This is a heartbreak ballad for nice guys everywhere.
Coming out of a broken engagement after four years together, this haunting song resonates with me more than any other song from "25."
It is an apology and a resolution -- "you're not what I wanted and I'm sorry." Likewise, my ex-fiance fell apart on me and ultimately concluded that, although she thought that I was a wonderful person, she could not marry me.
Opening with the elements of shame attached to any significant break up, Adele sets the stage: Don't look at me / Don't watch me leave / Don't try to win me back. The fallout from breakups is often embarrassing, but there's nothing that he can do. The end is here.
Then come the worst words one can hear in a relationship: "I don't love you any more."
She explains that she's merely "being cruel to be kind," as all breakups require one party to be uncompromising. Feelings will be hurt.
They are "oceans apart," beautiful phraseology even if unoriginal. However, that there is "so much space between us" is tragically simple yet eloquent. There is no attraction left, the once existing chemistry is gone.
The sting to nice guys comes in the vague justifications. What's wrong? Well, "everything" has changed her. Pressed for more, she offers that she wants to “live” and “not just survive.” It is a dagger to nice guys, representing the terrible fate of being dumped for not being edgy enough to be attractive.
At this point, that we have “given her something she can’t live without,” that she meant everything she said, and that “it is the world to her that you are in her life” mean little. We have been rejected. Instructing us not to underestimate ourselves, and “don’t fall apart” because she “can’t face our breaking heart” is almost patronizing.
Most powerful is the recurring theme that it is all fait accompli and cannot be changed. The words “already defeated” spell it out — nothing can be done. It is a loss. The chilling ending puts the punctuation to it: “I don’t think you can save me.”
It’s what makes the song so wonderful. The song captures all the elements of these sad times in our lives when we realize that it is over and will never be again.
This is a heartbreak ballad for nice guys everywhere.
Coming out of a broken engagement after four years together, this haunting song resonates with me more than any other song from "25."
It is an apology and a resolution -- "you're not what I wanted and I'm sorry." Likewise, my ex-fiance fell apart on me and ultimately concluded that, although she thought that I was a wonderful person, she could not marry me.
Opening with the elements of shame attached to any significant break up, Adele sets the stage: Don't look at me / Don't watch me leave / Don't try to win me back. The fallout from breakups is often embarrassing, but there's nothing that he can do. The end is here.
Then come the worst words one can hear in a relationship: "I don't love you any more."
She explains that she's merely "being cruel to be kind," as all breakups require one party to be uncompromising. Feelings will be hurt.
They are "oceans apart," beautiful phraseology even if unoriginal. However, that there is "so much space between us" is tragically simple yet eloquent. There is no attraction left, the once existing chemistry is gone.
The sting to nice guys comes in the vague justifications. What's wrong? Well, "everything" has changed her. Pressed for more, she offers that she wants to “live” and “not just survive.” It is a dagger to nice guys, representing the terrible fate of being dumped for not being edgy enough to be attractive.
At this point, that we have “given her something she can’t live without,” that she meant everything she said, and that “it is the world to her that you are in her life” mean little. We have been rejected. Instructing us not to underestimate ourselves, and “don’t fall apart” because she “can’t face our breaking heart” is almost patronizing.
Most powerful is the recurring theme that it is all fait accompli and cannot be changed. The words “already defeated” spell it out — nothing can be done. It is a loss. The chilling ending puts the punctuation to it: “I don’t think you can save me.”
It’s what makes the song so wonderful. The song captures all the elements of these sad times in our lives when we realize that it is over and will never be again.