Lost Boys suffers from a similar issue to Kyoto - it's upbeat so people don't take it seriously as a song about mental health, trauma, and abuse
Disclaimer that this is my first reddit post ever so apologies if I am doing something wrong and just needed to vent on my issues with this:
Lately I've been seeing a lot of reviews and IG comments saying something along the lines of "omg this is going to be the happiest song on the album." This pisses me off because I don't think Lost Boys is a happy song or should be seen as such. To clarify, I'm not against anyone vibing out to it if it makes them happy, I'm not here to police art like that, but I also think it's super important to acknowledge the true depth to the song.
Lost Boys is ultimately a song about how capitalism ("this machine") crushes everyone, but ultimately affects the narrator and the lost boys differently. I would argue Phoebe/the narrator is a stand-in for women, or marginalized groups more generally, and the lost boys for men/ privileged people more generally. There's are metaphors in there about both the military and music industry, but they both tie back to this central idea.
Both the narrator and the lost boys are killed by capitalism. We see this in the music video where one of the soldiers is quite graphically beaten and we see his face squish and blood on his face. However, the lost boy ultimately becomes violent. ("you threw a tantrum with a 57) Phoebe still craving connection with the lost boys is a sign of emotional complexity. It could tie back to some of the feelings of "Savior Complex." Ultimately, these men are crushed by our society, and as they increasingly hurt themselves they start to hurt the women around them too, becoming instruments of control as well.
Lost boys never grow up never get old - mean they never emotionally mature. They have childish mindsets, but this could also mean they literally die young because of either their own recklessness (going 90 in a 55) or mental health issues. There's something tragic about the way Phoebe sings this, almost like she is lamenting that they are able to live in a state of self-delusion about the system while she is forced to be acutely aware.
Ultimately she is drawn back into the cycle (ie find me) because at least they understand her experience a bit, they are both lost, even if her lostness isn't as ignorant.
I would argue the upbeat nature of the song isn't just a marketing ploy. Obviously we exist under capitalism too, she wants her work to be successful. But it creates a very important aesthetic about the way these men are often celebrated in our society and excused also.
It reminds me of things like incel culture. It also reminds me of conversations within the autistic community about how autistic men are often excused for abusing women because of their autism, ignoring the fact that autistic women experience the same circumstances and more and are the most common victims of abuse. I'm an autistic AFAB person and throughout my life have been abused and assaulted continuously by other marginalized men because the system broke them and now they take it out on people who have it even worse. Also reminded me of this because the video game themes are very relevant to both autistic culture and incel culture.
Like Kyoto is a song about her abusive dad. This isn't ultimately a post about that, but it's truly a tragic song too. It might sound upbeat on its face but that's just it. Neither of these songs are happy, they just use musical techniques that Phoebe doesn't commonly use.