CHRIS CARRABBA FINALLY EXPLAINS DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL'S JUSTIN BIEBER COVER

For many Dashboard Confessional followers, likely including known fan Taylor Swift, "Hands Down" feels like a time capsule of the early 2000s. It conjures up images of unrequited middle-school crushes, Myspace Top 8 lists, and AIM away messages typed in Comic Sans. For Carrabba, though, the song's victorious finale — "You stood at your door with your hands on my waist / And you kissed me like you meant it" — vividly recalls a scene from his life that seems lifted straight out of a rom-com.

"Whenever I sing the line 'The streets were wet and the gate was locked / So I jumped it,' I can remember it," he said, referencing the same swoon-worthy verse. "I can remember how the street felt under my sneakers, I remember finding the locked gate, jumping over the other side and unlatching it from the inside. And I think of it every single time without fail when I sing that line."