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.
So impressed with all you do
Tried so hard to be like you
Flew too high and burnt the wing
Lost my faith in everything
Lick around divine debris
Taste the wealth of hate in me
Shedding skin, succumb defeat
This machine is obsolete
Made the choice to go away
Drink the fountain of decay
Tear a hole exquisite red
Fuck the rest and stab it dead
Broken, bruised, forgotten, sore
Too fucked up to care anymore
Poisoned to my rotten core
Too fucked up to care anymore
Broken, bruised, forgotten, sore
Too fucked up to care anymore
Poisoned to my rotten core
Too fucked up to care anymore
In the back off the side and far away
Is a place where I hide, where I stay
Tried to say, tried to ask, I needed to
All alone by myself, where were you?
How could I ever think it's funny how
Everything that swore it wouldn't change, is different now
Just like you would always say, we'll make it through
Then my head fell apart and where were you?
How could I ever think, it's funny how
Everything you swore would never change, is different now
Like you said, you and me make it through
Didn't quite, fell apart, where the fuck were you?
Tried so hard to be like you
Flew too high and burnt the wing
Lost my faith in everything
Lick around divine debris
Taste the wealth of hate in me
Shedding skin, succumb defeat
This machine is obsolete
Made the choice to go away
Drink the fountain of decay
Tear a hole exquisite red
Fuck the rest and stab it dead
Broken, bruised, forgotten, sore
Too fucked up to care anymore
Poisoned to my rotten core
Too fucked up to care anymore
Broken, bruised, forgotten, sore
Too fucked up to care anymore
Poisoned to my rotten core
Too fucked up to care anymore
In the back off the side and far away
Is a place where I hide, where I stay
Tried to say, tried to ask, I needed to
All alone by myself, where were you?
How could I ever think it's funny how
Everything that swore it wouldn't change, is different now
Just like you would always say, we'll make it through
Then my head fell apart and where were you?
How could I ever think, it's funny how
Everything you swore would never change, is different now
Like you said, you and me make it through
Didn't quite, fell apart, where the fuck were you?
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I recently thought - couldn't this be about an idealized figure that falls down? But not in the sense of a betraying friend, think about someone he thought as a godlike figure - his grandmother, for example - and then he realizes that she's normal, flawed like every human. That often causes fury, it's a psychological process. But it's my two cents anyway, I also agree with the idea of seeing it as what people said, a continuation of the DS that ends up with him having the news that his grandma is terminally ill.