this was so interresting to watch i loved the contrast in the song between the inside of the lyrics, but also between the color of the music itself and the chaos of the pictures a cute song about fucked up love story and mental health, my kind of jam ♥
I love how dodie made the song, but I kinda always thought it was love coexisting with mental illness instead of mental illness being the parasite breaking down love. I thought it was like "intertwined" was how you thought you were then "free" was how they made you feel and "can you drink all my thoughts" was like venting instead of toxic, and "laugh away the fear" was how they made you feel, how you had always been anxious or depressed, or depersonalizing and then all of the sudden this person makes you feel happy and good and laugh. I thought "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" was also confirmation on that, that they make you feel wonderful, unlike how you always fine confined to your depressed state.
I'm super late, so I apologise, but I thought the exact same thing! Instead of it being toxic and harmful, it's soothing and healing. With a mental illness, it's hard to be alone but even harder to be with someone else because you think you'll drag them down with you. That you're the toxic part- as Dodie is open about being mentally ill, you can see her standpoint in how she would feel as a counterpart. Others can feel that, instead, the person wants to help and do their best to help them with their illness, especially when it gets worst, as most mental illnesses have ups and downs when you have it.
This song is about an unexpected crush on my best friend.
"skin, heat. Hair in your mouth, feet touching feet," A fantasy about us being together, in my head.
"Oh you, and I. Safe from the world though the world will try" We're safe from the accusations that we're dating, though the world will try to push us together
"oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain" I'm afraid of these fantasies, Because if we date our best friendship will be ruined.
"but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" We laugh about people saying we're dating or together, (the fear) becuase "we're only friends" and "that could never Happen!".
"numb, fine." Feeling numb, knowing the fact we'll never be together. Telling people I'm fine when they ask if I'm okay.
"You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" I used to be able to laugh and joke with you but now it's just not the same. Struggles with telling you or keeping it secret are getting the best of me.
"So breathe, breathe with me" It's you telling me to breathe now, because you can tell something's wrong. You try to help me through it.
I respond to you with,
"Can you drink all my thoughts? Becuase I can't stand them" I tell you that I have thoughts that are getting the best of me, you tell me I can talk to you anytime but I can't, can I?
"Intertwined, free" We are so immersed in each other's lives, yet we are also both single.
"I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with Me" I've now tried to subtly tell you I like you, hoping you catch on, but I realize now that I don't want these fantasies to hurt you the way they hurt me.
[Rio] Aaaaaah! So many different interpretations! This is amazing! My view is that it's about escaping your problems for a little bit while being in the comforting arms of a significant other
I took a similar meaning from the song, but with a different ending an analysis of the song according to me :)
skin heat hair in your mouth feet touching feet
oh you and I safe from the world though the world will try
these are the thoughts of the person singing the song, fantasizing about a relationship with another person, a crush, about being safe and together
oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain
these lyrics portray the person being afraid to share these thoughts, this fantasy with the person it is about, for fear of rejection
but we, can stay hear and laugh away the fear
returning back to the fantasy in her mind, our narrator distracts herself from her troubles in a rather unsettling way
numb, fine
these lyrics turn the story to a time after the narrator confesses her feelings for said crush, and is rejected. this makes her feel very numb, as her heart has been stomped on, but she pretends that it's no big deal, that she's fine
you create a rarity of my genuine smiles
he was the only one who ever made her feel special, and by using the present tense create as opposed to created, the artist implies that she still continues to think about him in this way
so breath breath with me
just as dodie says in the video, this line depicts heavy breathing or hyperventilating, possibly while crying
can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them
now she finally decides to open up to someone about how she has been feeling, perhaps a best friend, and by asking the person to "drink all her thoughts" she is asking them to listen to and understand her seemingly unbearable pain
intertwined, free
the person she has confided in is telling her that she shouldn't be thinking like this, like her life depends on this crush, like they are intertwined, to which she responds with no, it's not like that, I'm 100% free
I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me
telling the person that she's confided in that she hopes the complicated relationship doesn't also hurt them, because of them watching her suffer
[Rio] this is hitting so close to home... definitely a fave interpretation, definitely i've been interpreting it mainly the same. /oof i know i'm late to the party, shh/
if you asked me what i'm going through right now and if you cared about me enough to catch onto how i'm really not fine when you ask and i say i am, this couldn't describe it more perfectly. she told me she liked me in april and then i told her that i liked her too a few months later in june (even though i liked her back when she told me in april. weird, i know). it quickly became awkward and we didn't talk as much after that. i realised she was becoming closer to this other girl around about this time and shut myself off completely (i take it personally when it comes to things like this okay). my sudden DiSaPpEaRaNcE only led to her becoming even closer to her and they both eventually caught feelings for each other over the summer (i guess but i think it could've been earlier). i realised this was happening but, of course, i was in dEnIaL.
SO ANYWAY, she then made a wattpad account at the start of the year and started writing poetry like diary entries (she's v talented at writing :') ). i was confusing myself trying to disect every word of every line and try to piece together in my head whether or not it was about me until one day i read this entry and thought "shit this is me oops". our friendship thing was becoming kinda toxic quite fast. it was just a vicious cycle of us hurting each other via wattpad entries aimed at anonymous people (each other) until i finally cOnFrOnTeD her about it last week to the day actually. i asked her * just * how much i had hurt her. she said "i fear i have hurt you more". i thought that nothing she could have ever done would be the equivalent to the amount that i have hurt her. but she did. she did actually hurt me more. i have been hating myself for *months*, thinking i'll never be good enough, i'll never be worthy of someone's love, how everyone will always hate me, including myself. she then confessed that she had asked this girl out, she said yes and she didn't tell me. i don't know when she asked her out but i'm sure it's been a few months. she's lied to me for months. i've wasted my love for months. i've hurt myself for months. if she had just told me, i wouldn't have kept giving myself false hope. i would've stopped chasing after her and she bloody well knew that it was only building up, that it would only hurt me more when she would finally tell me the truth but aLAS.
it hurts like hell and i feel like i've been cheated on even though we were never together. that's what i regret most. i was too much of a coward to do anything about us. the day before i confronted her, she dared me via instagram story for said anonymous person (me) to say that i loved her. so challenge accepted, that's what i did and,,,,, wELL LADIES. she didn't really respond, we just hugged each other. this led to her writing that wattpad entry that made me realise she was talking about me hehe. she told me she feared she hurt me more etc. etc. and this led to her telling me she had asked this girl out later that day via DM so it's fine i'm okay i'm great i have never been better. but no, i'm heading in a downward spiral, a great depression if you will, and it's getting out of control. i'm most sacred of losing people, hurting people, rejection, being lonely or abandoned and well kids, she did all of that to me whoops.
i love her and i hate her at the same time, it's so confusing but i don't feel nothing about her. she taught me what it was to love but she also taught me what heartache really does feel like. she's taught me what it's like to hate, to be scared, to be truly hurt. she taught me love over a long period of time but made up for those months of love that i felt to her with a large amount of pain and hurt in a week. i can't forgive her nor can i forget what she's done to me right now, but hopefully in the future i will learn to forgive her. but i will never, never forget what she has done to me, positive or negative.
so for now emily, the party's over. hope you had a good time.
@aoife I'm searching for the right words... this is SO GOOD. And somehow exactly what I've been going through for the last monthes/ half year even it was actually very different.
I got a best friend over the internet and was only texting with him because of the distance. He had a girlfriend I knew about her but I got a crush on him. We were really close, somehow it felt like we were a couple because we spent so much time texting with each other. This went that way for a few months until I came to the point that our relationship was toxic because I was jealous at his girlfriend (without realising), he still kept me close the way we were before, we were arguing a lot and the best parts of our conversations were the "I don't want to argue with you", "You are important to me", "I don't wanna lose you", "You are my best friend". Finally I got away from him, but not with the attitude to never talk to him again, but "needing a break".
This was two months ago now, I guess. At first, I had to think about him a lot and missed him quite hard. But it got better, I felt better, I got my own life back. It wasn't nether healthy or normal how much contact we have had. Now, after months, I am thinking about how I want this to continue. IF I want this to continue. I am not sure.
I don't know if he waits for me, we didn't had contact since than. I don't know if he still wants to be my friend, if I am going ro break him his heart (in a friendship-way), or if he feels better without me. I want him to miss me, but this is selfish and unhealthy/ toxic, which is an argument for not continuing this anymore. But I still got to tell him about this. Anything else wouldn't be faire.
with "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" i was always confused as to whether it meant the other person made them smile when they never really smiled at all, or that the other person made their smile a rarity in the first place, like it was the other person making them smile less
i still don't get the meaning tho. when i first heard the song i was so impressed because i thought it meant you create my genuine smiles even when it's impossible for me to smile. but i guess i'm wrong..?
I'd add some food for thought, that your use of the contrasting words at the start of verses is an especially human verbal device. Opposed meanings don't necessarily contradict each other - it shows that you can, indeed, feel both intertwined and free, which seems ironic, impossible, magical, etc. It reflects how human beings are full of contradictions, and it's exactly that sort of paradox that makes the best writing - exactly that!
This is why I want this song to be my first dance song. It is so REAL and straight to the point that our mental orientations may conflict with each other but in some unique way it works and it makes our relationship undeniable.
i interpreted the song almost the other way round! i saw it as someone who has been struggling alone for a long time with mental health problems but they have this other person who, for short periods of time, makes the pain and hurt wash away, or at least softens the voices of anger and fear for some time. and as the two people grow closer these fleeting periods of security and safety are elongated and drawn out, and the person experiencing these issues feels as if they have finally found a safe haven, and instead of living in a constant nightmare with tiny flashes of hope and peace, the entire situation has been flipped on it's head, and they are living in a world of maybe not happiness exactly but of support, security, love and serenity with brief patches of terror and confusion that are much easier to control when they do crop up.
This video was so fucking satisfying to me, oh my goodness. I'm addicted to reading people's interpretations of songs, so to be given an in-depth meaning breakdown from the SONGWRITER is like Christmas to me lmao
Can i just say I LOVE THIS SONG My interpretation of it when I first listened to it was that it was written as a sort of out there love note to the writer's crush. I thought that they had mental health issues and that had led them to overthink and obsess to the point where they only believed they'd feel fine again if they were in a relationship with this person. Some of the "sweeter" lyrics in the song are them trying awkwardly to sell themselves to their crush in the hopes their feelings will be reciprocated. As we move through the song I feel the writer becomes more and more desperate for the other's love, and as we leave the first 1 or 2 verses it feels like they're panicking. Maybe, that they now fear this will not happen as they imagined and they will never be happy. The line "pinned all my hopes on you, I hope that you don't bleed" is them confessing to their crush (probably a good friend who has shown them kindness) that they feel desperate and don't know how else they'll be happy, but also care for their crush and don't want to blame them for their incoming breakdown. Perhaps the use of juxtaposing words like "intertwined, free" indicates that although the writer thinks otherwise, they have little idea of how a relationship would actually work with this person, and that their imagined indulgence is impossible to recreate. Overall, I see the song as a letter to a crush, or even possibly to Love as a concept, asking for the one thing missing from their life. After all, in the writer's eyes, if this is the only thing they don't have compared to their friends, if this doesn't fix them then they must surely be truly broken.
Damn Dodie, that was a hecking wonderful analysis. As much as you live for the discussion on art I live for art that is so full of meaning and imagery and well thought through like you just explained aaahhh frigging amazing!!!
So my ex actually chose this as "our song", a concept which I am adverse to in its conception because music, to me, should be enjoyed as a wholly personal experience, and not ascribed arbitrary value within a relationship, but hey, he did, and I'm here talking about it. Anyway, he chose this song for us because he thought it was super cute and romantic, and I suppose I accepted that because why not? I like this dude. Cut to now, having broken up, and looking back onto the relationship with untinted vision, I see how truly manipulative and toxic the whole relationship was. Not to get too far into it, but we had no honest concepts of each other as individuals, let alone together, and are much better people independant of each other. Watching this breakdown, and seeing the music video really hit me because it was exactly the situation with the relationship. It was foreshadowed; predetermined, almost. Ultimately, he chose the perfect song, unbeknownst to the two of us, perfectly fitted, in tone, and intention, as we eventually drove each other away with a series of events akin to a Lemony Snicket novel.
I've always thought of the song as like a metaphor for mental health problems trying to take over your life but then you find that one person who becomes a safe haven in a way. Like the one who gets you to breath when you're lungs fail you or a solid rest when you haven't slept for days. Everything could be a wreck but you have that one person who makes everything feel okay.
I think the original intention of the song already tackles that very well. Having been in a relationship like this with a mental illness, it does feel like that. You feel safe, like you've finally found a home where where you can breathe and not worry because you have this person that's always there for you and being with them makes everything better. "Safe from the world though the world will try"
But eventually, your mental health catches up with you. Because this person makes you feel more secure than you've ever felt before, the thought of losing them is very scary. And because of your mental health issues, that thought will start to intrude in your head more and more the longer the relationship goes on. And then, you remember something's wrong with your brain and that it could ruin relationships. "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain"
At first, you don't let it bother you because it will never happen since you're both so happy. "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear"
This song reminds me of the transition between the very good stage of the relationship to the part where you become dependent on your partner and it starts to become toxic.
I've always thought of it this way too. I thought it was so reassuring and sweet and warm. It's really interesting to see the different interpretations, and I love Dodie's, but I think I'll keep this one.
Grace Lowery I don't mean in a literal "I can't function without you " kind of way. I've always seen it as more of two people leaning on each other for support and trying not to let mental illness define you. Like a "yeah life is hard but it's not as hard when we have each other " Personally, I interpreted it as more of a two way thing instead one being completely dependent on the other. But what kind of healthy relationship can you have where you and your partner don't both support and care for each other?
Jamie Swann Although I love her interpretation I agree. To me as the song progresses it gets happier as the person finally found someone who has saved them.
Peytonsa FlowerPetal but I don't quite think of it as being saved by someone. I think of it more as finding the person who helps you save yourself if that makes any sense.
Jamie Swann Honestly that makes even more sense and is better wording. I also would like to add that at the end of the video when I saw the doll house burning I interpreted that as a metaphor for the fears being finally taken away from her head, almost like they were being set free as she finally found herself as the person she loved helped her through everything. The tone of the song almost seems to change in my opinion as her thoughts change to good ones. Although the fears may not go away completely, this person was always there to somehow make if better along with her finally taking control of her own thoughts. (although I'm not quite sure if it would be the outside or inside of the dollhouse that represents her happiness). I think that part of the song is very important almost like her walls are being taken down and she feels more comfortable with the thoughts that go through her head as she finally has someone to share them with.
Being in a relationship doesn't solve mental health issues. Being in a relationship doesn't solve anything. I still think this is what the song is talking about, you're just romanticizing unhealthy relationships. Ya'll(I've commented a few times on this thread) are putting too much responsibility onto your potential partners.
Grace Lowery I'm not talking about a relationship that fixes all your problems. When you have a mental illness it's something that you have to fight yourself. No one else can beat it for you. What I'm saying is it's easier to do that when you have someone by your side. Just like any kind of relationship, you can't let your problems consume it entirely. You can't be completely dependent on a partner because that is unhealthy and that's not what I'm talking about. But when you and your partner make each other feel safe from the bullshit of life and you both find home in each other, that's part of a good relationship. A mutual feeling of relaxation when you're with them.
Jamie Swann Basically that is what I am trying to say. She found someone who can help her but not completely get rid of her fears. At the end of the song when the dollhouse is on fire, I interpreted it as a metaphor for basically her fears being contained. Not going away completely. Just that her partner made it slightly easier but her mind is the one that truly is containing and breaking these fears. So I think we are saying the same thing just in a different way ☺
There's this poem by Tyler Knott Gregson that kind of reminds me of your interpretation of the song. Anyway, I thought it'd be fitting to share:
I have battled with things inside me for longer than you know; I do not know what they are or why they are there, I only know that they feel manageable, defeatable, when I am around you.
I knew, the first time I heard the song, that there was something a little bit "off." It was/is beautiful, but not a happy-go-lucky love song. Actually, I found it a little creepy, and I think that's why I liked it so much. With this explanation, I think that I'll enjoy listening to it even more <3
I always thought of it as if the relationship is in the early "honeymoon" phase of bliss and joy and the person is anxious about going deeper and discussing their mental health. They want to stay in the little perfect bubble but can't stand keeping their thoughts to themself. I agree with the dependance of sharing the load of the mental illness. However, I also think that they're conflicted about thinking they want to be treated the same as before and laughing it off as no biggie vs. the deep yearning to find someone that truly understands them.
Skin- mask for loved one Heat- intimate moment Hair in your mouth- “ Feet touching feet- “
Oh you- admiring other person And I- comparison of them to you Safe from the world- happy, in a bubble, away from the bad Though the world will try- People are negative but can’t pop said bubble
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain- Can’t share feelings, stuck, carries skin theme But we can stay here- still in bubble And laugh away the fear- use mask to hide fear and laugh it off
Numb- mask wearing down Fine- lies, common answer when not actually fine You create a rarity of my genuine smiles- mask failing, bubble wearing down
So breathe- keep calm Breathe with me- help get through tough time Can you drink all my thoughts?- distract me, extract thoughts = no problem 'Cause I can't stand them- going insane, losing it, breaking
Ooh, oh- time passing, or really just a filler, a break O-oh, oh, oh- “
Intertwined- back to intimate moment like start Free- careless, out of tough time I've pinned each and every hope on you- negative connotation, dependence I hope that you don't bleed with me- Brain skin theme, ties into sols bc of the lyric “i can finally see you’re as f*cked up as me”
I'm afraid of the things in my brain- back to where we started But we can stay here- still in bubble And laugh away the fear- ends in denial of fear
Hmm, hmm- sad, sinister vibes Hmhmm- humming implies being closed off whereas oh’s are open
Dodie giggles in EP Intertwined on iTunes and Spotify now lil spon for ya - can deduct that there is underlying happiness, or dodes is just gigglin who knows amirite
When I first saw the videoclip, I felt super weirded out, even unconfortable, because it was no way how I imagined/pictured it. But then I re-watched it a few more times, and when I finally understood what you wanted to say, I fell in love. This video of you going a bit further and explaining it more just makes me fall in love even more. I'm so proud of you, dodie. You're such an amazing artist. You create such deep art, and anyone can see how much effort you put in it, and for that I will be forever grateful, and forever proud. Yo inspire me SO MUCH, and I couldn't be more proud to call you my idol. Thank you, I love you.
Maybe this is just me projecting, but I've always thought of this song as a sad song, an unrequited song. "Pinned each and every hope on you"...I've been prone to putting all of my future plans on one person's shoulders even when I know they don't feel the same way. I put on my rose coloured glasses and fall into a dream world until all I can think about is said person and our perfect little love story with our perfect little house and our perfect little family. Sometimes this will happen a couple of sentences in. I spend so much time obsessing, wasting my time, my thoughts, my words, my energy, on people I don't even know. Going into it i know it's unhealthy but I can't stop indulging. It feels like there's a tug of war happening inside my brain; my rational side trying to save me by tearing down the walls, my disillusioned side unable to swim to the surface of the sickly sweet molasses. So this song sounds like someone trapped in the illusion of perfection, trapped by the idea that everything will be alright if they just love me, someone slowly losing all identity. While "the world" and "the things inside my brain" are trying desperately to get them out, trying to get them back.
Well... when I hear the song, I think of my own mental health issues... and the things that I'm scared of... for some reason it makes me think of a break down... you're trying to hold on to someone that'll lift you up... but it doesn't really interests them... I obviously take it to a personal place. I love the song and your music dodie!! Thank you
Wow! I never would have that it was actually about mental health problems. My mind is blown. The depth of this song and how much thought was actually put into creating blows my mind. I've written a couple songs but never have I ever put this much thought and intelligence into it! Amazing!
oh, if all artists and creators were so open to different (and valid) interpretations of their work! Great video :) I love your explanation, and the fact that you speak so openly about mental health <3 you go, gurl :)
When I watched the video, I completely fell in love with it.... I took it as the fears of being in a relationship. When you are in one you find things out about yourself that you don't necessary like. And maybe even about that other person. But the flit between romance and fears, I saw it as a conflict between the reality of being in a relationship and accepting the other person with all their fears, and the concept of relationships that we all fall for in love films and music. I thought the video fitted perfectly and have watched it more than once. Poetic and beautiful xxx
As a Lit student currently torturing herself by studying for a masters, I think I might dig this even more than the actual song. This is my jam haha :)
i had a few theories to this song. Honestly Dodie i love your songs and relate to them so much as i too have mental health issues and your music helps me alot so thanks so much.
First of all i totally agree with you. I previously suffered a very toxic relationship and alot of the "toxicness" came from my mental health. And that is my first therory.
I also believe this song could be about a person who has lost their friends and is suffering mentally who turns to self harm to help their and "drink [their]thoughts" and at the end of the song they self harm so much that they are slowly bleeding out.
My last theory is about someone who likes someone possibly their best friend and turns to them to help them with their mental health issues. But they have a massive crush on them and their fear is the idea of rejection or awkwardness. And laugh away the fear is a metaphor for being friendzoned. Drinking the thoughts is the friend helping them or trying when really they are one of the problems. I mean fanfiction material LOL. Seriously love this song and it helps me calm down during my attacks or when i am trying to keep my flinches in thanks. <3 <3
I literally just sat here eyes wide, jaw dropped, fingers to temples for 6 minutes. I always interpreted the song as being about love and mental health and how they affect each other but I never realized how pointed each and every word was. it makes the song even more relatable for me wowowow I love this soso much
this is why dodie is one of my absolute favourite artists :) the intricate little details weaved in and out of the lyrics and the actual music is so beautiful! i don’t think i’ve ever seen anything like it. when i first heard the song i related it to myself and my own mental health issues and i felt that bittersweet, up and down meaning of it. i wish i could put the essence of intertwined into a bottle and keep it with me forever. amazingggg !! <3
I know I'm a little late on this (sorry) but my interpretation of the song was a bit different that Dodie's (or what the song was about). I thought of it as a mental thing that tore the person up from thin inside and they would try to find someone to talk to or tell them what's happening. They would eventually find someone but the didn't really understand nor care so they left them alone. The person who is now alone (once again) has given up and decided to pretend their feelings. I forgot to mention that the "heat" "skin" part were for that the person is longing someone who will love and care for them. It still had to do with mental health but somewhat it an other way. (and I love the English teacher Dodie lol )
This song reminds me of my first relationship which started right around the time I started having experiences with depression. It became a burden and the relationship didn't last. the lyrics describe the experience of feeling like you're constantly too much to handle and your insecurities eventually becoming a reality perfectly.
I LOVE your analyzing of the song. It gives me even more appreciation for it. I definitely thought it was more of a doe-eyed, lovey piece but now seeing it as you intended it I admire it even more :)
i did find the song sort of unsettling when i first listened to it and i wasn't sure why, but i now understand the cleverness and subtlety of the lyrics to create that feeling of unease in what appears to be a simple, nice love song. dodie, you are such a talented songwriter (poet, even), and i absolutely loved hearing your interpretation of this song after having watched the music video. you are so incredible and such an inspiration to me! i love you!
this makes me very happy, I love literary analysis so much it's one of my favorite things to do, especially in a classroom where you hear all the different interpretations and you get to know people based on what they feel from a certain piece. It's honestly such an intimate thing, thank you for shaaring
My interpretation was that both partners in a relationship have mental illness and they were trying to help each other by being supportive and trying to take away the pain and push it away but they were still both weighed down my the mental health issues which the other was trying to push away to "help" which lead to the downfall of the relationship
This has opened my eyes to how much goes into writing songs. Thanks for helping me and the rest of us understand your song better and possibly (definitely) help someone with and English exam ❤️
I remember hearing the song for the first time and falling in love with the sweet soft tones, but I never really took in the lyrics until I watched the music video and everything started to click. It really sent the message about a toxic relationship and it was executed beautifully! Love the song and the video!
Dodie this is incredible, I hope you're proud of yourself. That's an amazing amount of effort, thought and creativity. I also love that you are able/excited to encourage other people's interpretations <3
the first time i heard the song i was consumed with the thought that it was a sweet romantic song but as i listened to more of it it started to become unsettling and panicked so i believe the video depicted it wonderfully. it starts off with something sweet and familiar to many people but then the small things that can be looked at as good twists and becomes jarring
Maybe all the techniques we learn in English really are worth it! Whenever we analyse a poem/play/novella I always think we overanalyse. Don't get me wrong, I love doing it but does a 'blue curtain' really suggest the author is attempting to portray a 'blue' and depressing atmosphere? It's nice to see a modern artist like you actually come out and show us that the techniques you learn in English really does pay off!
With the example of the blue curtain, I really think a lot of the time it depends on context. If the scene is otherwise quite cheerful, then the connotations of "blue" as miserable is probably unintentional. If, on the other hand, a character is feeling down in the scene, the writer may well have intended to portray that atmosphere through the colour of the curtains. Overanalysis is fun! What's actually written on the page is just the tip of the iceberg :)
Grace Platt there's also the John Green philosophy of books (and other art) belonging to their readers. What the writer intended is always a good interpretation, but in the end (no offense artists/writers) it really doesn't matter what they intended. If you got something out of it, then the art served its purpose, regardless of what it was you got out of it. That's just one way to think about art but I like that when you take interpreting into your own hands and don't put yourself in a box, it's impossible to underanalyze or overanalyze
Joshua Coombes What I said was literally just an example but I completely get where you're coming from! I absolutely love literature and annotating text but even my English teachers tells me that sometimes we can overanalyse text unnecessarily and get the completely wrong message from it.
SammietheAverageGirl It's so odd to hear this called the John Green philosophy haha. In literary criticism, we refer to this as the Death of the Author!
Leonor Diaz haha same, I know John Green made this more famous among the everyday audience, but it's weird hearing this coming from a background in English literature (as Roland Bathes is so well known among literary criticism for this idea) :)
I feel like, when doing the analysis of a text, the tricky thing is to find a good balance between sticking to what the author says about their own text and overanalyzing. And by overanalyzing, I mean that we can find anything we want in a text, and if we try hard enough, we can find elements to prove that we are right, but it's best trying not to force the text in giving us what we want to see in it.
Katie O'Brien You said exactly what I was thinking! I guess at the end of the day, the concept being understood is the important part though, so I'm happy that even if they don't know the specifics, they at least get the gist of it.
same! i never imagined that writers really thought about all the small details and just assumed that they went with the flow instead, creating unintended techniques that i thought were overanalysed!
Grace Platt haha the "blue curtain" thing kinda makes sense though if it fits in with the rest of the scene like writers can actually use colour symbolism very cleverly
I'm sorry I'm not going to be very deep with my comment, but I swear I'm a good English student. xD
I started using the example of the blue curtain from the novel In the Heat of the Night when my teacher asked a question about what the curtain means. When joking around with my friends, I didn't remember the exact question but I'd always say "what does the blue curtain mean?" because blue meaning sadness was more obvious.
I started hearing my friends use the example too, like just yesterday I had a friend who made this exact same joke about the meaning of the blue curtain.
I never really expected to come across this specific one on the internet either, but here I am! I guess it's more common than I thought. OwO
I've found it really helpful across all areas in art, because to integrate meaning into art you have to be able to understand symbolism and all that, whether its writing, a song, poem, artwork. As an artist learning how to analyse texts helps so so so much
Amazing!! Reminds me so much of the way Sylvia Plath mixed vulgar language with innocent language.... something so sinister and kind of unsettling about it!! Also evokes so much feeling, love love love!!💜
My life goal includes being able to explain my (secretly depressing) song lyrics to people who are actually willing to listen to me. And you're my new role model now 💕
This definitely matched up to my interpretation of the song. Your intentionality in choosing the words wasn't lost on me. I love analyzing lyrics and can relate to the themes you present
Dodie, as you mention the idea of having to drink away the thoughts poured and the general theme of how mental illness affects a relationship, it reminded me of the French concept "folie a deux" which means "madness of two." This is based around the concept that someone with a mental illness can give a significant other/friend/etc their illness just by being around the person and exposing them to the various effects of it. Just a thought :-) P.S the only way I know what any of that means is due to the fact that Fall Out Boy has an album called "Folie a Deux" and I wanted to know what it was. Woops.
Love love love this. Love the song. Love the meaning. Love you, Dodie!! I wish every artist did this with their songs. The whole in depth music theory behind it, the meaning, everything. Just makes us listeners and watchers feel closer to you. At least I feel that way! xx
oh I just love this in depth literary analysis of the lyrics! I just finished watching the video and this analysis just helps me to enjoy the song even more! this is a wonderful blend of music theory and literary analysis. I love vidoes like this, and I love your music!
When I heard the song, I heard a happy love song. When the video came out, I noticed lyrics I had never noticed before. The took a new meaning; this meaning. Thank you for making this video Dodie.
honestly, i thought it was beautiful and just wanted to thank you--i have mental health issues and seeing myself reflected in both the song and the video was really amazing. please keep writing and recording!!
I love that the actual theme of the song is so much more than i imagined and it honestly makes me love this song more because i think about how my mental state affects my relationships a lot.
this song always reminds me of my relationships. I am struggling with untreated mental health problems, and feel as if every time I begin a new relationship, I end up poisoning or burdening my partner with my thoughts. I love this song so much, and the video fit perfectly with the way I imagined the song.
Okay, I'm glad I had a similar interpretation as dodie, where my mental health and uncertainty was something that damaged the beautiful relationship I was in greatly
I love this interpretation of the song. When I first heard the song I was in a relationship very similar to the one described and I interpreted it as the romantic love song way. But, now that I am out of that relationship and the new videos are out I see the song in a new light also what the reality of my situation was.
I adore your writing style and I also love the deep meaning behind this song. My A level Lit brain was eating this up and now I feel perfectly enlightened with the meaning you were trying to portray. Bravo ❤️
I took the song as being in a toxic or unhealthy relationship, so the happier lyrics were what other people saw or the outside view of a relationship and then the more grungy lyrics represented the thoughts going on and what other people don't see, so the two opposite words show this more. I also though it might have been about someone who's using another person in the relationship. "Laugh away the fear" could be interpreted as one person isn't happy in the relationship however they can't get out so trick themselves into thinking they like this relationship because they can't see the alternative :) Idek I'm obsessed with this song and theses were just my thoughts when I first heard it :)
It’s actually what I thought it was! Wow. But I’ll like to share an interpretation I had as a duet. Person A(anxious) and person B(depressed and alone).
Note: By “issues” I mean anxious thoughts and the problems that happen because of them. Skin(B-craves touch) Heat(A-craves a comforting presence) Hair in your mouth(B-craves closeness) Feet touching feet(A-craves reassurance) Oh you(B-A is more importan than me) And I(A-I’m not worthy of B) Safe from the world(A-to be safe from my issues) Though the world will try(A-my issue will always come back to hurt me/us) Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain(A-I’m afraid of my issues) But we can stay here(B-reassurance to A’s worries) And laugh away the fear(A-we’ll laugh away the problems) Numb(B-without A I feel numb) Fine(A-we’re fine? You’re fine. I’m fine?) You create a rarity of my genuine smiles(B-only A can bring my genuine smile) So breathe(B-reassurance to A) Breathe with me(B-reassurance to A) Can you drink all my thoughts(A-can you handle and understand my anxious thoughts. All my worries about us/you/me?) Cause I can't stand them(A-I hope so, because I can’t) Ooh, oh(A & B) O-oh, oh, oh Intertwined(A-together we’re one) Free(B-free from my loneliness) I've pinned each and every hope on you(A-that you can handle my issues) I hope you don't bleed with me(A-I hope that I don’t hurt you like I hurt myself) *Then the previous analysis repeats* I'm afraid of the things in my brain(A) But we can stay here(B) And laugh away the fear(A) Hmm, hmm(A & B) Hmhmm
This actually matched up perfectly with my own interpretation of the song, sort of sad how much it reminds me of my own relationships and accidentally dragging them into my unhealthy state of mind
Dodie, I LOVED the themes of the video. I really enjoyed how the song sounds so mellow and sweet contrasted with the chaos because legit that's what mental health problems ARE like. It's a slippery decline sometimes and this video showed just that. I thoroughly enjoyed the video.
the way i always took the song was probably more romantic than the music video interpretation. for the first line "skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" i always thought of a couple, or even best friends, cuddling on the couch during a cold wintry night, with fluffy sweaters, a warm drink, and a crackling fire where they are warming up their chilly toes. the next part is just her (i always saw the song being by a girl but it's probably just cause you sing it lol) saying how with them she feels okay. i saw the song having to do with mental illness aswell, and the girl is constantly being battered by the world, but with this person she feels sane, like herself, just.. /okay/. happy even. "i'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we could stay here and laugh away the fear" being with someone dear to you can often ease anxiety, and sometimes just people's presence can give a bit of help to one's head. "Numb, fine," is not so much a lie whereas she feels numb but also it's okay. this person isn't a cure for mental illness, it just feels ever so slightly lighter to be around them. "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" and "So breathe, breathe with me" kind of go together. i think every person struggles in their own ways, so maybe the girls love/friend has his own monsters. and those lines to me are her trying to reassure like 'i love you, you bring me smiles. and for once they are true smiles. so you've got this. just breathe. i'm doing it, so you can too" but perhaps then anxiety gets the best of her. this friend is stronger than she is, so in order to escape her head she, admittedly wrongful, desires for them to take it away. "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause i can't stand them" and the oooh's are similar to what you, Dodie, said, but it's just kind of them alone and not as happy as the beginning (not dark like the music video ahah) but they both ache. "intertwined, free," they are together, and might be a little sad, but together they can fight off the world and slowly feel okay again. but together is their only solace, and there they do feel free. "i've pinned each and every hope on you, i hope that you don't bleed with me" We often place a lot on people that are like our remedy. like friends that end up not feeling the same way about you (almost like 'She') or celebrities who you get to meet and don't live up to the fairytale our minds create. The girl has practically her life pegged on this person, because unfortunately they are her happiness, and she so desperately hopes her head doesn't cause them to ache too. 'please don't let them fall where i am' and the repeated chorus is different than the first time "i'm afraid, of the things in my brain" this time may not be anxiety so much as the rash impulse of sabotaging friendships and relationships because you're scared of them leaving. the brain is a silly thing sometimes, isn't it? "But we... could stay here... and laugh away the fear" that person loves her, and they won't leave, they are strong, they won't fall. it sorta goes back to the first scene. they're okay together, and together they will fight off the world and monsters that come with it.
yeah! sorry for this massive comment, but that's my interpretation of it!! it's great to see other people's version's!
I saw it a lot like Dodie explained but also more romantic . I imagine two people in love and one of them has issues or is a little broken in some way . So this person is constantly worried about their mental health interfering with the relationship, but things end up pretty ok , there are problems but not so bad that the two of them can't fix and they laugh away the fear in a good way , saying "can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" didn't ever seem toxic to me it felt like that person can calm the other person by drinking away their thoughts . But the person with mental health is very dependable on their partner , because their partner has made them more happy , less afraid , they create a rarity of their genuine smile,which can be very unhealthy because "I've pined each and every hope on you" is bad if that person leaves because the hope will leave too. So there is a little bit of fear in the song , like "what if they leave me" because now they are so intertwined with each other that if they break up there will be a part of them missing
You had my exact interpretation of the song too. I interpreted the line 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles' similar to you, I feel like this line represents the person in the singers life as being able to get to the person beneath the mental illness. They are their hope and safety of knowing that they can get through it together. And the next line like you said goes along with 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles' as I feel also that it represents that being together and getting through it as a couple or friends. It solidifies that friendship or relationship further 😁
DefenestrationNation i was going to write one of these and thought "oh i'll just read some of the comments to see if any are similar to mine" and yours perfectly describes it. this is very well done :)
Lady Cakes YES EXACTLY!! that's a much better description of the drinking thoughts. i had a hard time getting it into words, yours is closer to what I originally thought!! thanks!
+DefenestrationNation +doddlevloggle I had the same feelings towards the song when I originally heard it, however, I also loved Sammy Paul's version because I feel that it is also correct. Sammy Paul's interpretation takes the romancey side of the song and twists it into the fears that someone with a mental illness would have. People with mental illnesses often fear that they will end up hurting people around them, and I feel that the person in the romantic version would be afraid of Sammy Paul's alternate outcome becoming a reality.
One could argue further that the song depicts a person who is caught at a fork in the road between two universes, one where they can be happy forever yet also another universe where their illness hurts someone they love.
this is exactly my thoughts about the song. i love dodie's version of her thought process about the song too. it gives the song a deeper, more intimate feel for any interpreter because everyone has a different relationship with the song if you get what i mean. art is up to each and every viewer and i love it so much.
This matched up to my interpretation perfectly and this made me so happy because so often these days people depict emotional Co-dependency as a desirable trait in a relationship when it's rly toxic and I needed someone to phrase theae feelings ugh i just love this song so much ok thank you Dodie ❤
this is so great!!! so awesome!! oh my god!! i'm so happy and so fascinated by your art and how you view your art and how you create it and present it to us i love it all i love you :o <3333
i’m still gonna think of this as cute bc i fucking love this song and i can relate to your interpretation but also my own the first time i heard it. beautiful
I love the duality and the two very different mindsets portrayed in the song, but listening to it in moments of darkness, I like to think of it at its simplest and most face value; basically a short description of a moment in time between two lovers. Equally comforting, relying, and trusting each other, whilst staying with the theme of being “intertwined.” The image I first got when listening to it was two people cuddling in a warm bed as it snowed outside. However, I do think that the idea of the mental health issue having a negative, even toxic effect on the partner as well as the relationship as a whole is very cleverly executed in the lyricism. Overall, good song, multiple meanings depending on how I’m feeling. Very Dodie. 👌
This is so amazing. I absolutely love analysing and looking really deeply into things, it's why I love English so much. I love listening to people go into their view of something and this is just oh my gosh... I eat stuff like this up
Listen if you were my English teacher dodie, I wouldn't be complaining
I'm having a really weird experience right now and had to share, I always thought you were really weird and annoying when I saw you in other peoples vlogs, but I just stumbled upon your songs and really loved them, and am now watching like all of your videos :D you are such a great artist and I respect you so much for your writing
The song is so freaking beautiful!! You are so inspiring for real no joke. Thank you so much for making this song because it makes me happy when I listen to it 😀
I fell in love with this song a while ago but after watching the music video and this video, I can honestly say it's my new favorite song. I love how she portrayed the passion and reality of a toxic love through the lyrics with a soft, almost bitter sweet melody. Just love love love everything about this.
This explanation is so good- very teachery! And I think the music video conveys it well. But I would also love a dance version of the song. That would be so cool.
I notice you touched a lot on the musical implications of tone but nothing (understandably as it was Sammy's vision) of cinematography. So here's a shot by shot analysis of the music video in essay format. Basically I just felt like writing an essay since I haven't used my english degree that much. Anyway you can read it in the replies of this comment if you want. (Poured this out in a couple of hours, debated going more in-depth but it's already 2000+ words and I mean you get the point).
The music video starts with the perfectly aligned and centred shot of a pink crisp doll house. Already a key implication of this video is clear. The alignment of the shot is wanting everything to be perfect. The depiction of these lyrics are portrayed by barbie dolls. Similarly to how children will play pretend by playing House, where they have the perfect little family. Dodie's lyrics go on to suggest that she acts like everything is fine while crumbling inside due to her mental illness, singing line such as “laugh away the fear”. As well as language, the lighting and colours in the music video play a crucial role as they get darker and darker to match the tone of the unfolding doom of the relationship.
The first word we hear is “skin”, which is a little odd as it is presented as a stand alone sentence, providing the scene of pure visuals for being intertwined. Letting itself nicely fall into this very visual representation of the lyrics portrayed within this video. The word itself combined with the following “heat” suggest an intimate and vulnerable scene. This can be seen as an array of cute and touching imagery, while when we read deeper perhaps more likely a very vulnerable state of being intertwined with another and sharing you body and thoughts with them. Again the lyrics “You and I”, may seem sweet on the surface, but the pacing is rather sporadic as there are a lot of pauses that don't flow with the music this suggests that there is something under the surface that’s not quite right. Showing their relationship may be a facade, hidden under language with lovey-dovey connotations. We see the word choice change and begin to reveal some deeper truths about the authors feelings with the line “Numb. Fine”. She sings numb quickly as if stating it but not addressing it, much like the word itself it is sung numbly. Then she changes to “fine”. Fine is higher pitched, like one would say if they were lying, it is also more drawn out to suggest that she is stressed saying this as she knows it’s not true. But most likely feel societal pressure to act fine and not speak openly about mental illness. Dodie goes on to sing “Safe from the world, though the world will try”. Implying that the she is hiding from her problem by consuming herself in her partner’s arms, this suggests co-dependancy. This is shown with a shot of both dolls eating lunch at the dining table. Which first of all is not something we often do as this generation tend to eat on the couch while watching TV, showing the idea of a supposedly perfect life. Perhaps not her ideal but society’s ideal vision of a relationship. The shot cuts to the doll house again as soon as the word “though the world will try” are sung, showing that them hidden inside their doll house (their relationship) and intertwining themselves in each other, is actually using one another as anchors to numb their pain. Perhaps only from the authors perspective she sees herself as the one destroying the relationship ultimately from dependancy and wishing away all her problem onto her partner. “Drink all my thought because I can’t stand them,”. The words drink and stand are very crucial here as they convey sense of urgency that he (assuming the partner is a he, based off the video) must consume her thoughts and bear the weight for her or she cannot stand and function. [Continued in the replies]
This second shot of the doll house is meant to show that they can hide from the world but the “world will try”, proving that just because you can't see the outside problems doesn't mean it’s not still an issue. Eventually numbing the pain will only make it worse when she finally comes to face it. Which can be seen at the end of the video. This shot also provides a notifier for a shift in time to dusk, in this case showing that the further the relationship progresses the further it’s cracks begin to show and break them apart. Especially sense this is shown through dolls the progression will be much faster in their time (as children will depict their entire life in three minutes, much like the song’s length). As the doll’s lives progress together, the next shot shows the video to start taking a darker turn which has been hinted at in the lyrics and the abnormal erratic pacing of the musical notes. Barbie’s brain is shown protruding through her head while “I’m afraid of the things in my brain”, plays over the video. This shows that over time she begins to show him more and more of her inner thoughts. There is pain in her voice as she draws out the notes but then it quickly switches back to a more happy tune when she sings “but we can stay here and laugh away the fear”. “Fear” is always very drawn out when sung. It is clearly a very important word in the message of the song. Almost every time Dodie sings it however, it builds up only to stop and fall back to simple strumming., immediately changing the tone. This further proves how the author is unwilling to confront her fears properly and instead concerns herself with the cute parts of being with her partner instead of their real underlying issues they have. A lot of which is because of her unwillingness to admit any real problem. The word fear is also uses in in hand with laugh in this line. This is not the first instance of contrasting language, as well as the changing pace, the juxtaposition of these words mirrors the ever changing stability of the mind’s ups and downs when metalling ill. Simultaneously the shot changes to the two dolls in bed together naked, showing that while they are literally intertwined limbs their thoughts are becoming intertwined as she relies on him more and more for comfort as they hide together, they nakedness conveying the vulnerability of sharing themselves with each other. The lighting has changed to a dim yellow in this shot, only centred around the dolls. This lighting choice conveys that they are only consumed by each other and ignoring the rest of their environment that is in the dark around them. Barbie’s hair and face are covering Ken’s face (the male doll). Perhaps in an effort to show that her thoughts are the dominant force in their relationship.
The doll house is then shown at night time with the dark lighting and yellow light emanating from the windows. This could suggest a brain not being able to turn off as all the lights are still on. Night is also the time when a lot of issues you can ignore in the day by keeping yourself busy can come to the forefront of your mind when you have to sleep but can’t stop thinking. The dimly lit lighting with green tones, focused mostly on the doll only show her consumed by her thoughts yet again and she ends up cutting off all her hair. This is a common conception of breaking down and wanted a change. Possibly she is also wanting to rid her head of so much weight when her thoughts are weighing her down. However while this is happening Dodie sings “Numb. Fine”, showing that even when falling apart she refuses to act acknowledge that she's anything but “fine”. You can hear in her tone that she is numbing herself to her full emotion. But this does not last long as the anxiety begins to build again with, “Breathe, breathe with me”. The repetition of the word breathe shows its significance as she needs him to be with her, intertwining themselves further. Dodie catches her voice for breath, this hasty need or breath likely co-insides with that of a panic attack for which she needs him to calm her down. The author pleads her partner to “drink all my thoughts ‘cause I can’t stand them” As her voice beings to climb, blood begins to poor on Ken and the room he is in on his own, obviously symbolising all of the writer’s thoughts being splashed on him all at once, drowning him in her sorrow. Meanwhile Dodie sings calming “oooh”s and “ahhh”s. This contrasting nature gives an eerie yet very effective tone in showing the problems of her illness and how they can be damaging to her partner when she expects so much from him. Yet she still pretends that everything is fine by singing like nothing is wrong. The next lines are “Intertwined; free”, indicating that she feels much better now that she has gotten all of her worries off her chest and projected them onto him. Off her chest is shown quite literally as Barbie is seen with bits of her flesh missing from her body. As she opens up more to him and exposes her thoughts, she feels more “free”. The choice of words one after the other, further implicate this idea of by being connected to her partner she feels free. The scene that shows on “free” is a wide shot of flesh-less Barbie sitting at the dining table but this time she is by herself. She now feels free but Ken does not feel that same way as he is not in the shot because he is consumed by all of her issues now instead. “I've pinned each and every hope on you” is another literal depiction, where Ken is in the bedroom with multiple pins stuck into his head that consume his face entirely. “I hope that you don't bleed with me" shows a shot showing Barbie bald and battered with blood, proving that although she felt better in the moment she is still sick and shows the constant cycle of her repetitive negative thoughts taking their toll on her. The bald hair from before conveying mental breakdown. There is also a huge signifier for depression in this shot as Barbie can only be seen through a dimly lit circle. Much like depression when experiencing it, it can be almost impossible to see anything past your own dark hole of abyss. Everything outside the circle is complete blackness. Now her negative thoughts are also taking a toll on her partner. The blood of her thoughts has already knocked Ken over from before as it shows him falling from the impact but cuts to another shot with the lyrics change. This portrays that he is falling but the relationship has not yet completely broken. Her fears have also been eating away at Ken, as his skull is seen where face should be. He is alone. While Dodie sings “I’m afraid of the things in my brain”, there is pain in her voice and when she finally sings “but we can stay here and laugh away the fear, she seems to have given up on the facade by her tone, knowing that she is only fooling herself. This fits well with the climax of the songs as it shows the end of their relationship begin to crash and fall. In contrast to earlier shots, the line “but we can stay here”, shows that Barbie is the only one on the bed without Ken despite, the author singing “we”. She has isolated her partner from herself, and without his help she begins to crash. It then changes to Barbie on the floor again with no hair and covered in blood once more. This high angle shot implies that Barbie has no control over her situation any longer. A strip of light is focused on the doll while her surroundings are hidden in darkness. Showing that while she can pretend everything is fine in the previous shot, in the end she begins to relapse again and finally this results in her burning up, literally, as the dolls are set on fire. First Ken, then Barbie.
