about depression haha. But these were some random thoughts I just wanted to spew out that I’ve been sitting with for the past 4 years. Hope you enjoyed it haha!! And until the next article, remember to keep it Fire!!