"Self Esteem" (Offspring) and "Scotty Doesn't Know" (Lustra) are about the same girl

 "Self Esteem" by the Offspring was released in the spring of 1994. It tells the story of a young man being led on by an unnamed female companion who appears to be using him for sex. She proceeds to continue to do so throughout the song. He recounts from a first-person point of view, the way it affects him emotionally, lowering 

his self-esteem. 

   "Scotty Doesn't Know" by Lustra was released ten years later in 2004. It is the story of Scotty, told from the point of view of the man sleeping with Scotty's love interest, Fiona. It is never illicitly stated in this song that Fiona is Scotty's girlfriend. The remainder of the song calls out Scotty for not knowing or realizing that Fiona is cheating on him with the man telling the story. 

   For the rest of this essay, we will refer to the main male character of "Self Esteem" as "Scotty" and the main female character as "Fiona," while the male narrator of "Scotty Doesn't Know" will remain unnamed 

   In "Self Esteem," Scotty is fully aware that he is being lead on, even going over possible ways to convey his grievances with Fiona, but never fully committing once she shows up. I believe this miscommunication plays a large role in Fiona's belief that Scotty either does not know the details of this arrangement or is too weak to point it out. This likely plays a role in her approach to the other male narrator.

   Although the male narrator of "Scotty Doesn't know" may seem overly confident, he does specify more than once that he would like to notify Scotty of Fiona's behavior. At this point, the question could be asked, why would he feel the need to tell Scotty? In "Self Esteem" Scotty specifies that he knows Fiona sleeps with his friends. If Scotty had confided in one of these friends that he had more feelings for Fiona than just lust, a friend would typically feel guilty for acting behind Scotty's back. Especially if the friend is only using, or being used by, Fiona for sex and knows Scotty has romantic intentions. A friend would likely be aware of Scotty's prior self-esteem issues, adding to the emotional weight he bares by telling or not telling Scotty i.e. "Life is so hard cause Scotty doesn't know." This leads me to believe that the male narrator of "Scotty Doesn't Know" isn't an enemy, but the friend to Scotty mentioned in "Self Esteem." Scotty's self-esteem issues may also play a role in why he is too embarrassed to tell this friend that he is already aware of what's going on. If he won't approach Fiona directly, he may not want anyone close to be aware that despite his knowledge of the arrangement, he still sleeps with her. 

   Fiona has created a perfect system, knowing that neither male will tell each other details out of fear for their pre-existing friendship. This allows her to create two hierarchies, one based on emotional availability and the other on physical ability. She knows that she prefers to sleep with the male narrator from "Scotty Doesn't Know," so he is higher on the physical hierarchy. She may also be aware that she is just as disposable to him as he is to her, so she has Scotty. Scotty is higher on the emotional availability hierarchy, as Fiona is able to verbally insult him or abandon him, then come straight back while he accepts her without fail or judgement. This makes scotty Fiona's perfect back up plan when things don't line up with the other male narrator. The two men remain perfectly unaware that the other knows anything while simultaneously filling in for the other's shortcomings according to Fiona.

   While both men are having relations with the same girl, they are thinking about the well-being of one another. They might not know that they are actually aware of each other's actions, but they do know that Fiona doesn't truly care for either. Scotty doesn't blame his friend for sleeping with Fiona, probably under the impression that his friend wouldn't do so if he knew the extent of how it made Scotty feel. The friend wants to keep sleeping with Fiona but still feels a need to talk to Scotty. In conclusion, both songs were written as a way to communicate with each other when talking wouldn't suffice. This narrative being combined is a testament to the strength of male friendship.

This is all based in fun and in no way, shape, or form, based in fact...unless you believe in the power of friendship :)

-WarpedCircus