Ultimately the relationship was doomed from the start in her eyes and this is finally shown as they both burn up together - intertwined. The co-dependant relationship has taken it’s toll on both of them. The last word we hear is “fear”, proving the significances of this emotion in dooming their relationship. Arguably the anxiety of screwing up the relationship is what may have doomed it in the first place. The last shot (excluding the credits) is the dollhouse burning up too, signifying that the author’s idea of playing pretend is now over. She can now start to see the mess her mental illness has made. While everything is burning in fire, Dodie continues to sing and hum almost as if she has accepted her fate. Perhaps she sees a little comfort in things playing out like she assumed they would, reaffirming her self-doubt in her ability to love properly. Even as they burn up they are still smiling because they are dolls. I like to think that now they have accepted the end of their relationship but continue to smile through the pain as it is the only thing they know how to do. The very last thing we hear is “mm-hm” further showing the singer’s acceptance in her reaffirming tone that she is breaking down and no longer trying to pretend otherwise.
Thank you, Dodie. This video has quite officialy helped me to realise what was I searching for the past year of struggling with anxiety. Thank you so much for everything you do. <3
aahh i love this!! i personally saw intertwined as a couple that help each other through tough times and make each other better, but your meaning is soooo good and deep and all the word play is genius i LOVE IT
I love this song so much, and I'm glad to see that my first interpretation of the song almost matched up with this. I don't know why I'm sharing this, but I thought I would add my own little analysis :) I saw some of the lyrics as if they were almost two thoughts arguing each other. At first, thinking things will be okay to be in a relationship with that certain mental state, but as the relationship continues it slowly overtakes the relationship together. The fear is wanting to talk to your partner about the said thoughts, or mental issues but being scared of those having an affect on the partners mental state as well. So yeah, this basically is almost what is said in the video but I just thought I would give a little bit of my analysis 😂 probably doesn't make much sense.
I interpreted it like they were too deep in the messed up relationship- possibly abusive- and the 'scared of the things in my brain' was her getting ideas that actually this isn't right but she brushes them away and 'laughs away the fear' because she doesn't want it to be true. I love this though, also this is the hardest thing to do in English exams! I always forget quotes that would actually prove my point when I'm writing but I'm pretty sure you make a better example than miss hardy brown and miss mapes!
That's such a unique take on it! But yet it works so well! :D So, the "Safe from the world, Though the world will try" is others in her life *try*ing to show her the truth of the relationship. (?) And "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" is her tying her life around him and hoping she doesn't make him feel bad/bleed like her. (?) I hadn't thought about that before, listening to it again with that in mind! XD
ah this is so amazing!! i miss this! i miss reading poems and analysing the shit out of everything :/ please do more of these they are interesting and my god every video you make convinces more of how much we would click and be the best of friends! i love you and your content so please dont ever stop creating and making stuff thank you <3
I love seeing different points of views on this song. I always thought of it as sweet like a lot of others did because of the nice light chords. I thought of it as jumping between how this person felt before they had their partner in their life, and how they feel now as their partner has helped them through their negative mental state.
I always interpreted the line "You create a rarity of my genuine smile." as the writer realizing what happiness is and that they only feel that with their partner, therefore making genuine happiness rare to the world outside of the relationship.
I am both in my final year of an English Lit degree and very mentally unwell but in love. This song pretty such sums up me in love too, and I interpret it very much as you wrote it. I have analysed it a bit further and thought I’d add some things I picked up on that you didn’t cover in the video. I am not in any way musically inclined so this is language-based analysis.
The form of the song is particularly poignant to me in that there is a sense that something is building and growing. The first two lines of the song are just one word, and one syllable, each: ‘skin’, ‘heat’. The following two lines grow: they are four syllables long, creating a kind of pattern: 1,1,4,4. However, all of the words except one: ‘touching’ are monosyllabic. ‘Touching’ stands out from the rest of the verse. It breaks the pattern, and our expectations. It is out of kilter. This reflects the something that is out of kilter in the mind of the persona. The fact that it is ‘touching’, that stands out is also interesting. In that it represents both physical touch and has a connection to emotion. When something is ‘touching’, it pulls on our heart strings. This song is very much about touching each other and connecting emotionally, as well as physically.
The second verse begins with two syllables and two words in the first two lines, much like how the first verse begins with one syllable. The pattern is then, 1,1,4,4, 2,2. This contributes to the sense of growing or building anxiety. The next line progresses to four syllables and words: ‘safe from the world’. This follows our expectation created from the previous verse, leaving us with 2,2,4. We expect the next line to also be four syllables long, but once again the pattern is broken with a five word line: ‘though the world will try-’ (also a broken sentence as Dodie pointed out). Like in the persona’s thoughts, patterns and expectations are not being followed and are broken. Also, ending the verse on a longer sentence emphasises that building anxiety/fear.
This sense of building and growing brings us to the even longer line: ‘Oh, I’m afraid of the things in my brain’. The music builds with this. There is a sense that it is a climax. The previous rhythm being monosyllabic and each line being relatively short, allows for this to be truly emphasised. And it is important to our argument that it is all about mental health. This line is repeated later. It is important. Almost the point around which the whole song pivots.
There is though, for me, perhaps due to my personal circumstances, a sense of optimism in here. The lines 'Safe from the world', and 'laugh away the fear' are ultimately positive, if with neurotic connotations. Although the relationship is unhealthy in terms of dependency: there is a sense that the pair love each other, and that the foundation of the relationship is good. After all, they are able to create genuine smiles. No matter how rare the smiles are, their presence in the relationship is important. It is not entirely unhappy/toxic/unhealthy. The pair cannot solve each others issues but only support each other. It's kind of fucked up. But the love really is there.
The final thing I just have to pick on is the lines: 'I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me'. The rendering physical of the emotional is just glorious. I don't even need to analyse it. I just wanna say well done and thanks to Dodie for putting how it feels into words. This reminds me of the line in Sick of Losing Soulmates: 'I can finally see you're as fucked up as me'. This realisation that your other half isn't superhuman and might break under the weight of your mental health is terrifying. I don't know what to do with the realisation. But that it isn't just me kind of helps.
This song is basically one of my favourite and most relatable pieces of art. Thank you Dodie. I've been watching your videos for about 6 years and I am utterly in awe of what you have gone on to create.
Maya Wow You're really smart and it is making me rethink of academic studies. I tend to forget that it can give you better weapons to articulate your opinions and to understand others
WOAH DUDE! This was intense but very in depth. I agree on the relation between the line "as fucked up as me" and "I hope that u don't bleed". Both are portraying that one person of the relationship is leaning on the other even tho neither are perfect. Again I am really astounded by your analysis! I hope Dodie sees
GUYS!! Thanks so much. I wasn't even going to post this because I have 0 confidence but now I'm so glad I did. Maybe a channel one day Bre, but I don't articulate verbally half as well as I write haha.
This is one of the most eloquent and well thought out analysis' I have ever read! Definitely think about starting a channel my love, I'll subscribe for sure! Xx
I'd definitely watch your channel if you had one. And you don't have to appear talking in front of a camera if you're worried about that. You could write everything down and record your voice reading it and then add that on top of a video made up of images, videos, etc. There is a channel that uses this format called "Nerdwriter1", you should definitely check it out if you haven't already.
This is great! If you ever decide to post videos or blog your analysis on other songs, please comment it over here so I can go and look and be your fan
I remember When I first listened to this a couple of years ago I remember interpreting it as a soulmate relationship and I wanted it so bad. But recently I was listening to it, surrounded by friends, and I realized it reminded me of them. They help me get through my problems and its just pure and simple as the song sounds
LOVED THE SONG TO BIIITTTSS!! Had it on Repeat ALL DAY today lol. Thank you so much for the breakdown if the song. Please also do one for Sick of Losing Soulmates. It is, by far, my favourite song EVER (emoji). Thank you. Hugs
Mossa Meme She has done a video of an explanation and tutorial about the song - it isn't line by line like this one but it is similar. If you just search 'Dodie Clark sick of losing soulmates' and scroll done a little you'll see it x
this was the most amazing thing. the play on words completely flew over my head while listening to the song. this gave me such a greater appreciation for the song o wow thanks dodie
When I first watched it I was confused, but when I watched it again I started to get it and now I completely get what you were trying to say. Thanks Dodie xx also loved this video, it's so interesting to see how u view your own songs and what the meaning is behind them! 💛
the video definitely fit with the song perfectly in my opinion. maybe it's just my love for gore and slightly demented things with a sweet and beautiful undertone, but this was executed so well. i definitely got the feel of an unhealthy relationship where both people involved are fronting (the unchanging, permanent faces of the dolls really helped that). i love dodie and her work so much as well as sammy's; i'm looking forward to the beautiful things that will come.
I absolutely loved loved loved this. It's always so interesting to see the thought process that goes into someone's artistic work and you were so eloquent and lovely in your explanation. The song is amazing, and the meaning is amazing. Thank you for not shying away from discussion about mental health issues in relationships. You're incredible.
My interpretation was that the world was in a chaotic state and the things around them were terrifying. The lovers were haunted with horrible memories but chose to block it all out to spend their last moments together in a state of ignorant bliss.
My interpretation of the song was about someone being in love and then getting a mental health issue like anxiety or depression and then their partner left them because they couldn't understand them.
This song is a perfect interpretation of me being in love, or my love life. I always feel my mental state puts me in an unlovable position. One thing from the video itself, and I don't know if anyone else has said this (if so, I'm sorry!) but I loved that Barbie dolls were used. Dolls, especially Barbies, are thought of as perfect; flawless and beautiful. You wouldn't expect a person who appears to be beautiful or perfect on the outside to have a completely contrasting inside, because mental illness isn't beautiful. I just really liked that touch, if that was intended.
I'm so pleased that I can listen to this song and know it's more than a love song and has a deeper meaning to it. The fact that it's able to to interpreted to so many in different ways is so cool to me. I had only ever heard it as a love song until the video and then the darker themes and lyrics made so much more sense to me
this is so interesting! to me, the song was about desperate dependability on the partner, but also deep love. it was about the narrator praying that the partner would be able to support them without being dragged down too. but in my head, it wasn't dark and twisted, but just loving and desperate. like an internal battle in the narrators head about whether to maintain this potentially toxic relationship, for the partner's sake. now that I've heard your explanation, I can definitely see where you're coming from with the music video.
that's literally my favorite thing in the world bc intertwined is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and makes me feel lots of things I can't really explain
I always interpreted as a song about the struggles of being in a relationship when you are mentally ill. Also the line "I've pinned eache and every hope on you hope that you don't bleed with me" goddamn I relate to that shit so much. THE WHOLE SONG GODDAMN I RELATE
goddamn I adore my boyfriend so much but it's incredibly hard not to get too attached and not to feel like I can't live without him or to get so so insecure that it drives me crazy. It really is a constant struggle and something that you absolutely have to actively work on as to not harm eachother.
The first time I ever heard this song was when my girlfriend showed me it, I took it as her being scared that our combined mental health issues would destroy us, or that I would leave her because it was too much to handle (even though I never would) It's still one of my favourite songs, mainly because it fits out situation so well. We're both scared, but we're still trying.
i interpreted intertwined very similarly to your meaning! the style of the lyrics and music are a bit reminiscent of my writing style, where i mask dark themes with contrasting language. it tends to confuse the person reading it but gives them an "ah-hah!" moment when it all comes together. i think because i too struggle with mental health issues, this specific meaning was almost immediate for me, especially paired with that phenomenal music video! congrats on your ep love 💖
The fact you put so much thought into the lyrics is truly amazing and I love the dark and twisty feelings underneath the pretty sounding song and I did definitely get the theme of mental health and the damaging effects. Honestly I thought the pretty sounding song with such dark sounding lyrics kind of demonstrates how people with mental health issues might seem fine but it's not till you look closer you see things aren't what they seem. As well as the idea of dependancy on the partner did anyone get a small feeling like the partner was abusing that?
When the song first came out, I kind of just imagined my own story in my head as a huge nice flashback in a way. Then the reality is that it wasn't great. It also reminded me of a toxic relationship my mom was in at the time
Hello dear Dodie, Im a very anxious person and dependant in love... when I heard your song for the first time it was like honey in my ears and sunshine in my eyes Thank you 💜
I kind of thought of it in the same way, and it reminded me of two people in a relationship who are depending on eachother but also being overwhelmed with their mental health issues? amazing art, Dodie, the chords and lyrics seemed so raw it made my heart ache and I love it a lot. <3
I'm glad to know that I wasn't too "off" from what your personal interpretation was. Honestly every time I hear the "pinned/bleed" lyric I get chills, as it's just so well thought out and scary and meaningful and wow. I've always known your writing is stellar, but it's so intriguing and special to hear you explain it! xx
every dodie video that i watch makes me fall in love with her( in a distant, healthy way, of course) a little more. like ahhh her voice her presence ahhh
I am surprised how close I got with my thoughts to your thoughts. I loved the little details you added that no one else might not get. I love to use that in my art too. I love the dark theme under a seemingly lovely song. In conclusion, I love the whole concept and music and the theme. Thank you for your art!
i always thought of the song as a person with mental health in love with someone. they rely on the other to listen to them & help them work through extreme situations (like breakdowns). it's a love song to me, but a live built on pain. i guess i kinda relate to that. ps: i personally view the singer & the (singee?) person being sung about as girls
This was so interesting to listen to. Intertwined is one of my favorite songs from your ep, the one that connected most to my life and love life. Though I would have never expected that this is the meaning you were thinking of while writing the song. It opened my mind to new possibilities and that now the song could relate to me even more with mental health in a relationships Thanks dodie! ;)
As a fellow songwriter who really values lyrics, I would love to see more videos like this for your other songs or even some of your favorite songs by other artists!
Dodie, I had previously had a mind-movie of a romance that was dissaproved of by "the outside," maybe friends, parents, or just generally a not excepting society. At the beginning, the unspeakable thought of the world taking them apart causes the lyric, "try-" to be cut off, they need each other as they truly have no one else: Oh you And I Safe from the world Though the world will try-
The couple was overcoming it by spending time with only one another thus causing them to become rejects in the eyes of everyone else. Gradually, this decided need for only each other becomes restlessness of being stuck together and fear of what would happen if the relationship were to come apart, "I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me." As one falls slowly out of love with the other, he/she realizes that they want to move on, yet is unable to because there is nothing left for them in the society that pushed them away, "I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear." They are only free when they are intertwined.
That's actually sort of similar to what I thought. I sort of interpreted it as sort of the lovers finding peace with each other amidst the chaos and anxiety from "the outside" in a similar way.
Now that you've explained everything, I have realized that this song is very relatible a fits in alot of situation. thank you for this blessing of a song
This is so great! When I first heard this song, my thoughts immediately went to a friend of my who I'm constantly worrying is overwhelmed and bothered by my mental health issues. Since he's the only person I trust with that stuff, it pops up in conversation a lot and I was worried he would think it's the only reason I talk to him (I talk about it much less now because I've realized its a problem so we're all good). He kind of became my go to person when I had breakdowns because he made me happier than anyone I know and it felt so nice to trust someone. The line 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" really stuck with me because of this and him telling me to breathe every time I got panicked. Hearing you explain unhealthy feelings of codependency also reminded me of this friendship (at that time, like I said its better now). At one point I even pretended to have a crush on him to try and distract myself from my mental health issues, and that was just really unhealthy. I did not meant to write an essay I'm sorry but thank you for sharing this; I love your music!
The mv totally changed my whole perspective. like many others, I too thought it was more romantic and lovey but the mv opened my eyes to the deeper meanings. and now it's hard seeing it any other way. like it all makes sense now
first heard the song in the short film "Warmish" and I instantly fell in love with it. I was so dumb as to I didn't really give attention to the artist which is dodie. This is my first time watching her vids and actually listening to all of her works. I'm already in love. She's such a wonderful artist and she blew me away. Feels good to stay away from mainstream music rn haha
I WANT MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS I really love seeing how each lyric was written. If you put out more videos like this I would really REALLY appreciate it❤️
When first listening to this song when it was first released it thought nothing of the lyrics and chose to focus on the beautiful harmonies and music. After a while of listening I started to imagine the song as a mental battle between a person's logical and truthful feelings and the sweet denial of "everything is going to be fine". I personally think the music video was perfect for the song and truly represented the incredible harmonies and strumming are a mask of happiness to cover the pain behind the lyrics. I absolutely love all of Dodie's music however this song along with She are my favorites since I can so closely relate to the interpretation I have of both songs.
I always interpreted this song as the many stages of a relationship, accompanied by the insecurities and worries that hunt the mind of one of the partners, while kind of going through the posible consequences of one's dependence on the relationship.
The moment I heard this song, I cried. Because I knew exactly what the lyrics described. I relate to this song on such a deep level. It should make me sad ... and it does ... painting such a scary thing with such beautiful words and chords. But it also calms me and reassures me. I am not alone. <3 thank you dodie
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Mara Cares2017-04-15 01:52:26 (edited 2017-04-15 01:53:23 )
This is exactly how I interpreted the lyrics. The video couldn't have been more perfect for them. I can't listen to nor sing this song without tears running down my cheeks.
I thought basically the same thing? I imagined a couple, one of which has an unstable mental health, but convinces themselves that they're "fine", that the partner will help them to block out those thoughts. Over time, the thoughts start to build up, and the main character starts to doubt their capability of containing them, but they try to keep a happy front. Soon enough, the main character bursts out ("I can't stand them!") , dragging down the partner with them. But when the partner recovers from the ordeal, the main character is left to suffer in silence and again wait for the break down to happen, while being "intertwined" with their clueless partner.
Ok so I had almost the exact same interpretation than you, and I completely relate to your (beautiful) english-literature-teacher-like explanation but I don't know if that means I should be happy to have had the same feelings about your writing than you or be concerned that that connection is that I deeply relate to your mental health issues...
AAAAAh intertwined is a FAV of mine and i reeeeeaally appreciate your analysis of this. definitely something to think about and made me become attached to the song even more. thank you. THANK YOU ❤️
This song and lyrics hit me so hard. You, and the song share my exact experience, thoughts, fears. I love the ability art has to express what I myself can't express, or maybe even put my finger on in my own head. It feels good, and frankly validating, to listen to your song.
I needed to analyze a song for my english class so of course I chose this amazing song! It even has a video showing how you interpret it! I did change some things to match my own views, but for the most part this is what I wrote about
This matched up to my interpretation. I also love that it was using barbies because that is the IMAGE of perfection. And then you just destroy those barbies basically saying that PERFECTION DOES NOT EXIST! (I love stuff like this and loved that it was a bit of a juxtaposition with love and instability and dependence and perfection.)
When I first watched it I got kind of an unhealthy relationship vibe. Like the kind where one is too obsessed with the other. But sitting down with the actual lyrics and paying attention to them more I can definitely see your meaning. And I absolutely love it.
This is an amazing interpretation and I share it almost entirely. What I really like about the song is the subtlety of the scary and toxic parts. The first few times I heard the song it was just a really sweet song about a mentally ill person in a relationship, but the more I listened to it the more some parts stood out to me as unsettling. The fact that it is so subtle is amazing to me, because in my opinion, it's the same with toxic relationships. You need to take a closer look to see the issue, whether you're a bystander or a part of the relationship. So when I saw the music video, the dimensions of the song became really clear to me, where it was just a feeling before. And now with the explanation I feel like I understand it even better, so thank you Dodie! I'd love to hear your interpretations of your other songs as well, even though you said you didn't like to do it. I don't think it's going to stop us as your audience from forming our own interpretations of it ;)
I think the first time I heard to the song, I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics so I thought it was a sweet little ballad, but as I started listening to them, I was really jarred by the ominous sort of tone the song was really trying to convey. The contrast between the calm and the severity is absolutely brilliant.
when you got to the part "intertwined ; free" and talked about how the ep is called 'intertwined' i thought you should name the next one (or album ???) 'free'. idk it just sounded like a cute idea it my head, especially if they're very contrasting with their content
60ShadesOfKiera I HOPE SHE NOTICES THIS COMMENT OMG. It could also contrast with her mental illnesses too. I'm not saying she's completely free from her mental illness but she has mentioned on her snapchat that things are getting better with therapy and stuff
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Sofia Santos2017-04-13 00:46:14 (edited 2017-04-13 00:46:31 )
I've always seen this as a beautiful love song, as it's portrayed. It's a moment, a couple in love, together. They're safe together in their own little bubble, for a few moments, from this awful world we're living in. This person, who the singer loves, is able to take away their fears and keep them safe. In this moment, their love protects them from every negative thing. It doesn't last long, but it's there. I have people who can wash away all my fears, while still keeping me in the real world, and I'm imagining a person like that in this relationship.
After watching all three videos, (this being one of them), I think that there's a entirely new mindset around the song, and truly, the message that dodie implements throughout the EP. Since I first originally heard the song before the music video came out, it was definitely expected. A soft, yet beautiful song about lovers and the hardships that they sometimes face. But paired with the flawlessly pulled off music video, it goes full circle to emerge the listener in a new mindset about the meaning of the song. And like she said, of course it's interpreted differently by every person who hears and watches it. The music video opens up a whole other message about unhealthy relationships and brings out a side of dodie that's not fairly seen throughout her music. The message about mental health and how it affects relationships is very realistic, and to what I believe, is a beautiful message that dodie fabulously implemented into this song. It takes a couple of listens to fully grasp the meaning of the song, and the lyrics are so perfectly chosen. Oh and the music video, I think that the barbies were an amazing choice of characters because they are what is seen as kind of 'normal'. But the way that throughout the song they morph into these 'unnatural' looking versions of themselves represents how mental health can affect the way you look and feel physically. The song and music video portrays her message beautifully, and adds, what I think to be, a new level of depth into the EP. Welp, that's my dumb analogy at least.
Thank you, dodie for this! I really enjoy your interpretation. As someone who is diagnosed with depression and bipolar 2, I can very much relate with this song and your experiences. I've lost a few special people in my life due to my struggles and it's hard to know what to do and how to deal with it. It is comforting to know that I'm not the only one and that if you (one of the sweetest, kindest human beings alive) can go through something like this, I can too. Great job, Dodie! Looking forward to hearing new work :)
I loved it. And I got it. Since the first time I saw the video, I thought the song and the visuals were both masterpieces. The video is sooo accurate to the music and lyrics. Loved everything. I really paid attention to the harmony and it says so much. As you said, it gives a confusing feeling between love and illness, just in the middle, like every element in the video. Every part makes honor to the title and the title is so accurate itself. This piece is sooo perfect. I really loved it. I can't even describe what I feel. Everytime I watched the video, I noticed new details and meanings. I thought it was soooo brilliant, but now that you explained it, I just realised the dimention it has. Dodie, you are great, you are a genius, you are sooo brilliant. Wow. We don't deserve you. I'm sure our capacity of interpretation is sooo small compared to yours. You thought about every detail. I love it. It's so precious. It is art. My narive language is spanish, so my writing skills are bad, but I hope you know I really liked it. This is a masterpiece.
The "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" line always caused me so much dilemma because I kept switching between 'This relationship is taking away her ability to be genuinely happy!' and 'she doesn't smile often but she does with this person!' Glad to have an answer 😅 p.s knowing the insane amount of detail that went into this song makes me love it even more! You're amazing xx
I listened to Intertwined the first time when I was in the midst of being in love. As I continued to listen to this song throughout my relationship, I began to hear it more as a song about a dysfunctional or abusive relationship. Soon I became aware that my relationship was also dysfunctional and this song still means so much to me even though the way I saw it and my relationship had changed.
I honestly feel like my relationship is as exact as this song. Your analysis summed up why I loved the song so much, and I really do relate with the song as well as the video, and it is truly my favorite song at the moment.. It's bittersweet for me to listen to it, but yeah, I love it..
After watching this, I went back and watched the music video, and it is so cool to see how now that I'm thinking about this meaning of the song, the video seems so different to me
Can you be my teacher ?? Oh well anyways I really love your interpretation and I actually thought the same when I heard the song and I can tell that it's so relatable, you're simply amazing dodie !!! 💛
The amount of thought you put into matching the music to your lyrics is incredible. I love how passionate you are about your music, a lot of artists don't put in much thought and just create music for money. Literally how many artists change the sound, key/chord they're playing in to match their lyrics?!
dodie this is amazing! im going to watch the music video with a completely different mindset now. my original interpretation of the song doesnt dwell too deep, but i must admit that the harsh contrasting words like "numb," "fine," "pin," "bleed," etc, stuck out to me in an odd way that didnt quite sit 'well' with me the first couple listens through, but after that i just got used to it. seeing the music video for the first time then was a really odd experience, and i questioned what the true meaning of the song was (since you were so happy with how it turned out) but i couldnt figure it out. i guess i'm not a deeply analytical person, but i'm so glad this video was made. now that it's been explained it makes SO much sense! and gives me a greater appreciation of the music as well :-)
well, english isn't my first language and I heard that song a while ago, so I didn't really understand everything that was said. But to me, it feels like a very cold winter day where two lovers just stay cuddled together in bed. I definitely got, that mental illness or at least "normal" anxiety (the one that everybody experiences once in a while) played a part in this. I love this song so much oh god
I love, love, LOVE the amount of effort you put into this song, and how you intertwined (hehe) the themes of darkness with the chord progressions and the climax of the song with the highest note being sung. It's very clever and I love it. But here's my view:
I tend to be an optimist, so I thought of this as a cutesy love song with the hints of mental health issues. A girl is in a relationship with her lover, but she also has mental health problems. The line 'you create a rarity of my genuine smile' is how I determined the theme of the song. The lover brings so much happiness in her dark thoughts that he brings to life, or creates, a genuine smile that is so rare for her.
OKAY i know you want to leave the writing to the interpretation of the listener but i enjoy seeing your thought process and i absolutely love the way you connect your chord progression choices with the text. AHHH! i cant get over it. i would definitely watch if you did this again
I enjoyed the song from the first time I heard it, but seeing the music video gave me that odd feeling of catharsis, which relatively short songs don't manage to do very often. I love the balance between happy, lovely lyrics and tones and the added twists and darker themes. and then the added emphasis on mental health made me really fall in love with it. as a psychology geek who loves music and art and sad/dark things, especially those with hidden meanings, Intertwined reached into my heart in a way that a song hasn't been able to do in quite a while, and it's such a nice feeling.
this is easily one of my favorite videos dodie has ever made; it seems to bare more venerability than even some of her more blatant mental health videos while also providing a lovely clapback to all those assuming they know exactly what she means by everything she writes. there's a certain beauty in songwriting and writing in general that allows the author to convey thoughts in a way that is either more glamorous or more metaphorical and causes the audience/listener to feel their own interpretations of the writer's emotions or experiences. i feel like the video for intertwined perfectly represents all the discordant word choices and the very obvious desperation dodie seems to sing with in the recording and every live performance i've heard, though i'll admit i totally misinterpreted it until the video was released. the song and the video are truly works of art and i commend dodie, sammy and all the others involved for bringing the words to life.
I always viewed this song as romantic but your meaning makes so much more sense to me. I love that you used metaphors to talk about mental health problems and yet make it sound so peaceful. A beautifully crafted song (also I would love a tutorial on this song! It one of my absolute favourites and I'm dying to learn it)
See, I am in love with the 3 dimensionality of it all. Your drawing out of all the thread used in this song has put even more concepts into perspective. But, for me, as it is art, I had a different point of view, also it can be confusing and I'm pulling out what going on in my brain. Sooo, this may be a BIT long. Sorry.
The beginning of the song; "Skin, Heat, Hair in your mouth, feet, touching feet," gives me a warm and comforting feeling of cuddling, not necessarily romantic, maybe platonic, or even the little cuddles you would have with your mum as a child. The warm, kinda drowsy blanket was draped over me through the the entirety of the song, the whole thing could be interpreted quite literally or metaphorically. "Oh you, and I, safe from the world, though the world will try," this part, for me, really sealed the sense of an intimate moment under a blanket. Two individuals being 1, them ignoring the rest of the world, and its tribulations. "Oh, I'm afraid, of the things in my brain," This one, yes, does give me a sense of mental illness, but also, (again, for me, specifically) not completely, as everyone's a bit mad {a bit of madness is key lol} and that sort of wrapped (I'm not speaking for anyone else) us in sort of a sense of relativity, how down inside, there's a storm constantly brewing. "but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." This is a comforting thing of nervous laughter and how the 2 of them are sort of held together by laughter and underlying pain. "Numb, fine" This is sort of a road block in the relationship, where one of them is distancing themselves due to internal turmoil. "You create a rarity of my genuine smile," This definitely means a lot to me, as a fake smile to satisfy others is so prevalent in my life. Showing that the main focus character is getting quite attached to the person, almost seeing them the main source of fleeting happiness and doesn't want them to leave. "Breathe, breathe with me" Basically saying that they want the partner to not panic as they pour themselves out to them. "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them," This is definitely the breaking point of the song, where you breakdown and are kind of begging that source of happy to stay, to understand, and to take in everything they're saying, because the things happening inside of the brain is too much for them to handle. "Intertwined, free. I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" This is where it's one of them fearing that they haven't shared too much of the darker pits of their soul, and hoping that it won't overwhelm the partner. And then the warm blanket is placed again on our heads and lulled to sleep with the repeated verse of being afraid of the things in their brain. ART ART ART Thank you for creating such a beautiful piece of art.
same! i was reading through all the comments/explanations and this is the only one that describes exactly what it felt like to me. i couldn't put it into words myself.
When I first saw the music video I was taken aback a little bit because I wasn't expecting the violent looking visuals at first, but I still loved it sooo much. The music video for Intertwined is easily my favorite music video of all time and I hope to make something that awesome one day
I absolutely loved this breakdown However, I originally interpreted it with a bit more optimism. As someone who struggles with mental illness, I related to the lyrics, but where you saw toxic behavior I saw a support system and growth
Before seeing the video, I had regarded the song as mostly just romantic and sweet, and I'm not particularly sure why, because I tend to read everything as having dark undertones...maybe I just wasn't paying any attention. After the video though this more distorted angle just seemed so completely obvious! I very much believe in the idea of the 'death of the author'; in any art, a writer's personal intention does not really matter, since a piece of art means something different to everyone who consumes it, however this was fantastic and you explained it so precisely! It makes sense if you wouldn't want to do this kind of thing for your other songs, (you did say 'just this once') but I would love to see more things like this if you wanted, because this definitely gave me new appreciation for Intertwined :-)
Though I can imagine people find this song sweet and endearing, I did sense the darker tone in the song, but in a slightly other way then you wrote it. It gave me the feeling of feeling isolated by your own life and habits. You are together with someone you were madly in love with, but you never came to actually loving each other. And now you just feel stuck. You can't make yourself feel happy anymore, you can't remember how it felt to be happy and that is why you stay in this situation: you assume that it can't get better then this and that you are just over thinking and overreacting, cause there are good moments with your partner and with family that could and should make you a very happy person, but it doesn't. So you just laugh away the pain and wait for something to save you.
This all sounds very sad. But remember: eventually, the only thing that can save you is you. You have to realise you are allowed to feel happy and you will feel genuinely happy again.
Love your songs, dodie.❤ You are a very wise, talented and creative person. Love from Julie-Anne from the Netherlands💝
the video did fit, I did catch a similar meaning to watch you describe here. although the video isn't particularly original I think it was executed really well. and honestly you are one of my favourite songwriters at the moment, you bring something so refreshing and original to your style of music. I can't wait for more.
I love this and from my thought I saw a very different song. I saw a song of pain pushed down and a girl who needed her partner to help. the skin,brain,numb along with other words show the way she felt and the free,fine and other words show how she is freeing herself from the struggle with the help of her partner. I love the true meaning of the song as well and think Dodie showed the struggle of the pain in a very cool way. love the video and the song, I have been playing it on repeat for so long.
dodie, I adore how intelligent and honest you are! this analysis is absolutely wonderful. I think it's so interesting to see how other people view your song and how you, the writer, view the same song. thank you so much for this video, I really loved it! 💖
Wow. That's... Amazing. Woah. My interpretation was waaay off. When I first heard Intertwined, I imagined two lovers sitting by a campfire at a beach on a hot summer night. The first two lines(?) gave me the impression that, even though the weather makes them feel mildly uncomfortable, it doesn't matter to them. They're happy to just be having that moment. The writer finds comfort in their lover and feels like, in that moment, they get to have a break from worrying about their darkest thoughts all the time. It jusy felt like a song about that moment, y'know?
I actually imagined sort of a hopeless love that is intoxicated my sadness or depression, but throughout the song I see "intertwined" as a couple holding onto one another, and actually saw it as a healthy dependency, as they helped each other
I mean I always knew, kind of on the surface, that dodie's job was a lot of work. Learning how much effort she puts into them though, so much thought and intention into each word and note, is so eye-opening and really helps me more fully understand HOW MUCH WORK GOES INTO EACH SONG. dodie is such an artist. her music has ~lAyErS~ much like an onion. or shrek.
i was one of those peeps who, despite loving the creativity behind the video, still feels it doesn't match up to how i felt about the song - and i honestly think that's so interesting that the way i listened to and what i felt about the song was so far from what the creator had intended like WOOAAHH ART MAN tho ofc i do really see sammy and guy and the team really did match up to how you wanted the song to feel and what you wanted to portray - but it's still so different to how i see it and that 👏 is 👏 so 👏 interesting
i listened to the song and thought of all those horrible mornings i didnt want to get out of bed and wanted not to be here, and thought of the times people had said kind words to me or told me i deserved love and it had made me hold on a little tighter - in a way i guess that that IS unhealthy to depend on others and so has that darker undertone - but for me it was a sleepy and gentle reminder that even if you're sad af there will be people, maybe also even sad af, to hold yout hand and open your curtains and help you make breakfast
dodie's version is about romance masking the true festerimg disturbing realities of mental illness underneath, whereas mine was about acknoledging the issues and confronting them with someone else to stand by you? i guess?
and despite that's that's very removed from your intentions, it's still what it means to me and i like to listen to it thinking of that
oh my god. i love this song 100% more now, because i always loved your stuff, but i thought intertwined was way too mushy for me. but with a different analysis and what your intent behind the words was, it's so much better and i can appreciate it a lot more, probably cus it's darker than i thought
in other thoughts, I now understand why I fell weird and uncomfortable when I listen to this song! you've made it so the lyrics are unsettling and makes us uneasy to create the atmosphere that the couple is going trough 😱 brilliant Dodie 😁 ❤
The video definitely fit the theme. Having mental illness and being in love is ABSOLUTELY terrifying. You always need to be reassured and tell them your problems. It is a toxic relationship in the end. It can effect them and make everything feel worse. I completely understand this.
this means so much to me because when I initially heard the song when it was released, I heard it as the sweet love song that it's perhaps masquerading as. over the past few months as my mental health has declined, I started shutting myself off from people and began to wonder if I could form stable relationships while I was in such a dark and precarious place, and when I revisited this song as the music video was released I heard a new meaning in it.
it's amazing to me that you've created a piece that not only touches on a more serious topic than typically talked about in the media, but also one that changes along with the listeners perspective. thank you so much for finding the words to describe something I'm unable to, this song has really touched me <3
When I listen to this song all I can picture in my mind is two people slow dancing as the first dance at their wedding, it's so nice and the rhythm of the song is perfect for it. Can't you just imagine that professional type of slow dancing with all the little flicks and twirls InTeRtWiNeD throughout. I can't wait until I get married.
It's such a beautiful song! The theme of dependability and relying on someone to make you happy is so bittersweet. The way I thought of it is that you find someone that makes you so happy when nothing else can, but when things go downhill you refuse to leave that person because at one point you felt genuinely happy. They helped you with your mental health but it starts to make you feel guilty because you feel like your using them. That's just what I think because I can relate to the theme of agnapesis, but Dodie's interpretation totally makes sense to me.
i always thought of the song as a representation of a great relationship going downhill. when you're realizing that you like this person but you know being with them won't last. as soon as you put out the video i was thinking it confirmed my theory with the "blood" and the guts, it was just a more severe way to show the pain and heartbreak of a relationship that's ending but was so great while it lasted. so things were going amazing with this person but then you seem to come to terms with the fact that it can't be forever, that you're not with your soulmate.
the video gave me so many feels and so many emotions and i felt so much love for you and your work and you're my inspiration and ugh i'm just so proud of you and i'm sorry i'll stop rambling... <3
I love this song very much and I appreciate it even more after watching this video to me it's about that happy little butterfly feeling that melts into a very cozy warm numb feeling when you're cuddled up with a person you love and it's funny because you fell in love with them because of their kind, intelligent words they share with you and you love talking with them for hours but your most favorite moments with them are when you exchange very few words at all (which kinda matches the short one word phrases in the verses of the song) and it's all just physical touch and for the first time in a very long time your thoughts are wordless and your mind is quiet and everything is just safe and warm and alive and real with them (a rarity of my genuine smile) and the rest of the world is blurry and unimportant (safe from the world outside) and they're so good at quieting your thoughts (im afraid of the things in my head but we can stay here and laugh away the fears/can you drink all my thoughts) but as soon as you're away from them your heart aches for that warm numb feeling and your mind is filled with more thoughts and worries and anxiety than it was before and you just have an endlessly unsatisfied craving for them and this constant need for their help becomes a burden on them (I've pinned each and every hope on you) that was long sorry basically it makes me think of how love is a drug in the way it temporarily cures anxiety and becomes addictive and dangerous but is also the thing keeping you alive
I first thought of the song as a sweet cute love song, but the lyrics to me suggested dependability on a certain level. I thought of two lovers, one with mental health issues with a neurotypical partner. Although they're not in the best mental place, they still appreciate their partner's efforts to be supportive. Perhaps they haven't been able to open up to others or trust others before so this one neurotypical person that lets them in is highly depended on. They depend on the touch and warmth of skin, the freedom they feel with the other. They open themselves up to them, pinning their hopes on them like their hopes of getting to a better place.
I didn't view it as a song about a toxic relationship, but more something from a place of vulnerability. Your skin is bare, you bleed, you can't trust your own thoughts. But you've found someone that helps you hope, that can ease the burden of your thoughts, and helps you through the rough spots. So it's a little bit of a sweet love song, but a bit darker too.
My interpretation of the song was love pure love and when the creepy bits were played it was highliting the strength that the relationship has. I love this song and in my head it still makes me happy even though I now know the true meaning of the so g
when i first heard this song, i mostly just hummed along to the beautiful melody and didn’t think much about the lyrics considering how the first verse sounds very much like a sweet piece, a love story between two people. later, however, i began to perceive relationships in a toxic manner and i remember listening to this song again and deeply resonating with the song towards the end, realizing the song is a dark piece about a toxic relationships. i kind of molded it into my experience with a sort of first time crush. because of my vulnerability and some old childhood trauma, i became obsessed with an image of a perfect relationship and used that crush as a face for the concept. it was a dangerous thing to have done, and quickly became my reassurance that i will not end up in the same situation as my mother (as in there are still good boys left for me to love). i began to obsess over it and cling to the toxic relationship i had built with this person in my head as a way to cope with my mental issues. i resonated with “i am afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear.” very much because it became very difficult to stop becoming lost in this fictional world. the lyrics “you create a rarity of my genuine smiles” also struck a chord in me because the habit i had to cope was driving me apart and ruining me as i realized i can never have the person i created in my head. “can you drink all my thoughts and i pinned each and every hope on you” added to belief the song was about using another person to cope with trauma, anxiety, insecurities, etc. as i was doing.
I love so much how this is about! And my goodness. The last relationship I was in..this describes how I was COMPLETELY. It wasn't till it was over I realized how depended I was and how not okay it is. I keep telling myself if i get into a relationship again, I will never let it get like that..but i think a part of me knows I might still be that way. Love is hard. And loving yourself should be your first priority. Great song! And loved the music video!!
I've thought of it simply as a love song written by someone who is very much in love, but knows how they love each other is unhealthy. I was actually very happy that your video reflected that. This song is what so many young people think is romantic.
I interpreted it as a mixture of a person dealing with mental illness, and an unhealthy/abusive relationship. Possibly both simultaneously. I love both the video and the song.
i... interpreted it almost exactly the same way. it's probably because i, myself, have mental health issues, and that at one point, it took a toll in my relationships (both romantic and platonic, but especially romantic). so, when i first heard the lyrics i started crying because it just... made sense?
Wow I was feeling these thugs whilst listening to the music but now I know why, this delicately crafted work is so much deeper than Once thought thank you 💛
Okay I totally adored this meaning, I'm so happy you explained it all - it matches how I interpreted the music video! However, by listening to the song alone I personally imagined it with the much more innocent meaning. To me it still definitely has all the signals of struggling with mental illness, but feeling like you can truly be yourself when with your S/O. E.g. "You and I, safe from the world, though the world will try" - you know that sometimes your world comes crumbling down but you feel protected from that part of your life when with that person.
I love that it can be reinterpreted in all these different ways, that is what I love so much about clever lyricism such as yours. Considering doing a little cover of this song, even more now I know your true meaning.
When I first heard this song(without the music video), it spoke to me and I found it relatable in a different way. to me it brought up a very familiar feeling of having so much love for someone and wanting to be intertwined with them, almost blended into them, but that feeling being induced by the pure fear of losing them. Basically holding onto someone and pouring yourself into them while being utterly terrified that they are going to be taken away from you (again)
I love the music video and the song, I think they fit so nicely. I actually found the lyrics very true to my own circumstances. To me the song portrayed a girl suffering from anxiety and depression who had found love with someone who tries to help her through it. Talking to herself and to her partner (either talking to him in person or her wondering what it would be like to be with him), ultimately conflicted. Not necessarily a toxic relationship but one where they fight and struggle. However I am unsure of my own understanding of the end of the song, i think its nice to have a little ambiguity.
When I first heard it I was with a person I love very much, and we both have mental health issues so I felt like it was a romantic song about being together without anxiety or bad thoughts. Now that I've seen the music video I see how much darker it could've been, and I love that so much!! It has so many different dualities and meanings and it's so so gooooodd ahh!
Also touching on the "numb/fine" lyric I felt like that could mean like even if one person in the relationship was going through a depression/anxiety attack the other person is always there to comfort them through hard times
I just thought it was about how wonderful love can be an how another person can help a mentally ill person by being an escape/safe space, and I related very much to it, but now that I've heard your meaning, I'm questioning whether my relationship is healthy or not..
Hi dodie Great music video 👍 You're such an adorable,multitalented,genius! Your honest and humble way of sharing yourself and your talents with the world is wonderful. As a songwriter my self I stumbled upon your songs in a "uke songs" Google search. I am an artistic person who is not officially but most likely has ADD, which can be annoying for my family to put up with, but I feel like it's part of why I'm so creative with singing,songwriting,and drawing. Even though I'm much older than you, I'm a fan because you seem to be able to relate to your audience so well. Great job on all your channels 👍 I wish you all the best in life! Thanks for being you🙏🏻✨ ...@briantsings /Allihoopa.com
This is basically how I saw Intertwine, but for me the music video still doesn't fit because I feel it doesn't show the mental illness as well as it could. It confused me but I still love the song (and the EP) and the music video so keep up the good work ❤️
The overall theme definitely lined up with what I thought when I first heard it. I always just felt the song was safe and comfortable, but obviously only very temporarily. The best way to describe it is when I'm doing something I love tremendously but only to avoid/distract myself from something I am fearing. That overwhelming feeling of anxiety of knowing it's coming and you can't fix or delay it, and it makes the thing you love only falsely sweet as you spend the whole time dreading the future.
I definitely interpreted it as like, trying to make a relationship work but ultimately not being able to work through the emotional and mental baggage the singer has. So I really liked the music video, the visuals were really stunning and powerful.
holy fuck dodes, youre a genius! i played this song for my church talent show (heehee rebel) and it was one of the best things ive ever done, and performing your songs makes me feel so happy and confident! luv ya!
When i first heard the song i thought it started as a love song between two people. It was a new/young relationship that was a happy one.and as time progressed one of the people was becoming more and more mentally ill and soon the other partner starts to notice it and tries to help a little, but they end up just hurting her more. So she relizes she needs to take matters into her own hands after it gets really bad, so she looks for comfort in other people and as she does this she puts all her trust in people hoping that they dont have the same thing she does, but then she still has the illness, but now with the new friends she is getting better. (and on the EP if you listen close enough dodie says a little "um hum" at then end and i think that is the cutest thing)
I've always related to this song for the exact same reasons. My mental health issues making relationships unhealthy with depending so much on the other person and also, the 'unhealthy reassurance.' I am in a relationship currently and I can already see all these things happening and it scares me to tears.
I interpret this song as a fantasy, where the ‘writer’ is in love with one of their close friends. I imagined it as the quiet moments when they’re alone together and the writer wanting so badly to be close to the friend, but not wanting to ruin the bond they have. The first verse being a scenario the writer has built up in their head of them being together. The main part of the chorus ‘I’m afraid of the things in my brain’ being that the writer is afraid that if they let their feelings out, it will ruin their friendship. ‘But we can stay here’ implying that their relationship will probably remain a close friendship, and ‘laugh away the fear’ being that the writer will try to neglect their feelings by being joyful with the friend. ‘Breathe, breathe with me’ could be when the writer is talking to another friend, and the writer is panicking because they’re about to tell another person about their feelings and the other person is trying to calm the writer down. ‘Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can’t stand them’ the writer is confiding in the other friend to help alleviate the pain of being in love with someone that can’t love them back. ‘I’ve pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don’t bleed with me’ the writer is putting trust in the other friend that they won’t share their secret. The closing lines, followed by the harmonies depict the writer carrying on with their life, still in love with the friend.
It’s dumb, I know, but that’s what I think of when I hear it.
i definitely identify with this song in the way that relationships whilst having mental health issues are difficult but rather than viewing it as a negative type of relationship i associate it with having a "rock" as you will, someone there to help you cope. a bit different to your meaning but as you say art is always made for interpretation <3
(TW: self harm) For me I thought this was a romantic song with a bright side, maybe because I'm a hopeless romantic and I look for love and beauty anywhere I can.
For my the first part of the song "skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" came to me very nicely since my love language is 'touch'. Skin being the nice warm feeling (this also plays into heat) of human contact and the feel of your lovers chest against your during intercourse, the feeling of holding hands, the feeling of their body against yours while you cuddle/sleep. Heat also comes along with skin and touch. The warm hot feeling (inside and out) while you have intercourse with you s/o, the sweaty palms after holding hands for a long time, the heat from each other's bodies connected together creating a warm feeling.
"Hair in your mouth" just reminds me off the pure akwardness and mess that sex really is, unlike it is depicted in pornography. Real sex is messy and in perfect and that (at least to me) is what makes it so fun and enjoyable. Sex if seen as very serious and is only meant for pleasure, and I know that there are people who only want pleasure, but sex can also be a way to show love. "Feet touching feet" reminds me of the post-sex cuddle you have after sex. Being close to one another after a big spiral of touching everywhere and feeling the warm and fast feelings of intercourse. A post-sex cuddle is a way to cool down and maybe even talk about the amazing experience you had.
" Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain, But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" this is a line about mental illness (like Dodie said) and in some relationships mental illness can be a real struggle and hardship on the relationship. I struggle with some depression, anxiety, and I even self harm (which my boyfriend knows about). My struggle with self harm has hurt my s/o before because he doesn't want to see me hurt and in pain, and I do try to stop but there are days where it's really hard for me. Thankfully I have him but that where my anxiety kicks in because I don't want to bother him or anything but I know o can always count on him.
"Numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smile" numb and fine could be ways of saying that they are trying to numb the feeling from mental illness and fine being the face they put on, the fake smile for the rest of the world but showing their true real smile and happiness to their s/o.
"Can you drink all my thoughts Cause I can't stand them" to me this says can you swallow and drown out my dark thoughts and fears from my mind and remind me of the love you give me.
"Intertwined, Free, I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope you don't bleed with me" the words 'intertwined' and 'free' most definitely do not mix together but I can also see how they do. You can be intertwined with you s/o but also having a free feeling from you dark thoughts. "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" speaks to me on a different level because of my struggle with self harm. This could be pinning the hope of sanity and sanctuary on your s/o, which could be a lot for both parties ending up in either resolution or disaster. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" could be meaning "I don't want you to feel my hurt" when telling them about your past and your struggle.
I know this may not be a very good analysis of the song and I know it's not what her interpretation was but it's just how I saw the song. Kind of a song of a new love.
I know this is late but I LOVE this song. My first interpretation of the song was a love song. But the more and more I listened the more jarring it got. Example: "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" When I first heard that I knew it sounded a little off but ignored it. But now I realize how toxic and reliant it is. There are many more but I won't go into them all. Love your writing and love you Dodie!
i am getting ready to go on a camping trip to explore the night sky with my astronomy class. This music makes me want to breathe in the universe. thanks dodie.
can you do a cover of the song give me one reason by tracy chapman?? i think your voice would sound amazing on it!! also, i love this video <3 the meaning is much more deep than i thought. beautiful!
you guys are saying you can’t listen to this the same anymore because it now has a different meaning but listen. If it had meaning to you, and that meaning was important, that’s still valid. Art is an expression of who you are, it’s what you make of it that is yours. Please like this so people can see. I feel like this is important to know.
Unrelated to the video but-- Dodie, I love you so much. I've watched your videos since 2013 and you inspired me a lot. You helped me to be more creative when writing songs and to branch out and try the uke rather than guitar (I even came to know that I PERFER the uke.) Your creativity inspires me and keeps me going. I've always felt refreshed by watching your videos. And hearing things you say about your anxiety, depression, and even depersonalization...I feel for you, but it comforts me. I thought I was alone and weird and messed up, but you go through it too. I love all of the same things you love and you have a confidence that I long for. You are a BEAUTIFUL person and I admire you deeply. I wish we could somehow be friends because I always fail to find friends that get along with me well and you seem like you'd be such an amazing one. <3 Love you Dodie, I'll always support you.
oh my gosh dodie this was so interesting, you've made me love this song on so many levels 💛 I totally saw this as just a sweet and simle love song but I'm so impressed by the depth and detail and how the chords add to it as well aahhhhh I'm so excited I love your lyrics 💕💕💕
I'm so glad you posted this. When I first heard the song I got the impression of a strained relationship, but the music video and now this explanation helps make it even more powerful. I think the video might be a little surprising at first to those who aren't super familiar with your work or the themes involved, but in that way it can work to fill new listeners in on your deeper meanings and the feelings that may have gone into it. The contrast between the "scary" video and the calming music is very effective and the video matches the song on a deeper level and in a more interesting way than a lot of other music videos I've seen. I am currently writing some stuff concerning my mental state and struggles and this definitely inspired me. Thank you :)
I aspire to be as amazing and artistic as you one day. Seriously wow.
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Alex Labaro2017-04-13 22:22:07 (edited 2017-04-13 22:22:19 )
I first used this song to describe my previous relationship, thinking it sweet and romantic. Following the relationship's end, in which in retrospect I realized the truth in all those who said my relationship was unhealthy, I interpreted the song much differently. From visualizing the lyrics' dependency as romantic to visualizing the dependency as dangerous, my interpretation has vastly changed since my first hearing it. Rather interesting, I think.
I always thought it was about a person who finds comfort or an escape in love despite their anxiety and/or depression and is helped by their significant other in their struggles with mental health. I also always felt some undertones of the person worrying that their significant other that their problems may rub off on them even though they subconsciously know that they need their support even if that was happening. Now that I've heard your interpretation, my mind has completely changed about it haha.
At first i was shocked and confused by the video and now i understand. This is beautiful thank you. I don't think i could have ever done the song justice when singing it without knowing this. The creators have done a wonderful job and your lyrics are beautifully thought out XX
I really like your interpretation and thoughts Dodie, here are mine! I think to me the ukelele sounds Parisian and sweet, all the imagery is light and lovely. The singers mental illness is apparent but I read into it as their partner comforting them as best they can, for example 'breathe, breathe with me' being told to the singer as calming advice. I always try to help my ill friends by telling them to follow the 2,8 breathing technique. I know this isn't as detailed and wonderful as your analysis but here are my ideas! X
I love the depth of your lyrics. I understood your original meaning when I first listened to the song and I love the imagery and implications. I personally choose to interpret the song as someone who is in a relationship that does have a mental illness, and their significant other helping them on their journey to become healthy again. I relate to the song completely when I interpret it this way. I love the dynamic of lyrics and all of the versions that people can and have come up with.
damn i did not realize how deep this song was until the music video came out, and even more now that dodie made this video! props to you dodie, the amount of meaning you can put not only into a song but into each individual word is incredibly impressive and shows a lot of talent and intelligence.
i loved this so much. hilarious/ brilliant idea to analyse your own work in the way an english teacher would, while still somehow leaving me feeling like any personal interpretation was totally valid.
i'm super late but i love love love your meaning!! i interpreted as some sort of sickeningly sweet dream world, where love reigns over all and everything is okay. as the song goes on, i feel like the person who is in love realizes that they have to face reality and all the bad things that come with a relationship (ex: mental health problems not completely disappearing because of said relationship, arguments, etc.) sometime soon. no one can live in a dream world forever.
Teacher Dodie crushed it!!! That was absolutely a proper English class on one song and several different topics; great job! Also, nice to hear what you intended with the song, Dodie
Similarly to how you described it, to me this song is about a good relationship (not necessarily romantic) that suddenly turned very sour over night but they can't/don't want to split. Although this might because when I first heard the song I had come out to my sister and her negative reaction forced us to live in the same house but avoid eachother.
When I first heard the song I knew straight away that it was a more dark themed song (also didn't think it was out of character) and it never crossed my mind that anyone would think it wasn't cause the lyrics are so obvious
Wow I loved this so much! Honestly I just saw the song as a romantic, sweet song and the twistedness of it went completely over my head. I was very surprised when I saw the music video and it was pretty disturbing, especially that scene where the ken doll has all of those pins in it 😦 but after watching it a couple more times I could appreciate it a bit more and listen to the lyrics. But I still find it pretty creepy. And I think that after watching this I'll be able to enjoy it more. It was SO well done and I'm so glad that you are so happy with it. Was your first reaction to seeing it filmed? Because I would love to see that. Love you lots 💗
Also I would love to know the reason behind the choice to use Barbie dolls. I'm guessing it's to symbolize how the couple presents themselves as perfect and is in denial about their problems and to make the darkness in the video even more jarring. Also, maybe to represent innocence?
Dodie!!!! I love the video so much. I adore the idea of all of those things happening to Barbie dolls because they have that plastered smile on just like we do when we have mental health issues. The plastered smile is a part of our daily routine just like a doll. And too, I loved how they both were struggling, but together. Burning-but together. It's an accurate representation of how extremely hard it is to not only love yourself, but someone else when your brain is refusing to do anything of the sort. Great work dodie, I absolutely love it. Thank you for writing life in its most raw form because it's refreshing and true. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!
This is almost exactly how I always interrepted the song. and as much as I know art is there for conversation, debate, and people will always feel different about it, it kinda concerned me to see all the people on the music video who were upset about this "sweet innocent romance song" to be turned so dark. as a person who has dealt with a lot of mental health issues and unhealthy relationships, romantic and not, its scary to know some people arent seeing all the warning signs in the lyrics. like the most obvious one "Im afraid of the thoughts in my head" is clearly showcasing mental health and the line following can be taken as abusing the relationship and not dealing with the mental problems. I guess it just kind of scares me that there are people overlooking these signs and interpretting it as romantic and sweet because this happens a lot in real life too. there are many people who dont accept mental illness as a real issue or people who push aside their mental illness and try to hide from it. its a lot like the people who are watching 13 reasons why on netflix right now and calling it a romance. its ignoring the main issue. and maybe yes it is just a song or a tv show or whatever, but those things do trickle down into real life
The most interesting part of this song is how incredibly complex it is. It does have an intended meaning, but, as, Dodie has said, it can be interpreted in a million ways. I've seen loads of comments explaining what each lyric meant to them specifically and it still works in that context. The lyrics are ingenious, with so much meaning behind them that each individual can still view differently. Truly a masterpiece.
it was really interesting seeing how you spoke about what the song meant to you personally, it's now given me and entirely different view on the song itself!! like, damn, it's amazing how much thought brilliant songwriters like you put into their work :^)
I found this video very interesting for the reason of how differently people really see art. Hearing this song for the first time even inspired me to write a short story based on my interpretation. I imagined it as the background to a silent film where a couple meets at a train stop and engages in goofy/flirty incidents. Aah yes I love the contrast.
My interpretation was someone who struggled with mental illness, more specifically, anxiety, and the coexisting of love and the anxieties that the person struggles with everyday. But the relationship sort of helps them cope.
I would highly recommend Spike Jonze's film Her! I don't know if you've seen it but it seems your style, and it has a similar theme. It's a larger story hiding underneath/blending with a love story.
I didn't even notice the contrasting words at the start of each verse but now I have I love them!! It's so clever! Brilliant song about mental health and relationships, Dodie.
I always interpreted it pretty darkly. At first, with I found it not so much romantic but just intense, with the solid description of skin and heat, instead of a detailed and romantic description. Then with 'we can stay here and laugh away the fear' I thought maybe this person was sharing their thoughts but that it was going to be okay, but by the end with 'ive pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me' it seemed as though they were suffocating with the fear that they would drag their partner down with them if they shared too much, that they already had dragged their partner down in fact, as I'm sure many sufferers of mental illness feel. But overall, to me, the tone and the intent and panic that I heard in the song got worse and worse and i think I saw the relationship as one that would be helpful in the long run, but that the song was taking all of the terrifying moments and pushing them together
I listened to this song while going through a rough patch in my relationship and family. So i totally connected to this song in a different way, "though the world will try" are the issues hurting my relationship. Being intertwined with my lover, skin touching skin and just forgetting about the world and its issues, it made the bed my safe place, where i could pour my thoughts and pains out to him. it was just a place of comfort and a place i wanted to stay in until hopefully the world calmed down or stopped. its a very dreamy lustful state of mind to be in...but i had to leave the safe place eventually
wow, i never thought this song was more than a cute lil love song but now that you explain it, its so much more and more interesting. I love the contrasting and how you played with the idea 'pouring' out your thoughts and the recipient drinking them. When I first saw the music video I was confused and didn't think it fit the song, thank you for helping me to understand it from another point of view :) Love everything about this and you x
I love Dodie's interpretation, it's so interesting to hear how the writer hears her own song :). i'd allways associated this song with the relationship between me and my closest friend. she is like a sister to me, but is allways there when I am struggling, beit emotionally, physically, mentally or a mixture of the three. when i first listened to it, it made me think of the security I have in that friendship, as i also do everything i can to help her when she needs it in return for her helping me. I often am 'afraid of the things in my brain' but when i've told her whats going on, or i see her, i feel very definitely 'safe from the world' also, i'm very scared of hurting her in the process of her helping me. luckily this hasn't happened, but this is my absolute favourite song, for me it captures something nothing else can.
At the start of the song, the audience believes the two lovers to be in a happy, healthy relationship. "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" are her second thoughts on the relationship. Then she combats that uncertainty with reassuring herself that everything's ok. "Numb, fine" are her thoughts that are mostly being planted in her brain by her partner. To say that this is about an abusive relationship is not understatement in my mind. The only thing that is keeping her with this man, is his constant reassurance that everything's fine even though she feels like it isn't.
i know this is a little older but this was MY EXACT MEANING OF THE SONG !!! I remember thinking this but seeing people pin it as a sweet slow love song made me feel so uneasy because of the personal ties i put into the song
I absolutely loved this. I didn't have any real thoughts I was mainly confused. but this makes more sense now that you broke it down. I love the thought in this idk why but hearing you go straight into a deep analysis made me so happy???
OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS MY INNER ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDENT FOUND SO MUCH JOY LISTENING TO YOU DISCUSS ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL LYRICS I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW
the song was so sweet to me!! it was like two lovers were willing to ignore the fear as long as they got each other, i even thought the way the song ended in "laugh away the fear" was so sweet and that the humming at the end implied a sense of safety in each other's company. i didn't expect it to be written as a kind of dark love song 👌 amazing
Ok, I always loved this song and always will. First time I heard it I fell in love with it musically, then I could understand the lyrics (I am French this took me a while lol) and it just meant so much to me. It did because I knew to be fragile and dependent, but I was (and am still) in a healthy relationship now : he could drink all the thoughts I could not stand. (And now they almost got away :) ) But when I saw the clip I was so disturbed, moreover that I was listening to it again and again this week! I was shocked. I then saw this video, and accepted this new sense. And now it is EVEN MORE meaningful to me : I had been this person drinking in a very unhealthy relationship (destroying me at the time that have changed myself for ever) but I still was dependent. And I now understand him... (I hope) Thank you so much Dodie ♡ love you ♡ I will love this song now with the two approaches I have, because well, there are the two interpretations, neither are wrong, only that one happens to be the writer's
at first I thought Intertwined was a cute little love song, but t when I really listened to the lyrics, specifically the "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles". When I paid attention to this line, I could hear that depending on the other person like you said. From then on, the song was very different for me and I grew to love it so much more. As I have been in such a damaging, dependant relationship for a very long time, my heart just leapt and drank up those lyrics as soon as they made sense in this way.
It may be a bit dark, but I played this once for my boyfriend and it has evolved into "our song". I suffer from a lot of mental health issues, as does he. He's definitely become a safe haven for me. We've been through a lot together, and this song just fits. Even if is a bit depressing. Probably a bit too dark to play for a first dance at our wedding, but we love it anyway. <3
honestly, i first thought of it as someone with such a toxic state of mind and they're just doing horribly, but then they meet someone who helps ease the pain at least a little. cool analysis and amazing song!
"you create a rarity of my genuine smile" is such an intriguing line for me -- because people take it that the person's smiles were always rare but their lover makes them smile regardless, but i've always taken it as the person "creates the rarity" of the smiles. in that -- the smiles the person gives their lover aren't genuine - these genuine smiles have become few and rare.
Excellent work by creators and the whole team. It is good to have a place to explore our feelings, the inner selves. You are an artist and you are meant to live out loud and I thank you for sharing your mind with us. You are still a very pretty woman in my eyes. It would probably take a full criminal conviction to change that.
i'm no joke supposed to be in class (i'm online schooled) and when my mom said to go work on language arts i was like "no, i'm already doing that" to which she replied "no you're just watching dodie again" and i tell her "it's pretty damn close to language arts at this point, guess when this video is over i can just move on to algebra" so long story still pretty long if you believe hard enough that your favorite youtuber will somehow be your substitute teacher or some shit, it will happen eventually
I'm online schooled too and I felt like I was just doing a lesson for AP Lang, no joke. She used a lot of the same language I do when analyzing pieces (hey College Board, it'd be great if you could have us analyze a dodie song please and thank you)
Personally, i interpreted this song to be very romantic and sweet. I pictured two lovers cuddling in bed in the morning where its cold outside of the sheets but inside its very warm and safe, its a beautiful song and it makes me feel cosy ❤️
It would've been interesting if my interpretation had been completely different from your original one, but it was actually surprisingly identical. I commented on the original music video when I first saw it, describing my interpretation, but I had no idea that it was so much deeper than that. You out so much effort into each and every single one of the lines and words in this song, and now, I love this song even more than when I had previously stated that I love it even more. When I first heard this song, I didn't look into the words that much, so I only saw it as a nice, cute sounding love song with some creepy dark undertones, which I LOVED. Now, when I listen to it, I listen to and hear every single one of those conscious efforts you made to make this song as perfect as possible. Not a lot of singers and musicians nowadays put this much effort into matching the lyrics and the meaning of the song to the music itself. Congrats on being my favorite musical artist.
I think the video was what helped me interpret the song, and it kinda lines up to what you said it's about. To me, the narrator in the relationship has some sort of mental health problem, and they feel guilty about bringing that side of them to their partner. I really actually relate to this song, becuase I have the same hesitant feeling when talking to my partner about my illnesses.
This definitely is what I imagined the meaning to be, how mental health can break down a relationship and become toxic if not handled properly by getting real help rather than putting it on your partner.
I think your intended meaning comes through in the recording perfectly. The tone of your voice paired with the contrasting lyrics made me immediately picture a woman with mental health problems who is scared to drag her partner down that hole, while desperately hoping that he will be able to resist and lift the burden of her instead ...... Maybe I can just relate a bit too well, I don't know. This is so clear to me (and btw, I love love love this song! Just discovered it yesterday and I think it's my favourite from you right now <3)
I love this song so much. For me it really depicted loving someone so much that you can't see the damage you're doing to each other. It's like you focus on these loving and beautiful things in the relationship when in actuality there's all this chaos and calamity happening all around the relationship. However, both of you continue on because everything is pinned on this person and you're totally dependent on them because you feel as though they ease the anxiety and depression you feel. But in truth they're making it worse and it all boils down to; do you face this and lose them and feel your whole world crumble around you, or do you continue to live in ignorance and continue making each other worse?
Curious!! Do you find you put this much intense thought into the lyrics as you wrote them, or do you find you wrote mostly from the heart and looked back on the lyrics and put meaning to them then? Or maybe a mix of both?
For me when I'm writing lyrics I find it's a mix of both, I put a lot of thought into the feelings or emotions I want to get across, but most of the double meanings or symbolism comes from altering the lyrics later on, or moreso, I find I wrote things that didn't necessarily have a meaning at the time but developed one later on?? If that makes sense??
Also my first reaction to the video was that I was a bit uncomfortable and weirded out because I didn't expect it but I think that's a good thing, I think that comes with the reaction to mental health and mental issues and it comes with the fact that they're not things like physical disabilities or colds that you can evidently notice right away, they can be unexpected, they're not supposed to be soft and gentle, they can be violent and unpredictable and consume people and ultimately, relationships too.
Looking back I LOVE LOVE LOVE your meaning and all the clever language you used, this is by far one of my favourite videos of yours because it's cool to see how my interpretation of the song and video can be completely different than intended by you (or any other artist) but it still isn't wrong, it just reflects me as a person instead of you, which is by far one of my most favourite things about music.
Totally saw this as someone singing to their mental illness, that it is a love-hate relationship balanced between wanting to be free and relying on the illness to make choices in your life. Personally I fear so much that it becomes who I am and something that I need to feel like myself and feel like I can go on, mainly because it is something that is so constant. The song is beautiful in showing the inner gore of mental illness and how it can make the world seem like a gruesome place, especially when you feel like it could tear you in half. Just another thought bubble, absolutely love the song!! <3
First of all, I loved the song and the video and listening to your analysis! I definitely got the subject of mental health, but understood the relationship to be helpful, like a relief, such as with "laugh away the fears", "numb, fine", " you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" and "breathe, breathe with me". And the line "I hope you don't bleed with me" seemed like an apology. Like: I love you but don't want you to suffer with me - as if learning to share your feelings/thought/mental health with someone but not wanting to upset them, like you do with someone you love. You said "skin" to be jarring, but for me it added to the intimacy of the first few lines. And the "intertwined, free" I took as a definition of a healthy relationship: that you are one with each other but able to still lead your own lives/follow your own aspirations.
To be honest, my interpretation of the song relates to my situation perfectly, but isn't quite what you wrote it to be. The narrative of the song for me was about the person singing (in this case me), for the first time in a long time, feeling completely at ease with someone, but they feel guilty because of the things in their brain, and how it affects their mood, the way the partner has to deal with that person, but they seem to be strong even though the narrator feels incessantly guilty. My boyfriend at the beginning of this relationship was happy, and I honestly feel that the deterioration of my own mental health (I think. Something just isn't right and I think it's getting bad but I'm not one for self diagnosis or anything. Idk how to quite describe it) these past few months has weathered him, to say the least. He says he is strong, and for now he is one of the few things which make me genuinely happy, but I do feel an immense guilt due to the fact he has to deal with me. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" is particularly poignant due to the fact he has always been this strong, happy figure in my life, and whilst I know it hasn't always been like that, I don't want him ending up in the same situation I am in or worse, whether it be because of me or otherwise. It's honestly horrible, and indescribable and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I always thought there were dark implications to both the song and my situation, but I didn't realise quite how much until I saw the music video, and it made me cry because it showed everything I'm scared of happening. This song is incredibly powerful and meaningful to me and I'm so grateful you made something that (coincidentally) fits, because I'm a terrible lyricist, and nothing so far has made quite an impact such as this. Now I have just confessed to a bunch of strangers who don't care about my story. I hope you see it at least.
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Avril Castro2017-04-12 19:25:50 (edited 2017-04-12 19:34:25 )
I love the song and I kinda got the meaning the first time, but it was nice to delve deeper and really know every bit of the song. Despite absolutly loving the song, I didn't really like the video. Not becouse the video didn't portray my inperpretation, but becouse I dislike dolls and melting of faces and such. I get why they chose dolls (something happy, euphoric and childlike) and wrecked them, but those kinds of things really don't do my brain any favors. I get intense nighmares and all it does is bring me back to the weird gorey dreams. - On a lighter note, I bought a ukelele today and I'm currently learning to play Adored by him (Intertwined is next on the list). So that made me happy and bouncy and i feel content with life.
This is exactly why the video is such a good one to me. They transform something naive and childish to an weird and uncomfortable moment. The oppositions joy/fear , good health/ mental illness and love / hate are pictured just so right ! The discomfort you experienced watching it is wanted (I think). That was the point. I understand why you can be disturbed by the message of the content they've made but when you direct a film/music clip or any type of art you want people to react to it. In my opinion this video is not here to please people's eyes but to show them a fuck*d up interpretation (which fits really good with the song btw). I hope you'll learn many things with your uke, peace. (English is not my native language and I hope you understand what I wanted to say).
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Emma Florez2017-04-15 16:38:18 (edited 2017-04-15 16:38:49 )
The way I hear the song is that it's learning to love and share burdens when it's difficult. I, too, am afraid of the things in my brain, but spending time with people I care about calms and distracts me. The song seems to be in the context of an existing relationship where the writer is happy, but is having trouble trusting the other person. She wants to share her struggle with mental health, but she doesn't want to damage the other person. The writer is happy with the other person and pushes away the things she's struggling with instead of actually dealing with them. I see the song as romantic and sweet, but incomplete. The songwriter and significant other don't have a constructive relationship; rather, they have a fairytale love that is shallow.
When i listened to intertwined for the first time i thought it was a cute and lovey dovey kind of song. I listened to it on repeat and found myself humming the beutiful tune. I was singing the lyrics (I've pinned all my thoughts) and i realized that that seemed a bit toxic/unhealthy for a relationship. Refusing to believe that my new favourite song was about something much deeper (because for once i liked something that seemed airy fairy) i went to google for the lyrics. I read them over and over and came to the conclusion that while the lyrics were right there, dodie fooled me and other people that it was something that wasn't a big deal with a light waltz like tune. That it was light and happy just like most people do with mental illness. It blows my mind the amount of thought that goes into the lyrics and chords, each one representing something with such power. I honestly am still in love with this song, perhaps even more because of it's eerily symbolic simple looking tune with deep and meaningful lyrics.
I still like to interpret the song as a more romantic one (when i listen to it i get a very dreamy, lovey vibe) and something i find funny is that watching this video and you pointing out the codependency only made me add the song to another romantic-themed playlist for one of my books, lol (the book is called Fears and is heavily based on the main characters - romantic and otherwise - depending on each other to survive because of their mental illness)
Honestly I would so love to interpret and analyze songs like this in English, it would be so much more interesting for me. Also would be able to connect with it more because, this may surprise you, old cis straight white men don't exactly talk about the struggles I might face.
The song , when I first listened to it seemed like it was leading to something else but I never really dug into it but after watching the video and this I'm actually glad it wasn't as simple as it seemed.
My interpretation was that the song talked about that endless void. When your life is happy, supposed to be perfect, but just isn't. You feel like you're in a shroud of nothingness, that cannot be filled.
Thanks so much for making this. The delivery is very impressive but also i relate to a SPOOKY extent. Hmm. Maybe I need to get some mental health care.
Dodie, I'm an american (just wanna let you know you have an international reach). I deal with some crazy bad depression and mood swings and whatever. Just want to say thanks dodie, you are a very inspiring person and I'm doing so much better.
I just bought your album last night and began listening to it. For Intertwined, I thought it was the mental state of one not being so "stable" while the other is trying to help but is not quite understanding the full impact of the other's mental state.
When I first heard the song I did relate it back to mental health and depending on another person to feel happiness, but after the music video was released I realized the true darkness of the lyrics. Depending on someone so heavily to feel like a normal person can be very toxic and I think the video perfectly captured that. I absolutely loved it (though it was quite unsettling if I'm honest lol). You are wonderful Dodie and I hope you're doing well <3
this is so fascinating!!!!!!!!! i always assumed it was just about the intimacy between people, with nothing about mental health. more recently, i'd been wondering about some of the contradictions. it's such an interesting and thought-provoking song on its own and this video has grown my adoration for it, as well as adding far more depth than i had previously thought. you're an amazing artist, dodie, and i look up to you a lot. i think this song perfectly conveys the message you were aiming for, and now that i understand it better, i can definitely relate to this song. as someone with depression, anxiety, and ocd and in a relationship with a partner who also struggles with a few mental health issues, mental health and communication play an important part in our relationship. i believe this song definitely shows what can happen when two partners (especially when one or both has something wrong in their mind) don't communicate. thank you so much for writing this, and i thank all of the wonderful people who have created the music video. it was stunning to watch and is currently my favorite music video. <3
I interpreted the song as a relationship that seems perfectly stable and good, "a picture perfect relationship" if you will, but the writer is hiding their pain and thoughts from the other person. They hope and pray with all their being that the other person will notice, but they don't and the relationship continues in this pattern, eventually destroying the love that was once felt. I also thought the video went well with my interpretation, even if it wasn't exactly the authors original interpretation😊
I'm really glad you made this video. It was a little darker than some of your other songs but I still loved it. (Sidenote) did you take music theory class?
I never properly thought of it like this. I always felt like i ~should~ think it's a love song because it's about love. but that never really sat well with me, I guess my brain subconsciously picked up on some of the other things you mentioned I think I identify a lot more with it as a slightly fucked up version rather than a cutsey love version
i love this song so much but it gives me so much anxiety. it just has always reminded me of my mental problems and adding on the whole relationship part just reminds me of one of my past relationships. i'm not going to to say that it ended badly because it was more than that. it started bad and ended horribly. my mental state always gets in the way of just about every relationship i have have. this song depicted my struggle in a light fluffy sounding song that would just sound like a cute love song from the outside to the normal person. After you released this song i listened to it on repeat for just about 2 weeks and i literally just broke it down and evaluated every little aspect of it, from the very first note to the very last. i wanted to get a better understanding of the song because i knew it had to be more than just a love song the lyrics were implying other wise. when it hit me, i stopped listening to it. yes the song made me feel as if i wasn't alone in a way but it reminded me of my past. it also probably didn't help that my boyfriend loves you and always sings this song and he sees it as just another cute little Dodie love song, which i of course do not see it as. it made me feel weird and uncomfortable. of course i still listen to the song it's just not as often, even though it is one of my most favourite songs. the depictions are just too real for my crazy sick mind
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Charlie Manning2017-04-13 06:12:00 (edited 2017-04-13 06:12:32 )
I sort of saw the contrast between the darkness of the world and the comfort of being intertwined as a less unhealthy and toxic situation. Picture a raging thunderstorm, and you move through the window to see the couple together in front of a cozy fireplace, their little escape from the hectic chaos they face in their normal lives. Really like the writer's interpretation though :)
I thought it was a person being helped through their mental health with comfort and relationships that were helping them but I get why that's wrong now. Honestly Dodie, Imagine you teaching English, I would love each lesson 200% more.
please do more videos about the meanings of your songs and you would be an amazing english teacher lol. also, this was pretty much how i interpreted the song and also why it made me cry the first time i heard it bc i am mentally ill as well
okay dodie can you just like stop being so amazing? thanks. and also when is your 'dodie teaches songwriting (including how to write deep poetic metaphorical lyrics) course' coming out? i would legit pay a lot of money for dis.
I'm literally going to ask my English teacher to put this video on next time we're going through the mark scheme for our tests - it makes waaaay more sense to me than most test answers do!
The lyrics, I absolutely felt everything that you were trying to portray. When it comes to the concept of the video, I (being a dancer) also imagined a twisted, dark, but powerful dance duet with a color scheme very similar to the video you currently have.
THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I THOUGHT OF THE SONG. However, I did not think that the music video completely represented my interpretation of it. I would have never thought to use dolls, Sammy did an incredible job on that one. I think the only reason I am not dalling head over heels in love with the video, is because of the fact that they are dolls, it seems a bit impersonal to me. I loved the shots of the outside of the house, however, the shots of the dolls themselves, seemed as if they were moving unnaturally. (As they probably are)
By the way, great job on describing this, I was glued to my screen the entire time!
3 months later I finally watch this and am blown away.. I didn't think of this song as showing mental health problems and am just so shocked because it makes sense. I always thought of this song as someone falling in love and didn't plan for their feelings to be as strong as they are and it's basically their first love so it's scary and completely terrifying.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: i love the English teacher vibe and how you explained this so well. It goes to show how much thought song writing must take. I really do adore your EP i downloaded a it on Spotify and listen everyday more than twice haha. :)) Next when i first heard the song, i didn't see the lyrics so i thought it was just a sweet lullaby or something. when i saw the video i was jarred and shocked so i looked at the lyrics again. i did think it had something to do with mental health and i didn't want to dig much on it but yes it does resonate with me. I have undergone talk therapy for suicidal intentions and soon after finishing 4 years of therapy I rushed into a romantic relationship that i thought i could handle but alas it was just my own intent and not the other person's intent with me. I think my mental health broke us both. After that I had to go through therapy again and stopped recently. I do especially love the part "breathe breathe with me' because it really feels like someone trying to get over a panic attack which i get a lot of. Thank you very much Dodie! I really love your music and this video! More power to you!!💙💙
I'm happy that you're satisfide with your work but really I didn't "love" the video just because I felt it was ...creepy, but what I did like is about this video is how passionate you are with your work and just because some people didn't like it (I'm talking about me) dosen't mean that other people will not . I hope that this dosen't sound like I'm hating on your work
I always thought it was about a relationship after an abusive one, where you're sorting out all of the problems and memories and potentially PTSD from the horrible experiences in the past and trying to make things better with a new partner who you feel absolutely safe with, but don't want to hurt with your past
to me, i feel like the song is definitely dark and about having mental health issues, but this doesnt have to mean the relationship is unhealthy cause of it... i have many a time had to "laugh away the fears" because it was the only way to not be completely hopeless. laughing away the fears, to me, remains something good.
im absolutely in love with the music video that sammy made but, i saw it as this bittersweet type thing. where it goes from like being happy (possibly with said s/o) and then it flashes to like the girl crying and drinking heavily.
In all reality, I don't normally make my own interpretation. I know what feeling I feel from a song, and then the imagery that goes along with it. I think the I saw the darkness as kind of an abyss... Like when you're waiting outside for a bus, or a train, and you can see the empty trees on a grey sky. And like everything's fuzzy... because it's out of focus because it's a conversation within your mind with references to others that they'll never hear.
I really love this song because they're aren't very many songs that are so soft and lovely and yet look at mental health in a way that is so poignant in it's accuracy. So this is a little thank you for your courage to say things most people struggle to say, in ways that are so eloquent; your songs are beautiful.
personally what i like so much about the song is how "laugh away the fear" sounds so much like "love away the fear" and to me it's very genuine and consoling that way and it reminds me of how love and fear are opposites and of how there is nothing to fear about love. Seeing the house burn down is only an example of tremendous courage that love both requires and brings out in people; the bed is standing in the midst of flame and will do so until every last bit of it hast turned to ashes. To me it represents the fight of loving until the bitter end and its means a lot to me because of that
One thing in particular I took away from the music video was how it was made using barbies. Since Barbie dolls have the "perfect body" and faces, I interpreted the use of barbies instead of real people as a way of showing how we are supposed to be perfect, and the same as everyone else. Just as normal, just as "beautiful". Which, is most definitely not reality, nor should it be.
this is utterly incredible. this video puts a whole new perspective on how I view this song. I always saw it as a "bittersweet" song,the tie between pain and admiration is such a beautiful contrast. Analyzing and digging into the lyrics has changed my view completely and every time I hear it I fall in love all over again. Now that I see how much meaning is behind these words, and how much effort you put into this song, I can't help but to become obsessed again. Intertwined always puts me in this mood.every time.i.listen. This song numbs my brain of negative thoughts creating a comfort, but contrasts with the pain I feel deeper in the lyrics. I am so so so in love with this song and I love the twisted love story that the video added. you are such an incredible artist and this song blows me away, you truly have meaning behind your work and don't just feed into what the people want. You deserve endless applause.
I definitely see what you were going for, and I love it that way.
My original interpretation was similar, although downplaying mental health aspects.
More or less I thought of it as the "chicken" stage of a relationship. So its definitely from the point of view of someone who is in a physically intimate relationship, and someone who wants an emotionally intimate one as well. I took some of the juxtapositions to be anxiety or worry that the partner maybe wasn't feeling the same or on the same page. I took it as fear to admit love and take it to the next level out of fear that someone would get hurt/heartbroken. So in the end the couple (or at least the person who's point of view we have) decides to not take that next step for now (with the repeat of earlier lines. Dismissive language like numb and fine pointed me to that person suppressing their true feelings) and keep things light (laughing away fear) in what would otherwise be a heavy and intense relationship (drinking thoughts and whatnot).
Hopefully that helps to feed your love of knowing how others saw your beautiful art!
I just made my boyfriend explain the lyrics to me and he thought it was about drugs personified because of the lyrics "numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" and "we can stay here and laugh away the fear". I thought that was very interesting since I had never thought of it that way
This song has always made me sob and I never truly knew why exactly but I always got a sense of security(?) from it, I dunno. It made me think of being with my significant other, feeling safe with him and extremely loved but at the same time dealing with my own personal mental health issues and trying to not have him feel burdened and saddened by my anxiety and depression (that’s how I took the line “I hope that you don’t bleed with me). The line “Can you drink all my thoughts/cause I can’t stand them” to me was a desperation and a cry for help in my heart to my loved ones (especially my significant other), like what I want to say to them but I don’t want to burden them and have them “bleed” with me. I guess that’s why it always made me so emotional to listen to it. I know that’s not like Dodie’s ‘true’ explanation but that’s how I always saw it. Sorry that was long and this is an older video anyways so no one will read this i’m sure. I’m just venting to no one i guess lol
The first couple times I'd heard the song, I was a bit confused. I kept getting happy, sweet vibes but some of the lyrics just seemed a bit too off to fit into my original interpretation. I now interpret this song as being more of a silent war going on in the mind of someone. The more dark and gory thoughts keep trying to come in, but are covered up by the happier, more romantic thoughts. I never really saw it as being romantic, honestly.
when i listen to intertwined i definitely just feel it very romantically, but i apply it to my own relationship. my girlfriend and i are very very close (obviously) and some days it feels like she's the only thing that can help take away the bad thoughts (as i've been mentally ill for a majority of my life). so i've interpreted it as a little song reflecting on my own relationship :)
I myself am a person with mental health problems in a relationship, and I always really related to this song. I try so hard to explain to my partner what goes on in my brain but even I don't really understand it, and it doesnt help that when it gets really bad I can barely get out of bed let alone explain whats going on coherently. At the beginning I used to lean on my partner a lot through bad times but I've learned to step back quite a lot. The line "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" makes me feel sick every time I hear it because I remember how stressed and scared and confused my partner gets when I have panic attacks in front of them, or when I told them I didn't remember anything that happened in the last week and I thought no days had passed. I love my partner with all my heart, but three years in the cracks my mental health made at the beginning are starting to widen and things are slipping through. I love this song for all it makes me feel but I hate it for being so true and so sad.
I interpreted this song as a sweet love song between a lover and someone who is struggling. The song to me seems very intimate and close. I always interpreted the “drink all my thought because I can’t stand them” as the person having too much going on and being overwhelmed and wanting the other person to help them by listening to them.
this song highkey resonates w/ me lol but honestly the music video perfectly depicts the song for me because at first glance you would think that it's a cutesy perfect love song like with the barbies then later shows the sort of graphic but romantic dark side and it's really interesting idk but i love this so so bloody much it's a work of art
oh boy i love this analysis. i made a video analysing each of the songs on your ep when it first came out and i remember that i said that this relationship sounded "perfect but dreamlike and not real". i knew something was off with it but didn't start to think about the implications of that until i saw the video. i knew that the dependency mentioned wasn't particularly healthy but i think i wanted to believe it was. (it's abt to get personal oops) i am suuuuper dependent on my best friend and suffer from mental illness. they are the person i tell my stresses to and my joys and they do the same to me. when they're not around, i sometimes struggle. is that unhealthy? i honestly don't know. surely it's okay to need people? now i'm just thinking about dependency and when it's okay and not okay. hmmmm
This song meant so much to me. Including the fact that this song had to do with my last relationship. It was toxic and I thought it was love and this just really hits everything this song this meaning. It hurts.
when I first heard this song i was definitely more drawn to the idea that the song revolved around dependence; the writer needed the subject of the song to save them from the things in their brain. this is probably because of a friend I was crazy about who I relied on to feel okay years ago . I prefer your interpretation, hoWeber it makes me nervous about writing anything of my own, for writing anything so in depth would be foreign to me and I know nothing about contrasting chords! I adore this song, lovely to hear the writers perspective!
Wow, okay, so the first time I listened to Intertwined it gave me this off-putting feeling. I interpreted the song as someone in an abusive relationship. "Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet." For me I saw this as the person in the abusive relationship being hit, then the abuser trying to comfort them saying it will never happen again.
"You and I, safe from the world though the world will try." Once again this felt like the abuser was comforting them, but then they start to realize that it might happen again.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." I felt like this was the person struggling to convince themselves that the abuser really does love them, and they try to laugh it off.
"Numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smile." After being in this abusive relationship for a while they become numb and they just want out, they try to tell people that they are fine, they never smile anymore because they feel hopeless so a smile is something rare for them.
"So breathe, breathe with me, can you drink all thoughts cause I can't stand them." This goes back to the person trying to convince themselves that the abuser still loves them even if they're being abused.
"Intertwined, free, I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me." This is the person trying to get help, they want to be free but they're stilled intertwined. They then tell someone else what is happening but they're afraid the abuser will find out and hurt them both.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." The person wants to stay with their friend (the one they told everything to) because they are scared to go home and suffer more then they already have.
Oke this made me love the song even more. The interesting thing is that i felt all that you described but couldn't place it why it worked like that.
I'm so afraid of what i think and what a tell myself, and so afraid that i give myself fully in a friendship and that it's so toxic that i ruin it. But i will never admit that i'm afraid and anxious and maybe even totally stressed. I would laugh and say to myself "This is fun, this should be fun" directly contradicted by my thoughts that this isn't what i am and need.
It is all so much in this song and i felt it. i felt the connection. But i didn't know why i felt what i felt. It's confusing. It is weird when words hit you. But you don't know why. Unconcious i knew what it meant and how it perfectly fitted me.
This explenation made my head so much more clear. Thank you, you explained the song. But at the same time you explained a little piece of the working of my brain to me, in a way i didn't understand.
Weirdly I wasn't a huge fan of this song until I saw the music video but now I fucking lOVE it, its so hard core and daring and awesome. I really think the song and the video make each other
I also love that the video is Barbie and Ken as they both (especially Barbie) are depicted as perfection, which again emphasis the metaphor of mental health and that it's an 'invisible' illness. Yet all of a sudden there's a breaking point and the darkness takes over
This is pretty much how I understood the song. The writer (you) being someone who is afraid of damaging the person you love because of the things going on inside your head, but at the same time you just want to be loved and be close to them.
Personally I (at first) thought the song was a form of an emotional ballad. Starting mildly sweet (as many of the lyrics of the first verse could be interpreted, ex. safe, stay here, laugh) and then going to "numb, fine" in the start of the second, changing from a safe relationship to an "walking on eggshells" kind of relationship, re-enforced by the line "you create a rarity of my genuine smile." BUT... I feel as if the last verse was another installation, confusing in the way relationships often are. The word "intertwined" followed by "free" meant to be how the person feels when with the other person vs. how they feel alone, yet still showing an unhealthy relationship because while intertwined may be romantic, if free was an allusion to how the person feels alone, they feel trapped with the other person which is obviously unhealthy. The last repetitive chorus kind of showing how things are being left at current, how the person has accepted how things are, for good (laugh away the fear) and the bad (afraid). This was just my original interpretation!
However, after hearing dodie's explanation, I love it sooooo much more. It connects every line with such powerful purpose and makes the song just so much more heartfelt and significant. Just, wow. I love this song so much.
I think I imagined this song to be two people, just happy and together with complete trust but also dependence on each other.... but one struggling with mental health but finds comfort in the other persons company... Anyone else? Love your songs Dodie x
I originally thought of the song as a sweet love ballad with a hint of codependency, and after seeing the video this further confirmed this theme of unhealthy thoughts and relationships. I am absolutely in love with the song and the video and I can really understand all different types of interpretations of the meaning. As someone constantly struggling with mental health (I'm currently in rehab, not for substance use but for codependency, unhealthy coping mechanisms, negative thought processes, emotional disregulation, etc, etc, all that fun stuff) I really related to the song and this particular analysis of it. I am a gigantic fan of all of your work, and I can't thank you enough for the support and hope your videos and music have brought me. Lots of love always xoxo
If this is really how Dodie pictures what falling in love would be like, I hope she knows that love can still be beautiful even if you have mental health issues. Someone who deals with mental health issues does not have to “damage” the person they are with. The relationship can still be beautiful, and each person can still lift each other up. That being said, you’re so deserving of love, Dodie! And keep writing these beautiful songs 💛
I view the song as two friends who depend on each other to feel happier then their brains say they are, the parts hinting towards cough sex are actually about them making each other forget about their mental illnesses
There are so many songs out there where I wished the artist would have made such an analysis of their song. Loved it!! It's a really nice way of looking into someone else's head and understanding what they are saying in their song better. So thank you for sharing <3
I have to admit I was a little surprised when I saw how dark the video was and it did make me reinterpret the lyrics. When I first heard the song I related to it very strongly as it reminded me of how much my girlfriend has helped me through my own mental health issues. I wouldn't say our relationship is at all codependent, toxic or unhealthy and I didn't quite pick up on those themes when first hearing the song but I can definitely see it now. Overall I think I'll stick to my initial interpretation of the song because it really means a lot to me and my girlfriend (which is why I was reluctant to watch this for a long time) but this analysis was really interesting to watch so thank you for making it
I thought it was about how a relationship seems fun and loving at first but then after a while you realize how it's not perfect but at the same time it reflects on a not so good relationship to point were one of them is done with life but that it was mostly that person that probably over thought things and played a part into her relationship burning
I always thought that the song was a battle in somebody's brain when they have mental health issues and they feel "numb" but tell everyone that they are "fine" so that people cannot see the true pain and the lyrics "intertwined, free" made me think that you want to be close to friends or love interests but are afraid of having to share your problems with them and want them to be free. Also with the beginning verse it seems as though you are in a relationship but the world or your brain has poisoned it and the relationship didn't last. Finally, the lyrics "I pinned each and every hop on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" makes me think that while in this relationship you spilled your thoughts and hoped that they would help you but instead it impacted them.
Okie dokie here's my interpretation! Skin,(expressing maybe how the partner admires the other) Heat, Hair......(expressing love scene) Safe from the world though the world will try-(try to break them apart as a couple) I'm afraid of the things in my brain (my thoughts overpower my emotions) But we can stay here and laugh away the fear (try to distract each other from our thoughts) Numb, fine (your heart is numb for my love. Passive aggressively that's fine with me) You create a rarity of my genuine smile (I show who I truly am when I'm with you) So breathe, breathe with me (stay calm) Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them (only you can make the pain go away) Intertwined, free (I'm free from the thoughts when we're intertwined) I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me (you are my last hope to get me to forget my thoughts. Don't turn out like me or who else will fix me) CHORUS (same stuff) That's it ❤️❤️❤️ love you Dodie but I see the song more lightly than you. I fully respect your opinion as I hope you can respect mine 😊
I'll be honest here: while listening to your EP, I found myself skipping over Intertwined because I had only heard the first few words and didn't really understand the meaning behind it. The other day, I finally listened to the whole thing, and oh boy, have I been kicking myself for skipping over it since then! The subtle changes and cues in the song are very, very well thought out and I thoroughly enjoy the song. I don't know if this was intentional, but the first few lines sound like they're sung a little shyly, and as the song progresses, that isn't heard as much anymore. I think it fits the song very well as the lyrics take a darker turn after the sweet intro. Awesome lyrics and love your work! <3
A great song, unique yet following the theme of even your most recent ones now. Speaking of this EP; I now work for the people that regulate solicitors in England & Wales. As part of that regulation they, more often than you might think, have to intervene into firms being naughty. They sometimes have to do it because the senior manager falls ill, but it's normally because they're being naughty. Today I created a shared folder to store some useful templates to use when responding to queries about firms being intervened. I didn't call it 'intervened' though, of course, I called it Intertwining.
even though this song is almost clearly romantic, i just kind of applied it to my relationship with my best friend. The first verse being kind of a mockery to the line between friend and couple; leading into the second verse, that we don't need anything more except each other to be okay, even if the world and all its worries will try to break us down. We've been on each other's mental health journey every step of the was and no matter how hard it got, we've always been able to 'laugh away the fear', even if it was just for a little while. in the fourth chunk, the first two lines are a short look from the outside, or moment of separation, the times where we felt lonely or forgotten or insert negative adjective here, but then the last line, 'create a rarity of my genuine smile', brings us back to being in eachother's presence; joy, relief, happiness. The next bit, as the song intensifies, is where it dives deeper into our bond, during a dark moment, but one is there for the other, 'breath-breath with me' and begging the other to take away the pain in a sense, because they have the ability to do so. Next is kind of the morning after a storm. it being okay for now, but then feelings of anxiety and fear linger, hoping our problems don't become theirs because that's the last thing we'd want; the one we love hurting because of ourself. then it returns to the chorus(?), or as i see it, a descriptor of my friendship, that those fears made up in our minds can gtfo cause we are exactly what the other needs, a joke, a solution, a distraction. .aaaaaaaaaaaand thesis submitted
What I think when I listen to the song is the relationship with yourself. Your "healthy" side aka the side you show people and the person you wish to be, the person with no mental illness. This is the person you "pin" your hope to, the person you can feel you're being when you're happy, excited and unstoppable, the person you wish to be constant some day. So what I see in front of me when I listen to the song is a mirror, you're standing inside of it and on the outer side of it is the "healthy" you. When the part with "cause I can't stand them" the you inside the mirror starts smashing things, screaming and crying and then you just fall to the floor, crying in to your hands. The "healthy" you sits down with you (still on the outer side of the mirror) and places a hand on the cracked mirror glass, giving the broken you a sorrowful smile and then the song ends. The "healthy" you, for me, is the one reminding yourself that it's okay to break down sometimes, but the "healthy" you will always be there to pick you up.
