“Ghost of You” is a song sung and written by Australian boy-band 5 Seconds of Summer. The song is under the pop, pop-rock, and pop-punk genre alongside the rest of the songs in the album, Youngblood. 

The structure of the verses in the song have a pattern: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, and chorus. The song starts with the idea of waking up to the feeling of an empty bed, followed by reminiscing old memories, and, finally, singing about loneliness in an empty house.

The lyrics of the song express heartbreak, coping, and reminiscing. The vocals of the singers sound very broken-hearted and miserable. The instrumentals of the song also help enhance these themes. Using repetition, you can also hear a depressing guitar riff that resembles a cry of sadness throughout the song. The constant repetition of the lines “so I drown it out like I always do,” and “dancing through our house, with the ghost of you” emphasize the theme of poor coping methods to a heartbreak. The theme of reminiscing memories is prominent in the first verse when the singer looks around the house and spotting items that belonged to the ex-lover such as “there’s your coffee cup” with “[a] lipstick stain” and “[finding] your old Zeppelin shirt.” The reminiscing and the attempt to cope further the listener’s ability to understand the heartbeat the singer is experiencing.

Upon an extensive analysis of the song, we realize that the singer is in denial. Even though the ex-girlfriend has already moved out, the singer states “still [I] can’t sleep on your side [of the bed]” almost as if the singer believes that she will return one day as if the break up did not happen. The singer also admits to “dancing through our house with the ghost of you.” The dictation of this line amplifies the idea of denial; he calls the place he lives in “our house.” The concept of dancing with a ghost of someone, who is not dead, suggests that one may be going through denial. He also chooses to ignore reality saying, “so I drown it out like I always do.” This issue of denial may be contributing to poor coping methods.

Overall, the song encaptures the difficulty of growing and healing from a heartbreak. The lyrics and use of repetitions, in both vocal and instrumental aspects, help establish the themes of heartbreak, coping, reminiscing, and possibly denial; however, the lyrics are still ambiguous enough to suggest other themes as well.