Elastic Heart

Elastic Heart is about mania, the upswing of bipolarity. I’ve known that person: she's irresistible when she’s high, her energy ballooning to fill a room. Her mania is effervescent and urgent and sometimes frightening. She’s the best part of life—until she isn’t. When the mania ebbs, she’s as wilted as if she’d been to battle.

Sia knows this; she's smart about it, too, because—as her music video depicts—bipolarity isn't defined by two opposite and contending halves as much as it’s parasitic. In Sia's video, Maddie Ziegler is that affliction, charismatic in her wildness and her anger. By the video’s end, she’s driven Shia LaBeouf to exhaustion, to his slump at the cage's edge.

Mania’s push and pull requires an elastic heart. It’s a battle, as Sia writes, not to "fall apart."

"And another one bites the dust But why can I not conquer love?"

She's afraid to fall in love, so she pushes people away. She uses "bite the dust" in reference to how people would leave her because she refuses to get close to anyone.

"And I might've got to be with one Why not fight this war without weapons?"

She's proposing that if she could actually let someone in, then they both would need to wear their hearts on their sleeves. But, the way it's phrased, it seems like she's doubtful that anyone would be completely truthful. Also, she doesn't realize that she's not completely open either, yet she expects others to be.

"And I want it and I wanted it bad But there were so many red flags Now another one bites the dust And let's be clear, I trust no one"

She really wants to let someone in, but all she sees are the bad. So another person "bites the dust". They leave her. She's so stubborn. Just like a child, she crosses her arms and simply says "I trust no one!"

"You did not break me I'm still fighting for peace"

She's saying she's not broken. It's not the other person's fault that she pushed them away. She's already came broken. She's simply fighting for her own peace.

"Well I've got thick skin and an elastic heart"

She's saying that she's strong. She doesn't let people get to her. She has an "elastic heart". This means that she can easily heal if someone hurts her.

"But your blade it might be too sharp"

The other person is also stubborn, and is cutting through her "thick skin". He/she is getting through to her. He's finally going to see her for who she is, and not for the protective visage she presents.

"I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard But I may snap and I move fast"

She's referring to her elastic heart. No matter how much someone moves her heart, she would never get stay hurt for long because she would snap back quickly.

"But you won't see me fall apart (this should be the correct lyrics... makes more sense) Cause I've got an elastic heart I've got an elastic heart Yeah, I've got an elastic heart"

She's saying that she'd never let anyone see how she feels. She wants the world to know that nothing can hurt her.

"And I will stay up through the night Let's be clear, I won't close my eyes"

She shows how afraid she is. She won't close her eyes. She lets people know that she's careful and that she will always protect herself from anything. But, they don't know that she's actually afraid. She can't sleep soundly because she's so afraid of getting hurt.

"And I know that I can survive I walked through fire to save my life And I want it, I want my life so bad And I'm doing everything I can Then another one bites the dust It's hard to lose a chosen one"

This is an example of self-preservation. She wants to protect herself, her life. She will not let anyone hurt her. She pushes another person away, but she thinks that she started to finally started that person. It's because she started trusting that person that she pushed them away.

Overall, she is trying to say that she wants people to be true and open to her. She wants people to be real. But, she doesn't realize that she's not being completely open either. She is afraid to trust and love others. She is afraid of being hurt, so she puts up a strong front. She shows people that she has "thick skin" and an "elastic heart", but in all reality, she wants to protect herself and keep herself away from any possibility that might cause her pain. She pushes people away before she can even trust them and them to trust her. She's not as strong as she thinks she is, but she wants people to know that she's invincible. Finally, she meets a "chosen one". This person is someone she started to trust and possibly adore, but when she realizes this, she pushes them away. She isn't as strong as she says. She's just afraid.

From Peter Lewis, SongMeanings Contributor:

"Sia battles an army and her soldiers keep dying - an anology for her struggle with her own emotions. The song was originally recorded for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but In 2014 she released a solo version of Elastic Heart for her ablum 1000 Forms of Fear. The video for the song, Sia says is about "Two warring 'sia' self states." The song paints a picture of a struggle for peace. 

And another one bites the dust But why can I not conquer love? And I might've got to be with one Why not fight this war without weapons?

Sia is using an anology here, comparing a battle between armies with her own emotional battle. She keeps taking hits and getting weaker, and another one of her "soldiers" fall. Why can't she conquer her own heart?

An alternate meaning is that partners - and even friends - keep walking out on her because her emotional struggles affect them in negative ways. She has less support as these people don't exist in her life anymore.

And I want it and I wanted it bad But there were so many red flags Now another one bites the dust And let's be clear, I trust no one

She wants to be able to trust people, but always sees the red flags, the bad side of them. And she loses them because of it.

You did not break me I'm still fighting for peace

Now she's talking about an actual person. She's been damaged, but she did not let them break her and she's still fighting for peace - peace with them, peace with herself, and/or peace with the world. Maybe this line was meant for Sia's father who she has had a troubled relationship with.

Well I've got thick skin and an elastic heart But your blade it might be too sharp I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard But I may snap when I move close But you won't see me move no more Cause I've got an elastic heart I've got an elastic heart Yeah, I've got an elastic heart

The thick skin is her strong part, and the elastic heart is the weaker part of her. She'll fight her hardest - but she's still breakable.