The whole video I was like WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH THERE---- I had no idea you thought so much about what you wrote. I totally understand everything that you've worked and implied into this song and I think you should be more proud of yourself. When I listened to this song when the video came out (before the album which I listened to NONSTOP by the way..), I had thought about how the person singing was finding herself tangled, knotted, and intertwined with someone she depended in on, in a way that her brain doubted and affected the relationship. About her insecurities and feelings getting in the way of her loving her partner or friend or whatever. I could see the abrupt switches between the love and the sickness and the sweetness and the bitterness- and I drank it all in, listening to it everyday. When I watched the music video, I was kind of just speechless. It definitely was dark, but I liked the new perspective, and I thought it was amazingly clever.
Dodie, I listened to you in a time where I couldn't learn how to love myself. Now I do, and I can still listen to your music and just be engulfed into it. Seeing your new uploads makes me so happy, because I know whatever the theme is, I'm going to love it. Thank you for all that you've done for me. I think it's phenomenal how youtubers like you can reach out and make a place in our hearts when viewers are around the world.
Keep doing what your doing. My heart goes out to you. :)
i personally thought that the song basically explains a relationship that has its ups and downs. "skin" meaning touch and wormth and "hair in your mouth" being an intimate situation and again" feet touching feet being" closeness." safe from the world " was for me as in the relationship or precense of the other person is a distraction from bad things happening in the world. "but the world will try" show that the people in the song still understand that they need to live their lives dispite bad things." I'm afraid of the things in my brain , but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" is basically that the songwriter is suffering from mental illness or a resent trauma of some kind. But the other person is there supporting and encouraging her to get over fears and sadness . This first line is a healthy relationship. Then..... "numb " indicating that the songwriter is feeling nothing or lack of emotion(duh) would say that eighter the other person has left her or petrayed her is some way. saying that there is no more laughing away the fear. "fine" as Dodie said being a lie to the person theirself or then family members or friends assuring them that she is fine and does not need help. "breath with me" sounds to me like she wants to still acnollege that she still is alive even though she no longer has that person there supporting and encouraging her to move forwards in her life. The "can you drink all my thought cause i cant stand them" is to me like the songwriter is pleeing to anyone to pull her off the ground or then she has found someone new to release those emotions. idk which one to choose. "intertwined" she is once again in someone's toutch and comfort. "free" she has let go of the previous person. the repeating of the lyrics means that she is setting herself up for the same trick that she will fall in love but just to get her heart broken again and again.
holy moly it's 4:17 and I've been trying to ur song Dodie (btw i don't think u based it on like a true story tho) I'm willing tired +doddleoddle
quietly pitying the people that posted "this reminds me of my bf/gf" comments yikes,, i did love the song though!! and it was lovely to hear you explain it <3 cant wait to hear more music from you!!
I'm not really sure why i thought this but when i first heard this i saw two people in love who then started to open up to each other and slowly started to get more comfortable. then one person breaks and tells his/hers deepest thoughts and the person becomes almost dependent of the other and their souls were like "intertwined" hehe. But agh i love you and this song so much :)))
Due to my own experiences of relationships - I interpreted the song very personally. For me it was about how the writer was first in love with this relationship, but as they became more dependent on the other, they became manipulative in a way that they were forcing them to stay, and by the end of the song the relationship had rotted from the inside out but the writer being so consumed by the idea of love pretended that everything was fine whenever really they were both very unhappy. Both being so dependent on the idea of being loved now, kind of destroyed them. That's what I thought anyway :) but thats just because it relates to me and my own experiences.
i personally saw the "intertwined; free" part as the writer, being intertwined with a person they trust and love and suddenly feeling the feeling of freedom washing over them
listen I want dodie to do a video talking about chord progressions because when she was talking how she uses the sharpened fifth for emphasis on a certain part I was like YESSSSS GIMME THAT MUSIC TALK GIRL I need more that good shit
I remember when intertwined came out I kinda brushed over it, it was a gorgeous song but as a consumer I always like to relate to the emotion within a song- SIGHHH, too bad I can relate to it now ffs. Gorgeous song through and through, however: I wanted to ask you, or anyone who sees this comment, an open question- do you feel like the word “toxic” to describe this type of relationship is fair? Surely the sufferer can’t control their mental state right now and obviously does not intend on being harmful (“hope that you won’t bleed with me”). Is it fair to label such a person as “toxic”? Just a random question I was wondering for opinions on! :)
I definitely got the message of mental health and started to get the codependent vibe when I heard "I've pinned all my hopes on you, I hope you don't bleed" and "intertwined. Free."
Before watching the video, I'm going to say my personal thoughts of the song. I think it relates to mental illness, and how it can affect a relationship. The girl with mental illness struggles with her partner, because she wants them to be happy and healthy like her. In the line "you create a rarity, of my genuine smile." I've always heard that line as their partner making them smile less, rather than making them smile more. The word rarity means that something is scarce, so that would mean that their partner is making their smile scarce? Despite that, I feel like this song expresses a desire for a healthy relationship. I'm going to watch the video and see how wrong I am :)
As someone who just finished her AP Literature exam I screamed a little when I watched this but anyway... I definitely saw the song as more romantic although I think especially after this lesson it's so clever the way you write it and used the subtleties, and thinking about it more I think one of the reasons I thought of it as sweeter and more romantic is because that's what kind of song I needed to listen to and that I still do need to listen to. The song is one of my favorites because it created such a happy image for me and as someone who's going through a lot of stress right now that was a really important feeling for me and I often listen to it as I'm falling asleep because it makes me so calm. Also the reason I saw it this way was the rhythm and the very gentle background to the lyrics and the first part to me was definitely two people lying together, then the part about the "rarity of my genuine smile" to me was an argument and then the breathing was calming down and I really just heard it as a very calming and lovely song about two people lying together and protecting each other. But either with the intended meaning or my own interpretation, it was a great song!
both the song and meaning behind it is so clever and beautiful. the harmonies just fit so well together and the song really shines a light on an issue that's never really talked about. dodie's music is just so refreshing and has a sense of elegance to it, its just so cute <3
Every time I listen to this song, I think of my own personal situation going on. So I'm in love with my best friend and all our friends think he's into me. He's even said it himself that he's seen me as more than a friend many times and has often imagined what it would be like for us to be together. The one problem is that he has a girlfriend of four years. He seems to spend more time with me than with her and everyone has noticed. We say I love you and even write letters to each other. He's going off to college in a few months and we're probably going to end up at the same school and he said that he's pretty sure we'll end up together once I'm there. ANYWAY, every time I listen to this I just picture us away from everything and everyone and all the problems going on and just being together and being happy. So yeah. That's my version in case anyone wanted to know.
Tbh i think the music video fitted the song because when i heard the song i thought a constant fight with mental health and ‘laugh away the fear’ meaning covering up the fact your not okay, and how love is a distraction and helpful but has its disadvantages. Overall i think the song is more dark and twisted with a bit of love emotion❤️❤️i love the song
I saw the song as this concept where the two lovers are more of the shy type of lovers that have been getting this bad wrap from not opening about their feelings and communicating well enough so lover A thinks that lover B doesn't want them and so this leads to lover A being "afraid of the things in my brain" but through soft touching moments that might go through without any talking or actual verbal discussion (if that's how I can best phrase it), they know that they're safe with each other, even through doubts and fears. And the humming at the end makes me think about scenarios where they both think back to all the past panic they had and their doubts about each other and how scary it would be if one were to leave the other but in the end it's all resolved and there is love for the lovers.
alrighty. now watching this analysis video and the mv, i have a hard time remembering what my original thoughts on it were. ill try my best though.
okay. we start off with the first verse, "skin, heat. hair in your mouth, feet touching feet..." i interpreted that as a soft little cuddle on a couch in a dimly lit room. like something had just happened and all is now silent.
we continue to, "you and i, safe from the world though the world will try.." what i got from that goes along wth what i thought about the first little line. maybe this individual has a lot of mental health issues, and is constantly needing to be reassured by her lover/close friend. this person may have had a breakdown, and this is the aftermath. a beautiful, but twisted song about needing someone to "drink all their thoughts".
"i'm afraid of the things in my brain. but we can stay here and laugh away the fear." this line is self explanatory. the person is obviously afraid of their own head and the thoughts that come and go. i feel as if they're kinda begging in a way to have the other person comfort them. laughing away fear contradicts itself. they could simply be trying to play it off as they're fine.
"numb, fine. you create a rarity of my genuine smile." we now see that they aren't as happy as they imply that they are. this person creates the rarity of their genuine smile, implying (my opinion) this person does not make them happy anymore.
"so breathe, breathe with me. can you drink all my thoughts? cause i cant stand them." the higher pitched cant is presumably a breaking point for this person. like when your voice cracks when you're about to cry. as i said before, this individual wants someone to take the bad thoughts away.
"intertwined, free. i pinned each and every hope on you i hope that you don't bleed with me." this person is getting relief, which only lasts a short while, as the chorus implies that they are in fact still afraid of the things in their brain. them pinning each and every hope on the other person is saying that they want this other person to fix them. and they hope they can, though they know they can't. hoping that the other person doesn't bleed with them is like saying "i have these issues that are dragging me down but i don't want you to get dragged down as well."
that was my insanely long interpretation of this amazing song.
I showed my mother the music video, and then this, I then said “what did you think when you first saw the video?” And she replied with “the images don’t really fit the beautiful melody” I then said to her “and what do you think now?” And she replied with “Barbie and that dudes relationship is fucked”
My interpretation is that this is how a person with mental illness fears love will be and this is the scenario they put inside their head that stops them from reaching out or even telling their partner about their health and just kind of ends it or doesn't search for love in the first place. I see it as kind of a conversation the person is playing out in their head like they're afraid of being intimate with this person because they think that once they are, they're going to ruin them. Like especially with the title intertwined, it makes me think of a kind of chaos and two balls of yarn and the person with the mental health struggles is all tangled up and the person they love will come closer and just kind of get sucked into the tornado that is their life and end up finding themselves twisted inside the first tangle. I think this is perfect bc these are the sort of extremes I know I tell myself in my struggle with mental health. This embodies the "I can't be loved. I'm ruining everyone's lives. They won't understand and I am messing up the one good thing I had" mentality I and I'm sure many others also feel. Like our brains tell us this is what will happen if we try to be intimate and in love and we will either ask too much of them or not enough and end up exploding or more correctly, imploding in our mental illness and it will just ruin the one good thing we had and everything will eventually go down in flames, like at the end of the video, because that is the way that our lives always seem to go. Just a thought, though.
So I totally related the song to my own relationship. of course. I just see the first verse of a description of all the times we've been together and it's great and lovely and well self explanatory. Second verse we're in our happy bubble. Now onto the third verse about my brain. I dont have mental health problems but I got pretty down last year, we're in a long distance relationship and I got lonely and I just wanted my boyfriend to take my crappy thoughts and feelings. Then when we eventually see eachother we can laugh and be happy. The intertwined bit is so interesting because I see it as when we're together and hugging but I feel free from everything else because I can forget and live in the moment. And I think that's basically it. I love the dark theme of the video though!
I personally thought of this song as more hopeful, with the same themes of finding solace in another person but without the toxic element of the relationship. Perhaps that's because in my own experience, I used to worry a lot more about my struggles affecting loved ones than they actually did - they were happy to support me, and I was the one unduly worried about burdening them. So with that in mind, the contrasts of 'numb - fine' and 'intertwined - free' could more suggest the solving of a problem, the lessening of a burden, and how having people to support you can help you get better - rather than suggesting denial. And the gory language could reflect the dark, morbid thoughts that can creep into one's head during mental illness, rather than reflecting a darkness of reality in an unhealthy relationship.
But I love the darker, intended interpretation too! It's certainly more interesting.
when i listen to the song, i imagine two parts of someone's personality kinda going against eachother? like it would be anxiety and safety, so the anxiety is all the negativity but the safety is trying to cover it up and make the person seem fine. near the end where you sing 'can you drink all my thoughts? cuz i can't stand them!' i imagine that as a sort of mental breakdown where the anxiety part of the brain won. by the end, the safety has taken back over and the toxic cycle of coving up anxiety and bad thoughts continue.
The video and the song reminds me of the song evil by Interpol because the song seems happy but the video and the lyrics contradict it ,making you look at it from completely different perspective and adds an element of complexity.That's why I think intertwined is a really good well thought out song.
this is soooo 100000% interesting as hell!!! this is why i love u so much!!! i heard this song in a spot in my life where i was very much in love andddd i played it in the car while i was making out with someone in the backseat. i chose it because i thought it was as romantic as a song could be and i always continued to see it as so!! it wasnt until i saw your music video that i even considered the alternate meaning and i totally get it now. art is so wonderful and u treat it perfectly:))) love u dodes
This is so interesting, because when i first heard the song i was like "Oh yeah this is a cute love song blah blah" but now that you explained the idea behind it i can't understand why i didn't get that...
I thought of the song as someone with a mental health problem has found a relationship that is good for then that can help them feel happy I never really thought of it as a toxic relationship but rather a relation that helps the writer notice the good things in life
It's nice that you pointed out at 1:21 that art has several interpretations, which is why I feel that the piece isn't as intense as it is in reality, but I take some form of comfort in it as someone who thinks too much when thinking of it in a less intense manner. Excellent lyrics; you know you've done a song right if people can discuss what the lyrics mean and come up with different interpretations!
When I first heard the song I interpreted it as thought the writer was dealing with some sort of pain or anxiety in their life and was conflicted over what to do, therefore turning to their significant other for comfort and reassurance. mic drop and that is how steph teaches an english literature lesson
personally, i interpreted the song video as a couple who are completely in love, but destorying the other as they did so. i saw it as a perhaps unstable relationship, where one person was falling apart and that affected the other. i dunno. but i still love this song
I have no words to describe how much I loved this? I adore seeing how much thought went behind every word of the song and how even the chords and melodies and harmonies just subtly accentuated your meaning of the song. This felt like a poem my English Lit teacher would hand me to analyze and honestly, I love it. I'm shaking as I write this because I am just now realizing how much meaning this song has not only to you, obviously, but to me as well. As soon as you got to the "numb, fine" part, I just started sobbing because yes, you're right, I will always deny it. Like, I'm fine, I'm fine, but really no, I'm not. Everything about this is amazing and I'm so so glad that you decided to put this up. Thank you, Dodie xxxx
To me (I guess the video more than the song's lyrics) it appears that it's about Intrusive Thoughts OCD. The calm, almost childlike settings, followed by sudden violent scenes does portray what it may be like in ones mind who suffers from this form of OCD.
I interpit this song as almost the same. I pictured it through my own story. One person struggles alone with mental health problems until they finally reach out to another person. When they do it feel good and the writer feels comforted. But frequented with anxiety the person pulls back from the person embarrassed and pretends to be "fine". In the end the person goes back to the one they trusted and the two keep an honest and healthy relationship and the one with the mental health issues is able to live with it with the help of the other person. ( in my mind the helper is a friend, but it could be anyone really. A parent an significant other. I just thought of my good friend who helps me with my mental health.)
Dodie, from Lit Head to another, I'm officially an enthusiast now!
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Morgan Irbs2021-07-09 00:42:55 (edited 2021-07-09 00:43:24 )
I’ve always had this weird relationship with my best friend. We’ve only just got close enough to where we are intimate with each other in a benefits way. The beginning of the song helps show that. Safety in being together and giving each other what we wish we had from other people. The fear being of people discovering how we are in our private space away from all of the world, our vulnerabilities finally bringing to light to the outside. Scared that we will either be ridiculed, or people will try to push us together. The drinking of thoughts you mentioned in your explanation is same in my interpretation. This is just… it’s one of those songs like “in the bed” or “I kissed someone (it wasn’t you)” where it highlights the shameful and more dark desires I’ve been experiencing as of late towards this person. It helps to hear it in music and in words the thoughts I can never know how to express.
I envisioned the song in a darker theme, however the video did take me by surprise. I didn't really have any expectations for what the video was going to be, but I suppose I assumed that my take on the song being darker was incorrect and that the video was going to be less intense? I love it nonetheless but despite having no expectations on what the content of it was going to be it was definatley a twist on my assumptions 👌
I had also originally pictured a strange slightly confusing dance duet or solo, but I personally loved the actual video. I love how different people interpret the same thing so differently but also so similarly!! It's beautiful what Dodie has created here xxx
well i mostly listened to this song when i was completely depressed over my ex boyfriend for about 4 months and thought of us and couldn't really get other deeper interpretation of this song so yeah..
i have to tell you that i'm LITERALLY obsessed with this song. it's so pretty and i relate to the lyrics, mostly (unfortunately) with the mental health part. (i'm a bit struggling currently with ed or i don't even know if i'm allowed to talk about ed bc i don't feel legitimate) so i have to tell you a massive THANK YOU because you're helping me a LOT :) i'm so happy when i watch your vids that it makes me forget my sadness also sorry for my english i'm french and i think imma delete this comment right after posting it (or will i after all i'm not sure this is even real
The song always seemed very desperate to me, the sound and lyrics also created this feeling of anxiety. The song seemed to me a painful longing for someone. A heartache that looked beautiful even though it probably shouldn't.
i really feel like taking this to my english teacher just because analyzing dodie would be the best thing ever and you can just tell how much effort is put into every single word gkhsgjkfgksj i love it
If you got a B in English Lit A Level with that sort of analytical skills, how the hell do you get an A or even an A*? Do you actually have to be the examiner or the author... I mean right now you're at an advantage but still. I'm glad I only took physics, maths and history in the end because this is way out of my league.
Your results video got recommended to me about half an hour before I watched this for some reason and I have a great memory for incredibly random things and it finally paid off
I'm taking English literature GCSE at the moment and /a lot/ of the marks come from remembering large amounts of quotes and knowing a lot about the historical context behind a piece of writing which is where most people lose marks, (don't know about Dodie I'm not her examiner lol). If you want to know anything else, just ask :)
Kat Rose thanks for the offer but I took my GCSE's a few years ago and I know just how much of it was memory. It would have helped my mark if I had read the books I had been studying. I highly recommend reading the books before the exam. I could talk at length about how that system punishes creativity and personal interpretation is thrown aside for set themes and ideas set out by examiners but a YouTube comment is not the place to have that kind of discussion
Ellen Sa that sounds like it would be more confusing than quantum mechanics and that stuff can literally not be interpreted logically or even illogically with form of accuracy
lotus ann gregory that's why I'm no expert on any of those things. Put some maths in front of me and I will make it work but give me a creative piece to interpret and I'll just say if it was good or bad ☺️
I was going to do a short film with intertwined and I was going to make it really creepy but I was afraid Dodie would find it and see it as creepy and scold me
I live in my world of anxiety and depression, desperately seeking a third option where medication and therapy have failed to yield any positive results. Intertwined is a song that resonates with my day to day and to some degree my view on relationships. I'm not in one and haven't in a decade, but the fear of projecting too much on someone I care about is a constant setback to developing any form of closeness. My interpretation of the song was being able to find someone who can take in or absorb your problems and make it all seem a distant memory. But naturally I'm susceptible to expanding my horizon of thought and to hear the different perspective of that sort of absorption being destructive, I've taken a different but more fulfilled appreciation of Intertwined. I can now appreciate the dark twistedness of portions of the song, but I can't stray too far from my initial interpretation of the song which is "what if there was a person who could lift the burden of mental health off your shoulders, even for just a little while, you can be selfish in small doses! The joy!"
This song made me think about me and my dad, how he's helping me through my gender identity crisis and supporting me despite this world having another view on nonbinary. --- "Skin, heat" My body is ugly. "Hair in your mouth" I needed to cut my hair. He was the only one who helped. "feet, touching feet" I'm so scared of everyone around me, I shiver in the corner, hands clasped together and feet nudging each other. "Oh you, and I, safe from the world, though the world will try," When me and my dad are together, we're safe. I'm safe. He helps protect me. "Oh, I'm afraid, of the things in my brain" I hate feeling angry at others who've done nothing wrong. It's not their fault they don't understand. "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" Dad always knows the right things to say and the best jokes. He always makes me laugh. He taught me how to laugh. How to block out the world's pessimism. "numb, fine" Acting around others is so difficult when all it does it hurt. "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" I'm not sure if I smile at anyone else like that. Not with a romantic love, but a platonic one. Molded and built upon trust and years of caring for each other. "so breath, breath with me" I'm reassured when I can hear my dad, when I can feel his presence. "can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them" This one should be odvious. My dad's the only one who took the time to sit down, listen, and understand the mess in my head.
I love my dad. I love him so much. Thank yoy, Dodie, for this song.
When I first heard the song I thought of it as a kind of love song but with something off-putting about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Maybe implying being in a relationship where something doesn't feel right but you don't know what it is.
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James Mc Gowan2017-04-12 19:26:25 (edited 2017-04-12 19:30:31 )
I knew this song was amazing but oh my god dodie youre Shakespeare
Side Note: I loved this music video, I thought it was beautiful and did match the lyrics entirely which i didn't realise at first. At first (before the music video) I thought the song was about a person with mental health problems who relies on his/her significant other to protect her from her thoughts and everything would soon get better. What i didn't realise was that the person was you but also that this mental health problem was dragging the relationship down a dark hole which was inescapable. I realise this now and i absolutely love what it does to the song! I particularly love how this songs lyrics can be interpreted in so many different ways. Stunning song Dodie and congrats on 1 mil you deserve it you're incredibly talented and I am very jealous. Love from Dublin!
It’s funny, I was in this relationship with a guy for a year and like it was good but I was still mentally in a bad place and I would listen to this song and insist it was sweet and a romantic love song. He broke up with me at the start this year and now I’m with someone new and this person has helped my mental health so much and now I listen to this song and I see that more dependent, less healthy side and I look back at that old relationship and see the dependency I had in that relationship too. It’s so interesting how my own perspective on this song has changed with my mental health and how I handle those issues. I really love this song and all the meaning you can gather with it.
Fuck I love analysing writing so much. This is the exact level of detail we're supposed to go to in the new GCSE and honestly I kinda like it ?? Love this song ahh xx
Ive always thought that it was someone in love who was scared of what might happen or what was happening. "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" for me it was saying im thinking about you and loving you but that scares me because anything could happen if I'm in love. "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" was like someone saying let's not go there let's be casual and not go where our hearts can be broken. "Intertwined, free" was like they were together but had not crossed the line into love and that was okay with this person who was afraid of love. Anyway I won't analyse all the lyrics that's just what the song meant to me.
I always thought the song was about how one person had mental health issues, and due to the relationship, sort of passed them onto the other person, therefore making a toxic relationship in a way
I interpreted the song as the description of a relationship where one of the partners has mental health issues and the other tries to take their pain and suffering away - out of love, of course. The mentally unstable partner, though, is not necessarily loving the other one - just living an illusion of the mentioned feeling due to the way they can use the other partner to numb away the problems. They know that they'll eventually become more and more dependent of the healthy influence their partner has and they'll get more and more desperate for the calm, normal state their partner brings them in. But at some point, all these imaginary world of sweet feelings and "being fine" will collapse on the unstable one and they won't be able to take it, so they'll end either the relationship for good or their own life. The happy verse at the end signifies the fact that the unstable person continuously washes away these thoughts, trying to avoid them as much as possible so they won't blame themselves in the end.
I feel like this is what'd happen to me if I were in any kind of romantic relationship with someone, and maybe it has influenced my opinion on the song, but this is how I feel about it.
oh I thought it's like about the anxiety of dating for real for the very first time and slowly trying to open up. like when you get to the word fine in the song, you're kinda just lying because I personally isolate yourself often in the beginning of a relationship. Like I have trouble opening up. so I guessed I thought the song was about becoming dependent with your partner
my first interpritation was that you were looking at love as a goal or something to strive for but also knowing that you are damaged mentaly and that that might be an unobtainable or unrealistic goal. I heard the "Can you drink all my thoights cause i cant stand them" was you searching for someone to pour your heart out to, calling out to someone, anyone whould listen.
i think your version is much more beautiful and meaninhful, that was just my origonal take.
Good video, just sad you didn't adress the comments about it needing a trigger warning. I understand what message the video was trying to tell and I think it worked, but why didnt you put a trigger warning at the start, and do you refuse to talk about it?! From what I read a lot of people were very uneasy with the gory shots, including me. Just my thoughts. Xx
gettin my ap lang on lets go MY INTERPRETATION as the first verse is almost a sickenenly sweet love song, we, as listeners, could interpret-instead of an actual relationship-an imagined one, an ideal image of what the writer wants. As we go on, we see more and more of the writer's gruesome mental state, a desperate plea for the ideal relationship to "cure" them. specifically, we could also relate the term "drink all my thoughts" as a parallel symbol to the wonderful but highly damaging affects of alcohol, relating to the high that neurotypicals seemingly get when they have "helped" a person with an obvious mental disorder. The quiet tone of the song and sprinkled dissonance adds to the cacophony of pain and FEAR the writer feels; and we can infer that they've never spoken these fears out loud. They really are, simply imagining. my lang&comp teacher would be proud lmao
UMMMM I hope you don't mind, but for my English assignment (a speech send help), we have to analyse some form of art, and compare the themes to a book studied in class. After watching you break down the lyrics and themes in an educational manner through linking (you basically did my assignment, thankssss), I've finally decided I'm going to incorporate your song into my speech!
My first anticipation of the song was odd; I believed it was a love song however the character singing was an abusive partner however they feared themselves and what they were doing “Can you drink all my thoughts?” Kinda suggests that the character relieves their burdens onto their partner by physical or perhaps mental abuse, giving them their thoughts whether their partner knows it or now. However, the character doesn’t actually want to do it, in fact, they inevitably really love their partner just don’t know how to make it clear (perhaps in a previous abusive relationship?) which is clear with the quote; “Skin, Heat, hair in your mouth” Setting a romantic scene for these characters showing that they are infant in love.
Idk just kinda guessed, comment your opinions on my assumption/theory lmao
this explanation made me realise how exactly accurate the song is in describing my relationship with my ex.. co-dependent, toxic, damaging.... yay
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Miranda Arnush2017-04-14 05:45:47 (edited 2017-04-14 05:46:19 )
This might have been optimistic of me, but i always interpreted the song as describing a person with mental health issues feeling safer with their significant other. It may have been a false security, it may have not been meant to last - they only 'laughed away the fear', instead of talking through it - but the narrator still felt safe with them, and 'free' whenever they were together. When first hearing the song, i had thought that maybe it was about the genuine, deep, and vulnerable feelings of people sleeping together for the first time. They didn't know what would happen, or how, and it was awkward and anxious for them both, but thrilling, freeing, at the same time. Then the song moves on and describes their building relationship, them growing more and more dependant on each other. I'd always admired the song for how real it felt, nothing at all like a lot of pop songs that talk about sex. I don't know. I felt like sharing my opinion. I probably contradicted myself a lot, but i really don't know how i would change that. I love this song, though. I love it so much. Thank you for writing it, Dodie, and thank you so much for everything you do and the art that you create. I believe you're an amazing person, and I'm grateful for what you bring into this world. Thank you.
funny I also have a song called intertwined I wrote a while back where I simultaneously play piano and guitar. Mine is more about the connection between the 2 instruments and the sound of them together.
[WARNING: this comment is a looong interpretation of mine and I'm really lacking vocabulary right now cause my french-ass brain can't work] To me 'skin' is the sensation of skin touching skin so it's pleasant but then I heard 'heat' instead of warmth so I throught of discomfort. 'hair in your mouth': again discomfort despite it being cute. So I basically thought of a clumsy/imperfect , candid yet passionate relationship painted through the imagery of a sex/hug scene and also with an insight of what's going on in the "problematic" lover'smind aka future me except that I will NEVER allow myself to pin each and all of my throughs into one individual no matter how much I crave it at time. I'd rather feel them burning me inside than letting this uncontrollable dangerous fire burn the people that I care the most about. Moving on, I completely identified with the rushes of panick and desperate needs of help while you know deep down that you shouldn't do that (=be so dependant of someone and poisoning them). The way I personnaly work (and the way I saw the pb lover) is when I panick I tend to forget other's need and just want to pour everything out cause the fire inside is consuming me. The rest of the time I'm genuinely fine (well at least when I'm with my friends or traveling or at a concert can't relate to the boy/girlfriend part oops) like 6/10 but that's enough , that's bearable. So I think the relationship is beneficial in someways to her because when she's in their arm she feels like a lively poop (where am I going with that) still a poop but a pool in a place where she feels welcomed and wanted and loved, a poop that has the right to smile, laugh and live despite how shifty she is. And that feeling is freeing because it's like not giving a fuck of what's the world is doing and not caring about the nonsense in your head and laughing away the fears. And maybe if you would let your lover/soulmate pour water on your fire every time that it's getting out of control, then maybe it will be over one day and the fire will become a teeny tiny flame that is still sitting inside of your heart just to signify that you're a human. At the end of it all, you're still an imperfect, fantastic, complex and unique product of the universe 💙💜💖
3:49 i saw someone in the comments of the mv saying that creating a rarity of your genuine smile means that they make your genuine smiles appear less often, as opposed to making you smile, which is something that doesn’t happen often. i am CONFUSED
My god Dodie, give yourself a clap on the back, this song captures so much that I personally feel and wish could put into words. I'm glad you went out of what people stereotype your songs and made one like Intertwined- it's one of my favorites and I love how real it is :)
I didn't realise I'd actually really need English lessons with the whole figures of speech and all that shit (unless I studied English literature or something later on) to live. Turns out our society nowadays pretty much analyses everything.
Hey dodie just so you know we have a little folk club group in our school and we had to perform a song for pensioners and we chose to do intertwined and they all loved it!!!!!☺️☺️❤️
I was one of the people commenting on how they didn't expect such a dark video, and in fact, your meaning really surprised me as I thought it was way more postive. But the thing is that the first time I heard this song it spoke to me so much and I felt so identified somehow that my interpretation, as it happens usually in art, reflects my own personal experience, so I should have expected it to be different from yours. As I heard it I was, and I still am, involved in a corresponding romantic relationship. I also suffer from anxiety and have struggled with depression at many points of my life. My interpretation was more directed towards the certain feeling of how a supporting relationship (it doesn't have to be romantic, it could be a friend or family, but I thought of my boyfriend) helps you to deal with your mental illness. Most parts coincide, actually, with yours. I felt identified with the fear of my mental health destroying my relationship or that I could be at some point in the future "forcing" my boyfriend to cope with it to the point that he wouldn't be able to stand it anymore. This was my main insecurity at the beginning, so that's what "I hope that you don't bleed with me" meant for me. But the thing is that, he proved me wrong. The first time I had a breakdown in front of him he acted in a way I wasn't expecting, he wasn't scared, and he managed to calm me and even make me laugh. He hasn't failed to do so since that moment. He doesn't see my problems as a responsibility he has to take, in fact he has made me understand that I'm the only one who feels responsible of my illness and that I'm wrong. He made me realise health is health, and there's no reason why an illness should make you feel guilty or like it is something toxic that can contaminate other people and destroy the things you love, that I shouldn't be afraid to have a relationship for that reason the same way I wouldn't for a physical illness. So when I hear the song I can't help seeing it in a hopeful way. For me, it reflected perfectly how I felt, and how I feel: I know that I have issues and I'm scared of them, I'm scared of what my mind can do, but I feel like he takes that fear away and he calms me and is like a safeplace. I don't know what will happen, but I really hope this will work out (in the sense that it continues as the healthy realtionship it is now and doesn't end in my dependence or his suffocation). I've always thought the song was like that, just an impression of a feeling: there's the fear but there's also this new ray of sunshine, and it might not work but it might work as well, and I always felt like the song never solves that question, it leaves that hopeful feeling open. That's, very summed up, what it means for me. It was so interesting to hear your analysis, but I will possibly never be able to see it any other way: it's now tied up to my life and that's why I can't thank you enough for the art you create.
Personally I’m terrified of burdening my partner with my mental health issues but I’m also scared of being alone. I thought of Intertwined as a song about lovers doing their best to help each other through dark times, to the point where they’ve become intertwined. I thought the “breathe, breathe with me” might have been helping to calm someone down from a panic attack. But this is truly brilliant and beautiful. I love you so much Dodie you are a genius.
In all honestly, this idea of codependency and toxicity in a relationship being covered up by a seemingly sweet and honest outer shell draws me in. The misleading softer and kind melody distracts the listener from the darker side of the lyrics. It's easy to live in a world where you take things at face value, like thinking you're relationship is healthy or thinking this song is romantic and sweet and then ignoring the potential warning signs. I'm obsessed with this song as I can too often relate to it when I am in love and need to check myself, but sometimes it's nice to have moments when you can take that part of yourself and relish in it without damaging another person, which this song allows me to do. Brava!
I dunno about everyone else, but every time I scroll through the comments I never ever ever see any hate and it makes me supersuper happy because there's so much love for this smol little bean of a human and she deserves every bit of it <3
well before watching this video i sort of knew and had a feeling this song wasnt meant to be a soothing song, it was slightly more sinister in the sense of the very rare instances of those gory words as dodie described them, but i never saw the song as representing a romantic relationship? i saw it more as of a relationship between yourself – as in the you portrayed in front of others and the true you, sprinkled with mental issues and a dark underlying tone, that was my meaning of intertwined!
I used to think it was a love song that described my relationship perfectly (in the sweet side) ... that relationship recently ended and as it turns out it was highly dependent to the point were neither of us had actual close friends and (at least for me) all of the future plans I made were depending on the assumption that we stayed together (while constantly pushing out what ifs about my goals and dreams that I pushed aside because of that relationship) and now I'm scrambling up new plans and trying to get back on track to accomplish those "forgotten" dreams (my life's kind of a mess right now which is why I haven't posted a video in a while) ...that being said this song still represents that relationship perfectly !
I have to admit, this is not one of the songs that got me from the beginning, but rather something that I started to get into cause it got stuck into my head one day. So I had to listen to it. You know how it happens.
I always got a...30's (??) kind of feeling from this song. Like it could be in an old movie, romantic but slightly distorted, and maybe a bit dark. Twisted. Not necessarily linked to mental health issues, mostly associated with feelings of despair, anxiety, uncertainty. But in the 30's. If that makes sense. :D
I felt, as I'm sure many did, weird about the 'gory'/creepy scenes in the video, but overall I liked the contrast between the blood and the flames, and the Barbie world. Interesting twist. :)
This video was really interesting, but i thought it was about a relationship crumbling or slowly ending. I love the music video as well btw, it's very Melanie Martinez style.
It's been a few days since I watched this and after thinking it for a while I figured this would be a great song for BoJack Horseman, I watched it because of you and I became obsessed with it but think about it, he needs his friends to tell him he's not that bad or otherwise he goes insane and has breakdowns but that's why all of his friends and partners go away, he just makes the realtionship toxic
"you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" kind of suggested to me that around him, her smiles weren't genuine anymore, so her genuine happiness became rare because of him, and her genuine feelings were rarely shown to him, as confirmed by "laugh away the fear", which sounds like she's pretending not to be afraid when she is
Dodie you are an absolute treasure. I couldn't figure out what is was about specifically, because I am 'numb..., fine' myself. But oh god. Oh god. This is exactly how I feel. You are seriously the first one to have put it into words. I am truely grateful. Please carry on making videos and songs and whatelse. Thank yooouuuuu
I interpreted it as a pretty good relationship between the boy and girl doll, where they're both in love and want to make it work, but the girl doll has a mental illness. She's well aware that the symptoms of her illness, which include self harm and possibly hallucinations, would have a very negative impact on her boyfriend, so she's trying to suppress them. That's where the title comes from— because when two strands are intertwined, if you cut one then both are severed, which is a metaphor for how being in a relationship means sharing your pain with another person. It seems to be working and the relationship is going well, but the girl is still having these thoughts and feels that she can't keep up suppressing them for much longer. She's terrified that, one day, she'll self harm again and it will really hurt her boyfriend and destroy the relationship— "I've pinned every hope on you... I hope you won't bleed with me"— but she's trying to just enjoy the relationship now, without thinking about the future.
I sing “when” as a happy song. Like a hated being 16 specifically. And being surrounded by “greener times” could be a good thing. 99% of your life is before or after where you are. It would be great the 99% of your life is great. Not to say the song it wrong. It’s great. It’s just really different to me.
also i think my interpretation of it was really similar? like i struggle with anxiety so it kind of makes me see what i'd be like in a relationship, like i'd probably try to make the person my safe and happy place, but it wouldn't end up helping so it could just cause more problems because i'd be paranoid and sad a lot of the time anyway. but on the other end, it could potentially paint a healthy relationship, depending on how you see it.
This is... interesting. I've always seen the connection to mental health issues in this song, mostly because of the lyrics "I am afraid of the things in my brain", as well as "because I can't stand them [the thoughts]". Also the word "fine" following "numb" always seemed odd to me, because it was so opposite but similar at the same time, but didn't seem normal in the style of listing connected words, as which the single-words-at-the-beginning-of-verse-thing always appeared to me. But pretty much like all the other naive fans, I still always thought of this song as something rather bittersweet, sad and happy and more in the context of a person struggling with mental health issues receiving help and support from their loved one. I always saw the sadness in it, which is also the reason that it is one of my less favourite dodie songs to listen to (don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful piece of art, incredibly interesting and so thought out, it just pulls me down too much most of the time, which is why I don't like to listen to it very often, but I still like the song), but I just never saw or just plainly overlooked the part with the toxic relationships, at least consciously. I think also part of the reason that I don't like listening to it very often is that my subconscious brain realises these small hints and it makes me uncomfortable (this just proves even more what an amazing piece of art this is, if it reaches my subconscious before my conscious brain!). Anyway, I have to say that I did find the video a little disturbing/creepy on the first look, especially when the red liquid (blood? thoughts?) started pouring down in the background I was like what the hell, what is this?? But it fits the song perfectly well, awesome job. I think I will have to watch it many times to actually understand and come to a conclusion about everything.
The line "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" always confused/bothered me because up until and during this line the singer seems affectionate despite saying that their unhappiness is caused by the person they're singing to. The juxtaposition of the tone and the words very much confused me and still does especially considering that now I 100% know that dodie knows what she was implying there.
Hey, Dodie! Would you be able to turn on community contributions for closed captioning on your videos? That way, your viewers can caption your videos for you and make them more accessible for deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers, and they can also translate them into other languages for viewers in other countries who don't speak English. I, personally, would love to contribute!
I think it's about 2 lovers, one with serious mental health (whenever I watch the mv I always imagine a physco because of the constant cuts of ken being tortured and stuff) that is not stable. They think they can manage but it gets worse and worse until it gets so bad they go mad - this could mean all the cuts of the torture are real? Holy shit that's well cool, anyway. Also when it's "laugh away the fear" I always imagine hysterics and crying and laughing idk.
Thanks for reading this lol I love this song and i just wanted to share it lol
I didn't really ever feel the more unsettling tone of your song, even after watching this, until just recently when I was laying in the dark, trying to sleep, and it started playing from my music playlist. Instantly I felt nervous and anxious, as if the darkness and lack of distractions let my mind focus on the words and let the meaning sink in. It was so odd for me at the time, as immediately before a comedy song was playing and the mood shifted rather suddenly. Overall, though, it's a good experience to look back on and it helps give me a better appreciation of the song.
OK OK DODIE I HAVE AN IDEA FOR YOU: Can you please react to the interpretation of "sick of losing soulmates" on genius.com? I think that would be really cool and to just see how accurate it is :)
Can you talk more about the sickly sweet stereotype of women? You know if you want to. Loved this so much btw i pretty much interpreted it the same way you explained it.
simply listening to the song, I imagine a sickly sweet afternoon in which two (happy) lovers sit, in the quiet, simply enjoying each other's company that provides a safe haven from their own mental issues (from the line- Can you drink all my thoughts, cause i can't stand them)
HOWEVER
after watching the video, it becomes a twisted, sickly sweet, toxic relationship. It conveys that the female (me/you, the writer) has serious mental issues but strives to obtain a "normal" or "healthy" style of relationship. this causes multiple breakdowns, making the male (any gender of prospective suitor) seek other comfort for themselves and their own mental problems.
As a generalisation, the song can either be sickly sweet or twisted and scary, based on the experiences of the listener/viewer. This song helped me understand how toxic a previous relationship was(a long time in the past, not even from the past two years) and so i cut them off as a friend, which had still been just as toxic. It has also helped me understand that asking myself to immediately reach a sense of stability or normality for the comfort of another person is torture, and unrealistic to ask of myself in the first place.
sorry this was so long, thank you for reading though❤️
there's this assignment in my school's ap english 4 class, which i'm taking next year, where you have to write an essay analyzing a song like dodie did in this video! i think i'm gonna do one of dodie's songs - probably not this one bc now that i've seen this video i'd probably say the same things she said and that would be plagiarism lol - but i think i might do "human"
I find this interesting, although I prefer to see it more as a conversation between partners with each comforting each other when they need it so stuff like "oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" being followed by "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" the second person speaking is saying they will stay with them, comforting them and making them laugh until they forget what they were even scared of. And the intertwined, free bit is saying they have all the thoughts knitted together in their head but they talk it out with their partner and become free of them. I think one partner has all these thoughts and fears and things where they spill out everything and the other one is more "numb, fine" where they try to bottle their feelings and pretend they don't exist but being with their partner makes them feel more and acknowledge more of their feelings because they know no matter how much time and effort they require their partner will be there for them, because they understand
this was pretty much how i took the song, and it really spoke to me personally because of those reasons. i thought of it as two lovers, one of them being very mentally unstable and being dependant of thier lover to feel safe and comforting, but it was damaging for them to do so as it is quite a heavy burdon for the other partner. but the first lover DOES know that, shown in the line "i hope that you dont bleed with me" and i just very personally connect to that and i love the song and cried alot thank u dodie ily
Brilliant and fascinating. Thank you! [Didn't like the video, though. I felt the burning dolls theme was already overdone, such as in Kimbra's "I wanna Settle Down"] Love the song itself, though.
My girlfriend have anxiety and depression and I've already suffered a bit with those issues before... Your meaning to this song matches really well with how she sometimes feels about being kind of a "burden" to me, but my interpretation leads much more to a sweet side of one helping each other, it's really an amazing song and it's actually one of our songs... Thank you for being this amazing human being and sorry for any mistakes in grammar...
She says "definitely". She's trying to stay neutral in her analysis by saying "perhaps more likely" directly before that, but as the writer and with a humorous tone, she's not-so-subtly implying that there really isn't another way to interpret this part in her opinion.
+Caroline Harvey I mean, it just makes sense because she said the "Innocent bed scene BUT perhaps more likely..." There's a but which contrasts "innocent" which makes the thing she whispered not-so-innocent.
she says " they're fucking", hence i see how others heard it as 'definitely' due to the accent, resemblance in lipsing, and the audibility of the phrase...
Charis Wang definitely fits the best to me, they're fucking just doesn't fit in that specific statement, "more likely they're fucking" ?? I think what she was going for "more likely (definitely)" kindof like worded parentheses if ya know what I mean
Saw the doll vid first, then this breakdown, so I can't really offer a completely untainted outside 'first impression' of the song in general . We all see with our own colors overlayed, and so this is mine even after being instructed by the artist. I see a clinging desperation to find safety from the shit of the world in the comfort of another person. I'll protect you, you protect me. I actually thought the lyric was "love" away the fear. The whole thing, though sounding sweet seems very sexual, and the sex playing a very strong role in the comfort sought. Perhaps this is the only true moment when the safety from the world, and escape from the fearful thoughts is found, and the recognition of the burden this places on the other is acknowledged. It's a really beautiful song, and I love that you've given insight. Thank you. <3
Hey dodie! I'm not sure whether your mental health issues were present before your bad relationship (the one you made a video on) but have you ever heard of c-ptsd? It stands for complex ptsd and it can form from long on going trauma, usually in childhood but A LOT of people develop it from adult relationships. It can cause depression, dissociation, and a bundle of other things! Sorry if this seems very forward, I'm not trying to diagnose you with anything but not a lot of people know about it so I thought I would tell you, as I could possibly be something you struggle with! Much love
I took this song much lighter and happier than it was meant. The "drink all my thoughts" part was taken to me as two partners being able to depend on eachother for a shoulder to lean on when their mental health gets too out of hand. "Laugh away the fear" meant to me that when the two people are near eachother, they're distracted from maybe their depression, or their derealization (the two being my case). The constant switching between a light, happy tone to a dark, gory tone meant to me that there's always going to be that dark mentality, though you can be distracted from it when your with someone who's special enough to do so. Even when you're enjoying each other's company, there's going to be a dark undertone, because whether you like it or not, when they're gone, you're back in that submerged, soundproof room where all you can hear are the unsettling thoughts running through your head. The lovely "oh"s at the end of the song left me feeling sweet, as if someone special had just tried humming me to sleep.
My interpretation, which is pretty close to Dodie's:
The first bit, "Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet, oh you. And I," is reflecting on how lovely the intimate moments are. It's just you and your partner, on this island of love and closeness. It's paradise, like an island. The line "Safe from the world" implies that there are things that reside elsewhere off the island that are scary and big. But it's okay, because we're here, small and close. "Though the world may try" implies a struggle against those big scary things, pushing and fighting against them. And of course, "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" shows that those big scary things aren't actually far away off the island, but rather right there in bed with you, inside your head. It's not the world you're afraid of, but the way your brain sees the world. "But we can stay here, and laugh away the fear" hints at denial. After admitting we're afraid, we deny that anything's really wrong. We comfort ourselves with the fact that our partner is there to distract away from the big scary things in our head. We can still be happy despite the poison threatening to seep in. "Numb, fine" is yet more denial. I feel awful, but I'm okay. "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" equates to "you are my island of happiness surrounded by a sea of darkness." "So breeaaaathe," is like a relieved sigh the way it's sung, trying to reassure the partner that everything is okay. I am dependent on you, and I know it can be suffocating and unhealthy, but breathe and you'll be fine. We'll be fine. "Breathe with me." I'm having trouble breathing myself, I feel suffocated too, but if we cling to one another and focus on breathing, we can make it through. I promise. "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand theeeemmmmm, ohhhhh" I go from comforting my partner and saying we'll be okay, to once again being dependent. Help me. I can't stand being this way anymore. The drawn out "themmmm" implies that the thoughts are ongoing, and the "ohhhhh" is like an exclamation of pain. "Intertwined, free" We are brought back to the image of love after reaching the crescendo of suffering. More denial, reassurance, and comforting thoughts. "I've pinned each and every hope on you," All of my happy visions for the future come true through you, I have so many dreams for my life, all because of you. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" Those dreams and the pressure of my expectations can and will hurt you, but I hope they won't. Though I want us to breathe together, I hope we don't bleed together. "I am afraid" again, I'm scared of those big scary thoughts. "Laugh away the fear." Concluding with reassurance and denial. We're still surrounded by the big scary things, but we'll still be okay. This is what I want to believe. The "Hmmmm's" like humming a lullaby to someone to help them sleep. Leads back to the idea of being intertwined in bed and sleeping.
