Well, in my opinion this song is about being a young & maybe a little naive &/or introverted girl and finding yourself loving a man who is at first very charming, carefree & outgoing, and seems at first to be without limits, as in
"There was a time
you opened up every doorway
you didn't mind if everything
wasn't your way"
then that man starts to gradually become more introverted & shows their more possessive/obsessive side to you as the relationship progresses, even while they keep up the appearance of being carefree & outgoing to everyone else,
"Don't pull away
that goes against what you told me
I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum"
so you confront them about the way they're acting and of course they deny it,
"I think you've changed
but you insist that
that's not true"
quite possibly they are an addict of some sort, my guess would be cocaine, &/or showing very obsessive behavior towards you (early on in the video for this song we see the man hanging a picture up, it is a very large portrait of Aimee & it is prominently displayed in his/their apartment for the duration of the song), thus their "love in a vacuum",
"You look so strange, so distant
that you're hardly you
Now I can see
how you have been acting different
You say it's me
but I know
that it isn't
it's love in a vacuum"
but still you are in love with them and don't want to leave them and you know that they are truly in love with you and they don't want you to leave them either, maybe they are convinced you can save them from themself, maybe they are so broken that the possibility of an overdose &/or suicide attempt is very real and you want to get through to them that their behavior not only dangerous but it is also just pissing you off and if they don't wise up they run the risk of loosing you, as in the lines
"You will be lonely
if you leave me alone", so you want to save them but can't get through to them due to the addiction &/or emotional problems they have,
"Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
love in a vacuum
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
You will be lonely
if you leave me alone
You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough"
you want them to understand that the love they are giving you is not enough when it is filtered through the vacuum of their drug addiction &/or emotional impairment,
"You will be lonely
you'll be the only one who feels this way
it's just not enough
and just wait
you will be lonely
Love in a vacuum
Love in a vacuum
and that's not enough
Love in a vacuum".
'Love In A Vacuum' for me is a hauntingly truthful acute argument on the loneliness of obsession and almost inevitable loss of love that follows people who are broken in some way or another; the obsessives, the coke heads, the drunks, addicts or the just-plain-old emotionally broken; a razor sharp, lyrically driven, deceptively poppy, yet ultimately-depressing-in-the-best-way song.
Quintessential Aimee Mann.
There's 10,000 reasons to survive
But you only needed 1 to die
It's too late to change what you've become
I won't always be this always lonely
The way you lived your life
It mesmerizes me
Now won't you take some time
To cast out your regrets?
Why did you leave our lives?
It mesmerizes me
So you won't take the time
Cast out your regrets
I hear a creaking through the door
I see you seeping through the floor
It's not easy asking you to leave
'Cause you'll always be the only
The way you lived your life
It mesmerizes me
Now won't you take some time
To cast out your regrets?
Why did you leave our lives?
It mesmerizes me
So you won't take the time
Cast out your regrets
The way you lived your life
It mesmerizes me
Now won't you take some time
To cast out your regrets?
Why did you leave our lives?
It mesmerizes me
So you won't take the time
Cast out your regrets
But you only needed 1 to die
It's too late to change what you've become
I won't always be this always lonely
The way you lived your life
It mesmerizes me
Now won't you take some time
To cast out your regrets?
Why did you leave our lives?
It mesmerizes me
So you won't take the time
Cast out your regrets
I hear a creaking through the door
I see you seeping through the floor
It's not easy asking you to leave
'Cause you'll always be the only
The way you lived your life
It mesmerizes me
Now won't you take some time
To cast out your regrets?
Why did you leave our lives?
It mesmerizes me
So you won't take the time
Cast out your regrets
The way you lived your life
It mesmerizes me
Now won't you take some time
To cast out your regrets?
Why did you leave our lives?
It mesmerizes me
So you won't take the time
Cast out your regrets
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This song is def a twin to "Unfair" (a song she has been quoted as saying is about falling in love with someone who is already in a relationship) so it is presumably about the same person. Given the references to buying an apartment and not being able to see her love interest "after tonight," it's most likely that she's moving away and she'll "wait a day to break the bad news" (i.e. notifying him that she's leaving once she's already gone).
And, of course, the fact that she sees in him a fellow "idealist" and "dreamer" (terms commonly given to people with the INFP personality on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) portends that she'll always be left wondering if they would've been perfect together.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
This is from Deron: This song is about a widower who just recently got married and his wife committed suicide. Recently after her death he believes that his wife is haunting him, trying to tell him something. "I hear a creaking through the door, i see you seeping through the floor" This is making the man a very uneasy person and he can't move on with his life. It breaks his heart to do it but he tells his wife's spirit to go away.He tells the ghost of her to leave him alone"Its not easy asking you to leave, cause you'll always be the only" I think that maybe the whole "now wont you take the time to cast out your regrets" part maybe the guy thought his wife was trying to tell him all the stuff she regrets doing (having an affair? maybe he found out? rough past?) but yeah thats pretty much the meaning
This is from Deron:<br /> This song is about a widower who just recently got married and his wife committed suicide. Recently after her death he believes that his wife is haunting him, trying to tell him something. "I hear a creaking through the door, i see you seeping through the floor" This is making the man a very uneasy person and he can't move on with his life. It breaks his heart to do it but he tells his wife's spirit to go away.He tells the ghost of her to leave him alone"Its not easy asking you to leave, cause you'll always be the only" I think that maybe the whole "now wont you take the time to cast out your regrets" part maybe the guy thought his wife was trying to tell him all the stuff she regrets doing (having an affair? maybe he found out? rough past?)<br /> but yeah thats pretty much the meaning<br /> <br /> All that makes sence. I just think.. Maybe the part "now wont you take the time to cast out your regrets" means, that the wife is trying to tell him that she is truely sorry for leaving him/killing herself. She doesn't want him to forget her, even though she made a terrible mistake. And that explains with she is haunting him.