This song is relatable of anyone who ever courted/dated a trauma survivor and didn\'t realize what they were in for. In the extreme, it can be like the relationship was never what it seemed to be and the other person\'s behavior makes no apparent sense. Effectively, the person doesn\'t know how to be in a relationship but DO know how to obsess over a person and efffectively that\'s how their time is structured, with lots of overanalyzing word choice and etc.\n\n\n\nLet\'s go line-by-line. First some assumptions that I\'ll prove:\n\n\nSinger (Nina) has worse self-esteem than their paramour ("Ricky") and they\'re in a "will-they-or-won\'t-they" non-labeled but "real"-ish relationship. Tragic case of self-sabotage and miscommunication/spiral of silence. Nina is likeable and loveable but just can\'t accept/believe it. This is key.\n\nFirst verse. Nina is really wondering if it\'d be possible for someone "like her" to date someone "like him".. basically he\'s higher class in some way and has all the confidences/benefits that come with that. Because of that, he sees the world fundamentally different than a child who experienced home insecurity, abuse etc... so they could never be together.. but Nina is imagining if she had been fortunate enough to have the $$$ to have grown into that person. \n\n\nNonetheless, lines 3-4 show how Ricky doesn\'t see her as inferior to some other potential friend/date even if she is different. I think what happened is that they flirted in some small way, with Nina tripping on her words and being adorable. Ricky playfully calls out their shyness while trying to assure them that they are enjoying and want to continue. Nina has probably experienced someone pretending to be their friend in order to get something from them and thus is overly-paranoid about it happening again. Nina is working on this and eventually realizes that they are being overly-cautious but the moment has already passed and they act like nothing happened. \n\n\nVerse 2 is all about HOW Nina\'s dysfunction works. Many abused children develop complex beliefs/patterns in order to make sense of their abuse. The mental gymnastics get very elaborate! For a abuse survivor, being shown mature love and regard can be painful as it makes one realize that they had no idea what love felt like. \n\n\nWith that in mind, Nina simply must ignore "what\'s real", AKA the genuine love and appreciation Ricky demonstrates, because acknowledging that she is worthy of it and always was would destroy her current identity/belief system. \n\n\nVerse 3 is Nina essentially trying to ignore the fact that she is at war with herself. She is spending more time with the guy under some other pretense and acts like she doesn\'t know that they\'ve been flirting the whole time.
This song is relatable of anyone who ever courted/dated a trauma survivor and didn\'t realize what they were in for. In the extreme, it can be like the relationship was never what it seemed to be and the other person\'s behavior makes no apparent sense. Effectively, the person doesn\'t know how to be in a relationship but DO know how to obsess over a person and efffectively that\'s how their time is structured, with lots of overanalyzing word choice and etc.\n\n\n\nLet\'s go line-by-line. First some assumptions that I\'ll prove:\n\n\nSinger (Nina) has worse self-esteem than their paramour ("Ricky") and they\'re in a "will-they-or-won\'t-they" non-labeled but "real"-ish relationship. Tragic case of self-sabotage and miscommunication/spiral of silence. Nina is likeable and loveable but just can\'t accept/believe it. This is key.\n\nFirst verse. Nina is really wondering if it\'d be possible for someone "like her" to date someone "like him".. basically he\'s higher class in some way and has all the confidences/benefits that come with that. Because of that, he sees the world fundamentally different than a child who experienced home insecurity, abuse etc... so they could never be together.. but Nina is imagining if she had been fortunate enough to have the $$$ to have grown into that person. \n\n\nNonetheless, lines 3-4 show how Ricky doesn\'t see her as inferior to some other potential friend/date even if she is different. I think what happened is that they flirted in some small way, with Nina tripping on her words and being adorable. Ricky playfully calls out their shyness while trying to assure them that they are enjoying and want to continue. Nina has probably experienced someone pretending to be their friend in order to get something from them and thus is overly-paranoid about it happening again. Nina is working on this and eventually realizes that they are being overly-cautious but the moment has already passed and they act like nothing happened. \n\n\nVerse 2 is all about HOW Nina\'s dysfunction works. Many abused children develop complex beliefs/patterns in order to make sense of their abuse. The mental gymnastics get very elaborate! For a abuse survivor, being shown mature love and regard can be painful as it makes one realize that they had no idea what love felt like. \n\n\nWith that in mind, Nina simply must ignore "what\'s real", AKA the genuine love and appreciation Ricky demonstrates, because acknowledging that she is worthy of it and always was would destroy her current identity/belief system. \n\n\nVerse 3 is Nina essentially trying to ignore the fact that she is at war with herself. She is spending more time with the guy under some other pretense and acts like she doesn\'t know that they\'ve been flirting the whole time.