Woof! Thanks for taking the time to read this if you did!
When I listened to the song, I interpreted it as someone with mental health issues and their struggle in a relationship. How you love this person and relationship so much and it makes you feel so wonderful, but you can't help but feel "numb" due to your illness. And you have to learn to not rely on the person and relationship to fix problems that only you can fix. And learn how to not just lie and tell your lover you're "fine" when you're not. I personally adore this song. This is one of my favorite songs of all time. The chords and the lyrics and the harmony, it just melts my heart and it speaks to me so much. If you read this comment dodie, I just love you and you inspire me immensely. It takes a true artist to be able to write something like this, and not even be in a relationship. You're so creative you have literally been able to capture the thoughts and feelings of how thousands of people feel, without you even feeling it yourself. It's art at its finest. Truly.
without doing a major analysis kinda thing, the line "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" kinda hinted more towards abusive than codependent to me, I read it as the other person taking away their happiness (like they make the smile only appear rarely)
instead of a codependency, i interpreted the relationship to be more toxic/abusive, leading to the mental health issues displayed in the song. other than that yeah pretty much :)
my interpretation of the song is that the author is struggling with a long-lasting situation (maybe mental diseases) but when the author is with someone special (a friend or a lover i couldn't decide precisely) it's almost like she's forgetting about everything bad that has happened to her, or at least trying to. She always go after this person when she needs help bc this person "drinks" all her thoughts and try to make her happy again, that person makes the author laugh away her fears. That felling of quick happiness and sadness from whatever situation the author is going through makes the author confused, this is why the song has words that are opposite all over the lyrics
i always saw it as a song about dating someone who isn't 'right' in society's point of you (for me in the sense of LGBTQ+) and being afraid the people they love in a platonic way won't be able to accept.
okay. so. dodie, i love your meaning of the song! i mean, you wrote it, so... anyway. i was kinda thinking maybe it might've been a nonfaithful relationship, possibly abusive, where the girl was so dependent on the guy that she went insane and yeah... uh. anyway. i don't know.
to me, the song still has a romatic theme. A lover's blind reassurance to their love, who has mental health issues. Issues that the lover doesn't quite understand, but will offer support for anyway. The lyrics reminded me of a person I know and this person is a very positive influence in my life, so I naturally applied a positive, cute, lazy Sunday morning vibe to this song (but with a hint of misunderstanding)
I interpret it as a sort of model/description of a cliché relationship that is out of reach because you have too high of an expectation. (It's like a display of everything you want but cannot have) and when you see others that have what you want, it brings you pain, although a "perfect relationship" isn't "ideal" (and the people you think you want to be like, have their own problems that they're hiding beneath the surface)
I AM BEING FED WITH THIS LIKE YOU ARE FED WITH ARTISTIC DISCUSSION. I'm so happy I wasn't the only one who thought this song was as messed up as I'd hoped it would be <3
dodie i have been dealing with sever depression since i was 7 on top of that i kind of knew things my entire life and never could explain how or why i knew what i did (you kind of seen that first hand yourself if you can even remember a comment i left on i am pretty sure tessas video)
i just deal with it by calling it my power of knowing and just leave it at that and everybody has mental health issues at one point or another just because you dont go into details about your life it doesnt mean that you dont have sever depression or other mental health issues
To me, I feel like the song is about a relationship and it's a story about the mental health of one of the people in the relationship getting worse and it begins to affect the other person. For example the lyric 'I hope you don't bleed with me' suggests that perhaps the person with mental health issues is afraid of opening up about it for fear of it affecting the other person negatively and making the relationship toxic. And, as the song goes on this person begins to tell their partner about all of this ('drink all my thoughts') and their partner is affected as was predicted. In the video it's like as the person opens up about their issues with mental health the blood and gore disrupts the peaceful setting similar to how something as serious as mental health can affect ones relationships with others and how it's something that's not dealt with very well by a lot of people. and as seen in the video the partner is affected greatly (all the pins stuck in the dolls head sort of like overthinking or being overwhelmed) but they both try cover up and say they're fine ('laugh away the fear') and eventually because they both try cover up and pretend they're fine it ends in the relationship crashing and burning (everything on fire in the video). Perhaps outlining how important it is to have communication in relationships and in how we should get rid of the stigma around mental health in general. Now this is just my personal thoughts on the song and I could probably write an essay on it but I love this song and I find it quite relatable being mentally ill and afraid of how it will affect my partner and my relationship with them.
When I first listened to it, well, to be honest I don't think I paid too much attention, probably because I let myself be fooled by the first lines, that make you think it will be a sweet simple song about being in love. But when I watched the video, particularly the fire and the scene where there are parts of Barbie and Ken literally intertwined, I suddenly realized how well the lyrics and even the title by itself could be refering to a dependent relationship rather than just a new one describing romance. The only thing I thought apart from that was that maybe it could fit this kind of relationship, or moment in a relationship, when you are so united with your partner, you share so much, you grow to be afraid that if you split, the you that will remain will be one you can barely recognize, one that it's full of things that you thought belonged to the other but now are too intertwined with yourself. If that makes any sense. The dependecy interpretation it's still better.
I understand why it was done like this now and I do love it ,it's so creative and weird at the same time ,but at first ,I imagined the video would be sort of like very warm toned things with like a couple in a little apartment in like white duvet covers with only each other if that makes sense ,I imagined it to portray a simple love where they just ignored the world around them and that and yes they depend on eachother but it would be shown in a more subtle way like in a more ignorant sense idk does anyone get what I mean in the most unorganised way I've explained this ahaha ,I'd love to hear other people's views on this! X
I like the insight into your thought process regarding this song. The juxtaposition of light and dark balance beautifully and precariously. The only thing I thought differently in my interpretation was it seemed as thought the fear of these dark things happening is more prevalent than the actuality of them happening. The fear that the other person will only be hurt by the relationship is more overwhelming. My two cents anyway.
My interpretation is a gruesome relationship that one would read in a horror book
Skin: referring to a lustfull tendency of a partner Heat: the blush or euphoria they get from partern Hair in your mouth: trying to escape a hateful relationship but you can't tell anyone without it coming back at you later Feet touching feet: the attraction pulling at the victim that they belong to them Oh you and I safe from the world though the world will try: the world will try to separate the two if the world knew what happens behind closed doors Oh oh oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain: the abuser is thinking of what would happen if the victim escaped or left them But we can stay here and laugh away the fear: the abuser is reassuring themselves that their partner would never leave and they can just laugh off the the thought of it together. Numb: the feeling the abuser begins to feel when they realize their partner is afraid of them Fine: trying to shrug away all thoughts of their abusive relationship You create a rarity of my genuine smiles: the parter is the glue holding together themselves together So breathe: the abuser becomes demanding of their partners everyday life Breathe with me: you must only interact with me Can you drink all my thoughts?: can you take away my constant worries and relieve me from my heartaches Cause I can't stand them: the abuser is slowly slipping to the brink of insanity Intertwined: the abuser loses control and kills the partner Free: they are free from the worries of the partner ever leaving I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me: after losing control of their actions the abuser is taking to self harm to escape the harsh reality that they killed their partner. I'm afraid of the things in my brain: the lonely partner's thoughts begin to attack their brain to the point that they commit suicide But we can stay here and laugh away the fear: their bodies lay together where nobody can judge them The hums and harmonies: a calming melody that reassures the reader that all will be well in the world now they are gone.
I also felt personally it was about a toxic relationship in which one of the people in the relationship purposes that they let the relationship die instead of ending it. Especially the laugh away the fear. I took it as they were aware of the problems, and choosing not to face them. But this is also really really cool, and now when I listen to the song it's completely different. I love stuff like this, and kinda hidden meaning behind songs is what I live for.
To be honest I was always confused about this song. On one hand, simply listening to the melody makes it seem cute and innocent, but if you listen to the words everything gets a lot more confusing. I think the confusion, desperation and dependency shone through to me, but I was never quite sure about the over all meaning and theme of the song. I loved watching this video because I think the theme Dodie talked about in the video was the one I needed to hear, but never allowed myself to at the time. Idk, I just loved this analysis, getting serious English teacher vibes 😂
So what I got from the song is someone who has been in an abusive relationship and is just now trying to love again after being hurt. The "things in their brain" are memories of the past of that abuse, which made them not easily put trust in other people.
I'm going out of order, but "safe from the world, though the world will try-" it's cut off, but I believe it could be "though the world will try to tell me that I'm making up my abuse." Now in what situation would abuse be denied? When the abuser is a woman and the abused is a man. The song is from the point of view of a boy.
As with some abuse, it can leave some PTS and triggers, but this other person is trying to calm him down during one of these episodes by telling him to "Breathe. Breathe with me."
(I'm jumping around a lot here, I apologize) Then he responds with "Can you drink all my thoughts?" He is afraid that if he tells his new lover the extent of his abuse and what it has done to his mind, they will not be able to deal with it and leave him. He's "pinning each and every hope" on them that they will stay with him.
Because of his past relationship, the line "I hope that you don't bleed with me." Could be interpreted as not wanting a relationship like the last, being hit so much that even if they were bleeding, so was their abuser by making her hands raw from blows.
The majority of the song takes place in a bed, with an intimate feel of either cuddling and/or sex with the lover trying to reassure the boy. He tells them he's afraid, and in turn, they tell him "But we can stay here and laugh away the fears." As in "I will protect you, I will make you smile again." Which he does in the line "You create a rarity of my genuine smile."
"Numb. Fine." Comes from beforehand with him telling people he was fine, even though he was numb with pain. "Free" also adds to this, free of his abuser.
The song is not a sequential story, making it difficult to understand if you don't mix things around. It's confusing, but this was the best thing I could come up with. I apologize for any misconceptions I have.
i always thought it was more about a depressed person who falls in love and connects to their soulmate intertwined souls if you will and depressed person slowly gets better although still struggles a bit but everything is okay bc ☄the power of love☄
The waltzy, slow-dancey beat combined with the instability in the lyrics reminds me of the ending of Sweeney Todd for some reason, when they're dancing and he just throws her into the fire
See this was really interesting... This was exactly what I thought the song was about but still the music video doesn't exactly feel like it fits But I suppose that is just my opinion It's a beautiful song nonetheless, well done dodie!
I interpreted it in a similar way however, in a sense of the mentally stable (for lack of a better word) partner didn't find being the relief for their lover's mental illness overbearing or toxic. I mostly think that because in my cause, I've been having a super hard time with anxiety lately and met my now boyfriend, who ended up helping my anxiety calm down, to the point where my therapist didn't even recognize me and said he didn't think I needed to continue with therapy anymore. He also loves the fact that he can help me with my anxiety. I guess the way you interpret the lyrics depends on your own situation which is completely normal.
Honestly, the video was much darker than how I'd first seen the song, though the mental health issues were pretty obvious. I saw a moment in the early days of a relationship where one person was happy but scared and was trying to tell the other person while the other comforted them (hence the contrasts). In my head, the relationship can go either way but the video was very effective, good work by Sammy!
YO i just finished reading Gone Girl and if you listen to the song with that story in mind you can access a whole other level of creepiness with the song (not going to explain it all bc it's too good to be spoiled for those who haven't seen/watched it).
This is going to seem incredibly strange, but when I heard this song for the first time, it sounded like a rose. OKAY THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE but for me, for some reason, songs can have a kind of sound that could remind me of an object, memory, color, smell, etc. For this song, it sounded like a rose (as i said). It at first looked/sounded beautiful and perfect and red, but as you get into the song/rose, you start to discover thorns, and what you think was a nice red turned out to be a sign of blood (woah gory i know). With the "intertwined; free" bit, it reminded me of something getting caught in the beauty of the rose and thorns and then breaking free from it, with a little bit of the blood and rose color making their hands red. idk it may sound weird but I tried to describe it the best I could. Did anyone else have kind of a synesthetic experience with this song too?
Sara P.2017-04-13 19:56:45 (edited 2017-04-13 20:00:09 )
I am afraid of death and I suffer with constant anxiety and overthinking. I feel like this song deals with similar thoughts and portrays how it affects a relationship. Not being alone gets one's mind off of it, but at the same time makes them even more aware of how they can't shake their thoughts off. The person becomes self aware and in the end pours it all out in hope of feeling better. So to properly break it down:
The first lines describe a peaceful, intimate and an imperfect moment between a couple. They feel maybe a bit too hot and her hair is in his mouth, but, as the second lines tell it, they both feel safe in this embrace.
"Safe from the world, though the world will try - oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" Then the storyteller begins to question what she feels safe from and the anxiety hits in, so she stops herself for going too deep into it. She assures herself that they "can stay here, and laugh away the fear". Laughing away the fear meaning that she can crack jokes about her worries and fears, and make it seem like a smaller problem, though in reality she isn't able to deal with them seriously.
The next verse states how she feels, "numb", but with a smile she reassures that all is "fine" and on a second thought she does feel fine, since she feels a certain happiness with him that she can not reach by herself "you create a rarity of genuinr smiles". Once in a while being with him makes her forget what causes her anxiety.
"So breathe, breathe with me, can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand (them)" she wants him to just be there so she isn't alone with her thoughts. But he can't change her anxiety so she pours her heart out to him and breaks down. I feel that Dodie sings the word "them" followed by the "oohs" separately from the rest of the sentence, which to me seems like the storyteller can not reason with herself why she feels so overwhelmed by her thoughts. She just does and she feels sad, and she acknowledges it.
"Intertwined, free". By telling him all that goes through her brain he has become aware of her situation. The burdon isn't just hers anymore, she feels free. "I pinned each and every thought on you, I hope you don't bleed with me" - she is afraid her thoughts will affect his thinking, and that he will also become as anxious about the world as she is.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear." All of this confirms what has just been said - she is afraid of what or how much she thinks about her fears. And now that he is maybe afflicted by them as well - maybe now they both can struggle to live their lifes happy.
For me it was helping I have a best friend that when we laugh my hair is often in my eye so it gets in my mouth and Heat like when it was cold outside so we just sat down hugging each other and her fluffy jacket And Then I have Mental illnesses I always thought it was just she helps me laugh off all the pain and Awfulness of it all And make it all Sweet yet I'm always afraid she'll leave For Better more "normal" friends even thought I know she won't it's like she will and yet when I'm with her I feel like I'm free and Can laugh. With her my smile genuinely happends.
Of course I thought of it as a mental Health song but I thought of the partner being described was almost the one who saves her or him from drowning in fear and insecurities or just life in general. I just always had an image of someone being pulled out of the water with a big gasp of breath. Idk I like dodie's version better.
We open up with an intimate scene between two lovers. This confirms that the song is about a romantic relationship.
“Oh you And I Safe from the world Though the world will try”
There’s something or someone driving the couple apart, but when they’re together that doesn’t seem to matter. Perhaps this is a Romeo and Juliet-esq story?
“Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain”
The narrator suffers from a mental disorder that scares them.
“But we can stay here And laugh away the fear”
Their partner is one of the few things that makes the narrator feel safe.
“Numb Fine”
The lovers are having a fight. During it, the narrator is numb, and the fine is dismissive, yelling at the other partner.
“You create a rarity of my genuine smiles”
Because the narrator is so dependent upon their lover, they make up easily
“So breathe Breathe with me”
The narrator is having an anxiety attack, and their partner is helping them.
“Can you drink all my thoughts Cause I can't stand them”
The disorder is tormenting the narrator and they just want their lover to help them
Ooh, oh O-oh, oh, oh
“Intertwined Free”
The narrator is planning suicide, but their partner is holding them back. Being with them makes them not want to die.
“I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope you don't bleed with me”
The narrator is terrified their dependence on their lover will cause them so suffer the same way they do.
“I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear Hmm, hmm Hmhmm”
Yes dodie, you do sound like a teacher. ;) But just like for me in school, nothing you said was unexpected or unknown to me. The climax of the song is so intense and fills me up with I-don't-even-know-what everytime I hear it. It truely is a piece of art. I expected you to talk about it being a (happy-ish) waltz contrasting the dark theme but maybe that's just me. Lots of love anyway! You are stunning <3
okay, I think I kind of got it right the first time. Like, my interpretation was around the idea of the two people on the relationship kind of losing what they were, the two of them becoming dependant of the other in a bad way. Intertwined, because it's hot and hurting, but I don't have the parts that you now replace anymore, so if I want to stay complete, I need you, even if that makes me not complete at all. It was about the damage that the dependant relationship caused in both of them.
The weirdest thing is as she was explaining it I was like what I missed all this and then when she got onto the "pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" I was like oh my Jesus I knew it all along HOW DID I KNOW AND NOT KNOW AT THE SAME TIME
I interpreted it as a masochistic person with mental issues trying to protect their partner from themselves, but hurting them in the process. There's a sweet person trying to control their emotions to keep their partner safe, but the partner wants to help. all in all I relate, thank you for writing it dodie!
Ah! I'm late because I didnt have access to the internet when the video was published! First this has been one of my FAVORITE videos ever. I'm in love with this analysis. Second, my interpretation! I always believed this song was about romanticizing mental health (not as in dodie saying, oh look depression and anxiety are the best but as in the way the media portrays mental health as mysterious and alluring sometimes, especially when people with mental health issues are in relationships, instead of something terrible and scary) What I mean here is I thought the whole song was from the point of view from someone with mental health issues trying to convince this person to love them. Of course the singer is desperate for someone in more of an obsession than love, and this is their almost plea for their obsession to be requited, most likely after a one night stand. With soft melodies contrasting the darker lyrics it can come across an almost lullaby but I see it as more of a haze. Lyric Analysis: "Skin Heat Hair in your mouth Feet touching feet" This is a romantic image, probably after the said one night stand, the singer is painting a romantic image to convince the other to stay "Oh you and I Safe from the world Though the world will try" The singer is saying: We could be together, you can protect me from myself, i'll be OK if you're here "Oh, I'm afraid Of the things in my brain" I can't protect myself from my thoughts "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" Safety "Numb Fine" The other has left after said one night stand and the singer is dealing "You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" This person depends on the other so much and can only feel happy when with them "So breathe, breathe with me" Singer is talking to them self, they're drowning in their thoughts "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them." I imagined drink all my thoughts as a plea like Dodie, but i cant stand them not as a scream but as this quiet whisper, a breaking point, the singer has gone over this edge in their mind because they've become obsessed with someone who clearly does not love them and they can't handle it Then the ooos as this soothing noise, I imagined it as medication, something to calm/empty the vastness inside their head "Intertwined, free" The singer is intertwined with the other in this unhealthy knot like dodie said, but free represents the other (someone without mental health issues) walking away, free, able to live without their thoughts "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" The singer is very unhealthy, they've 'pinned' everything on someone who wants nothing to do with them "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" This ending gets a lot darker, if it were a music video it would fade to black here the ooos would continue with a shot of the other in a suit looking at a photo of the singer next to a candle (I'm not going to describe the whole music video idea I had in my head here, because this comment's really long)
I'm going to describe how I would shoot the music video here though: So camera pans to a 'couple' in bed in the morning sleeping, once the lyrics start the singer is awake though, "you and I, safe from the world though the world will try" cuts to the couple dancing in a kitchen, quietly, you can see the bedroom they were sleeping in before in the background, this is to show they're in the same place (it opens this way because of the song, it's building up quiet and sleepy so so is the music video) "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" the singer, dodie, is laying on the bed alone, in blue lighting, everything before has been in warm lighting, "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" is her in the kitchen picking up stuff previously seen in the dancing scene, "numb, fine" the singer is seen taking a sip of something alcoholic, wine or something probably, "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" cuts back to warm light where they're dancing she is dipped and it's a close up of her smiling at him, "so breathe, breathe with me" blue light, she's in the bathroom staring in the mirror, holding the sink, a tear rolls down her face she quickly wipes it away, "can you drink all my thoughts" it cuts back to dancing where the other takes a sip of wine from a glass, close up of their face on drink, "cause i can't stand them" cuts back to cleaning where she picks up that glass and throws it at the wall, the ooos have us back in that bathroom where she takes some pill, then sinks down the wall, "intertwined" the first scene where they're sleeping, "free" the other slipping out the front door, "I've pinned each and every hope on you" the singer realizing that the other has left, "I hope that you don't bleed with me" then she's picking up the shattered wine glass and she cuts her hand, "I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" we see dodie in the bathroom closing her eyes and then it fades out to black, the ooos come and we see the other looking at a photo of the singer next to a candle, and laying down a rose, then the last shot is both of them at a coffee shop smiling and laughing (this is the first time we've left this apartment and the only time, this is the last scene because it's how she wants to be remembered) The video would jump a lot because so do her thoughts, that's it for my rEALLY long comments! Sorry! If you stuck around I applaud you!
I always thought about the song in a romantic way - intertwined, two people in love that they become one unit and a team and the melodic waltz just pulled me in etc, but then as soon as I saw the video and dodie's interpretation I realised the dark undertones and why the song always felt a bit wrong? Like so beautiful and sweet but just some parts weren't quite right - skin' and 'the things in my brain'. It makes sense now - and for me anyway that realisation of a good thing, a happy healthy relationship but with bad undertones, fragility, dependency, the feeling of a wrong and something 'not quite right' (which I really felt with the off chords and the language choice) but pushed down and forgotten about really ties in with the theme of mental health and relationships - you can can swept away by the romance and the thought of everything being perfect and forget that both of you are human, and there will be problems as a couple and individually, and if you push them down and don't acknowledge those feeling and thoughts it will create problems. At a first glance without listening to the lyrics properly this song is beautiful and sweet, but further down its just a little too dark and it has problems - just like relationships and people - fine on the outside, not so fine on the inside. So i guess now I've thought about it my first interpretation and now my realisation really adds to the meaning of this to me and adds a whole other level of that dark creeping sinking feeling when you realise. Just my thoughts! Really beautiful and heartbreaking song, and so talented dodie! Thank you x
I always related to this song because it accurately portrayed mental illness within intimacy with another person. It is a brilliant and gentle snapshot into the struggles of having a partner on top of anxiety. I scramble to manage my panic disorder in my day to day life. The lyric "breathe with me" reminded me of how my boyfriend wraps me in his arms and helps me breathe when I go through an attack. I understand Dodie's explanation of unhealthy dependence, but the verse "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" meant something precious and valuable to me. I get so caught up in work and being productive that I don't think of my own happiness or well being as often and I probably should. But he helps me focus on myself and my joy. Not that I am incapable of finding meaning in life without him, but I deeply appreciate his constant reminder that I often ignore. "Genuine smile" spoke loudly because I work as a hostess, so my smile is no different than a name tag or a resturant policy. Thus, the legitimacy of my smile is more intimate and rare than mymy forced grin at work. Additionally, "laugh away the fear" will always have a darker meaning. No one can ever "fix" one's mental disorder, but they can aid in shifting one's focus to positive energy, like lauging. its a temporary solution and the panic will return, but for that moment, I feel safe and free. So, finally, "intertwined; free" is a comforting lyric. Anxiety makes me feel like I am floating off the earth with worry. My feet can't touch the ground and I can not get anywhere. Thus, being intertwined with a loved one helps ground me. I am able to feel something tangible and kind. Thus, I feel free from worry or outside stress. :) Whether this song has a positive or negative tone to it, it definitely captures mental illness in moments of intimacy. You dont hear songs like this on the radio. It holds a lot of gravity for me because I will never have Hollywood love due to my anxiety. and I don't want that romantic, unrealistic kiss in the rain. I want the deep breathes and white knuckles as I calm down from an attack. it is raw and real and I relate to this song extraordinarily. Thank you, Dodie, for this warm and real song about love. 💖
I interpreted this song basically the way you wrote it, someone with a mental illness in a relationship and all the ups and lows there may be, even the dependency, I have been in that place, I got so emotionally attached to someone because of my depression that that someone ended up frustrated and left me, you can imagine how that affected me, but actually it happend around the time you uploaded the video about cutting ties and you can't imagine how much it helped me, then, when I heard this song It helped me realize that I'm not so okay and to work in my dependency problems. You and your songs have helped me trough the hardest times in my life and had made a better person (I think) and I can't tank you enough.
The intertwined video makes me think of Melanie Martinez in her dollhouse video. I personally think both Dodie's and Melanie's videos describe a mask of perfection, where they know that the relationship is terrible and breaking apart but they fake it for others and eventually start faking for themselves. Idk thats what I thought of.
I adore this. I know you said that you don't like to explain your art and like to let each individual interpret, but, honestly, I love it. I love how the lyrics seem to have double meanings, which leads people to interpret the song differently. It is also thoroughly satisfying when not only the words but also the tune of the song changes to get the message/story across. I feel like so many songs today are superficial, with only repetitive lyrics and a catchy beat to propel them to the top of the charts. Not all songs are like this, but most are. They will be filled with vague lyrics about love and heartbreak, most of which we've heard before, none of which are very deep or meaningful. Anyway, I know this is a long comment, but I hope you might consitter doing something like this again for one of your songs that has similar layers and meaning 😊
I imagined “Intertwined” as a song about a couple who were quite distant and didn’t know much about the other and when serious events came up that brought along serious conversations, they sort of swept them aside until they slowly built up and became so many huge problems right in their faces until they realized that their relationship had become very toxic and unhealthy and just kept trying to push it until they absolutely couldn’t do it any longer.
Hi Dodie! I completely agree with your interpretation of your own song that's exactly what I felt when I first heard it. Fear of how damaging a mental illness can be for yourself might negatively affect a romantic partner and your friends in the same way. BUT! the truth is that not everyone suffers from mental illness the same way that we do and not everyone is as negatively affected as we are . . in the past I had relationships that I would put forth all of the shit that mental illness carries thinking that it hurt then worrying that it hurt them and they confirmed it by turning it back around and using it to hurt me just so they would feel better. That is not OK . I'm learning that as I get older and meeting new people and having better relationships with people that there will be people in your life Dodie that can handle it better than you can. You can release all of your fears and all of your worries and cry and cry and cry and they will be there for you and you won't make them bleed and you won't hurt them. There have been hundreds of times that I am spaced out that I'm upset that I don't want to deal with simple things that everyone has to deal with bills and work and stupid things like that to get me so upset and my partner just listens and he knows exactly what to say to at least make me feel comforted that I'm not hurting him when I am struggling. You cannot assume how others feel about you. You'll find someone like that I promise you Dodie. You deserve that :3
alright i’ll do a few interpretations of what i think some of the lyrics mean. now i think of it completely different, but i used to think of it like this: skin- spooning and cuddling, cuts to holding hands. heat- hugging, cuts to a DIRTY SCENE which i won’t describe hair in your mouth- kissing, more dirty stuff;-; feet, touching feet- back to the innocent stuff. watching youtube or netflix together, our feet touching.
~skip~ oh i’m afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear- both people in the relationship have mental health issues, but while they are with each other, those feelings and thoughts sometimes go away.
numb, fine you create a rarity of my genuine smile- at first i read the lyrics wrong, and thought it meant the other person in the relationship made the other person genuinely smile. but now i see what it actually means. so now i interpret this as a cute relationship gone wrong. at first it was lovey dovey and what not, but then it became toxic. no more real smiles.
okay before I listen to her version, I see the song as someone's who's really insecure, sad, or maybe suffers from some mental problems... it's related to her mind. And it's about not wanting to face everything you have to, because you're (obviously) really scared of it, and you're finally having a moment of calmness with someone... you're afraid the moment everything rages you'll be alone again. The song is her wandering in those dark thoughts and at the same time trying to ignore them.
Alright, so my interpretation was slightly different. Some different things plus the mental health issues. I will explain all the lyrics by my interpretation. Here we go!
"Skin Heat Hair in your mouth Feet touching feet" We're cuddling. Your skin is pressed against mine and I feel warm. We're in love.
"Oh you And I Safe from the world Though the world will try" Things are rough, but we're together, so we're okay. However... However, the world is against us. People say that I'm not enough for you, that you deserve better. Everyone is trying their hardest to break us appart. I'm in love with you but I'm scared of this love.
"Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" I'm really, really scared of this love. I'm scared of myself. The things they say are getting to me, they are overwhelming my soul and eating my brain. It hurts. But you tell me we're gonna be okay. You're here, you say you love me. Nothing's going to tear us appart. I love you, you love me. You bring me joy. You send the fear and the anxiety away. You make me feel better, you make me ignore the bad things. I love you very much and I'm glad for having you. Maybe I'm enough for you and you're enough for me and everything will be okay.
"Numb Fine You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" I'm not okay. You make me feel okay but you can't be always by my side and people talk. People talk too much and I listen too much and I'm feeling so numb to everything. It seems like I can only feel bad feelings, so I just excluded myself from all the feelings. I tell you I'm fine because I don't want you to worry. I'm still in love with you. You're the only one who makes me feel right now. You're trying so hard and I want to be okay for you, but it's hard for me too. You're the only one I try to smile for and it's not healthy, but still. You're the only one that makes me want to feel alive.
"So breathe Breathe with me Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them" I'm having a panic attack. I have been having a whole lot of them recently, but this is the first one I'm having while I'm by your side. You calm me down. You tell me that I can talk to you about anything and everything. You tell me you love me. Can I talk to you? I don't think I can. I'm stupid and I'm undeserving of you. You deserve better, everyone is right. I'm not enough for you, I'm not enough for anyone. I can't stand myself, I can't look in the mirror. I'm sorry. I can't talk to you, I won't tell you anything. It's my fault, I can't dump it on you. But I want to. God, I want to. And you want me to. But I can't. I won't. I'll keep everything to myself and I'll keep telling you I'm completely fine.
"Ooh, oh O-oh, oh, oh" I'm trying to distract myself from my own thoughts by singing mindlessly. Trying to distract myself from the fear. It's not working.
"Intertwined Free I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" I used to feel free when we were intertwined. I don't feel like that anymore, and it's my fault. I put all my hopes and all my will to keep going on you, and now it's damaging you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you too. I was supposed to be the only one hurt. Please, forgive me. I'm sorry.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" It's eating me alive. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not enough. I love you. Do you love me? You do. You still bring me joy. You still make me smile. You will help me. I'll be okay. We'll be okay. Together, we will laugh and smile until the fear leaves. We can do it. I love you and you love me and you send the fear and the anxiety away. You make me feel better, you make me ignore the bad things. I love you very much and I'm glad for having you. Maybe I'm enough for you and you're enough for me and everything will be okay. Everything will be okay because we are together.
"Hmm, hmm Hmhmm" It's the melody of a lullaby. We're going to sleep and, tomorrow, everything will be fine. Everything will be okay. We will get through this. We will be okay.
(I suppose that that's my interpretation because I was feeling rather depressed and anxious the time I first listened to this song. I thought it was a really sad, but hopeful song. Maybe because I was sad, but wanted to have hope. And that's why, when I first saw the video, I hated it so much, because I saw "Intertwined" like a beautiful and hopeful song and the video was the complete opposite of that. Nowadays, I understand that a relationship in which one of the people have mental health issues would be really damaging and poisonous, but I still like to think that this song is about one exception. They took care of each other and they helped each other and now they're okay.)
I did not pick up on the use of gorey implications, but I had the rest basically the same as it meant to be. the 'Drink my thoughts' was especially plucking some of my heartstrings.
this song makes me feel so weird - i didn't realise just how messed up i am (especially within any relatioship) until i heard it, but seeing the video is the first time i realised how FUCKED UP all of this is
at the breathe breathe part id always kinda assumed that the writer had killed the lover and that the denial was denial born from guilt. this fit well with the whole 'i hope that you don't leave' though i've always been one to try and make things as dark as possible.
DODIE DODIE!!!!!! In love with a ghost wants to do something with you and your voice please try and get in contact with them you two are my favrote music artists
hey, id love to do my own video for this song with a cover, would u like it too? cause im a bit insecure and this video would also help me with my curriculum for application in some cinema universities
This to me is love. I agree with you Dodie, but also think it’s not unhealthy to not always be alright. I think you are so cute and sweet, but of course there is always another side to everything. I know this probably won’t reach you by now, but here. I don’t believe the same as you for everything, but wow can I just watch you be you forever.
I saw the song as a look back into a bittersweet romantic relationship where both the writer and their partner are both struggling with mental health yet when they're together they actually help each other and relate to one another; but while they think they are helping each other they're both just falling deeper into each others mental health. Thus making everything worse in the end of the relationship(the dependency causing the relationship to end). So while they were in the relationship it was all happiness and smiles though it was all falling apart without them realizing. So it's as if it's two different songs one during the relationship and one after it just mushed into one song.
I hadn't really considered it before, but I did see this song as a sort of sweet love song with the presence of some sort of dependency and darkness lurking within the person singing. I always took it as being afraid of the monsters within, and finding someone that doesn't make them as scary anymore (or as strong). But, thinking about it, I realize the way in which I was thinking about it did assume a sort of unhealthy dependency on the other person to "deal", which might be more of a representation of my own unhealthy way of thinking at the time when I was first listening to your EP (which is amazing, by the way).
Oh my God! Dodie!!.. You are much crazyier than I thought! or even insane! I understand that this story is a fiction and just an image of your feelings. I also had many creepy things on my mind, but I always throw away them cause I know that they are bad or something... But you making a video with an image of killing each other, blowing everything away (even if it's a metaphore) and sing about it so calmly, so it makes this image even more maniac!.. I've really started to fear of you. as always - you just blowing my mind!.. It's a really nice song. without a video it seems so touching and cute. The story that I here is so common and simple, so realistic. But with video - ... I'm afraid of you! Like I've just seen a thriller! I'm shocked. For me it seems just too much for "just for fun". Still love you and I hope you'll never do things in video in real life! P.S. I've heard "love away the fear" at first - it ads an interesting meaning, I think ;)
I thought that it was a sweet song that was describing a couple who both have struggles but find comfort in each other.
The start , with cuddling in bed, reminded me more of a time where they would be talking about deep things , leading to the lyrics “I’m afraid of the things in my brain” but , as both people can relate, they can laugh it away for a moment and finally feel better.
I thought the contrasts between the happy and sad lyrics definitely did show mental struggle and maybe a dip in the relationships trust (not opening up to the other etc), however once again, find an outlet in the other person despite what’s happening inside.
Dodie you’re so talented and your song was so thought out and lovely and I love it so so muchhhh
Okay. So mental health is hard. I've been in a relationship with a guy for about 7 months who struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder. Before we started, he encouraged me to research it so I could better handle his episodes when he had them. Literally every article, every informational video, every book told me RUN AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN. It's apparently not treatable, incurable, and they recommended therapy for the partner involved. But who is going to love them? If the only relationship available with the person you love is a toxic one, what are you supposed to do?
I don't know why, but for a music video, I always imagined like a couple on a date at like a boardwalk/beachy type place with S/O 1 getting texts every so often from a contact called "Brain" or something like that with all of the "mental illness thoughts" said person has. Eventually towards the end of the date, S/O 2 sees the texts while sitting on the beach and S/O 1 has a break down with S/O 2 comforting. After a bit, S/O 1 realizes the dependability going on, recognizes that it's not really healthy so S/O 1 gets up and walks into the water with S/O 2 closely attempting to understand but not getting it and in the end they both end up drowning.
Actually the first time I saw the music video, some people realized that the video was supposed to match up with how you wrote the song BUT I did definitely see those comments saying it didn't match.
I lowkey thought the song as a bit differently. I mean, I knew what it was supposed to be about, but I had a few theories the first time I heard Intertwined. I saw a few of the lyrics and thought a few were coming from the point of view of the writer's partner. It may just be my optimism, but a few of the lyrics sounded a bit like someone was trying to comfort someone else (the partner trying to comfort the writer.) A few could also be seen as thoughts from both parties and some of the ending could possibly have been the partner's mental/emotional health being diminished by the writer's mental/emotional health as well as their dependency on the partner in question, possibly resulting in either a break up (one that leaves the writer trying to mask the feeling following said break up) or both parties now being codependent and unstable. Leaving them both ignoring the problems and pretending to be perfectly fine with what has happened.
(Sorry if there's any grammatical/spelling errors, or if it doesn't make much sense, it's kinda late and I haven't slept in a few days, so please bear with me.)
ok can we talk about how clever this lady is. she has come up with a song that is so dark but is portrayed so lightly and in the most beautiful way. dodie has so much talent. like i dont even know how to put it into words. this is one smart ass woman who deserves nothing but amazing and great things to happen in her life. i have so much respect for her as a songwriter and singer. i just cant put into words how proud i am of her. and also Sammy and the rest of the team who came up with the video, jesus, it is good!
I have a hard time focusing on lyrics of songs and sort of just listen to them for the sound. That's why I was so confused when I saw the video because it was so dark in contrast to the sweet sounding song. It made me pay attention to the lyrics, though and then it all made sense ... watching it at 1am probably wasn't the best idea, though.
Could be just hopeless romantic me, (which it definitely is because the author is very explicitly explaining the meaning) but I always found it to be a song about falling in love and the two people in that love dealing with their mental health together and growing to understand each other and beginning to depend on each other. Thank you Dodie for this song, it helped me through more than you know and explained to me a lot of my own personal relationship. beautiful song, beautiful girl.
I imagined this song as an abusive relationship written from the perspective of the person in the relationship being abused
Skin Heat Hair in your mouth Feet touching feet -forced/manipulated into intercourse
Oh you And I Safe from the world Though the world will try -isolated, being told that friends/family are against them so they shouldn't make contact with them and are safe from them, though family/friends will try to reach them. Cut short by their partner
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear -Afraid of the awful thoughts about their partner, as this could lead to more/worse "earned punishment". It's best to stay and laugh away the fear of their partner than run and possibly be caught (alternatively, they haven't recognised that what's happening is wrong and stay because they are told )
Numb Fine You create a rarity of my genuine smile -smiles rarely and their partner has made it this way, they rarely smile genuinely because they aren't happy, they pretend to be happy and fine because upset could lead to worse
So breathe Breathe with me Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them -take the bad thoughts they are having about their partner because they can't stand the fact that they could ever think anything bad about them
Ooh, oh O-oh, oh, oh -screams of pain/terror
Intertwined Free -trapped in this relationship, but they are under the false impression that they are free
I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me -every hope that the pain will end is pinned on their partner. They are bleeding because of the abuse, they hope that the partner doesn't bleed too because not only are they oblivious but they don't wish their pain on anyone
I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear -still scared of the awful thoughts but has accepted them
I sit next to someone in English who, whilst analysing poems and books, always says "I mean the writer obviously didn't plan that." And I think this video debunks that. I've always seen 'intertwined' as speaking about someone who suffers from a mental health problem and the only solace they can find is with this other person they love. However, towards the end with the word 'pinned' it's showing how they are completely reliant on this person and is needing them to be absolutely fine mentally so they can support the dependant one as well as their self. Also, with the lines "I'm afraid of the things in my brain." Shows how this person is just completely trapped in their own mind, as they can't run from it. I could continue but I don't think I will have space 😂
While I didn't think too deeply about the lyrics of the song at first, I am glad to see this because I always thought that 'skin' was a jarring way/unfit way to start a sweet song, so hearing that was intentional is cool! I like the development of the lyrics because I feel that as the song progresses, the unhealthiness of the relationship becomes more clear, which is a parallel to what would have been happening in the relationship as it actually occured in real life (and is also what happened in the video). Very cool!
I basically had a somewhat opposite interpretation in a way????? For me, instead of seeing this song as someone in a relationship sharing their fears and troubles with their significant other and it being a “burden” on them and damaging their relationship, I always saw it as someone helping their significant other overcome their struggles with mental health and making their overall relationship stronger than before because they were able to share and get help. I think the main reason I always think this way when hearing the song was mainly because of of when it said “intertwined, free” because even though it was intended to show denial I’m a way, I thought of it as being with that person made them feel free for even just a little and maybe even helping them forget while they were together, even if it was just for a little bit.
So before i watch this video. I have just for the the first time listened to this song on recommendation from my friend who told me the song isnt what it appears to be. "Ive listened to the first minute and it started off soudning like a relationship but im getting the impression of anxiety/depression? And she doesnt want to tell anyone else to put a burden on them She thinks by spending time with the person the song is about, she can get rid of the feelings by herself without anyone knowing it" Thats the exact messages i sent her throughout the song. I really like songs with really deeo meanings
A month ago I had to do a project where I analyzed the lyrics of a song for class. I chose Haze by the lovely Tessa Violet, but now I'm like oh! I could have just presented your video and skipped the talking. Or not. :P (Shout out for Haze giving me a great mark bcos now my teacher thinks I'm super artsy though) I love this song a lot, and I can really relate to the lyrics. I really like your way of analyzing it too, it'd be super cool if you could make more videos like this.
I thought, when I first listened that song, it's kinda like questions of in the writer's mind(which is Dodie) killing her, she can't handle it. She thinks if she stays away from the people or 'the real world' itself, she can think less about these questions. As I have the panic attack too, breath part means in the middle, she remembers all the questions again from the beginning of the song, they make her uncomfortable about it. Actually, I think this song has a story behind it, but not between two people, just a person with two different voices in her brain. And as I see in the video that she hasn't got current relationship, she just imagine it as she said. But even if she were in a relationship, she thinks she can effect him with her mental issues and it makes her more uncomfortable. So, I guess, she loves the idea of having someone in her life but she also afraid of effecting him in a bad way.
for me i envision the song as a person desperate for help, pleading for their significant other to pull them out of the whole their in, capturing the intimacy of their love, "skin" "breathe, breathe" but at the same time a plead for help "can you drink all my thoughts" "afraid of the things in my brain", i didnt see it as a toxic relationship but one that had elements of a love song but dealt with the desperation of help and security
I kind of perceived it the same way, but not using all of the lyrics. I kind of viewed it at someone with mental health issues who depended on their lover, but the lover seemed to help them, but when they're not together all these bad thoughts and feelings come flooding back. Xx
/Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet/ /Oh, you, and I, safe from the world, though the world will try/ A cutesy little sleeping together type scene that's not portrayed as a hard, get down kinda thing, but just light with the concept still there, followed by the thought of being safe in that moment, with the world constantly trying to exploit that relationship (like the internet and ships, you know what I mean) /Oh, I'm afraid, of the things in my brain/ (How relatable) /But we can stay here, and laugh away the fear/ Again that idea of being where in that moment, you are safe and distracted from your mind /Numb, fine,/ I saw this in two different ways: Saying to yourself "yeah, I'm feeling numb, but I'll put on a smile and go through life like any other day", or I saw it as a more angered tone, like "I'm feeling numb, fine brain, whatever the f you want to do. mumbles pisses me off..." /You create a rarity of my genuine smile/ Again to that thought of being okay and distracted with that person /So breathe, breathe with me/ Just a little cute thing again /Can you drink all my thoughts? Cuz I can't stand them/ Can that person stay here and continue to take away those thoughts and still be the distraction you need /Intertwined, free/ Again, the thought of distraction in that moment /I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me/ Damn, this one hits me hard every time. Implying a very toxic relationship where you are so dependant on someone that it would seem it could be suffocating for the significant other, and then that next thought of not wanting to drag the other person down with you because of you being there and having all of that piled on top of them, creating them to bleed with you. (This is a fear of mine for if I'm ever in a relationship, oh geeze) /I'm afraid of the things in my brain/ /But we can stay here, and laugh away the fear/
i always see the song as a couple with at least one person having mental health issues. this person is trusting their partner with this and sharing their problems, but is worried that it is negatively effecting their partner. it's sorta like they have found a safe place to share their worries and it's making it better for that person but there is always the worry that they are hurting the other. idk lol
My interpretation of the song was slightly different..
When I first listened to it, I imagined a happy couple. But the female had these thoughts that were overwhelming to her, and scary. She needed to share them, but she was unsure if her partner would understand(Drink all my thoughts?). She ends up telling him, and it overwhelms him. It ends up messing him up pretty bad, and then the two pretend everything is fine, when in reality, nothing is.
EDIT: It doesn't nessecarily have to be a female and male, it's just what I thought of.
I thought it was more 'I'm fucked up, but you are my one good thing'. Like, love doesn't cure a mental illness but it can give support. As someone with mild anxiety and in a relationship I always found it to be true to my situation, but now knowing it's toxic idk anymore
So I choreographed a dance to this song (it was contemporary) (and this song is beautiful) and every dance has a meaning behind it. Whether it is clear or not, it does. My meaning behind the song was that this girl was amazed or in love, if you will, with the thought of love and romance. She knew though that her mental health would get in the way of almost any relationship. But, she was so in love with the though of love, that she created a fictional relationship in her mind. It was perfect. She loved her 'lover' but, she quickly found out that this relationship was not real and was distraught. The dance ends with her calling out for her imaginary lover and looking for them, but she falls on the floor crying when she can't find them. It's a very deep dance and can really be taken many ways (like this song) and I love it. So thank you Dodie for giving me inspiration with your song and all of your music. I doubt you will see this but, whoever reads this, please give me feedback and tell me what you thought of my 'theory' of what the sog meant.
I never really took this song as a steamy romance song as she had stated in the first video she posted of this song and explained what she said she thought the song would match with, but more of something like a morning with a sky painted in lovely shades of blues, a delicate light shining through a window, white sheets and curtains, and a couple (preferably females for some reason to me? i think it seems cute with two girls) cuddling, giggling, and just being happy while they lie in bed. Later on comes one of the two crying because of an overwhelming sense of emotions flooding into their mind, but the other lover hugging them and running their hand through the crying one's hair, telling them that they are safe and loved. This helps the overwhelmed one, and they can go back to being happy, and even though it seems like the two girls can't have a healthy relationship (the emotional breakdowns, homophobia, etc.) but the two cuties are strong enough to stay together because their love for each other stays the way it always had been. Kind of a pure thought of mine ♡
wow, i kinda want this to be me and my best friend. she has a boyfriend. i have no one. i have mental health issues and really don't want to hurt her emotionally with my constant mood swings and emotional instability. but she loves me somehow? like she said she loved me as more than a friend but she loved her boyfriend and wanted to stay with him. plus y'know, homophobic family members. the bisexual struggle is real. someone please help me ♡♡
i saw it as more of a strange,sinking relationship. that start off quite nicely. they're each other's comfort zones, and have a strong,dependable bond. love is shared,happiness scattered alongside the dark world that tries to get them down. this is when person a realizes that person b has mental health issues,and so tries to help them with such. this comes alongside denial about the issues from b,which of course hurts a greatly. still,all throughout this,they maintain a decent status,until b notices that a has actually been experiencing similar things ever sense the relationship began.
soon after they separate in a bittersweet melody. failed love,foiled by inevitable pain.
After being in relationship with a girl who had severe mental health issues... depression and anxiety being most prevalent I can say that this is pretty spot on. It really sucks for both parties even though you both love each other more than anything in the world. She can't help it. It's not her fault and you don't know how to help but that's all you want to do. I couldn't do it I had to leave and I'll feel like shit about it for the rest of my life. So yeah this song hits me where it hurts.
