“Petty” marks a stylistic switch from Seth’s “usual” flow and continues to push the boundaries of Aussie hip-hop with a more ‘Americanised’ sound. However, despite making a departure from the ‘old sound’, Petty is a classic Seth Sentry song: it provides both an easy listening experience while offering deeper commentary on society at the same time.

That social commentary focusses around our petty desire for money and “success” that sometimes makes society look like a bunch of animals. Check out the artwork for this single: that’s not a human skeleton. It’s the skeleton of a gorilla.

Ultimately, that’s a criticism on the way some people bloodthirstily chase money and success as if it were a primal instinct. Seth uses a similar metaphor throughout “Campfire”.

But the idea of this song is that it confesses Seth is not above it all – he’s just the same as everyone else. The song’s essence is found in the last half of the hook:

I want it, I want it, I want it
I want it, I want the shit now
I just want it all in the palm of my hand
I don’t really care how

Here, Seth tells us that he impulsively wants everything, no matter what it takes: a sickness that impacts not only him, but the rest of society.