Songfacts®:

• Evil is a relay sport when the one who's burned turns to pass the torch
  
  In a relay race, a baton is passed from one runner to another. In this metaphor, the baton is a torch that burns whoever holds it. That person can pass it on, burning the next person, or keep it, burning herself.
  
  Apple wrote the line in a notebook when she was 15, but didn't put it into a song until "Relay," which was released on her Fetch The Bolt Cutters album when she was 42.
• Apple was motivated to write this song after following the Brett Kavanaugh hearings in 2018. President Donald Trump had nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, but accusations of sexual assault threatened to derail his appointment. A number of women spoke out against Kavanaugh, but he was confirmed anyway, which left Apple seething. She expresses her frustration with the line, "I resent you for never getting any opposition at all."
  
  Later in the song, Apple sees that her anger threatens to lead her into a vicious cycle:
  
  I know if I hate you for hating me
  I will have entered the endless race
• The line, "I resent you for presenting your life like a f--king propaganda brochure" is a jab at social media influencers, who Apple feels are the kind of people least qualified to influence. Apple isn't on social media, knowing that it would likely suck her into a pattern of comparing herself to others, which isn't healthy.
• The layered soundscape on this song is something Apple spent a long time working on, mixing various vocals and organic sounds, including the jangling collar of her dog. She takes her time when making an album: Fetch The Bolt Cutters was released eight years after her previous effort, The Idler Wheel...