See to me the way I took the song is that the writer has a mental illness/issues/life problems and their lover is their safe space and is understanding and they feel safe with them. I can totally see the theme of interdependence but it was not my first thought
Oh my god I've been off the Internet for a month because of mental health and stuff (lols) and just AGHH it's so good lmao I actually had an idea it was about a toxic relationship but I thought it was about like being stuck and intertwined with someone becoming dependent because of maybe mental health or abuse that they had trouble leaving them because they were so attached still but that's probably me just projecting anyways hah!! I love this song so much and the music video was precious bless<3!! It's so funny cause I'm actually in school now and I also write songs and poetry and have to have them read and analyzed in class by my friends (it's only like ten or so people) and it's the best seeing how someone can interpret something in so many different ways I love this!!! Lyric analysis is so fun though I'd love to like idk see more like this just cause I love this kinda stuff it's fun
Skin - fragile, vunerable Heat - burning up, fire of love/fear Hair in your mouth - (might just be me) after a panic attack Feet touching feet - when you curl up into yourself
Oh you - you is the person the writer is on the good days and I - the bad day person Safe from the world - so separated and isollated Though the world will try- - to save the writer from themselves
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain - afraid of the good day person, not sure who they are anymore But we can stay here - in the comforting pain And laugh away the fear - love the fear, the writer knows it so well
Numb - the simplicity of pain Fine - liking the numbness You create a rarity of my genuine smiles - the good day person can smile properly
So breathe - has to remind themselves Breathe with me - inviting the good day person to come back Can you drink all my thoughts? - can the good day person even remember the bad days? Cause I can't stand them!
Intertwined - wrapped up in the good and the bad. trapped Free - of normal mental constrictions since the writers is so abstract I've pinned each and every hope on you - the good day person can do anything I hope that you don't bleed with me - the good day person shouldn't feel sad
I'm afraid of the things in my brain - the confusion of good and bad But we can stay here - somewhere in the middle And laugh away the fear - forget the connotations of staying in the dark of depression/anxiety
this is my version, the you and i are actually the same person but in two opposing mental states
What's weird is when I first heard the song, I did NOT think of anythign dark or negative at all. Instead, I thought that the gory parts and "drink all my thoughts, because I can't stand them" was actually meaning the relationship WAS happy and that "rarity of genuine smile" meant the other partner was making the singer happy, free, and a warmer, nicer person to be around.
I came to a similar conclusion. The singer ishiding a lot of the mental health stuff by sort of digging into the relationship in a sort of unfair codependancy. (can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them) or at least is scared that's what they do in relationships.
my interpretation: this song is about an alcoholic father and a daughter who suffers with mental illness. the world is trying to bring her down, and she has issues and feelings that cannot be shared and therefore helped. so she keeps drowning in her own thoughts. the person in contact, is her family. skin, because they are comfortable in their skin around each other and heat because of them being close to each other.
so she stays with her family plays the perfect "dollhouse" as depicted in the video and keeps sidelining the actual crisis.
she lies about being okay, and whenever she smiles, only her family can make her. when she's actually happy and not pretending. personally, i think it to be a father daughter relationship, the father having had alcoholism. so that's another thing that relates to the whole story causing the issues and everything. they want each other to know how they feel, though it's unspeakable.
and yet they continue to pretend and move on not noticing her and her fathers disease.
this part is sung by both the father and the daughter to each other. intertwined. they are one soul. whatever they do reflects on the other.
they hope that the other of them doesn't suffer and pins hopes on the other to not make them suffer. the daughter prays that the father doesn't drink and isn't affected by her illness. and the father prays that his daughter feels better and doesn't get affected by his own illness. and they want to explain themselves to each other but don't know how. and just wish that their family doesn't face consequences for their own doings.
I interpreted the song as a song about a relationship in which one of the people involved were having a hard time, whether it be mentally or just something going on in their lives at the moment, but one particular person brings then happiness and joy which would strike fear into the other person due to their situation and do not want them to feel the pain they do. Not sure if I made any sense, but that's just my interpretation. 😅
What I am thought: putting off your darker thoughts with the help of another until you are at least somewhat ready to face them, and the fear that this person's protection may affect them badly
i had a similar if not the same interpretation. i thought that the 'im afraid of the things in my brain ' was obviously to do with her mental health and that maybe she was having intrusive unhappy thoughts, or was stressed about the relationship and it was messing her up? because the 'you and I' bit suggested theyre a couple.
'safe from the world, though the world will try' suggested to me that the relationship wasn't popular? like maybe they were homosexual before it was more accepted as it is now, or maybe she had put so much into it and maybe left everything to go into this relationship, but others didn't like it? too many thoughts about that lyric
then the 'but we can stay here and laugh away the fear' made me think that when they spent time together they forgot about all the pressures and were happy and carefree, involved in the love that they had.
yeah. i thought more but my mind is too scrambled to write it all
it is very sweet how you analyse Tour own song dodie :) i like the song anyway if you want to, i would love you to listen to my song seaside and give me some critic (on the song not on my terrible voice)
I didn't necessarily see the relationship as "unhealthy" here. For sure there is dependency, but I felt more of a fear. Specifically I felt a fear of the other person leaving or not accepting the person because of the other person's mental health issues becoming overwhelming. Especially with anxiety, this fear could easily be an exaggeration. It feels as if the person is pouring out their anxieties and thoughts to the partner after letting it bubble inside. The "blood" scene in the music video could be the pouring out of those feelings. The fire of the house could be the imaging of the reaction of the person telling those feelings. How the partner reacts in unsure, but I think that's up for the listener to decide based on their own experience.
Dang, this is the one song of the EP that I had trouble connecting with, because for some reason I thought it was supposed to be happy and I just didn't feel it. But incidentally I also started listening to it on repeat a week before the music video came out, I was humming it all the time and still feeling unsettled about the song. When I saw the music video, it finally clicked, because the video showed what I was unconsciously thinking while listening but couldn't put my finger on. And this literal explanation is even stronger, thank you, I'm usually better than this at interpreting art my own way, I don't know why this one was so ellusive to me! But it was a great coincidence that the music video came out at the exact right time
i loved this here is my interpretation (Not much differed from urs) i (a girl in a hopeless state of mind) have a crush (do i even call it a crush what the actual fuck do i call this??) on a guy (who is causing this love hate state of mind) take the first lyrics, skin, heat, hair in ur mouth feet touching feet" to be a quick shoutout/mention to my creepy yet totally understandable fantasy that is very rare for me to fantasise but its there also being a fantasy of us two cuddling in my dreams... which will never happen HAHA IM FINE more lyrics go to sa "oh you and i safe from the world through the world with try-" is about how somethings happened online that is underneath the surface and loads of people know about "safe from the world" implying the fact that somethings there but its something that if a stranger waled around a place with the people reference d in this they would notice somethings up but its deep enough that it is the opposite of obvious "the world will try" implies that people try to get to me with questions and painful reminders but "safe from the world" is what i am which means they aint getting no where "im afraid of the things in my brain" well im scared shitless that this boy has made me depressed when i found out he already fucked up my mind enough and now my mind is poisoned with horrible possibilities and things that actually have happened "we can stay here and laugh away the fear" basically, me and my friends made a joke out of the whole situation as he did with his friends and we never talk deep about any of it we never talk at all actually its glossed over with jokes and giggles but when really its a horrible thing killing my brain from the inside out unless i stop it (which is hard to do) "numb, fine" numb refers to the fact that im going completely numb with this and that anything and everything i do now has something to do with it, fine is how i act not in a "im sad but i lie that im fine to hide it" way but like ive learnt to live with it im fine but im not ok or im o but not fine (at alllllllll ayyyy where meh swifties at?) you create a rarity of my genuine smile" meaning just thinking of us talking and laughing together brings me joy that takes days to wear off then i realise whats real and whats not "so breathe breathe with me" i take as nothing sexual but when staring into eah others eyes creating a moment people start to notice and it gets kind depressingly intense like nothing sexual but like sad "can you drink all my thoughts? cuz i cant stand them" is the fact that i want us to talk about it everything. and its to the point that i cant stand it and yet every time we try and talk one of us (mostly me) chickens out lol "intertwined, free" meaning that theres something there like me and him arent strangers but we never dated so wtf are we? "free" meaning you know im not in a relationship but intertwined states that there is definitely something holding me back "ive pinned each and every thought on u i hope u dont bleed with me" meaning two things for me 1. ive told him how ive thought about this yet idk how he feels and im scared he will "bleed" With me but at the same time thats what i want 2. ive told every damn thought on this to a specific friend and im hoping they dont get hurt by me doing this. now this situation that i listen to the song about is very complicated very obvious but not at the same time kinda intense and sad and very very very hard to explain so i dont blame u if ur hella fucking confused lol
I thought the whole song was mainly about codependency and mostly denial, denial of being so codependent, being in denial that however much you think you know the person, they are still just an expectation
i also thought it was a metaphor for mental health.
I looked at it as someone suffering from either mental health issues or a toxic past relationship or something that haunts them but finding someone that drinks all these stories and fears up without judgement and helps the artist feel a bit better and surrounds them w a support system???
This song always gave me an image in my mind of a warm fuzzy couple- that's the words I use to describe it, and they're snuggling for some reason and they're taking evening walks on the streets together holding hands on the sidewalk with the romantic eerie lighting of the street lamps, and they're happy, but one of them is sad at the same time and the other is comforting, almost protecting the other. They're each other's homes in a way, but not in a way where they're dependent on each other, just that they're safe with each other. However an antagonist comes into this song is society. Society is telling the couple things about their relationship and things about each other that are negatively affecting the relationship. I could go deeper into this part of the theory but I'd prolly be here for hours lol. --My theory for the music video tho was that in the music video, when dodie says she's afraid of the things in her brain and then it openly showed the doll'a brain in the video I pictured that as society being introduced kinda into the "story and that that's when society's opinions started to puncture and become acknowledged as thoughts that the doll was trying to get rid of and ignore and was trying not make into a thing or a big deal because she was scared of what it might cause, it was nothing she planned on talking about but it was just kinda in the back of her mind, as kind of foreshadowing. Then the "blood", or the red liquid that was poured onto the dolls I pictured as when the thing she was trying to not let become a thing becomes a thing and causes conflicts in the relationships, the blood symbolizing society and it being crashed on, or poured onto the relationship. This causes the relationship to change, to become difficult and I don't want to say toxic but almost toxic but not that extreme- but also extreme at the same time IDEK im confused too. Society rips and gashes at them and causes the couple to think things and do things (no not kill each other that's not what I meant lol), harsh and hurtful things, but also attempts to break free from society's harshness. This leads up to the fires- the breaking point. ----------------A part of me wishes that it was a romantic song about dodie and jon bUT THATS BESIDES THE POINT
Okay so I know Dodie definitely won’t see this comment cause I’m over a year late but I wanted to share like my journey with this song. When I first heard it I absolutely fell in love because I felt it was about how when you’re cuddling and intimate with someone you love that you feel safe and fine and you can laugh and the bad things don’t seem so bad and it was at this point in my life that I had just started a relationship and I felt that so when the video came out I like completely rejected the author’s intention of the piece (having just written an essay on Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author (my film studies lecturer would be so proud)). I have probably listened to this song at least once every couple of weeks for the duration of the year and as I grew and as the relationship broke down, this song just moulded into an entirely different meaning than what I originally connected to it with. I watched this video when it came out and said ‘nah I think it’s about spooning away your troubles’ and now I’m like damn dodie you fuckin caaaaaaaalled iiiittt
I think I'm too late, but I listened to the song many times before watching the video. So, my interpretation was similar, but I had a different vision for the video.
1st verse....
I imagined the lover sitting and reading a book facing right and Dodie sitting besides but facing the front. She is singing to her lover, but the lover is not paying any attention.
2nd verse....
From "Numb, Fine" onwards, Dodie is still facing the screen, but she is walking alone in a street in the cold and foggy wether and slight precipitation. Her lips are dry and a little blue. She is on the verge of crying.
3rd verse....
Intertwined- Back to first scene. Free- Back to second scene.
Later the first scene continues.
Oh, I'm afraid..... brain- Dodie is crying and wiping away tears. When she wipes them away, she removes then and her cheeks get covered with blood.
But we can stay here.... Dodie starts smiling to give us a brief sense of hope.
And laugh away the fear.... Dodie's smile turns to frown after 'fear'. In the harmony part, the camera reveals that Dodie's lover is behind her, wounded and dead. Then the camera tuns back to her face and she ignites a matchstick or a lighter and throws it, this starting fire which would turn both Dodie and her lover's corpse to ashes.
what is the fire showing in the music video? like how the relationship was going down in flames? and what was the blood and loss of hair for? overall loved it, just confused on those couple. love the song dodie!! 💛💛
It's the THING it's like you saw inside my brain and oops here it is like GOSH ok that is how it is exactly oh gosh and the way a depressed person like myself feels like their burden is going to leak onto the people they have the courage and indiscretion to love and damage them and it's all- -thereinthesong and you did it, there it is, I'm such a catastrophe oh god
but the first time I heard the song and had a mini brain explosion because it's all exactly how it feels and the words and WOW
When I first heard this song I envisioned two girls, caked in mud, running into a cave to get away from a rainstorm. one girl is bleeding from a head wound and the other slings off her pack take out a first aid kit and tend to the gash in her companions head. The scene flips to them sitting huddled in a blanket reading a book together while they wait for the storm to pass, then them laughing about a memory, then them talking about one's abusive family than the others mental illness. I see them going through so much and talking about a lot in this cave but without reselution.
side note: in my mind they are lovers but sometimes I like looking at them, and the relationship in this song as friends to help see diffarent meanings
I interpreted it as kind of people helping each other through mental illness if that makes sense? It's kind of like when a friend and I both talk about anxiety, because then we kind of share the burden, and then afterward the anxiety can kind of be like going back and forth between being happy about having a good friend and being anxious about being alone again, and then wondering if you'll make it through. Again, this is just my interpretation, so yeah :) LOVE THE SONG!
how i see the song (before watching this vid and the music vid): someone with mental health issues who finds someone who helps and is like the calm in the storm, and hoping the person doesnt leave them behind
afterwards: god damn. this is. so deep. i feel like i relate to this song a little more now. i also feel like thats not a very good thing at all. still a damn amazing song though
to me, the song is about the one person who makes you feel safe. i do tend to see the positive in things, so maybe i'm just ignoring the negative things, but to me the entire song gives off an aura of calm and safety. my boyfriend and i both have mental health issues, and the idea of wanting to drink away the bad thoughts is one i can relate to on both sides, wanting to help but also needing help myself. idk, this didnt really make that much sense, but im not good at words.
Ari Glancy2017-04-25 02:08:36 (edited 2017-04-25 02:09:11 )
I didn't really understand just the lyrics at first but what I got from the music video was about a first very happy couple doing well for themselves. But, as the story progresses the lady begins to think that she must be a perfect wife/fiance she eventually falls into a madness because of her anxiety not to mess up. In the end her insanity warps her perspective on him and she thinks it's all his fault, so she commits a murder suicide.
Another thing I don’t think you mentioned that I found really struck a chord (ha music pun) with me was the Ooohs sort of sounding like sobs or whimpers; the broken up and shaking intonation at points mimics the tired fragile sobbing after a panic attack or breakdown and having just followed a section where the subject is being asked to breathe and begging for someone to drink their thoughts really resonates and strengthens the feeling. Sorry for being super nerdy you probably knew it already but I’ve always felt a really strong emotional pull from that little bit and thought I’d give my two cents ^.^
I saw this song also as a toxic relationship but about the other partner trapping the narrating partner. Kind of about abuse but more about the partner wanting the narrator all to themselves. They want the narrator to think what the partner wants them to think and not stray out of the partners view. Like they have separation issues but in a controlling way. I feel like the lyrics are not actually all the narrators thoughts, but are actually what they have been brainwashed and trained to think about their lover. It's sounds regretful that they ever fell in love in the first place, sarcastic about the other partners absurdness in how they trap the narrator, but also it sounds like the narrator is slowly staring to believe these things as well. That they should have no life without their partner, and that they belong to them and are "safe" with them. The partner makes them believe they are "safe from the world", and to not let the world have them, to stay with the partner "though the world will try~", this line makes me think the narrator wants to see what is out in the world, without their partner, but the lyric cuts off in the middle of the sentence like the partner silencing the narrator not letting them have their opinion. The word "numb" is the narrator telling us she feels numb in this relationship, like she can't have anything to herself or be her own person. "Fine" is another example of the partner controlling the narrator telling them they are fine and are not allowed to think that way. "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain", i think is the narrator saying they are afraid to let out any of their own thoughts and opinions and are afraid they will explode getting them in trouble with their partner. They want the partner to "drink" their thoughts so they won't be hurt by them. For the thoughts to disappear and make the narrator numb and under the partners control again. Try listening to the song with this in mind, it's really terrifyingly interesting. Just my opinion on it 🙃.
Well isn't that intriguing? Anything that exhibits poetic juxtapostion in such a way so as to deliver such a deep meaning whilst also seeming rather innocent is what I love to experience. Not unlike how I approach naming things. (Be it a baby brother or just an RPG character.)
One small thing to remind people is how dodie says "can you drink all my thoughts" and how it is unhealthy to feel the need to have people almost ingest your problems to share/transfer them. In all relationships, not just romantic ones it is important to remember to help your friend/partner with their problems but not take them on yourself
I say this because my friend moved school and she started becoming her friends confident, but the constant strain of helping her friend with mental health brought her own down and she started feeling poorly and doing worse in school. So yeah, um, relationships can be mildly toxic without meaning to be - but you can always talk to your friend and step back from their problems while still being a great friend to them
I felt most of the same as you, but I thought more of the female doll being purposeful in her drowning of the relationship (in blood, sadness, grief...). There's a suggestion of the male doll being the unfortunate and properly placed recipient of the female dolls spats of anguish. It didn't seem to me like this relationship was a give-and-take, co-dependent type of thing; neither were strong enough to survive this and that's why they both burned at the end. Pouring out your feelings to someone who will listen is a reassuring, yet exhausting feeling; but the female did not take into consideration how the constant barrage of negativity would affect her partner and her partner was not willing to be fully open to her (her head being cut symbolizing her depressive mind-dump and his face being cut off to show his skeletal face, or his "true" face). Anyways, that's what I thought about it. Love your songs, Dodie. <3
Fuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk, I never thought I related to this song at all the way I was interpreting it before but holly heck I am like in shock at how much this is true to a situation I've been in. Like WOAH my mind is a little bit completely blown
I just noticed that ,as someone that has English as a second language, I know nothing about it. It feels weird now, but the music sounds good considering what i could understand hahaha
I thought "numb, fine" was a great lyrical choice, because if you mumble "numb fine" together it sounds like "I'm fine" or "Nah I'm fine" (...that might just be my accent). Anyway for me it added to the theme of disguising your mental state... Idk someone else talk now.
the first time i heard the song i thought awe this is cute but by the third time i heard it i was like oH sHe iS dEEp. so when the video came out i was like mhm exactly
i've kinda thought of the video as a girl that has a lot of mental health issues that she wishes that someone could help her but you can't really depend on someone else to help you and you kinda have to help yourself and it just goes downhill from there (idk if this is kinda how dodie described it but that's how i imagined it)
The song had a very specific sound to it; not quite peaceful, but not outwardly negative. It felt like being under water. Still, calm, but always with a tiny underlying tone of desperation and lack of control; the feeling of drowning very slowly. The little unsettling words, as subtle as they may be, kept suggesting danger but never really allowing the song to shift tones. As if to cover this need to cross that uncanny valley into one tone or the other, sweet or scary, it kept getting a little louder, a little more urgent, a little more overwhelming. At the end, it drifts back into calm, sweet tones, as if going to sleep. But after the rest of the song, you can't exactly feel the tone as happy anymore. The problems aren't being settled or solved, just put to rest for another day, when they'll come back full force and the whole cycle will repeat again. It leaves the ending feeling foreboding and hopeless, despite the nice, pretty melodies. Gorgeous stuff.
I definitely did picture this song as a mutually destructive relationship, but the music video made me think the song was about being so obsessed with a person that you don't know what to do with your own troubles. That, or feeling as though you want nothing more than to become them, to crawl inside their skin, wear their face, feel what it's like to be in the body of someone that matters. Being afraid of that obsession and worried you'll hurt them, but also too enthralled to step away.
This video was so amazing and interesting. It's so incredible to see your point of view on your own music, and I absolutely love it. You should do more of these, i'd LOVE to watch them. Love you Dodie (if you ever see this probs not haha lol)
weird how you can listen to a song for years and not understand it properly until the words you're singing along to are relatable. I came here to see what the intended meaning was. to me though, this echos more being open with, confiding in, and comforting each other when there is no one else to. it sounds vulnerable, but meaning a lot to each other isn't inheritantly toxic? I like to think that this comes in a narrative before 'Ready Now', as then it would imply a reaction from the second person - ('can you drink all my thoughts?' to 'I will listen' etc), and a growth with the singer's relationship with the outside world - ('safe from the world, though the world will try' to 'and I told the world (and 'the world seemed to tell me') that I have a plan'). Not to say I don't love the darker implications, I literally have the poster from Sammy's website on my wall haha, but still, these songs have stuck with me personally today.
We all have our own times our minds are blah. As difficult as it might be, I still hope you find love in life and can make happiness out of the troubles in life. ^_^
I taught the song was two lovers that shared everything together but the writer is afraid that being so close to the other person, she would share her insecurities and such to her lover. and then you have the lyrics that suggest that the other person is trying to calm the writer but is falling to calm him/her self 🙈 overall I quite like it even though I think it's a bit slow in the beat and lyrics, just not my style 😊
Hi :), So this is kinda to everyone with diagnosed depression: If your doctor starts to talk to you about medication, then these are some of the things to take into consideration:
1: You might be EXTREMELY spaced out, And not really care about the issues of today, You'll lie around almost zombie like, However this doesn't happen to everyone and it really depends on the medication given.
2: Things get better before they get worse: You'll for WEEKS even MONTHS feel like the pills are doing FUCK ALL and might even be making your depression worse, however after a few weeks or months you'll hopefully start to feel a change ( it might be point number 1) however after that things do get better, and they even help you face up to your mental health, So you could one day, Get off anti- depressants and get better :)
Ik nobody's gonna read this but, thought I'd put it out there :) From one sufferer of depression/anxiety to another, ;)
Dodie, this may be a dumb question, but do you put this much analysis into the song while writing? Or do some of these things seem to pop out after it's already written and it just fits perfectly?
I really wanna do a dance duet to this song with my best friend josh because its my favorite song and i love it and you. if i did i will send it to you xxxxxxxxxx
I guess I'm a hopeless romantic because I didn't think of it this way at aLL (even though this analysis is beautiful and really well thought out and composed 10000/10 would recommend good job dodie). I was sort of recently in a sort of relationship that went downhill fast because of my anxiety and I went about it all wrong and he did too. It just wasn't a good situation. I guess I looked at it as hope for me. Most of the beginning shows the writer's struggle with mental health, and for me how they were afraid of it affecting their relationship to the breaking point. They have their moments of freedom, where everything is ok and it feels like everything will be alright between them, but the fear gets in the way. The ending shifts back to a pleasant moment for me. I can remember having an absolute panic attack, my then boyfriend trying to calm me down, and helping me through it with laughter. He'd tell me to breathe and as I was winding down, he'd show me things to make me laugh. With that being the ending, I saw it as working through the issues and finding peace in each other. My favorite part was "intertwined, free" because I saw it as being intertwined with the person that you love and being free from the fear of it. I guess that's pretty sappy but that's what it felt like for me.
I know this isn't even close to what the song is about, but I always saw the song as a person speaking to themselves. Like being all alone and just imgaining that there was somebody could help them. Or wishing they had somebody to confide in.
I'm glad the original meaning isn't so far from mine. To me this is probably the best, most sweet song to represent comfort in a relationship. I see it as a representation of those moments where life has beat you up a bit(a lot) too strong and how good it feels to have someone to go to, cuddle and just enjoy the moment. I like it tho, that you wrote it as one of them or both having mental issues, but I would prefer to think they're comforting each other instead of just avoiding problem resolution. Either way, I'll never stop interpreting being in a safe, comfortable space with someone you love whenever I listen to this song. I guess each person's interpretation is based on what they're dealing with or looking for. I don't have any mental issues that I know of (except for maybe a bit of anxiety? [which could support "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" cause that's what an anxious mind does. It creates a series of inumerous scenereos, most of them not very happy] Having been diagnosed so) but I do feel like just being like on this song sometimes so that's probably why I interpreted it that way PS: I strongly interpret "Intertwined. Free." As the fact that they're there together and safe is like freedom from a busy and worried mind and the problems of life. I won't be convinced of anything else.
i kinda had an 'us against the world' image going on, where one person in the couple is running from whatever issues they have in their life, and is taking their partner with them.
What I thought the song meaning was is the woman couldn't love the man enough and was afraid of leaving him as well. Although they have had intercourse so many times, she isn't able to love him enough. To make herself feel better, she intertwines them together, this way she will be stuck loving him. I had a totally different meaning than the one you implied with the woman being dependent and draining her toxic thoughts onto another person. I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics at first either, which might be why I jumped to this meaning. I also thought it sounded similar to the song "My Time" by Bo en. You should give it a listen! Love the song and love you dodie <3
I feel and see a lot of what dodie is saying but to me also the theme that stands out is isolation and the need to be perfect by society's views. The video first starts off with a house, a pink one no less. This might not seem important but to me it shows how society forced the girly ness or need to be right in their eyes. Pink is often stereotypically catogarized as a girls Color and when a person other than girls like it, it is deemed not right, worthy of horrible judging. Also present on the house is flowers which further enhance the feeling of femininity.
The song starts with words very abrupt, Skin. Heat. These words portrayed with the scenes show how people need to be close all the time. It seems to point out (quite subtly) how weird it is that we need to be so close even when we have been with others so long and that maybe it is unhealthy. Next feet touching feet pans to Barbie and ken both in bed intertwined their feet close together, hinting that they have had sex which also seems to point out the underlying impulses or need that society forces on us to have sex because apparently without much of it then it's not a 'right' relationship.
You.. and I, safe shows them in a tiny kitchen sitting like perfect couples are supposed to, it implies a sense that they are trying to be perfect and fit society's norms. She then adds on ..from the world which started to show a sense of isolation. The ideas seem to clash and yet even that shows s sense of society because (They want the best for you yet force unhealthy standards on you)
(Not done yet so.. also I wrote this the first I saw this on the day it came out I just forgot to post it..)
music video says more than what your explanation does imo.
the video seems to suggest more self harm, evasion, and manipulation than you describe. theses the scene with all the blood (harm) and the scissors (making a physical change to attempt to symbolize a change that actually hasn't been made), and Ken with pins in his head (perhaps showing he is taking the blame and responsibility for all this, wrongly or otherwise). having done all of these things while in relationships, perhaps I am a bit biased, but I think the song- video hit on somewhat larger issues than what you have just in your own experiences. takes a good artist to do that, so thank you.
the one little thing I have that bounces off your original meaning is that "with" that has a fancy, more complex twiddle assigned to it . it means two things to me - that person a (referred to as I) tries to dress up the relationship and make it look better than it really is to others , hence the use of the actual word with, and that the relationship of person a and person b (referred to as you) is complicated and fragile as the notes are fast, contrasting to the rest of the song, and short, perhaps mirroring short-temperedness with one another.
I honestly thought that it was a toxic relationship. Like it's just benefiting one person. The other is slowly breaking down but won't tell due to an overwhelming love for the person.
i had a girlfriend with psychosis, ptsd, etc. and i have a few mental illnesses as well. we were both going through problems but we were always there to help each other out. but eventually we had to break up bc she felt she needed to focus on her mental health. and although that's good for her, my mental health has been declining a lot bc of it... i really connect with this song in many ways.
I thought that the video matched the song really well as Barbie is generally viewed as perfect however fake. Perhaps how people with mental health issues tend to mask their thoughts and feelings. Trying to accomplish perfection and to everyone else they look fine. When her head was cut into and showed her brain it showed the struggle of those with a mental illness - how all the signs are there but you aren't getting the help you need; you feel people are ignoring you. Also Ken and Barbie are usually viewed as the perfect couple so when things started to go downhill in the video it juxtaposed this idea of perfection turning it into something fake and taboo. When she started to cut her hair it represented the instability of someone with a mental illness and the urge to do something drastic and hope that it'll change the way you think. Towards the end when Barbie and Ken where stitched together it showed how we pick up the mannerisms of our partner and how it can be hard to be away from them for a period of time. When the house was burning down it showed how easy it is to break down but it's ten times harder to build yourself back up. In the song when she says 'can you drink all my thoughts?' it represented the way she wanted to get rid of any feelings at all because they felt suffocating. The word 'drink' suggests she again wants to pass these thoughts on and be rid of them. 'intertwined' and 'free' show the author's confusion at her situation. She has her freedom given by her partner but she feels trapped by her thoughts that haunt her mind. Just my interpretation. Idk, amazing video + song though! Xxxxx
I interpreted the song a little differently, but I like Dodie's analysis just as much. The first verse of the song for me seemed to portray intimacy that was close, but quite strained and a little awkward. To me the feeling of "hair in your mouth" is quite uncomfortable, but "feet touching feet" suggests familiarity. Then, "Oh, you and I, safe from the world" gives a feeling of togetherness, but also underlying escapism in one another and a false sense of security to me. "Though the world will try" definitely implies that the writer has issues in their life and in their minds, an uncomfortable ending to a semi comfortable verse. It leads you right into "Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain" which is outright saying that the writer has mental health issues, while leading the listener into a series of high, distressed notes. It then goes down into "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" which for me just brings in an image of either bravery (laughing in the face of fear) or cowardice (laughing in the denial of fear). "Numb, fine" ince again plays into the theme of denial, as if the writer is simply pretending there is nothing wrong and she is fine. The next line, "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" can grammatically have two very different meanings based on what you want to hear, and I think that's the point. It can either mean that because of their partner, the writer smiles genuinely which is otherwise rare, but it could also (and more likely) mean that the writer's partner is the reason for the rarity of the aforementioned smile, like the writer has to act fakely. "So breathe, breathe with me" to me sounds a lot like the writer is trying to calm down after a fight or a panic attack, and lulling themselves and their partner into a (false) belief that everything is fine. "Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" sounds like firstly, a slightly out of the ordinary, desperate request and secondly a struggling scream for help. Then, it goes quiet again, like the previous lines are trying to be forgotten. "Intertwined, free" is a big contrast, but not that big if you look at it the right way. To me it just sounds like the couple want to be together and apart all at once, which I feel is a lot like reality. However, "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me." sounds a lot like a dangerous and desperate dependance on one another, like the writer is trying to say that they have put everything in someone at risk to that person and themselves which is unhealthy. Overall, the song sounds really confused to me. Not completely hopeless, because there are a lot of lines that suggest a real closeness between the writer and their partner, but confused, as if the writer doesn't know what to do with themselves and their partner is oblivious. But that's just my interpretation, I didn't write the song so I could be wrong
The summary of my theory is that the girl had a mental illness and she was afraid of how it would affect their relationship. All of this was happening in her head. She overthinks things and hopes her her partner won’t think she’s crazy.
I kind of interpreted it in a, not exactly mental health, but more of a self doubt kind of way. Like, the narrator had been bullied/teased for one thing or another. Now they are protected and the bulling has stopped. But negative thoughts have been implemented into their brain, so that they do not think they are good enough/worthy. They don't want to doubt themselves, hence the lyrics, "can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" and, "I'm afraid of the thing in my brain." But that was just how I thought of it. I think the mental health side of it too.
I think of it as an abusive relationship and the narrator in her head knows it but still loves her abuser and so completely denies it to everyone, including herself. Some parts of the song are like she's trying to get people to notice the toxic relationship so they can help her but other parts are her stating that she is fine. Also the bit about drinking, from that I got alcohol, possibly the reason for the abuse or perhaps the victims only escape; To 'numb' herself.
My problem with Doddie is besides the amazing amazing lyrics and though she put in her songs, she can't really transmit the feelings of the song in the instrumentation, at least for me. The song sounds like an happy lovely song if you ignore the lyrics, which made me think that was one, every song of her sounds a bit of the same to me, i like all of them, but I feel the real meaning are lost just with the guitar and sweat composition. Maybe she could differ a bit on the instruments and made them more powerful,more dark, maybe a bit more interesting to the hear. The lyrics are so complex and profound, I think she could made her music pair with them. Just my opinion, I don't understand anything about music, just a though.
with the words like "numb" and "fine" or "intertwined" and "free", i always saw them as, at one part you are one of those, and at another you're the other. i saw this song as more of a romantically freeing one, or where in a relationship with someone you feel better especially with the lyrics "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" but i also felt that at "can you drink all my thoughts?" the relationship became too dependable or in ways toxic. also by "i've pinned each and every hope on you, i hope that you don't bleed with me", i sought it to be estranged once again, especially with more of whomever being dependent on the person for more as a pain and mental release rather than for affection and closeness. and with the lyrics from the beginning, it seemed as though the couple was very close and loving, and as the song progressed, it all became twisted and deranged and into something bad.
this was a very interesting because my interpretation was way off. i viewed it of you saying that you’re afraid of your thoughts in your brain and the things you could do but since you have him that you wouldn’t believe/listen to the things going on your head. the title for me suggests that you are one with him, ex. you share everything but you hope he doesn’t bleed with you and that’s the only thing (thoughts in your head) you don’t and try not to share with him. almost like you’re protecting him. because in every verse you say something bad but reassure him by saying something to make him feel safe.
I thought this song was about sex, and losing your virginity with someone you love. These lines are what make me thing that.
"Skin; heat. Hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" This portrays that things feel awkward and abnormal.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain. But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" She's extremely nervous and is making up all the things that could go wrong in her head, but she's also excited so they're giggling and trying to releave the nervous tension.
"Breathe, Breathe with me." Again, take away the nervous energy.
I thought this song was about sex, and losing your virginity with someone you love. These lines are what make me thing that.
"Skin; heat. Hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" This portrays that things feel awkward and abnormal.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain. But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" She's extremely nervous and is making up all the things that could go wrong in her head, but she's also excited so they're giggling and trying to releave the nervous tension.
"Breathe, Breathe with me." Again, take away the nervous energy.
Does anyone else think that some people's views that the song doesn't appear to fit the video is because love songs in a lot of media portrays toxic relationships as normal? I'd be open to hear other people's thoughts about it as even without the video it seemed like a pretty unhealthy relationship to me
Alright, so this is coming in late MOSTLY because I was lazy and put off watching this for a few days. However! My analysis of this is rather close to your own, but more focused on the relationship itself, less on the persons within it. I saw it as more of a break up song, in the sense that the two people tried there hardest to work things out, but they just couldn't. So they split apart and are no longer intertwined, but free. Hope that makes sense, I have a habit of rambling. If you see this, LOVE your music. Hope to see you live one day. Much love from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. ❤✌
okay so im not very good at english so, like many people, i heard the musical part and thought of it as a nice love between two people that sort of intertwines (ehe) the physical and emotional aspects of it. ( i dont have a big attention span when it comes to deeper meanings) However, now that you have explained what you meant whilst writing it i understand where your thoughts came from for it (and i mean omg well done you have to be so proud) AND i get where the video comes from and i now think it fits perfectly In short, so proud of you for such a brilliantly written song and even though i thought the video was just a bit weird initially, i now love it as much as everything else you do! xxx so powerful xx
I pictured this as a couple that's slowly growing apart BUT they stay together because they want what they had before. "Skin. Heat. Feet touching feet. Oh you. And I. Safe from the world." this part I felt like it's their relationship at the start. They are I love and that's all they care about. "But the world will try." This is where they start to see where they are just not meant for each other and how the world (maybe friends/family) tries to show them they are just not meant to be. "Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain" this is either the couple thinking how maybe they aren't meant to be and how they are afraid they won't have the feeling of being loved. I also pictured some mental health problems in here. Around here is where maybe one of them starts to think 'if he/she goes, who will love me?" So as in the next lyric, "But we can stay here. And laugh away the fear." Is them saying maybe if we just stay like this, our feelings for each other will come back. (I imagined the writer as a girl so ya) "Numb. Fine." This is her feeling not okay. She's not great but she's not bad. She's just "fine." "You crate a rarity of my genuine smile." I took this as she smiles at the fact that she's 'loved' by someone but isn't actually as happy with the person that 'loves' her. "So breathe. Breathe with me." This is her saying to her partner "please stay with me. Breathe with me." I think this part, she is doubting the partner will stay with her. She knows she needs to trust her partner to be able to be in a healthy relationship so she doesn't like these thoughts which brings us to the next lyric. "Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them." This is saying how she needs her partner to try and help me. He/she does this but it only makes things worse. Her partner starts to feel the same way. Because of this they won't let go of each other. I agree with Dodie on this being a toxic relationship. They are only together because they want to be in love and be loved. They convince them that they are happy. I didn't know what to make out of the "ohhh"s so let's skip that, shall we? "Intertwined. Free." This is kinda like them being together. They won't leave each other therefore, they are 'intertwined'. The free is them thinking that they are free. But the reality is they are chaining each other down. They are preventing them from being able to love and except love back. They can't except it because they believe they are all they need. "I've pinned each and every hope on you." I took this as her saying I lost everything. I need you here. but in reality, all she needs to do is let go. "I hope you don't bleed with me." Here, she is starting to realize that she needs to let go but... "I'm afraid of the things in my brain. But we can laugh the fear away." She thinks that if she just masks these feelings, she will stay 'happy'. They can just "laugh the fear away" and not pay attention to what they actually need. All the humming for me shows the couple boxing them from everyone and living an 'okay' life together .
I thought this song was about one partner who has mental issues because I have anxiety myself. Their partner does not have these problems and tries to help them to their highest ability. Said partner would get tired, thinking that the problem is small and that they had solved it. I then believe the climax was a fight, where the partner with a mental illness would have a panic attack of some sort. Pleading for help and relief. The other partner would go along with this and the cycle would continue it's vicious cycle again and again.
I saw the song as being about a developing mental health problem. It's sweet and nice until you get to the 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain' and then the 'laugh away the fear' bit is the writer trying to convince themself that they are fine. Then the 'numb, fine' bit is the writer trying to cope with the developing problem and realising that they can't handle it alone and say 'can you drink all my thoughts'. The romance kicks back in with the 'intertwined' she pins 'each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me' is hoping that their significant other doesn't also develop any kind of problem because they know how awful it is and wouldn't want them to suffer in the same way.
here's my theory: two people (ill name them oliva and alison) are in a relationship. it's stable, they both know they have mental health problems, but they're melanchony. ("laugh away the fear") alison ends the affair because oliva is becoming dependent and alison - who already faces her own problems - can't handle it. ("im afraid of the things in my brain") oliva can't let go and is "intertwined" in her memories of alison. she doesn't have anyone to ("drink up her thoughts") in the end, olivas mental health takes over and she basically is numb and emotionless, and alison feels pain from this. they both fall into extreme pits of sadness (alison is regretful and oliva is attached) and they both go up in flames. (literally) ok that's it!!!
(Late feedback wOOPS I don't expect this to be read but I would still like to share my thoughts ^-^)
I had a feeling that these problems were shared between lovers who masked them for the sake of each other but it destroyed them both at the same time, if that makes sense. It seemed that the lyrics were from only one point of view, and the contrasting lyrics represented what one assumed of the other (this plays most strongly in "numb, fine" as if whoever is thinking this feels numb, assuming the other is fine, though that may not be the case). The more positive side of things seemed to be that these lovers felt being together was their only sanctuary, as in their own happiness separated from the world and whatever it might try. But as the song progressed, it seemed to reveal itself as more fake, as if they were pretending to be happy to keep themselves sane, and, more importantly, to keep their lover sane. Assuming they both had this type of mental state but were unaware that the other had it, it began to destroy the relationship because of the dependency on the lover that was falling with them.
i like to think of the song like how a mother would sing it to her baby. so "feet touching feet" would mean tiny feet touching the mother's. In addition, the kid's father has left so the mother is afraid of how she'll raise the child to have a great future without a stable income or another loving parent but she laughs it off and focuses more on the baby as her child is her main source of love and happiness
My english level is not that good to undertand songs perfectly the first time i listen to them but this is what it meant to me:
For me it was a relationship where the girl was afraid of what could happen (like a really bad anxiety) and she looked for help in her partner so he was like his good thing. Because if that she's scare of he going away because she hurting her with all her thoughts or "visions" that were (for me) all the things that happen in the video (her bad thoughts or what might happen)
So basically for me the songs is about being scared of loosing the people you love because of that fear.
i always did felt that the song was about an unhealthy relationship. It was more that the girl was afraid to break up with him. The man was unstable and he needed her but treated her poorly. It seemed like the couple always ended having sex and ignoring their problems. Like this girl was clinging to a man who she didn't actually love. He needed her body and she was afraid of what would happen if she didn't agree. In my mind the man was aggressive and she feared his anger if she ever brought up her true feelings, also how she would adapt without his, "abusive" (for lack of a better word) actions. You probably know how people become attached to their lovers even when they wrong them. I can see dodies real message now, makes sense! Maybe it's just me thinking this, or maybe it's odd. but that's my picture of the song.
I basically had the same idea but a little less deep because I never had the chance to get into it. "I've pinned each and every hope on you" shows someone putting everything; trust, love, hate, fear, etc into this one person (the lover). "I hope that you don't bleed with me" shows that regret you (myself actually) feel after spilling your thoughts and heart out to someone and hoping that it doesn't effect them the way it effects you.
what i got from the video was a relationship that was slowly falling apart but they're just ignoring that anything was happening and pretending everything is perfect because like the barbies
The music video is not what I expected but it does looks awesome. Every time I listen to a song and feel so deeply touched by the lyrics I tend to make a music video on my own head and I'll replay it on my head every time I listen to the song. For intertwined I imagined something like this: it starts with simple shots of a couple holding hands on their bed while sitting across each other. Then, it changes to another couple (a lesbian couple just because I can), they're cuddling in bed, one of the girls have her face on the other's hair and is happily sniffing it. Then it changes to a third couple (a gay one bc I want to) and they're cuddling with their feet touching (kind of like the shot on the actual music video). Then it changes back and forth to each couple. When the lyrics say "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" the girl from the lesbian couple turns around to her lover with a sad face and says something. Then in "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" the first couple starts (maniac) laughing while strongly holding hands like they desperately need each other. In "numb, fine" the gay couple stare at each other like they can't feel anything anymore, but when the lyrics say "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" they smile fondly (in my head that means that they both have depression but they're there for each other and they're still in love). In "breath, breath with me" the sad girl from the lesbian couple is crying having a panic attack and the other is calming her. The music video in my head is a sad, weird one but it shows love on its true imperfect side, so I won't describe the rest of it. Basically, for me the song is about mental health issues and relationships. It's about the feeling of desperately needing someone and how depression can leave people numb to life and to the outside world. I adore this song in a kind of crazy way but aren't we all just a tiny little bit crazy.
i relate to this song. but not so much anymore. my mental health was deteriorating over the beginning of this year for 6 months. i became extremely dependent on my bf and nearly ruined our relationship. i’ve then learned how to not become so dependent, and i’m now mostly an independent woman. which has helped my bf and i’s relationship tremendously. <3
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Steven D2017-05-29 03:02:19 (edited 2017-05-29 03:33:05 )
Is it really an issue your mental health? you are clearly articulate, aware of yourself.. you're not overly emotional, you don't look dejected, you are not too excited, nor are you distant.. could you not be as so called normal as so many other people? what is this mental health that we are so concerned about? Does it have to do with having a healthy mind? well then, it's best we learn how to keep a mind healthy without using drugs to balance it. We can start in the program but do we stay there? I was in it for over 8 years getting diagnosis after diagnosis with no clear understanding of what was actually happening inside me, so I ask (more than ten years since I was in a doctors office being assessed) how long will we be a patient dependent on drugs? will we realize there is more to a healthy mind than chemicals to balance? maybe some good nutrition particularly good for the brain, meditation, yoga etc. Doddle you are awesome, gifted, your song has a great chord progression that intertwines with the lyrics so carefully constructed, you gave us a great analysis of it and in other words I think you interpreted your song beautifully, concisely and in no way did you appear to be unstable while you did so. I wonder what issues you have that are not shared by most of us on the planet...
I interpreted it almost exactly like you said but the video still seemed disjoint to me. but maybe that's the entire point. mental health isnt clean and perfect and doesnt fit nicely into a box and it shocks and scares.
Hey, greetings! I am not a writer at all but id like to express my opinion to you. After i heard the meaning you showed in this video (or at least the meaning you read in this song) i listened to the song for the first time but i couldnt feel? or hear any of these analyzed aspects. I think i find metaphors and meanings within sentences way easier to understand than the meaning of single words and their position within a line (beginning, end, etc). Thats all i wanted to tell from my perspective as a mere listener <: have a nice day!
So much intelligence spilling out of Dodie's mouth I don't understand it but the music video really got what I thought the song was about so ya I think I got it. Ok bye
I've recently created a song that I'm happy with. I've gone over it so many times with my friends and they still can't understand what it's completely about. I've been debating in my own head whether I should make a youtube channel or not.
The song's about my relationship status and my friendship status. It's called 'So Wrong' and my friends are confused about the title. It's about me losing my 'soulmate' and my 'best friend'. They both turn into exes and end up getting together. I've told all of my friends and they're still struggling to understand why I'm so bothered being as I'm the one who ended it. Yes, I ended it but it was because I was confused. I knew my friend liked him but I didn't want to lose him. A line in the song indicates that I have given up ('Stab me in the back all you want because I don't care anymore'). I've analysed my song and sent it to my friends. They are understanding it better but they still don't understand why I still care. I ended it because someone messaged me from a private number saying I should end it and they knew the school I went to. I knew this was a threat in a way but I used to get so many pranks and I didn't want to risk wasting police time. Also, if it was one of my 'friends' I wouldn't have wanted to hand them in to the police and get them into trouble. I just have one question to anyone who is reading this. Should I share the songs I have written on YouTube and make a channel, or should I carry on writing songs for my own purpose because I like making music and singing?
P.S. Dodie, you're my inspiration, kinda like Christina Grimmie was yours.