And I will stay up through the night Let's be clear, I won't close my eyes And I know that I can survive I walked through fire to save my life And I want it, I want my life so bad And I'm doing everything I can Then another one bites the dust It's hard to lose a chosen one

It's hard to lose the support that she needs. When she sings that she's trying to survive and wants her life, she's not just talking about life and death. She's talking about her life, her livelihood, and not letting her emotions die.

Yes - it's deep. What do you think this song means?"

After watching the music video for this song, I believe it is about two seperate personas of the same person, an immature, slightly psychotic childlike one and a rational and logical adult, that are fighting for different things. Part of this person, the childlike persona, wants to break free and let their imagination run wild but it is being held back by the other, the rational adult. Because the two appear to have a link, as evidenced by both being in the cage, one cannot go with out the other. Hence the fight for dominance between the two.

However, reading the lyrics makes it seem like the two personas are in fact different people an this rational and level-headed one is keeping the childlike one from straying to far and no matter what they say, the other person won't be offended or take it personally.

prettyboredvids explains it really well on youtube, here's what she...he? said:

OMG I THINK I GOT IT. I'm thinking Maddie and Shia both represent two halves of Sia. Maddie represents innocence, purity, unawareness of the cruelty of the world. Shia represents adulthood, maturity, complete awareness of the cruelty of the world. The cage represents Sia's soul. Shia screaming near the middle of the video and him crying at the end while Maddie tries to pull him through the bars represents that, no matter what, there is no going back to the freedom and innocence of being a child. Shia not being able to leave the cage represents Sia not being able to forget the responsibility and knowledge she's acquired from becoming an adult. We all grow up to learn about beautiful things and horrible things, and it may be very stressful to take in at times. And although we wish we can go back to a time when things were simple, it'll never happen. Which is both frustrating and saddening. This isn't just about Sia, it's about all of us.

The song has gotten a lot of attention for it's music video, which shows 28 year old actor Shia LeBeouf (Transformers) and 12-year old dancer Maddie Ziegler (Dance Moms & Sia's "Chandelier" clip). Sia told Rolling Stone the two represent the "two warring 'Sia' self states."

This was such an emotional, disturbing, sympathetic, powerful, and sad music video for this beautiful song. It seems like there was an implication of molestation between the man (a father) and the girl (a daughter). There's only so much damage the man can do before the girl becomes angry and begins to fight him, and eventually leaves "the cage" (the situation/problem or home). The man can leave the cage if he takes a route only he can take, and not the girl. I think that in terms of a father/daughter relationship that would be the father simply leaving the girl alone in the cage, in the wake of what had happened to put her in the cage. So he goes back for her. He wants to comfort her and reassure her he is not leaving her, but she misinterprets the touch and they begin to fight and move around the cage again. The girl is smaller and is able to leave the cage, for one because she is a child and is able to glide in and out of the problem which cages the man permanently, and only restrains her when she fights the man and/or is drawn back into the problem. The girl sees the man is trapped in the cage and feels sorry for him, and so she goes back into the cage. Then we see the man is acting like a father should. We don't exactly see the man as a paternal figure until he begins to make the girl laugh, and she begins to give him purpose and he begins to give her happiness. When the girl sees this paternal happiness/goofiness in him, she tries to lead him out of the cage. I'm guessing the cage, in this way, is supposed to represent the relationship between the two that the act of molestation created. At the beginning of the video, it's just a man and a girl fighting with no connection, in a cage, their relationship is based on physicality. The girl is just a girl and the man is just a man and that's how they see each other. And by the end we see that the girl (daughter) wants the man (father) to be happy and free from guilt over his heinous act, because if she can forget it and it's implications, then she wants him to do the same. But he can't, and he tries to pull her back into the cage, and the struggle is still ongoing. This is just the way I see it, and I could be dead wrong. Feel free to add to it, or tell me what you think the song/music video is about and implies, but please don't hate because this is just mt interpretation of it. Thanks.

I believe this song is written from the point of view of someone who was narcissisticaly abused as a child and who has spent their adult life looking for love. There's a sense of frustration and heartbreak, but also a steeliness of a survivor. She refuses to be broken by the narc abusers she has repeatedly encountered. Her adult relationships fit the pattern of her childhood family and the abuse she went through. She's trying to break the cycle and so far failing, yet she defiantly survives. Every time it happens. All this narc abuse has taught her she can't trust anyone, because Narcs always wear masks to fool their victims. She is afraid to sleep at night as she fears her most recent ex who she split with at the time of this story she's singing about. Because narcs are dangerous when you leave them. The narc tried to break her down and she defiantly refuses to be defeated. She says she'll walk through fire to save her life. And that she wants to live despite it all. It's almost a testimony that if something should happen, she wanted to live and is not suicidal. And that she's not suicidal despite the soul destroying pain of having been narc abused that drives many to suicide. This song is incredibly powerful. Her voice is incredible. Sia is probably an empath which gives her voice emotional depth lacking in narc singers' voices that we are used to hearing. This song is a gift to humanity.

I agree with Dan, but I wanted to add that I thought it was the most rudimentary parts of the human psyche like the personified innocence and human nature that we struggle with and go from the fragile and sweet nature of innocence to the rough and tumble gritty depravity and how we bounce from one to the other bordering on breaking all together

Im definitely hearing "But you wont see me fall apart" instead of "But you won't see me move no more"