This is REALLY sad when you think about it because it means dodie WAS so sure she couldn't love someone requitedly without scarring them severely and the relationship being toxic that she made a song and music video about it, then made that song the central theme of her first album. Poor dodie :(
i saw the song like the writer is someone who is kind of a mess in their mind and it just rips them apart but this person in their life loves them and is there for them and makes them happy however this person says they do yet they don't understand their thoughts. so the writer has so many issues and like, spills it out to the other person and they just accept them and love them the way it makes them happy. but when i saw the video to go with this song it made me see it like the writer had a messed up mind and had a partner but it got to a point where they accidentally spilled all of their thoughts out and it made the other person leave them because they just saw them as a weird, mentally unstable person that they couldn't love
ok so i'm pretty sure that my meaning is pretty crap and short but i'm going to try anyway.
so at the beginning of the video, it shows a very clean and immaculate house. i took this as the two lovers' start of the relationship, because almost every relationship starts out with the two people hopelessly in love with each other. then as the lyrics start, it's obvious that it was the two lover's first time having sex (either their very first time or their first time with each other) then, when dodie sings "safe from the world, though the world will try" means that the couple are trying to stay together even though things are starting to not work out between them. then, the girl starts to be aware of these problems and starts making some scenarios in which the two will break up and fall out of love. the girl keeps this to herself and acts like everything is fine between the two. she disregards those thoughts and tries to stay with the boy because she's still in love with him. then, as dodie sings "you create a rarity of my genuine smile", the boy starts being distant and a little abusive. the girl loves the boy so much, that she acts like the abuse (mentally or physically) means nothing; he's just feeling sick and can't think straight. she tries to reach out to the boy to get him to be the guy she loved so much at the beginning. then, the abuse gets more and more severe and that's when the blood comes pouring down. the girl starts having these awful thoughts and becomes severely depressed in the relationship. then the boy goes out somewhere and leaves the girl alone. the girl has some thoughts while by herself and remembers when their relationship was amazing and full of love. she wants to break out of the relationship, but can't pull herself away from him. she blames herself for him not loving her anymore, and just wants him to love her again. then, when the chorus is sang again, it shows the girl face down on the floor covered in blood. this leads me to believe that she killed herself. the boy realizes that he lost her and decides to kill himself and the house they lived in was set on fire. he stayed in the house as he slowly burns himself to death.
god this is a great song with so many interpretable meanings oml
I was just watching the the music video for square Hammer by Ghost and at 1:02 there's a person that looks like you I just wanted to confirm if it was you or not please reply back to me👏 I love your and your videos so much😁😁❤
I thought the video was the female partner(barbie) is suicidal and ken was the person that she tries to pour out those feelings but sees that is poisonousto the relationship. and the part about pinning him down I thought it was like her not trying to see if it makes him think of the relationship as something bad for him
I thought the song was about a man who cheats on his wife while his wife is mentally unstable. She finds out and slowly becomes insane trying to pretend everything is fine when is is intertwined with another women. She is afraid and try's to laugh at the catastrophe that is her life . Ending in a break down of feelings and betrayal. - I don't know it's just what I thought ... but hey , art is up to interpretation
Idk I kind of pictured a couple leaning on one another after the loss of/ while losing a child. That the only time they feel somewhat understood and comfortable, even with the pain they're going through, is when they're with each other because the other has/will lost/loose the same as them. Does that make sense? I can imagine the video I'd put too the song but I can't seem to describe it correctly.
she says “fine” as if she’s angry (like she’s pretending nothing’s wrong while suffering) and I saw it as trying to keep the relationship fakely happy while both were suffering silently
see now here's the thing.... singer/songwriter like dodie put SO MUCH EFFORT INTO SONGS LIKE THESE, and in english we analyse books and our teacher says "why did the author write this" and I Google and interview and the author just like the sound if it so she put it in, But in our class, it was a "description of the character mental heath, and the mood of the character, and representing a paradise" and it was all bull
and 8/10 time I bet you that if I show an English teacher this actual masterpiece, then they would just say "oh it's a nice song" AND I'M LIKE NOO LOOK THE DESCRIPTION (ps sorry if there are any mistakes) 🌻
I mean, I'm watching this completely drunk, idk if I can take it or even assimilate it. I'll get back at you once I've sobered up! (and yes, there is no spelling mistakes in this comment, because my mother was a teacher, so I was raised with a constant reminding of every spelling mistake, which brainwashed me into correcting them immediately after I see them. Even when I'm absolutely wasted. That is all. Goodnight)
Although, I'd have to say, in my more-than-usual honest state of mind, that the fact that your lyrics are so well thought is part of why I like you and your songs so much! Hope I'll get to meet you one day and give you a biiiiig hug (I like hugs, they are the solution to every world conflict #HugsForWorldPeace)
1. I feel like the way people perceived this song is a lot like the theme. Where people think it’s a nice love song but it’s actually a toxic relationship. And they’re confused when they get a closer look. Sometimes like others perceive others relationships in real life. 2. I didn’t get a lot of time to think about the song before I clicked this one, but I thought it was about someone who depended too much on someone else regarding their problems. The other couldn’t bear the burden and then became more disconnected and their relationship was lost in a way.
Three years late(jeez-) but here’s my interpretation because- yes...
Heads up to those who would like to read this(unlikely), I’ll explain all the lyrics because alskdjkfkskxkdj:
*insert lyrics of first verse*: A person(imma just call this person M) who fell in love with their bestfriend(Let’s call em N) imagining life if they were a couple.
*”I’m afraid of the things in my brain”*: M is thinking of the negative things that may happen if they would become a couple and/or about if their personal issues might be dragged into the relationship.
*”But we can stay here and laugh away the fear”*: M never told N they liked them so M just acts like they want them to be best friends, nothing more, nothing less. They joke around and laughing while M’s hoping N won’t figure out they like them.
*”Numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smile”*: M’s having their personal problems while N asks if M’s ok. M responds with “I’m fine!” or something mostly but they’re hurting alot inside. N is one of the main reason’s of M’s true smile.
*”So breathe, breathe with me”*: Now N’s POV. M can’t handle everything going on and (rope+ceiling+neck=) themselves. N cut down the rope and hoped M’s still alive and breathing, hence the “Breathe”-
*”Can you drink all my thoughts? ‘Cause I can’t stand them!”*: ((Ok this is a tad bit too complicated for my brain to fully turn into words so I tried my best)): N finds a note in M’s locker(classic) about M talking about their problems and it mentioned they liked N but don’t know how to tell them and N had a breakdown.
*pause*: It’s all a dream....
*”Intertwined, free”*: M told N they liked them in the fear of the “dream problem”. They feel kind of free now that they told N.
*”I’ve pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don’t bleed with me”*: One of M’s source of positive emotions is N. M hopes N doesn’t do the negative stuff to themselves M does(that includes blood. Like cutting).
*”I’m afraid of the things in my brain”*: M’s scared N’s gonna reject them, but kind of saw it comming either way.
*”But we can stay here and laugh away the fear”*: M changes the topic before N answers
*Ohhhhhhhh- part thing*: Insert N trying to tell M they kinda like em too and ends up hugging them
end...The Ohhhhh part thing was a dare by M’s sibling to N. Sad M
I suppose my interpretation is bittersweet, but not really... nefarious. That's a reason why I don't like the music video personally (no offense intended). In the video, Barbie destroys everything in the sickest way possible, and though it seems like she's the singer in the song, I can't really... match that up in my head. She seems malevolent and self-absorbed, whereas the singer to me seems to be someone who is scared, and is crying for help and understanding. Barbie in the video just seems bent on destroying herself, destroying Ken, destroying her home, and diving off the deep end with conviction--no doubt at all.
In my mind, the singer of this song is someone who is dependent, though not necessarily completely codependent. I imagine this singer to be someone who silently suffers with a lot of pain, trauma, and poor mental health. I feel that this song describes a point where the singer had previously not confided as much as they should with someone they sincerely love, and that they have decided to come forward with it all, though fear that doing so may hurt their lover. It feels to me like this song is just saying "I feel peaceful, happy, and comfortable when I'm with you. But now, I am chancing coming forward with my struggle, because I can't bear it alone anymore, and I really hope this doesn't just make you hurt too."
i didn't think this song related so much to mental health issues but i like it more now that i know what it's actually inspired by. in the beginning it felt like it was referring to the awkwardness of being intimate for the first time. how uncomfortable the the little things are. when the lyrics go "'Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear' its like being so self conscious about yourself but you have this person with you trying to prove to you that you shouldn't worry. later when she sings "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" its like you're both laughing at the situation and becoming more comfortable together. "So breathe breathe with me" i my absolute favorite part in the song, idk why but i love singing it "Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" some more stuff about being nervous about da sex "Intertwined, Free" being tangled up under the covers and being free from the negativity in your mind "I've pinned each and every hope on you" saying that they've convinced you that you're being a bit too harsh on yourself and you're starting to understand how they perceive you "I hope that you don't bleed with me" a way of saying that you hope the don't give in and become unsure of how they feel about you, so some anxiety comes back and yeah :)
so yeah that's my interpretation of you song. this song really is so beautiful and think (if you're reading this dodie) that you should do these for your other songs that mean a lot to you, like explaining you thought process and such
I'm currently co-choreographing a group dance to this song! Everyone starts on their own (sitting in a large circle facing away from each other) and slowly they break off into pairs until eventually the small groups of two become groups of four. The whole group isn't connected until the word intertwined and from then on everyone stays very close to each other. I wanted the beginning to feel very alone and slowly build up to everyone needing/feeding off of each other. It's the first thing I've ever choreographed so I'm not sure how well it'll go, but I'm excited!
(before watching) i think this song is a bout a girl in a relationship with her soulmate but she has a mental illness and this is her telling him asking him to make her feel better but when he leaves or dies she breaks down without him
hey guys does anybody know how to caption (...or transcribe? idk) a video? I just think it's very helpful for some people and I have a LOT of free time
Noticed that you used the PEE structure. First you make your Point (e.g. the writer does __ to show __), then the Example (e.g. this is shown in the quote __) and then you Explain what you have just said (e.g. this implies/ this shows/ meaning that). Teachers have been drilling that into our heads for the past 4 years now. And theres also PEEE, PEELEE, PEEZ...etc...etc. Did you learn that in school too?
I thought of the song as sweet but like cold? like it makes me think of someone singing in the rain during a storm to their partner and they're having relationship issues and they're both depressed and they love being around each other and make each other smile but they're not really good/right together? Kinda like they both have hella problems but they're both avoiding them and just cuddling and crying into each other even tho they depressed as heck and should be getting help????¿?¿¿?
love the song but I couldn't understand anything you said here lol. I have a freind that I ask what emotions mean in songs which is weird cuz I'm emotional writing songs. I don't get it haha
my girlfriend has mental health issues (she has to go to therapy and take pills n stuff) so I have to listen to all of her problems which makes me really sad and at one point I even told her to stop saying this stuff to me (which was a dick move. I dont say stuff like that anymore) its really hard sometimes. I still stay by her side and listen to everything she has to say tho. I truly do love her. what do I do
The music video did not match up to what I thought was being said. Obviously because I personalized it. I found that the "dark lyrics" were being sang by the singer in their own head. And that the "nice lyrics" were her outward portrayals towards her partner. The "Can you drink all my thoughts?" I thought meant something like "can you read my mind"? as to say like when you walk into a room and someone at once notices your mood without you saying anything and asks you how you are or can just read that you're not "ok".
The music video did not match up to what I thought was being said. Obviously because I personalized it. I found that the "dark lyrics" were being sang by the singer in their own head. And that the "nice lyrics" were her outward portrayals towards her partner. The "Can you drink all my thoughts?" I thought meant something like "can you read my mind"? as to say like when you walk into a room and someone at once notices your mood without you saying anything and asks you how you are or can just read that you're not "ok".
please don't assume you would be toxic in a relationship and scare yourself off from even trying though; I mean, I've been on the receiving end of that toxic co-dependency thing and I don't think my ex is destined to always have that result, not by any means. The fact that you are aware that it could be a problem means that you can take conscious steps to keep it from being that way (without obsessing over it too much that you make that a problem of its own though).
I definitely got the creepy mental vibe from the song though. Thanks for explaining it in-depth. This made me less concerned about people taking my poems about self-discovery as being about battling depression when I did not write them about that at all.
Okay long comment because I saw this as something completely else which is kind of disturbing to me, as I usually apply your songs to my own life, so here is Intertwined as seen in my life:
Everything from "Skin...." to "Though the world will try" is a sex scene for me
"Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear"
How im afraid all the time, but with him I relax and laugh
"Numb Fine You create a rarity of my genuine smiles"
Of course im still ill (which is numb) and sometimes I feel guilty about feeling sad because I should be happy, but my smiles are definitely genuine with him
"So breathe Breathe with me"
Panic attack
"Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them"
Him helping me with all my horrible thoughts, (yes me pouring my thoughts to him)
"Intertwined Free"
Freedom from my brain when he is intertwined with me
"I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me"
How I hope my horrible thoughts from earlier isn't going to affect him as much as they affect me
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear"
To be fair, I always heard "and love away the fear" so slight change in my perspective, but still about how my anxiety will always be there, but with him I can keep it away for a bit.
Okay... sorry, I just had to put this out there, as the music video didn't match my interpretation at all, so here's my thoughts. Though, taking the chord changes into perspective, I totally see now where you are going with it and it makes total sense, so thank you for uploading this and thank you to whoever read this for reading <3
i think the context of dependency can easily be applied to addiction and abusive relationships as well, like "safe from the world though the world will try" = rejecting peoples efforts to try to help... i love this so so much ah
I interpreted this slightly differently, I saw it as a young mother needing help or support from her loved one, be this either whilst she is still pregnant or just after birth, especially with the use of intertwined and free, with how mothers and children are both connected and separate at the same time and the intimacy of the song could be interpreted with the fresh new intimacy between a mother and her child. The gory imagery used could symbolize that whilst a new child might look like a beautiful thing to the rest of the world, there was a lot of pain and suffering to get to this point and at birth, obviously isn't a pretty thing therefore showing the darker aspect of having a child. Though I did think that this interpretation might be wrong, due to dodie not having children of her own, but that is just how the lyrics unfolded themselves to me
When I heard the first verse I thought, this is so sweet and cute. Then it sounded insecure and needy and desperate, like the singer is clawing at her lover for more than they are able to give. Then it's sweet and sad. I love this song so much, Dodie!
I love the new meaning introduced to me by this incredible song! It's beautifully written and thought out ohmygod. I did not imagine it was like how dodie interpted it but it's AMAZING
This really reminds me of exactly what I was thinking when going through a toxic relationship because of my mental health and how it was so badly effected afterwards, nailed it dodie :D
Loved this, so wonderful to hear your explanation, and to have someone making sure that people don't gloss over mental health issues the way they so often do.
LOVE IT!! it's great to hear your interpretation/ what you thought while writing it and oh wow, there's way more behind this song that I could have imagined, well done Dodie!!! xx
Ahhh this interpretation makes me a little sad, honestly. That's the neat thing about art though, I suppose - that you can interpret it in so many ways! I suffer from depression and possibly mild anxiety too, and this song was comforting to me when I first heard it. To me, my fiancée is very much someone who keeps me safe from the world when it gets to be a bit too much for me, and he can make me genuinely smile when nothing else can. He makes me laugh and helps me feel better when I'm upset, stressed, etc. Heh so when seeing my relationship in this song and then seeing other people deconstruct it as unhealthy, codependent etc was a little upsetting, though I can absolutely see how the song could be interpreted that way, too, now that it's been pointed out!
I've always listened to this song as a happy one. Sure, the entanglement and the looming danger of codependency are scary, but they're part of every relationship I've ever been in, and... for me breathing with someone, matching their rhytm, is about falling asleep in each other's arms, comforted, loved.
(we both have more issues than vogue, when it comes to mental health, but we're each other's safe space)
but it was SO COOL to realize that you meant something completely different with it! i love the videos in which you explain your songs. love 'em love 'em love 'em. I wish every songwriter posted them.
Wonderful video on your meaning, made me tear, haha :') Lovely song and love how the video fits! :D And being it Barbie dolls make it a bit lighter on the heart :)
when she said she felt like a teacher i was like "i wish dodie was my teacher." seriously i could listen to her voice talk about anything all day and not get bored 💛
it was ùtterly incredible watching this, I was one of the ones who saw it as a love song but got a few of the subtle contexts. but this. this blew my mind!!! Dodie you are just incredible!
I absolutely loved this video. its made me appreciate and adore the song so much more. and the music video and this gave me a whole new perspective on the song that I actually like the concept of way more than my initial interpretation. anyway so proud of you it's a beautiful song
I love the song so much! The music video is amazing too! They describe so well the situations people with their own securities or mental issues may be facing. I connect to the song on a spiritual level and it explains a lot of emotions that I cannot describe. You're an incredible song writer and singer!
this video just revived my love for literature as a subject ♥︎ thanks for the valuable lesson, Ms. Clark! (´∇｀) if this is tested on my a levels paper, I'd probably get an A
i love love love love love that you've made this video. it shows how clever your songwriting is, and that you're not just some pop princess writing about love. you're incredibly talented and i really really love the song, especially because it kinda describes my previous relationship (if we're going off your analysis, which i am 😊)
I love your interpretation of the song. The music video really helped me pay more attention to the lyrics and it helped me really listen to the song in a way that I hadn't before. I've found myself really relating to the song because I'm in a relationship and I have anxiety and depression so it explains how I feel exactly and I love it. Great song Dodie love you and your beautiful songs ❤️
I am so impressed with how you put SO much thought into the stuff you do!! 😱 I didn't think you didn't put thought into it of course, but I didn't think that each word and even melody and chord changes had this much meaning. It's so cool and just proves how clever of an artist you are! ♥️
this is such a good video. dodie this sort of video and analysis is my SHIT and you've explained your thoughts so well :) I never thought of the song that particular way but now I completely get the Vevo video and its amazing x.
My interpretation of the song is more of a 'naked' sort of love, and a vulnerable one, with words like 'skin', 'brain' 'numb' making me think of being stripped down to a bare minimum, which only gets worse with the singer's mental health problems. More of being in a relationship and crying out for help, but also latching on to someone. being fake and pretending to be 'fine' but really needing someone to 'drink all your thoughts'. reliance in a relationship because you're so exposed and bare; intertwining because theres no other choice, being safe from the world to hide.
I love talking about what all of this stuff means argh xx its such a good song
Woah I never thought this much about the meaning of this song but now that I've watched this video I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Great job putting so much work in to the lyrics and the contrast of the music behind them. I love it, keep doing what you're doing cause you're doing it very amazingly 💕💕
I love your meaning behind the song, I can totally see how it fits.
My own idea of the song the first time I listened to it was two people who are very attached to each other to the point they almost couldn't function without each other. Depended on their partner way too much.
Hey Dodie. I absolutely love your music and I've been really interested reading the controversy your video has caused. I myself am blind and was just wondering if you could tell me what is actually in the video… I know it involves a dolls house and it's pretty fucked up but that's all I know. Thank you Also, as a lit student myself this was fascinating x
I love understanding the meaning behind any writers work. I never changes how my mind perceived it, but it lets me further understand and opens my eyes. Please keep this up?¿ 😘
i love, love, love this!! I wish artists would explain their art more bc i'm sososo super curious on their take and thoughts and i never feel like it takes away from how i personally experienced a song/piece of art. It's soo amazing and rad to see you break it down i could listen to this for hours for every song, i love analysis sharing and comparing! <3 I've honestly always had this meaning of the song in the back of my head because i relate to it as an also mentally ill person in a long term relationship so i've sort of felt this darker meaning of the lyrics but i've never thought about it in such depth and it was really interesting and great and thank you for making this! xxx (as a side note: healthy and good love is very much possible despite the bumps that mental illness causes if you're with the right person and work together!)
I like this so much When I first heard the song, I thought it was sweet and hopefull I listened to it again when I felt bad and had to cry because the darf parts got to me The music video opened my eyes and I felt like I had not listened well enough, lulled by the sweet words of the song. The music video is SO GOOD And I'm glad I got what you were trying to say now
This is exactly what I got from it! The whole concept of the song and video are absolutely amazing. I will say that, I always interpreted use of 'breathe, breathe (with me)' to be ambiguous, because breathe and bleed sound quite similar, so it added another layer of grotesque to it, like 'skin' and 'brain'. That's what I always got from it for some reason!
When i first heard the song i straight away thought it to be about dependancy on others. As someone with social anxiety leading to me feeling lonely it made a lot of sense. I love how songs are different to everyone!!
clap clap clap I absolutely loooove this song, and honestly I got very mixed vibes from the lyrics alone, and the video confused me even more, but this explanation made the song even better!! Thank you so much for making it!!!
This is really cool. I'm a songwriter too and my writing process is completely different. I think artists can learn a lot from one another just by sharing how they got from point A to point B on their work. 💜
I take English & I love you & your music & oh my gosh this made my soul v happy. I feel like I can appreciate the song even more now that I understand the original meaning of the song
Bloody hell dodie. You amaze me. Brilliant song and I love your perspective on it. It makes so much sense. I can relate to this because I am trans and can experience terrible dysphoria. I think the pain of that could easily turn my relationship with someone toxic and I feel like your interpretation of the song sums up perfectly how I feel I would be in a relationship. Thank you.
See, I kind of saw this song as a sweeter love song - how one person can feel all this darkness related to a mental illness, but having someone who might understand and comfort them (be it a friend or lover) is deeply reassuring. Love is a shelter from the storm of mental illness. But maybe that's just too romantic a view lol.
I've always thought this was a love song, all pretty and perfect. But once I watched the music video a few times (I was first like "what the actual fuck dodie") the meaning of the song completely changed to me. I saw it instead as the way mental health can affect a once loving, healthy relationship and make it toxic. The music video also supports the idea of a psychotic break (Barbie cutting all her hair off, the Ken doll covered in pins, the way the video gets more and more twisted as the song progresses) so perhaps it could be the POV of a person as they break down psychotically and what affect this has on their partner and relationship.
I loved the video to the song because it really did fit my own interpretation of the song. The dependency on someone else that can slowly lead to the relationship falling apart or 'burning'
I imagined that at the start (a.k.a the first scene) its the two people on a hill, laughing, hugging, bare foot and the main person's hair flying in the wind. It was happy to me. Then after the lyrics "laugh away the fear" it changes into a more depressed setting. They would be at home, at night. The main character on the floor in a corner, crying and having one of the moments I have because of my depression, when you feel SO numb. Their lover would press their forehead against the main person, trying to help them. And when in the song it says "drink all my thoughts" it would show how the lover is having a hard time, it would show them drinking alchohol. Finally, when the lyrics "numb" come I wasn't really sure. I had a few ideas actually. I came to the idea that the main person commits suicide (I know this is quite a serious matter, don't give me hate please). That's how I saw this music in my head.
Mental health is a serious matter and in no way am I trying to upset people. Thanks xx
Go Dodie! That was some fine literary analysis there :D it really demonstrates the quality of your song writing ^_^ i like the layers and depth of meaning you have given the song - i suppose personal circumstances influence the way you hear the song, because when i heard it, it sent me back to the first time i fell asleep next to the person i love - i was completely enthralled - except he wasnt in love with me, because we are good friends and i think that is how he will always feel about us - but your words for Intertwined described exactly how delicate it felt to have somehow found myself lyjng next to him listening to him breathe - the lyrics capture the thoughts i had and still have now and then - "Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet" - "Numb, fine" - "I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" - "Breathe, breathe with me, i've pinned each and every hope on you i hope that you don't bleed with me..." ... keep writing Dodie, we love you :) xox
i always interpreted this song as a sweet love song, where the partner singing has bad mental health issues and the partner sang about helps get them through it when no one else supports them. ('can you drink all my thoughts cus i cant stand them' & 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles' being some examples)however, the partner singing is afraid to share their thoughts sometimes, because they don't want to hurt the partner they're singing about('i hope that you dont bleed with me' being an example). i always pictured this song as the song for my otp. the music video gave very melanie martinez vibes and i loved it, seeing as how i had never thought of the song this way before.
when I listened to intertwined the first time my first though was omg I love it its so beautiful!! and I always thought it was about someone with some sort if mental health issue (thinking maybe anxiety? thats what I pictured especially with the "I'm afraid of the things in my brain") and then they were seeking comfort in the other person ("I can't stand them" about the thoughts) but I didn't really notice how it could be harming the other person in the process and omg its way more twisted than I thought but I love it so much more now!!!
yes !! I loved this video and everything you said was exactly what I thought the song and video were all about. At first when you first released the song I believed that it was just a love song like any other and didn't properly take in what the lyrics were saying. I was obviously very surprised when i watched the video but then learned to fall in love with it and I then understood how you were saying that being in a relationship will make you happier because your partner will take away all the bad stuff and you will be much happier but that can then cause a toxic relationship with both people being affected badly. I love this so much, you're an amazing fucking writer dodie !! ++ I very much enjoyed how this felt like I was in my english class
i found this really interesting! because when i first heard the song last year, i thought it was about someone who had lots of ghosts in their past and had insecurities was admitting that she felt secure with this person. i knew there was an underlying theme but had no idea this was it! this is awesome! i totally get the music video now especially the whole 'can you drink my thoughts' bit with the red blood like stuff pouring into the dollhouse. well done dodie i love this!
damn.. this is deep. I always thought it was just a lovesong sang from the point of view of someone struggling with a mental illness. I could relate to it a lot and is my favorite song. But now that you've explained it, it all seems to make sense (especially explains the music video) and dark. But I love it. Love is always portrayed like this innocent and amazing thing and it may seem that way, but clearly it's not. It can be dark and terrible.
I have very similar thoughts to dodie on this; I saw it as a tale of a twisted love story with one person who felt out of control and perhaps manipulated. I also see the chorus 'oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain' as the climax of this, as it is in a different key and much higher to the verses around it and it seems almost like a cry for help or a wail
i kind of thought as it as support at first, but then i just listened to the lyrics more and cried instead of thinking about it whoops (your songs always give me so much emotion?? i cant sing When without my voice wobbling)
aah thank you for the vid dodie, my inner literature nerd is feeling all sorts of wonderful! the dark lyrics didn't click in my head until seeing the video clip, but once the vid was over i got it straight away. i think because i'm a visual learner seeing the juxtaposition of the sweet and innocent doll house, and the gory blood, fire, and dolls cut up really helped me to understand the song lyrics better. i know you said you don't like to explain lyrics but i loved your insight and would love a vid like this for a non love song xx
I loved the music video, it was so contrasting to what I thought the song was about. That makes it even more interesting I think, because I see it as someone pretending to be fine and sweet and lovely, but actually the words they say are more darker and more painful than they seem at first. (Which often occurs in mental health issues, like you said: pretending to be fine, but actually feeling numb.) Also, I will definitely look back on this music video as one of my favourites and get inspiration from it for my own short films, because this is really what I want to create with my own art and I hope that one day I will be able to make something that works as well as this. Well done (:
oooookay, i'll try. when i saw the video for the first time, i was confused because i never imagined this while listening to the song. but then i realised that this meaning is yours, and all this time i was imagining how it would be from my perspective -- that is why i felt bewildered. your meaning is totally awesome, i love it, and i think everything in the song is beautiful. even though when i sing it, i'm telling a different story. partly it's similar to yours, partly it's innocent and sweet (but i keep in mind your meaning, don't worry). past few years have been rough, but now i feel like i've finally found my place. for me, the first verse is about trust. it's like i'm lying next to someone, really close, and i'm feeling safe and nice. yeah, there's hair in someone's mouth, but we just laugh about it. we're comfortable anyway. the world might try to separate us, but we will make it. chorus... yeah, it's about mental illness. sometimes i feel anxious or something like that and i need other people to remind me everything's okay. we talk and laugh, and i feel a lot better. the fear goes away. beginning of the second verse (“numb, fine”): sometimes i shut down completely, and then i can be quiet for quite a long time, but if someone asks me, i will answer that i'm fine. (they don't believe me, but that's fine either.) the next quote, “you create a rarity of my genuine smiles” is my favourite, actually, because i smile and laugh a lot, but only one person can make me smile by just being next to me and in these moments i feel myself truly happy. like, that ”happy” when you feel lots of warmth, affection, and love inside of you. the next verse is about talking and discussing things. sometimes it's just anxiety (“breathe, breathe with me”), sometimes we talk about something else, literally anything, because i think a lot about different stuff and i have a lot on my mind that i need to discuss with someone else. the last verse is describing how tangled we are. this codependency might seem unhealthy to someone who doesn't know us, but we're okay -- because we are free to be ourselves when we're together. yeah, i can be oversharing sometimes, even though i realise it's bad right after we talk, and i hope this person is going to be okay with that. “i hope that you don't bleed with me”... it's kind of an apologize. kind of. i'm showing i understand that me oversharing might affect this person in a bad way, and i'll try not to do it again. anyway, for me everything ends good. i have someone i can be honest with, someone i truly trust. i'm fine (this time it's not a lie) and my partner is fine as well. i feel peaceful and serene.
i know that's not what you were trying to say while writing this song, but that's what i'm imagining while singing, so thanks for making me feel that way, Dodie. 💙
From the first time I heard this song and reading to the lyrics I have always thought this song sort of came from a person who has some mental health issues and is in a relationship where the person is afraid of affecting the partner but at the same time asking to be understood. The person is feeling conflicted or confused(?) with his/her own feeling as suggested by the contrasting first two words in verses. IMO, The placement of gory words into the lyrics is simply to emphasise the intensity of the feeling in those lines. When I close my eyes and listen to the song, I imagined watching two people dancing in waltz tempo thru some scenes of their relationship. Well i wrote long enough. No one gonna read it anyways haha.
I've only listened to it once, and will listen again now a second time because i find the songs meaning to be very significant now (plus it's your song and oh my god i'm a major Dodie head) but my first clueless listen had me thinking it was along the lines of a relationship that slowly got messier and plagued overtime
Hi Dodie :) I loved this analysis and can now see how the music video reflected your intentions for the song. In a creepy sort of way I guess it made it feel more intimate? My initial interpretation was probabl on the opposite end of the spectrum (Good old art eh?). Upon hearing Intertwined my brain immediately conjured up images of reassurance and being able to find security , or a "home", in the form of another person. I too suffer with my mental health and so I guess my subconscious wanted to use your art as a source of comfort. So, thank you, it helps a lot xxx
I honestly just love everything about the song. The lyrics do make an impact of people in certain ways. The video captured this explanation beautifully, so I don't really understand why people are hating on it. Like, of course you're entitled to your own opinion, but I at least don't think the video ruined the song at all. Think of the lyrics and not the song because i think dodie is trying to make everyone realize that people do struggle with mental health, and that could lead into some relationship problems. Its life. Anyways, everything is lovely and I really love the video!!!
i actually interpreted the song in a very similar way. i guess it's because a situation that this song described (the unhealthy relationship) happened to my friends
I've always seen this song as being about someone with mental health putting their entire wellbeing in the person they're in love with and it being super toxic and negative. Just from both the lyrics and the way Dodie sang it, it's never seemed like a cute love song to me
I choreographed a dance to this when i first head it and interpreted the lyrics in a similar way, Its cool that you originally thought the music video would be a dance :)
i think for me, something i love about this song is that on different days it means different things. On bad days, i interpret it exactly how you explained, as a toxic codependent relationship plagued with mental illnesses. On good days, to me, it shows a raw intimacy shown between two lovers. The beginning skin bit Isn’t gory for me on those good days, but rather shows an intimate tone of showing yourself, all of yourself, to your lover. The harmonic Oh's aren't overwhelming thoughts on good days, well in a sense they are, but instead of overwhelming thoughts you simply have, its thoughts of the future that you both share, and due to sharing it, the future seems less jarring for each lover. I have no idea if my explanation made sense but this is how it is for me. Its a song i can cry too but its also a song that makes me warm and happy. To me thats the beauty of this completely amazing song, is that its able to bring out a new reaction from me each time.
1 like
Tala Hammad2017-04-13 09:39:58 (edited 2017-04-13 09:40:54 )
well when I was watching the vid and listening to the song I was thinking how the writer was in love with someone and was happy that she is finally someone who understands the thoughts in her brain .. but later finds out that relationships are sometimes one sided and that people don't understand what's happening so her feelings for that someone slowly fade and are drowning in her thoughts
The song made me beautifully uncomfortable when i first heard it... and when i watched the music video it perfectly matched the feeling that something just wasn't quite right. You could almost taste the song - the bitterness of something wrong masked by the artificial sweetness of "love". The writer isn't loving passionately, but desperately. Maybe she doesn't even really love him, but loves for the sake of being in love and being loved. She needs "love" to distract her from herself. But she isn't oblivious to this fact, she knows all too well that she's dragging him down with her, but she also can't bear to be by herself. And so she ignores it, denies it, rejects it, buries this fear that she is damaging him under outward displays of love, even though they, along with her, are empty. She's trying hard not to, but she is hurting him.
TOO. DAMN. RELATABLE. Love this song, thanks Dodie <3
this my actually be my favourite video you've ever done (is that because I'm a english lit nerd?), I love seeing how the mechanics of the song. It's fascinating, especially as I'm in a relationship with mental health issues and this doesn't sound toooo unfamiliar (although hopefully not as toxic and unhealthy as depicted relationship!).
I think my interpretation was kind of more away of the contradictions going on within someone experiencing depression and mental health. Whereas there's definitely negative images within the song, it's the contrast with the positive and romantic harmonies and words that mirror the confusion people with mental health experience: is the negativity real, and actual manifest in our relationship, or is this something my depression/poor mental health is projecting? I loved the conflict portrayed in the song, but instead of it being a depiction of a certainly unhealthy relationship, I saw it more as the conflict within the person with mental health. You become unable to evaluate your own relationships clearly, marred with the crippling negativity of mental health. Not that I'm talking from experience....
I remember thinking, when I first heard this song, that the lyrics "can you drink all my thoughts" referred to an alcohol problem, or at least that alcohol had been consumed by the writer and that's why they were talking and exposing their feelings. Plus, the next bit of the song is "cause I can't stand", and there's a small pause before "them", so I literally heard that they couldn't stand straight - again, because they had drunk too much.
I absolutely adore and appreciate intertwined so much more because of this video. When I first listened to it, I thought it was just a good old love story and a song about love. But then I began listening to it more and more. The meaning I got from the song was the need to rely on others through tough times. The first line "skin, heat" represented the physical need for human interactions. Human beings are extremely social creatures and most enjoy physical reassurances (for lack of a better term). The chorus "I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here..." Represented the emotional dependency that we have on one another. As someone suffering from mental illness, that person I depend on can be my therapist or close friends. It's not healthy to keep thoughts bottled up, and to open up to someone is difficult but ultimately worthwhile. The next verse "numb, fine" gave me the impression of a disagreement between two people. But the next line "you create...my genuine smiles" is the writer reassuring themselves that even though this person may not be who they thought they were, they still love them. This represented the unhealthiness of toxic/abusive relationships. The end of the song gave me a sort of suspicious feel, like the writer decided to in the end stay with this person because of unstated reasons. I love this song just so so much and how it can be interpreted in so many different ways
it COMPLETELY matched my own interpretation as I'd associated it with my own (now ex) relationship, where I was pretty much exactly the person you described in the song. I was unhealthily dependant on him through my (continuing) mental health shit and as a result, really damaged him in the process. So yeah, loved the song and music video was FAB, and you don't need your english teachers to be proud (although they must be, look at you!!) cause we all are! :DD
I thought exactly like you about the song dodie. It never seemed like a sweet and cute love song to me. I always thought that it describes a breaking relationship because of mental issues. (I'm kind of proud of myself now) Your songs always give me lots of emotions and I love them so much aaarggGHHH (and you of course oh sweet Jesus I love you so muuuccHH)
I live for this stuff! I really related to this song but felt I couldn't connect fully as I've never been in love, but you say the same in 'When', and it's comforting to know now that this song also came from that place :) I'm sorry you did have a relationship something like this, I hope things get better <3 But in the meantime thank you so incredibly much for voicing these thoughts and making so many of us feel less alone. It's rare to hear lyrics as honest as this, reminds me of Marina and the Diamonds <3
The way I have viewed this song has changed since I first listened to it, I think, because of my own changing mental state. When I first heard it I was in a budding relationship and I remember relating to you, dodie, feeling like it was a first time lover who was over thinking the act of simply laying in bed (not even sleeping, but maybe having the other human occupied with another thing). This was because I, myself, had done this with a first time boyfriend. You know, trying to act casual and comfortable and feeling a love for this person, but also having a fear of your own abilities racing behind your smile. Later, when I had matured a bit, but was still with the same person, I think I came closest to the way you wrote it. Being in high school, relationships are messy and one already has so many underlying issues that it can feel like your only escape. Personally, I had fallen into a toxic relationship because I thought that was normal. You simply dump all your problems on someone else and vice versa until, boom, they're fixed, right? The song, to me, was what a relationship should be: a soothing balm over all the hurt coming from outside of it. Currently I am a single pringle who, much like you explain doing yourself, looks into the past for hope and calm, as that seemingly better version of myself is gone. Through your words, I felt the hard bash of a breakup move into the numbness that follows, but, again, like me, you skipped to the past as soon as you could wake up in the morning so as to be... fine. In the end, this song, even if it was misinterpreted or not, has helped me understand myself whenever I hear it, and wherever I may be in life when I do. I also find it fascinating and oddly pleasing to hear, so thank you dodie! Maybe it's done this for others without them realizing it. Art. :)
I loved this song and my interpretation was that it was an abusive relationship and that the man hurts the woman but then they are intimate and the woman forgives him as her anxiety makes her feel like she deserves it and she cannot speak out about it. I thought that it was also o do with self harm and that she is "suffering in silence" (quote dodie) and the high "can't" was like her screaming because she doesn't know how to escape
I love this, I loved how everyone had their own meanings and I loved seeing in the debates in the comment section as I love understanding what people think and why. As at first I didn't understand how anyone could have seen it as a romantic/happy song as the lyrics (for me) seemed to say the opposite but I came around a bit reading people's comments, and then people convinced me it was about mental health. :3 I'm just loving all the debating and discussion that was going on. I thought it was about toxic relationships and the person realizing that it wasn't a loving/happy relationship and it was co-dependent and toxic and ugly. "You make a rarity of my genuine smile." This at first sounds quite happy but the lyrics seem to mean 'you make me smile less' which isn't something positive and wouldn't be something you'd want out of a relationship.
And wow I'm blown away a) Can you please just be my English teacher as this is basically essay worthy and b) I love the explanation. And this makes me wanna do my music essay on this song. And it's really interesting to see how much thought you put into the lyrics.
My interpretation of the song sits roundabout where yours does (I think you communicated it superbly, and it's an extraordinary song) but the thing I like the most about it is that the lyrics have such grit and pathos, but you sing it almost like they're just a stream of thoughts circling your brain before bed. It FEELS like depression, intense but disconnected. It's beautiful, Dodie. Honest to God a work of art.
I kind of combined the themes you explained. Two lovers, but with one having the support of the other. I saw the dark themes within the mental health issues, but hadn't tied it to a possibly unhealthy, toxic, relationship. However, I had noticed that the pinning of every hope on the partner could be toxic for both, and the worry for harming the partner is something people with mental health problems realy worry about and rightly so, as it can happen. Anyways, the song got me thinking, as did this video, so thank you! 😊
Jesus this is complicated aha. My thoughts on the song are a lot more simple, but still really help me. Thank you Dodie for being so deep and creating such a beautiful song Xo
I always had a general understanding of this song from just listening to it but hearing you explain it like this has given me not quite more of an understanding but just good ole appreciation for this song. Intertwined closely followed by Sick of Losing Soulmates are my favorite songs not only on the EP but in general and dealing with the same type of mental illnesses myself you make me feel very understood which that in its self is enough to bring a girl to tears. I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to explain this song (something which is known to be difficult for some people) and I just want you to know that it really has helped some people with the same kind of fuckery going on in their brains. Thank you so much.
When I first heard the song I thought it was more of a tribute to another lover! Like almost a vow!! So there basically saying how broken they are but they always come back to each other because that's where you feel most "safe". Hence you stay together away from "the world". And then the song takes a darker turn because your starting to freak out because you feel your moving to quickly in the relationship and your becoming anxious and unhappy and you "can't stand" your thoughts anymore. But you stay in the relationship because in all of this mess you feel "free" and without it you can't function. And your not sure how the partner even feels anymore because it's not the same because you feel you have "pinned" all of your self onto them. And your so afraid they'll leave because you have done this. And all of this has you so messed up and your just scared but you don't want them to go because you need the mess. You need the person to make it look better than things actually are. And that's my interpretation but when I saw the video it made so much sense and i really loved it a lot. Great job!!!
My idea of the song did match up to your interpretation, however that may be because I watched the music videos before I'd heard just the audio. I interpreted it an a mentally ill person in a relationship, but it being a toxic codependent relationship, meaning that it was doomed to fail and both individuals got lost as one broken shell.
I have to say, This was INCREDIBLY interesting. I definitely sensed the darker undertones of the song, however, I didn't exactly see Mental Health as a theme when I first heard it. I originally thought that the song was about a relationship that was unstable or simply not going well. They way I heard it I thought that the relationship was then made better. I got that from "intertwined, free" as in both parties are now one, and feel more free, since the heavy burden of their problems were weighing on their shoulders. But I like the way you originally wrote the song much more! The contrast of the gorey words mixed with the pleasant but somewhat off-putting chord:lyrics ratio. Wonderful work, and wonderful symbolism. Props to yoU!
The way you made this video and analysed your own lyrics makes me feel like the song was written by a past version of dodie in a very different headspace and that present dodie has stepped out of that headspace to look at her work from a different perspective, more objectively even. It's probably not true idk but either way, I really like how you aren't afraid of dissecting a song that's rather personal because before this, everything was only implied and now we know for sure. If anything, I think that makes the listening experience more special, so I really appreciate it.
So here goes my interpretation: Not having mental health issues myself, that was not the first thing I thought about when listening to the song. To me, it appeared to be very melancholic - about a relationship that used to be happy but now kind of became boring and distant (I can't think of better words right now)
"skin, heat...feet touching feet" represented physical intimacy to me. Following up with "You and I" instead of "Us" seemed to imply emotional distance - so over time, the emotional connection broke, whereas the physical one still exists. "safe from the world, though the world will try" thus meant to me that the relationship can only work ifit doesn't engage with the world around, because if it did, the lack of emotional connection would become a problem. So as long as the persons keep themselves "safe from the world" they have a chance (and they want to stay in this relationship), but the world always finds a way in, making the relationship more and more fragile.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain" to me seems like the lyrical me (do you say that in english?) is afraid of the doubts she has about the relationship, because she doesn't want to take action, as in, break up. So instead of reflecting on herself, she prefers to "stay here" (in the relationship, safe from the world) and "laugh away the fear" (make fun of her own thoughts, because if they are invalid, she doesn't need to act on them)
"numb, fine" to me sounded like "I'm numb, but it's fine", as in accepting the emotional distance and unhappiness in the relationship. "You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" to me was more like genuine smiles had become rare in the relationship, but everytime it happens, she looses her doubts for a while, which is why she doesn't want to break up - she is afraid that in that case, she would never genuinly smile again. "so breathe, breathe with me" would mean "please reconnect with me emotionally", because breath feeds both the body and the mind, so she wants to connect on both levels with her partner. "can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them" would be again "please take my doubts away, because I'm afraid of having to decide wether or not I want to stay with you.
"Intertwined, free" would be the two paths the lyrical me could choose now - either she stays intertwined with the other person, but also tied up. Or she frees herself, but it is a very existential definition of freedom, as Sartre says, she would be "condemned to be free", which is rather scary. "I pinned each and every hope on you, and I hope that you don't bleed with me" would be "I wanted this relationship to be perfect, but now it isn't, and I hpe that at least you are really happy and don't notice how uncertain I am, because in that case the whole thing wouldn't make sense anymore, and I desperatly want it to make sense"
On that note, I hope my interpretation makes sense to anyone - I'm not quite sure wether I was able to express my thoughts properly. I used "she" for the lyrical me/protagonist because dodie is female, but the gender doesn't matter here. ALs o I think it's very beautiful how this song makes sense even if interpreted in two rather different ways.
I really connected with Intertwined and even sent it to my boyfriend, he immediately connected with it too. I have emotionally unstable personality disorder & generalised anxiety disorder & it really effects our relationship at times. I can push him away when really I just want to be with him. We do argue sometimes when I'm depressed and anxious and don't want to talk to him (I sound like a terrible girlfriend, I promise I'm not always like it!) But he's really learnt how to take care of me when my mental health gets bad and knows when to give me space. He's such a comfort to me when I'm starting to improve and get back to myself again. <3 I listen to Intertwined most days, it's a really beautiful song with a meaningful message.
What mainly confused me about the music video was that, although I understood the mental health element in the lyrics and I know the song was about how this affected each participant in the relationship, I interpenetrated it as a sort of "with you I feel better", rather than "my mental health is slowly turning our relationship toxic". I really liked the video on it's own, and I thought it was really eerie and thought provoking, but it really wasn't compatible with my earlier impression of the song. As explained in this video, there was a lot of contrast between the good ad the bad, but I saw it more as a resolution at the end of a bad period, with "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" coming after "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" and though obviously no problems were solved entirely, it seemed like they were made a whole lot better just with the other person's presence. For me this song ended on a much more positive note, and that's why I really didn't understand how the video got progressively worse and ended in a house (which presumably symbolised the safe place the couple had created in their relationship) burning down. From what I perceived, the impact of mental health seemed a much more constant issue, reaching no particular climax in the song but being carefully managed and helped through the love of two people.
this was sort of 'the song' to the relationship I was in recently and at the time we saw it as a sweet loving song and your real reason for the song is the exact reason that the relationship ended. It's amost a bit like fate
Tbh I relate to this song so much because I'm the mentally ill one in my relationship and I know I'm damaging him. I chose to interpret this as a person being anxious and ill and their partner choosing to be supportive and sharing their problems so they can overcome them together because despite all my problems I'm an optimist at heart, but I feel a bit silly for it. I think that's just what I wanted it to mean to assuage my own guilt about hurting my partner and my family with my illness. That's kind of shattered around me now in a storm of glass and disappointment so I better cover my eyes and tend to the wounds. Thank you for sharing anyway Dodie. I love your music so much!
I used to interpret it how you wrote it but then I got into a relationship and the meaning changed for me. It painted a picture of a couple coming to terms that one of them is mentally ill. It reminds me of my boyfriend and how he assures me that I'm not a burden and that he doesn't love my anxiety but he loves me. How he has learned to calm me down. How he chooses to drink my thoughts but doesn't try to make them sweet. Even though I see my illness as a poison he sees it as a medicine. It is something he has to deal with in order to be happy with me in his life. He makes me feel sick and not broken.
I completely interpreted the song as related to alcoholism, so in a sense still mental health, but more focused on how an addiction to alcohol affects a relationship. I mostly got this from the line "Can you drink all my thoughts?", as to me, the word drink particularly stuck out. Also, I felt that the use of the word "Numb" in the verse before linked to the idea that many people drink in order to numb their feelings, and the following "fine" being the persons inability to accept that they have a problem. I absolutely love this song, and I think the best thing about it is how differently it can be interpreted, but I always saw it as a song about relationships, alcohol and mental health :)
holy shit, this is not the way i interpreted the song, but this makes so much sense. it's not that i missed the fact that mental health was discussed, but i just didn't think about it that deeply. now this song is such a perfect description of a relationship i was in oh my gosh 😳
If the youtube thing doesnt work out, dodie should become an english teacher. More specifically mine because WOW that was /so/ good 😊😊😊😊 love ya doddle x
My interpretation was a lustful and messed up relationship wherein the couple rely on each other and struggle through life together... idk :/ this was a very insightful video tho
I thought that it was about a person who entered a relationship with a mental illness, possibly schizophrenia but I'll explain later. They went into the relationship with their mental health being rocky but they've convinced themselves that this will be good for them because they won't be alone ("oh you and I, safe from the world") This is where their mental health begins to worsen, and the main reason I thought of schizophrenia is from the contractions in the lyrics, as if there is more than one voice commenting ("numb, fine" "laugh away the fear" "intertwined, free") which can be supported by the cry for help "can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" followed by the calming "oohs" which could be an example of the voices in the person's head or the lover trying to calm them down. The song ends with the end of the relationship where they decide that they don't want to drain their lover's mental health or drag them down with them and they both go their separate ways.
I adore this so muchThrow back to English lit haha you'd be a great English teacherI love the song so much and the video- I thought it was amazing- I was speechless
I thought the song was about a relationship the singer/ writer is in and through a tough time the writer is in, mainly because of a mental health issue. The start of the song was sweet and loving, and sounded like two people holding each other close... almost like one was going to leave and it would be their (or seem like one of their) last embarrass together.
The person singing the song, seems to be in despair and is calling for help but not exactly telling the other person whats going on but isn't helping themselves by saying that they are fine and covering it up with a smile ('Numb, Fine') The singer/writer finally told their significant other and that is why they are holding them so tightly. The significant other is afraid of losing the singer/writer and therefore is holding them like it is the last time they will be this close to one another.
I imagine two people hugging and crying in each others arms, trying to seek comfort in one another ('intertwined'). I then imagine the two trying to find strategies to help with the mental illness, and one of the big ones people use is breathing. The significant other is taking deep breaths with the writer/ singer as a way to help he/she calm down and relax ('so breathe, breathe with me').
'I've pinned each and every hope on you' can indicate that the singer is telling the significant other all the thoughts racing in their head, and all the things they might want to do to themselves. 'I hope that you don't bleed with me" Also, might mean that because the singer/writer has told them all of these things that she/he doesn't want them to blame themselves. As that might cause them to go down the say path they have. But the word 'Free' is also used in that verse which confuses people as this song doesn't seem like the person is happy and feeling like they can do anything (which is what most people think when they think of the word free), but instead more trapped in their own thoughts. But to me the use of the word 'free' in this verse could mean that they finally feel better that they have told somebody about what is going on, and also they feel overwhelmed that they have listened and are actually helping. Also, 'free' the fact it is used in this manner and how it can confuse people might also be a metaphor. It could make people confused which is how a lot of people feel about mental illnesses. People who do not suffer from one are usually confused about them. How they are triggered, why people with a great life can have them ect.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain' is referring back to the beginning of the song, and indicating to us that they are not yet better. ' but we can stay here and laugh away the fear.' Also tells us that once again the singer/ writer of this song has someone that they can confine in when they are feeling overly anxious, depressed ect.
So in conclusion, the song is about a couple that is struggling as one of them is suffering from a mental illness. It is about the two trying to find a way in which they can help the person with the mental illness, and hopefully overcome it. The song is about hope, love and determination. Hope, in finding a way to find a way to help the singer/writer through this illness. Love, being there for one another and holding each other close and not wanting to let go. Determination, they won't stop trying to find a solution until it is resolved.
This is 100% how a viewed the song. Never thought of it as a sappy song rather a song where one of the two parties has things in there head that end up hurting the other half
I definitely saw the song the same way. Just to add to what dodie was saying about the "numb, fine" lyric; the word "fine" is syncopated (on an up beat), so it feels like the word is just being thrown out there and insincere. I interpreted it as being dismissive and more of an after thought. Musically this song is fantastic and the addition of those chromatic chords make the song that much more effective. Love it!
If I was to direct a music video for this I would have a colourful centre point possibly two people performing a classical ballet piece but with darkness surrounding them and becoming more and more powerful such as their being dancers surrounding them trying to 'attack' them. I would end with the darkness being eliminated and one of the dancers continuing the same dance with the other showing signs of uncertainty that the darkness is truly gone.
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JT Brown2017-04-13 14:24:53 (edited 2017-04-13 14:25:17 )
I personally thought that Intertwined was a song about commitment issues and the fear of what a relationship means. The narrator speaking of her current situation, (Skin, numb, intertwined) vs her desires (heat, fine, and free). In terms of already being in a relationship, fear of commitment doesn't just mean "I don't want to be tied down," it could also be fear of what commitment would mean, what is expected from them, and/or what damage could be done to either party. A good example would be survivors of an abusive relationship. Their experiences define relationships much differently than people who haven't gone through anything at all. It doesn't contradict Dodie's personal meaning to the song, as mental health issues are often involved with relationships and commitment, but I thought it relevant enough to comment on.
I felt about the this song exactly the way you describe your attachment to it Dodie. I loved the chords and how it me it sounded like a relationship gone wrong- like there was a bump in the road that turned things sours (much like how mine did losing the best thing ever) I love this song it's my favourite along with WHEN and YOU'RE JUST A DREAMS because I get so emotionally attached to words it feels as though I'm welcomed and am safe before your chords and beautiful voice. I praise you everyday (not like shrine that's creepy) for your sings because of how much I understand them and feel as if there is someone who cares about me (even though we have never met) I love these sickly songs to help understand what my emotions are - Thank you so much dodie !!! Also congrats on hitting one million - p.S what ukulele did you use for this song??
i kind of saw it as a relationship that kind of fails after the honeymoon phase? like after the initial shock of passion, they're both just kind of left with nothing; but they stay together in hopes that the spark will come back
To me, for this song to be about anything other than mental health would be weird, but I can see how some people missed the underlying meaning because the song is so beautifully written and sweet sounding that it masks the brutality of how mental health issues can make a person feel. I always saw the song like you've found someone that makes you feel safe but there's a constant fear that the toxic thoughts that are in your brain will poison the relationship if you say them out loud. Also the video is brilliant - internal thoughts made physical, crashing down on the relationship. It fits so perfectly with the narrative of the song asdfghjkl I love it I love you.
i always kinda saw intertwined as a 'story'(/progression) of a domestic violence and (mental health related) emotionally manipulative relationship?! hmmmmm x
i kinda realised that everyone has interpreted the song in a different way varying on their current mindset (mainly not everyone) so my interpretation was more along the lines of a nice healthy seeming relationship that seems calm and beautiful and 'perfect' to everyone else, but in reality it's quite messy and the protagonist of the song/ writer was calling out for help because they find it difficult to express how the genuinely feel within this relationship and that they turn to anything that makes them feel better; with the lyrics "can you drink all my thoughts" implies that drinking was one of the things that made them feel better. As well as this, the repetition of the word "breath" could reference anxiety and panic attacks and the inability to breathe when everything on your mind is so heavy and overwhelming and therefore scary. With the "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" I believed that was as if saying 'I thought you'd be the one to help me, please don't let my ill mental state lead you to do the same as I have with mutilating my own body and skin'. So yeah that was my interpretation
defiantly agree with what you said, it all makes sense now that it's been laid out. I do have to say though the songs a bit ruined for me as i do enjoy being ignorant in love (in some cases not all of course) and sometimes i enjoy just a song about being intertwined with someone. Again i agree with all of your dissections of the song but the video also ruined it a little as dolls terrify me 😵
A very interesting rundown of the song BY THE ARTIST HERSELF, so stop saying you don't think it's that way just because it doesn't match up to your lovey dovey idea of Dodie and mental health issues. All in all, its a beautiful song that soothes as much as it quietly unsettles people. I say unsettles because, frankly, disturb would not be the right term here. I admire how well you slipped in all these meanings Dodie, several of which I never noticed, and I'm looking forward to you quietly telling the world with your music a story no one wants to hear said out loud.
When it says 'intertwined. Free', after all the 'oohs' and such. I had thought that it was finally alluding to a happy ending. Where singer is finally freed by 'numbness' and finally feels all this weight off their shoulders after talking to their loved one. Where the; "But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" bit referred to the beginning lyrics. Showing that she can get back to the beginning of the song where she is 'safe' with him. (HUGE dependability on him but.. happy(?))
Also maybe just me but the melody sounds like a lullaby? So as she sings louder (in parts like; can you drink all my thoughts?, cause i can't stand them) she is becoming more aware of her fear/is awake. So when the 'oohs' play, she pours out her thoughts to her partner which act as a lullaby rocking her to sleep, deeper into the relationship. THUS, she is 'intertwined' with him BUT 'free' from her own fear. (Also the 'falling in sleep/dependability of him is confirmed in the end where she is just humming until the song finishes) It involves losing her sense of self, but she is no longer 'afraid of the things in [her] brain'. Yay?
Oh and Dodie, LOVED you analyzing your song! Gets me analyzing for fun and not for my next English assignment... Which I probably should be doing now. XD
I kinda interpret it like there's this person scared of society. Of how she fits in it and what people think of her. So she's like can we stay here? So we don't have to face our issues. Which they do but it's slowly eating them from the inside.
Ok please do not take this as hate I absolutely love the song and I think the video was super creative but to me intertwined is just a love song about someone with possible mental health issues or trust issues or something. This deep analysis seems too much. But you are the author so if that's what you meant then that's the meaning of the song. I just would never come up with the meaning after listening to it. Like I said I loved it and all your songs and I love you! ❤️
I think the song is clever as not only does it reflect people's thoughts in a relationship who suffer with mental health issues, but also shows how everyone, as insecure human beings, can feel in a relationship, being in love is one of the most scary things in the world as well as the most amazing, you feel so happy when you are with them that there is a constant fear something might go wrong, you also fear you may become too dependant on that happiness, also you fear that they can't handle how you feel or think, it's just bloody terrifying but also amazing because when everything is good it's like you have a safe bubble to escape, even just for a second, the difficulties in your brain...that's what I see the song as anyway and the video shows it so poignantly ☺️
OK here's my analysis its sort of rough and a mess but yeah
skin, heat, hair in your mouth feet touching feet: a couple lying together, probably after sex since they are tangled together (intertwined), if u go off of the idea that the relationship is toxic perhaps there is some sort of dependence on this sex and this touching more than actually talking through problems.
oh you I safe from the world though the world will try: they need to be together to be safe, it sounds romantic but merely creates an atmosphere of dependence, perhaps a very one sided dependence like the singer is locking their lover inside. the world may try suggests the idea of an outside parting saying that this relationship is toxic and it needs to stop and perhaps that is why the singer locks their lover away, because they can't accept the truth and depend on having someone there even if it is unhealthy.
oh I'm afraid of the thing in my brain: this suggest that the singer has mental health issues and is afraid of the them to the point that they may be in denial.
but we can laugh away the fear: again denying their scary though and pretending every thing is OK, using their lover to pretend they mental illness isn't their and laughing it all off instead of as previously stated just talking everything through.
numb, fine again denial of the mental illness. often times when someone is depressed they feel numb but they deny it and tell the people around them that they are okay and fine.
you create a rarity of my genuine smile: at this point the relationship is unhealthy for the singer as well, we start to see that perhaps they aren't completely manipulative and that want of their lover to be with them and be like them is to calm their lover down to make them both happy so that the singer can genuinely smile.
so breathe, breathe with me: for me this further pushes the dependence, the need for the singers lover to be with them all the time and be like them, perhaps to reassure them that they are normal and again this idea of denial, if they have someone with them like them they are okay and have no reason to be afraid.
can you drink my thoughts away? cuz I can't stand them: for me it feels like a reference to your drinking, the idea that the singer needs to drink alcohol to have a good time and to run away from their fears and again they need their lover to do the same because of this toxic dependence.
intertwined, free: for me this juxtaposition almost suggests that the lover is forced into this and have been tangled into the mess of a toxic relationship the singer however is convinced that they are both free.
I've pinned each and every hope on you: theyve put their hoped and problems alike in their partner and again instead of talking they just put it all on their partner and act as I'd it'll work. moreover they hope the, though unhealthy and toxic, relationship will fix them.
I hope you don't bleed with me: they've acknowledged that their problems are too Mich for them and that it isn't fair for them to 'pin' them onto their lover, yet instead of being brave they dwell in their fears and simply hope that this doesn't hurt their lover too much.
I'm afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear: ending with the words fear just pish the ides that the singer is scared and doesn't know how to deal with it and that this isn't a beautiful romantic relationship, though it may seem like it.
This comment might be a jumbled mess because I am exhausted so I will try and make this make as much sense as possible. My Interpretation: this is about a relationship where one of the people involved suffer from Anxiety, and depression, or any other mental issues, example "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" reminded me of how I get when I have intense bursts of depression, I'll be on the floor crying thinking my family hates me and I will be unable to move because the things in my brain are telling me "this is where you deserve to be, don't try getting up cause I will knock you down again" this song to me was about two lovers where one person uses the other as a comfort/coping mechanism, creating a toxic relationship of co-dependency until eventually they are both the same level of fucked up and it starts becoming self destructive, they both feel like the relationship is safe, but they're creating a toxic environment for the relationship, and in the end the relationship can only go one way up in flames.
coughs ahem. I don't exactly know how to analyze music or lyrics "properly" but I'll do my best. The first thing I noticed was not even about the lyrics. It was how the ukulele in the beginning sounds, at first, very steady, like a the initial happiness and joyful anticipation of falling in love. Then, to a two note descend into a more sinister sounding vibe momentarily breaks the stream of good thoughts, giving the listener an insight to an uncertainty or hesitancy that the writer feels entering the relationship. but, the plucking pattern is maintained, perhaps suggesting a relief, but darker set to their vision on being happy with someone. At 1:03, the lyric "numb" corresponds with the woman in a dark room, a shadow obscuring most of her face, which could be interpreted as her uncertainty growing, and her mental health starting to affect her, as the doubt begins to consume her. "fine" is shown with her holding scissors, a possible hint that she is wanting to cut ties with this person, but saying that she is fine with him. Or, it could be, like Dodie said, an obvious and unsettling contradiction of "fine" and the sharp object, leading to believe that she is so very far from fine, and doesn't want her partner to feel like they're being burdened. And so she has the scissor to break the bond with him. 1:19, her hair is cut, probably due to the scissor, maybe meaning that she didn't have the courage to break away from him, and instead took it out on herself. 1:35. the red liquid correlates with the "drink all my thoughts" lyric. my interpretation of this was that the woman's thoughts were overwhelming her, so much that they all came down, drowning her partner in a sea of worry. 1:50. You can see, if you look closely, that the man's arm is attached to her, representing how she is taking apart the person in order to keep herself alive, intertwining them through 'pain?'. the "pinned each and every hope on you" with the persons head obscured, is obviously saying how she is relying on him to bring her up, and doesn't want him to suffer because of her. quite sad when you think of it. But the different colors might be a way of showing how her problems aren't monotone, and the fact the pins are covering up his eyes, could mean that all he can see are her worries. (no hate on dodie, i'm just interpreting lol) 2:28. clearly, some dark shit is goin' down. the girl is holding a lighter, and when the chorus of "hmms" come in, the man, along with his surrounding go up in flames. Again, this makes sense with Dodie explain how it's supposed to be a little over powering/over whelming. In the end, the man is surrounded by fire, confirming how her mental health issues played a part in the undoing of the relationship, causing much of it to obliterate, and the man bleeding with her. woah. that was long.
Charlie Watts2017-04-13 10:54:10 (edited 2017-04-13 11:00:48 )
I would probably have made a more (dance?) ballet-like depiction (not going into too much detail as I plan to use it in the future), but the girl singing starts in a white dress, (looking down for the word skin and more jarring words near the start). As I identify as aromantic and haven't exactly experience romantic attraction before (not even sure if I will), but I saw it as a friendship, falling apart. As the video progresses the girls dress slowly starts to tear, and change into a darker colour (like black) to signify her depression taking over. As she leans on her friend as a form of support (later in the song), the back of the dress sinks onto her and starts to drown them both. In the end they are both covered in the darkness, and the original girls head is close to the top. The darkness consuming her. And after the last hum, it does.
Also throughout as her depression in coming from her anxiety (which unfortunately I can relate to), the fear is there to (maybe they run from something in the dark). Thats all, sorry it's not as skilled or elaborate as the other interpretations as I am still in high school and have not had as many experiences (neither good nor bad), but thank you everyone who reads this and or helped inspire this.
I thought it was that the Barbie was being pushed and the Ken was forcing the thought that it's okay so she gets fed up and just all these thoughts that hurt her so she kills him due to the pins in the Ken's head at the end.
You know it's gonna be good when dodie busts out her glasses and chalkboard. Incredible look into the meaning behind the lyrics and the melody. It made the song that much more enjoyable! :)
It's funny how life can change your perspective on things, when I first heard this song I listened to it with my boyfriend at the time in an intimate moment close to the one described in the beginning of the song and while I did pick up on the mental health issues and the meaning behind "breath with me" I felt it was reassuring both me and my boyfriend at the time struggle with mental health issues and I took the song as a sad but still loving melody about finding someone who can make you feel human and keep you up when all you feel is down and breath with you when you need it but now that boyfriend and I have broken up and listening to the song again I see the real struggle and Strain on the relationship as I have experienced. The dependency on each other is a real hard ship and the dependency I put on him really affected me after we broke up and I see how toxic it can be to rely on someone and I relate and love this song so much more and in an entirely different way. Intimate moments and genuine smiles are nice but you can't expect someone to drink up all your thoughts
I already loved this song and this made me admire it even more. The music video is one of the best I've ever seen and although I initially thought it was a more romantic song, I think the video suited it almost perfectly. This is some amazing songwriting and I love all the little things you slipped in that you might not notice at a glance, like the "drink all my thoughts" line. I hope someday with a lot of practice I'll be this great of a songwriter. Now excuse me while I listen to it for 3 hours straight.
honestly I loved the journey I went though in first listening to the song, and then seeing the music video. I initially interpreted it as finding refuge in a relationship to help with mental health problems, and it generally had a positive meaning. Then the music video dropped and I saw the deeper, more insidious sides of having a relationship with mental health issues, and it made me re-evaluate and appreciate the song all over again. That re-evaluation actually felt like the all contrasts you put in all the lines, where on the surface it all seems fine, but upon further introspection the relationship is ultimately damaging. I don't know if that's what you had planned but I feel like that was a more fulfilling way for the meaning to be conveyed cause wow it hit me like a tonne of bricks.
When I first heard this song it really hit me. It is one of my favorites and I think it's so beautiful in a twisted way and I relate to it. Thank you for such a beautiful song that helps me when I feel like I'm sinking and everything in my head is too loud. Also I really liked this video and you dissecting the lyrics it was very interesting. Thank you so much Dodie, you are amazing 😊💚😊
wow this video! I really love seeing the meaning behind the songs. Honestly when i think of intertwined it seems like a love song but it gives me this feeling of sadness. Maybe its the chords chosen and how softly its played, but I've cried to this song a lot. Its not that the lyrics are sad its the why its been played. I don't know it helps me get out my emotions. Anyone agree? or is it just me cx
I don't know if it's because I have the same fears/apprehensions about being in a relationship but I had understood it the way it is explained here and not the way everyone was describing it in the comments on the vevo channel. I really couldn't understand why people were expecting a happy video for such a sad song. I'm glad it was explained the way I thought it was, I was starting to question how dark my brain really is tbh
When I was explaining the music video to my mom, I told her that I thought the fires and various missing flesh was the manifestation of the fears in her brain, and that the dolls represented the fake nature of the relationship, and the seemingly fine smiling couple that where really in pain. I thought the song was truly about an unhealthy relationship within which 2 people where pretending they where in a healthy one, and that the fears they had were being covered up by their unrealistic problematic "love".
When I first heard the song, I cried a lot. I honestly could go line by line as you did explaining how I felt, but I'll try to be brief. I was in a long distance relationship and I pictured those few times I got when I was "Intertwined" with him, both physically like kissing and touching, but also simply in the same room together, emotionally connecting in a way that was not usual for us, because as you can imagine, its hard to connect like that over a simple screen. the line, "you create a rarity of my genuine smile," I thought it more like I only truly smile when he was around, which was rare. The contrasting words like "Intertwined; free" to me showed that although we were together, we were our own person, and in a way the relationship made us free. This song painted a picture in my mind of us laying on the couch, when things were really tough in my life, and the only escape i got was when i was next to him, holding him in my arms, cuddling. Basically, to me it was a song about true love and its pureness. The video took a complete spin on what I thought of it to be, but as you said, art is all about perspective, and I love seeing how different people interpret it. Sorry it's a little long but I hope you get to read this :)
This is a quick explanation, but I always interpreted it as two people in love who both have mental health issues relying on one another to help the other, be there to talk it out, to create a love strong enough to numb the pain of mental health issues, for at least a while <3
I've pictured the lyrics as talking about an unhealthy relationship as well, in which the ones involved don't see that they are not good for one another. This changes on the "Intertwined, free [...] I hope that you don't bleed with me" part, when one of them does something drastic (suicide, maybe, 'cause there's blood involved) but they are still worried telling the other not to follow the same path, reassuring the codependency.
I've always wanted a song writer to do this!! This is like a beautiful flower and I'm the bee!!! Lapping it up and loving it! Really appreciate and admire the themes to this song. Thanks for talking about mental health issues Dodie and bringing them to the forefront of the conversation, so we can learn to be more open about it. Much love. <3 <3
Before watching video and just listening to the song when the video came out, I thought the song as desperate, passionate, and sickly sweet. In a way the two lovers are hanging on and grasping for each other. The strength of the softness in your voice and the way you recorded the original video of "Intertwined" (bright lights, light colored clothing) gave me this impression. After watching the music video, I was.. shocked.. the best word i can find. Not in a bad way, and not in a "oh my god i was so wrong about the impression of this song way" more in a way that furthered my analysis of what this song means. I thought the same thing as before but pondered: maybe its a lot more creepier and complicated than that. I thought the passion and the desperation was coming from how, for the lovers, the only thing they had to hold on to was each other in this dark, twisted world, and that if they were to reveal themselves, their darkness to one another that they would lose each other. And in the video, I figured that exactly what happened. After watching THIS^^^ video however I definitely saw it differently, my thoughts still stand, and after hearing what you were really trying to say in this song, it made it a hell of a lot easier to analyze. In conclusion, amazing work on this, definitely on of my favorite songs on your album. Thank for giving this gift of music to the world
I fucking LOVE this video ugh. It's so interesting to see the entire ACTUAL thought process that went into the writing and making of this song instead of reading other people's speculation. You are an amazing songwriter Dodie! xx
Soooo I already knew this, but my golly you're incredibly smart. I love, love, LOVE analyzing pieces of art--songs included!--and this was just brilliant. Your lyrics are so . . . I can't even think of the best way to word it, but let's say thought out, intricate, and amazing. You. Are. So. Cool #understatement <3
To me, the song was about two people in love you both had issues with their mental health, but eventually were able to help each other and "laugh away the fear" in a healthy way
HOLY FUCK. This is why I love this song, your description here is exactly what I excepted, and how I read into the song, AND why I loved the music video. But man... you explained your writing process SO WELL, you should do just a few more of these, not a ton, just a few... cause this was great!
dodie, this song really was amazing. I loved it! your interpretation was amazing and I agree completely, although at first I was thinking of a couple falling blindly in love for each others charm without taking into account one anothers problems, which later on causes problems and they clash together with love but no understanding of each other. they feel stuck yet free all at once causing confusion. and yeah I would love to go on about this with you sometimes that would be an honor. thank you for explaining this piece of art with me.
i always thought the line "laugh away the fear" was "love away the fear"(your accent is beautiful, but very confusing to a lil american like me 😂), and that kind of summed up how i interpretted the song. the point of view it is sung from is scared and in an unhealthy state of mind, while their lover is a bit of a pillar for them, and they see almost absolute comfort in them, yet they're still scared that even what they have will fall apart. thats what i've always thought and it always made me very emotional- but even the instrumentals and your beautiful voice are enough to put me to tears.
I'm so glad that, despite what seemed to be loads of people attacking your art, you took the opportunity to see their criticism in a positive light. Love the song, love the explanation 💜
wow i thought something completely different! i always thought this was a more light-hearted, innocent, and romantic song but i guess i didn't really look too much into the lyrics! i really love how this song can be interpreted so differently! oh and thank you for sort of explaining it all i really did not understand how this song could be so dark but you did a wonderful job explaining it!
i interpreted it as more of a "i can't live without you so i will overtake you" i loved the video so so much it was perfect if you ask me i just love your songs in general
I never quite came up with some kind of theory for what I thought the song was about (which is weird because I normally over analyze things) but I thought that it was a kind of chaotic peace like in a movie where they play a really peaceful song over a bunch of explosions. I don't know if you know what I mean but it makes perfect sense to me. I think the video fit perfectly with my meaning
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. You have no idea how much I love analysis, watching this video was so satisfying. Now that I have listened to you explain it I have no idea how I managed not to pick up all the darkness before! I love this song even more now aaaahhhh
Dodie I absolutely loved this song and here's why. I keep listening and listening and listening to it and its just so beautifully tragic and realistic for so many people. I feel like your interpretation goes perfectly with the music video. I love the lyrics "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" because it's expressing that you're so scared of the mental illness(es) that you have and how they effect you and others, including your loved one(s). I also relate with the lyrics "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me". It's so sad, because, in my interpretation, it's like you're pinning every hope of getting rid of the awful things onto your partner and it completely overtakes them, but yet they just pretend they're fine just like you (as amazingly portrayed in the music video with the partner with head made of pins laying in bed). It's so sad, but you make such a realistic tragic relationship into a beautifully written piece of music and it's so jarring and wonderful to hear music like this today. I love you so much Dodie, keep being creative and beautiful and talented and dedicated and all around wonderful.
I honestly interpret this song as how it feels when I cuddle like I'm safe and protected and I'm loved and appreciated and that even with all of my negative thoughts my s.o. still loves me idk I also call it the cuddle song ( cuddling to me is just being in each other's arms and company)
So the first time that I'd heard the song was when I watched the music video, and I think that my perception of the song was different from those who had just heard it without the vid. It was interesting because you had to really think about the lyrics to get them to fit the dark theme of the video, but once you did, it made perfect sense, and it was a really beautiful way to portray the song.
This video was immensely enjoyable to watch. You do very well as a teacher in this setting!!
And wow, what a different take than what I previously imagined--all this time, it made me think of someone depressed finding comfort in another person, but that was a more sweet version...this is such a dark take on that! Thank you for explaining in such explicit detail. :)
This is exactly how I saw the song and I loved the video so so much because it takes this beautifully written and angelic, lovey sounding song and purely displays what the lyrics are trying to say. It exposes the hurt that the melodies and chords are covering up and I think it's so beautiful. Sam is an artistic genius and I love him.
Dodie I love this so much, all the contrast throughout the song gave it just the right vibe. Honestly, intertwined wasn't originally my favorite song on the album, but this analysis made me realize that I definitely underrated this track, I love it so much. I hadn't even thought of the dark themes that hid within. Thank you very much for sharing your ideas with us!
When i first heard this song (when you first uploaded it) i thought it was justa sweet love song as i didnt really spend much time analyzing the lyrics. When the music video came out and it started out with barbie dolls i was like "oh i feel like somethings going to happen" and "i think i interpreted it wrong before" i was on the edge of my seat waiting for things to start twisting and it did! through out the music video i started realizing the darker story behind the seemingly sweet song and i fricken loved it. i rewatched the music vid many more times starting to appreciate the song for the genius it really was and what it really meant Good job i bloody love it dodie.
AAAAAHHHH i love this song so much. i love this song so. much. i love that it can have thousands of different interpretations. and i fukin love your meaning behind it. thank you so much for creating this beautiful work of art.
this is my interpretation: (before watching this vid)
I think this song is about how when you are so "intertwined" with someone, and the relationship eventually falls apart, everything becomes strange and different. I think the video is a representation of how loving sometimes changes you (barbie cutting her hair). the first time i heard this song i thought it was about being afraid of your problems becoming someone else's. i think that's what the video is about. they had too many problems, but they were so intertwined that when they finished their relationship, they weren't the same person as they were before.
I saw the song as someone finding peace and solace through a lover. I also saw it as a representation of how when the rest of the world goes to hell, your loved ones can help keep you sane throughout the madness - whether the madness is formed from a mental illness or as an exterior problem. The lyrics "You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" makes me further believe that the person forms their happiness from the other person. I would love to see what the situation would be like from the other lover's point of view. Either way, I love this song and truly think that it is so beautiful and meaning full!
When I first heard the song, I definitely related it to how my anxiety and depression plays out in a relationship. I expect the other to be strong, assuming they have enough mental strength to make me happy, and can help me through my issues, benefiting me and allowing them to have someone to perhaps "take care" of? The music video that played out in my head was a stereotypical cinematic love story. Cuddles, crying accompanied by support of the stronger partner, overblown laughter, etc. I do like the twisted music video, though. Sheds light on the possible fragility of someone who's expected to be dependable.
This so interesting!! I saw it as the other person makes her happy, they can ignore the fear together, but she's also afraid her thoughts will affect the other person and cause them to suffer too
I though intertwined was about a loving couple who were having problems connecting. This seemed to be due to one of them having trouble letting their walls down and "laughing away the fear". That fear being getting hurt in the end. So in the end when you sing "intertwined, free". I took that to mean that they let their walls down and let the other person in, letting them be together. Love your whole EP btw!❤
I thought the video lined up excellently with the song! I don't actually watch your videos for your music (gasps) but I appreciated this song a lot because the theme of mental health came across quite clearly!
when i heard intertwined i was thinking these two people were combined at heart. they helped each other through trials and tribulation, the music video wasn't exactly what i interpreted but it was truly amazing and touched my heart. i guess my theory of the song is sorta like yours except the "toxic relationship" part but i love this song and i love the video. it is a work of art💕
I thought that, yes, it was this position of two lovers, one (or both) of which had mental health issues, but (seeing as this song came out very soon after the beginning of my current relationship) I thought it was about one of them who had hid their own issues for a long time and suffered in silence so as to not break the other, but finally came clean, explaining the line, "I hope that you don't bleed with me". They were finally letting go of this part, this terrible part they'd been struggling with for so long, go, and just let themselves be intertwined with this partner emotionally after finally confiding in them.
I love the song so much. I also love the video. Although I didn't interpret the song like the video did, I loved them both. My original theory was: a couple in bed together giggling. The speaker(or writer) feels alone and afraid on their own but when around this person they are happy. I felt like the speaker had mental health problems and also suffered from terrible nightmares, and the other person was trying to make the speaker feel better.
I interpreted the lyrics almost the same as you, except I used to look at it as sort of a comforting song. It seemed to me before (or maybe for some odd reason I just automatically assumed) that the partner was taking it willingly; the writer could trust the partner with anything and know it would be kept safe.
I interpreted the lyrics almost the same as you, except I used to look at it as sort of a comforting song. It seemed to me before (or maybe for some odd reason I just automatically assumed) that the partner was taking it willingly; the writer could trust the partner with anything and know it would be kept safe.
i always interpreted this as a pair of lovers, one with mental health instability, and the other helping the other with said issues with love and reassurance, and ultimately helping them heal. i've always interpreted the line "i've pinned each and every hope on you, i hope that you don't bleed with me" as the lover struggling with mental health having guilt about pouring out all of their anxieties and worries to the other person, and feeling like they might be dragging them down with them (coming back to the line "can you drink all my thoughts") because they feel like they cannot handle it on their own ( "cause i can't stand them") and that they are feeling as if they, as a person and all of the worries that come with it( "cause i can't stand them") are an inadequate lover to the person who is more well mentally because of their struggles. however i always saw it as resolved at the end with the final chorus "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" because i always heard that as each of the lovers saying to the other that they are both better because of the relationship, and that they will make it through; the one who doesn't have the illness says so because they love the other person, and the mentally ill one says so not just because they love the other, but because their love and partnership is ultimately helping their own anxieties through the joy that they bring them. that's just how i' ve always imagined it when i heard it. xo
I sort of saw the contrast between the darkness of the world and the comfort of being intertwined as a less unhealthy potentially toxic situation. Picture a raging thunderstorm, and you move through the window to see the couple together in front of a cozy fireplace, their little escape from the hectic chaos they face in their normal lives. Really like the writer's interpretation though :)
The first time I heard intertwined I had instant goosebumps from the contrasting words and I knew it wasn't the rose glasses lovey song as it sounds on surface level. Also the music video is an absolute perfect fit, I especially like the juxtaposition of using barbie dolls for such real topic. Not only because of it being a toy versus reality but also because it's a childhood toy that many kids see as being the perfect person. Also Sammy did an incredible job capturing the underlying meaning of the song
The music reminded me of a love story, like a Parisian one, but neither of them are really as happy as they seem, but they're trying to hold it together for each other. But I love the video!
After hearing the song over and over I realized how deeply this applies to me. How at times I feel that when I'm in a relationship it solves all of my problems. We are living in a world of thick chaos and in some way the love or the thought of someone else thinking of me seems to make everything else that truly matters, not to matter anymore.
When listening to the song a few times, my interpretation was changing through each and every time i listened. But i came to a definite conclusion that you were trying to convey this relationship where the girl has many issues. Not just mental, but she is just a bundle of mess and she has thrown all of those issues and everything she deals with on her boyfriend. She is kinda bringing him down with her and i thought that in the scene where the blood looking liquid falls from the ceiling that was all of her problems just crashing down on him at once. But either way, absolutely lovedd the song and the album is justtt sooo good. You're an amazing singer and writer
I kept wondering whether the line "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" simply meant that the other person makes the speaker smile, which is a rare occurrence, or if it meant that the other person made the speaker's smile a rarity, which would signal the change in the song's tone away from the happier beginning.
I always thought of this song as a way of showing the way relationships appear vs what happens behind the smiles and polite laughs. Because each verse starts with what seems like a perfect love story and then transitions to deeper and sometimes negative emotions, it shows how raw and vulnerable a relationship can really be. I love this song because every time you listen to it you can dig deeper and deeper into the meaning and what at first listen appears to be a beautiful love song, after listening to it like 50 times (which I have) and taking time to absorb the lyrics, you see what was hidden behind the beauty, just like the relationship in the song. Idk, that's my interpretation, but you invited the little analyzers to have their fun so that was my piece. Either way, I am absolutely in love with the song and the music video.
i definitely never thought of it as a sweet song about a healthy relationship. When i first heard it i immediately related it to my own mental health problems. to me the song was about relying on someone to fix you and deal with your brain
I had to go watch the video again after this. It makes so much more sense now. Also, my mind is kind of blown. I'm really not good at analyzing art (on a side note, is there a way to get good at this? an online class or something lol?). So I had initially written Intertwined off as a basically happy love song (I still enjoyed obvs), and I usually can't relate or connect with them. I was admittedly a tad confused by the vid. But now I feel so much connection to the song because I also struggle with mental health, and this scenario of being in a relationship and how it wouldn't be fair for the other person is something I've thought about quite a bit. It's why when anyone brings up relationships or dating, I just stay quiet and it seems like such a distant thing. Thank you for opening my mind up, and giving me something to connect with. <3 <3 <3 Also, I really like teacher Dodie. Can you do a video series where you analyze lyrics and/or literature, and teach us how? I would be very grateful, lol.
My favorite part in the video was "I've pinned each and every hope on you" and how the 'doll' had all this things pinned in his head, symbolizing how toxic is to idolize someone and all the things that someone had to handle, that someone trying not to let you down and 'you' giving them too much, not considering the fact they're just humans(I'm so sorry for my terrible English, horrible grammar and lack of vocabulary.)
I always knew this was about mental health issues, I guess I just viewed the whole situation of dependency a lot more positive. Like you're struggling with everything in your head, but you can put all that stuff on pause just to share this intimate moment with your lover, who grants you a short moment of peace and love. So in a way, I felt attacked by the video, like it was telling me that my idea of mental health in a relationship was too romanticized and that I should never rely on my lover to cure me. I really liked that slap in the face though.
For me the meaning of this song had always been dependence on my partner for happiness and not being able to find it without him. It's a very unhealthy mental state where I can't function or find any type of comfort or happiness without him by my side.
I totally get your interpretation, but I also like to see it as a sos from a girl who cannot stand what her brain is doing. She knows she can't keep going alone, so she's looking for that one person who will make her life a little bit easier to live. Someone who's gonna make her smile a little, who'll make her laugh so that she'll forget how bad her brain is. She just don't wanna be alone. I'm the type of person who thinks that someone can't fix you, but help you get through this. And that's how I see that girl. She's just looking for the person who'll make it bearable. Maybe that is too romantic? I don't know, but I like it.
Instead of getting upset at the comments that people didn't understand, she decides to make a cute and informative video which I loved. I'm so proud of this little penguin 🐧💛 Dodie, you're amazing 🙈
Dodie challenge weekend; make a video where you do your best to speak in a different accent. For example an american midwestern accent. It'd probably be super cute.
Okay so watching this video and thinking about the song is making me realize that I interpreted it in basically the same way. Someone who struggles with mental health issues finds somebody who makes it a little bit easier, sharing their burdens until eventually they feel as if they could never live without them.
What scares me though is that I never saw this as negative.
Like thinking critically about this now, I can see how unhealthy and toxic this relationship is, but when I first heard it I thought of it as almost romantic. Somebody saving her from herself, letting her hide away in them instead of trying to cope with her problems. I thought of that as sweet.
I definitely felt when I first litsened to this song that it was dark but beautiful. The way it contrasted was genius and that's one of my favourite parts of the song! I always thought this song was about a toxic relationship. Where they were to dependable on each other to the point that it was impossible to be alone without anything bad happening. This unhealthy dependency and toxic vibes became so bad that it reached the point of separation and break down. But because of how much they depended on each other before the separation it was like losing half of who they were. The ending was always a strange way to end it for me because it doesn't give any "the end". I've always assumed that it would probably end up with some type of suicide/mental illness or maybe just no closure at all to match the mysterious alluring vibe of the song (: That was my opinion and thoughts what are yours???
The way I thought of this song was related to a verbally or emotionally abusive relationship. I thought of the intimacy of the first lyrics to be related to the more abusive and controlling person. I interpreted "numb, fine" as the other person being in denial about the state of the relationship. "You create a rarity of my genuine smile," was the person being abused, trying to convince themselves that the relationship was still healthy and normal. The music video only solidified my opinion. The image of two dolls lying lifeless in bed made me connect so much more to the feeling of an abusive relationship.
I really liked your interpretation, and it matched up a lot with my own and put words to a lot of what I was feeling. The only thing I would really add would be that it seemed to tell more about the narrator of the song than the other person or the relationship itself. It was very much a self expression and the wording excluded what the partner thought and felt other than the hope that they "won't bleed with me" and the indication of a conversation in "numb, fine." It left an empty piece to the puzzle and didn't really close it up to a neat ending, which I think was very accurate. It's about a possibility after all, rather than a relationship that literally happened. Overall I loved song, and I thought both the music and lyrics were complex and rich with meaning.
So it is meant to be dark and I got that. But I personally thought of it as someone worrying that they're burdening the other person with their mental illness but finding that that person can calm them down, help them, they're still worried but calmer and nice. Maybe my interpretation was a little off but I like the thought of it not being completely dark or completely nice lovey dovey but more of a mix to create a bittersweet song
You put so much thought and effort into the words and metaphors you use in the song. It's what I try to do with my writing and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. This song is amazing and the meanings behind all the lyrics inspire me to put this much work into my own writing so thank you xx
I am so glad you made this video because I was 100% on board with the meaning you just cleared up for us and I wasn't sure if (as a person living with mental illness) I was just reading too far into things and projecting. I love how relatable those lyrics were! All of the lyrics were amazing but the lines you wrote: "you create the rarity of my genuine smiles", "can you drink my thoughts because I can't stand them", and ESPECIALLY "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" because that has always been my biggest fear when entering a serious relationship with my mental illness. Like there is that constant fear that I will pull this person I love down with me. It is such a beautiful song to describe such horrible feelings and I love every second of it!
I interpreted the song similarly but not as darkly. I pictured a relationship (similar to my own) starting with no strings attached then slowly moving into a more conventional, comforting relationship as the song gets more intense. I still always thought of a damaging relationship but something that is needed (like emotional and physical support) for this person.
Another interpretation -- the vocals after the first verse/chorus are sung with a sense of anxious urgency, in the way that certain words are stretched (like smile and the first breathe, etc.) and crescendo while wavering a little, and this, along with how the last "we can stay here" sounds melancholy and a little hopeless, like the singer doesn't really believe it, gives me the impression that maybe the persona singing is getting the increasing sense that their partner is planning on leave them and is begging their partner not to.
This wasn't my original interpretation, so when this thought occurred to me I gave it a few re-listens to see if any others snippets fit with this concept an here's what stuck with me:
The pauses between the words in the first verse despite despite describing great intimacy gives a sense of disconnect, like they're going through the motions but some spark is missing. This was particularly noticeable in the big pause between "you" and "and I," as though the singer feels too disconnected to say "you and I" in one breath, like they're one unit.
The chorus then sounds as though the singer is being overwhelmed by their mental health issues ("I'm afraid of the things in my brain") but is afraid that they are scaring their partner away, leading them to suppress it in hopes that they won't be abandoned ("laugh away the fears")
The beginning of the second verse sounds to me like the singer's internal dialogue while they think hypothetically about life after their partner leaves them, telling themself that they're numb to it and that they would be fine on their own until they realize like "oh god you're my only source of genuine happiness if you leave I will have nothing" and so they start begging their partner to take this burden off of them ( the "drink all my thoughts" bit)
This might be a bit of a stretch, but the "intertwined, free" bit could be the singer thinking about how they still feel intertwined with their partner and don't know how to detach while their partner either already has shirked these ties or has a longing to be free from them. The "I've pinned each and every hope on you" line could be the singer feeling like all their hopes will die out if this relationship ends so they "hope that you don't bleed" or hope that their partner is not as troubled by their mental health issues as they think since they see only a bleak and hopeless future in their partner's absence.
And again -- the last chorus sounds like the singer is begging their partner to stay and suppressing worries to make it seem like it'd be okay to stay in the relationship even though they don't even believe it themself anymore.
Even the little sigh at the end of the recording of the song kinda fits, as though the relationship ends as the music ends and the sigh is the reaction.
That was so fun to analyze like that! It's not how I saw the song originally and it's not how I primarily interpret it now either, but I find it so cool that one set of lyrics can fit perfectly to so many different unique interpretations :)
okay this is gonna be long but one thing that the lyric "can you drink all my thoughts?" reminded me of the first time I heard it and always has is a quote from Fahrenheit 451, "did it drink of the darkness? did it suck out all the poisons accumulated with the years?" if you haven't read it, the basic summary is that books are illegal and knowledge is "bad" because it makes people sad and technology is taking everything over. so for this quote, the main character's wife nearly died from an overdose on sleeping pills, since she would take one and then forget about it and take another. so, she's having her stomach pumped and he thinks to himself, "did it drink of the darkness?" that can literally mean the poison of the pills, but can be interpreted as "darkness" meaning knowledge or ideas. so I related this to "can you drink all my thoughts?" because in both cases, people would rather be ignorant for the sake of bliss. it's the idea that knowledge is a burden, and it seems as if it'd be better not to think at all if you could just be happy.
this was so interesting omg i thought of the song a lot happier but still with the pressure of mental health on the relationship . the partner is trying their best to help them deal with it even though it's hard . the writer (dods) is relying on her partner hugely ("i've pinned each and every hope on you") and is using them as kind of a shield or a protection from feeling bad ("you and i safe from the world") but realizes that it's putting a lot of pressure on their partner and that there is every chance that the partner will succumb just like them ("i hope that you don't bleed with me") so they feel real bad about it and tries to keep it held within so they do not cause their partner any more pain or break down their only support , thus laughing away the fear like you would laugh off sometime serious so they do not have to think about it . also i feel like the chorus is repeated one because it's a chorus but also the first time it is sung it's kind of nonchalant and hoping like 'oh yeah my brains a bit bad but we can work through it' but the second time it's a lot more quiet and unsure like 'hey this is getting to me but i guess i'll be okay because i've got you ?' like the writer is a lot more iffy about them being okay . anyway that's just what i thought B- in english who ? don't know her .
Personally, I interpreted the song as two lovers who needed each other for different reasons, the first person needing the strength of the second person, and the second person needing the first person to feel. The first person is struggling with their own thoughts 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain'. The second person is shielding the first, has created a safe place for them 'safe from the world', 'but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear', though this might be hard for them, 'though the world will try'. The second needs the first to feel anything, perhaps putting on a front to appear fine to the first person 'numb' (to themselves) 'fine' (to the first), and acknowledging how the first person helps them 'You create a rarity of my genuine smiles'. 'So breathe, breathe with me' (the second calming down the first, the 'me' maybe a sign of their desperate need for interaction) 'Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them' (the first to the second, looking for their strength and aid). 'Intertwined, Free' the two are stronger together, visualised I imagine this as two silhouettes coming together and creating a bird that takes off. 'I've pinned each and every hope on you' is the first talking to the second, expressing dependency 'I hope that you don't bleed with me' the second expressing that they don't want the first to feel any of the pain they deal with to look after the first. And then it finishes on the summary of the couples interactions, 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain', the first one has not overcome these troubles, 'but we can stay here', the 'we' is important in showing how the second desires to be close to the first, 'can stay here, and laugh away the fear' the joy they get out of being together combats the hardships that they face, and they are stronger together.
I interpreted it pretty similar to the way u explained it but i also enjoyed seeing how many people thought it was nice and pretty and I really liked this video bc it was interesting to see how u wrote it and what u thought abt everything and how u matched up the chords and the melody to the message and it really made the song sound amazing and portray and interesting message and really tell a story. Ur songs and music are bloody amazing Dodie !!
I play this song when my girlfriend or I are having panic attacks and it makes me think of how we cling to each other for comfort during those times. We both suffer from extreme mental health issues and deal with anxiety and depersonalization frequently, matching up with the numb and fine, since we deny everyone else. It's a perfect song for us, that's just how I thought of it in the context of my own life.
Wow… that's how I feel in relationships. I'm always scared I put too much on to my partner and they can't take it. My current boyfriend is super supportive but I'm always a bit worried.
Contrastingly, I thought the song was about someone helping their lover overcome their lover's anxieties/problems/etc rather. Dodie singing as the lover and singing about the special someone. The beginning is such an intimate moment making me think about security of this relationship and safety that is experienced between these two. "I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" -- that even though the lover is mentally ill, the special someone makes them feel better in a sense. "Numb; Fine" meaning to me that the lover has felt numb and blown off their feelings and told others that they're "fine" but the special someone creates "A rarity of my genuine smiles" meaning that they're helping their lover find their happiness -- a feeling contrasting to numbness. "Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" = I thought was a cry for help that the lover was scared their someone couldn't handle them and then moments later the words "intertwined" and "free" are sung meaning to me that the couple is together and the special someone has stepped up to the occasion and been there for the one they love. The lover is liberated from "the fear" after having "pinned each and every hope" on their special someone -- who has yet to "bleed." "But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" -- Stay here in this love.
I really love this song. If I sing it myself, I always get misty eyed or actually end up crying. It's beautifully written and I loved hearing your perspective of the text, Teacher Dodie <3
The music video caught me off guard to say the least. Intertwined is surprisingly one of your song I don't often binge repeat (though I definitely will now), so I hadn't heard it in a while. So all i really remembered was the nice sweet sort of love song melody. But after seeing the video a couple times, it makes perfect sense. The use of dolls adds to how unsettling it feels for me to watch it because I feel, especially with them being of the Barbie variety, they represent the need to be perfect and not make any mistakes.
This is what's so cool about art. For me personally, this is my song with my boyfriend because it holds very special, romantic, passionate meaning between us. This song is so beautiful and reminds me so much of our unconditional love for each other, it brings be to happy tears. I never thought of it as dark, but it's rly cool to know the thoughts you had when you were writing it dodie, and how you intended it. Love you, keep up the incredible work. ❤️
HONESTLY THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I SAW IT AND IM IN LOVE. i just ok so like i want to be an english major music minor and i love annotating and analyzing music it's my favorite thing and i texted my friend who also loves you a long long long paragraph of my analyzing the song and music video as to why the music video fits the theme of a co-dependent, unhealthy mentally damaging, relationship. so yes i matched up and this video made me the happiest kid on earth
For me, I have been very fortunate and have only been in healthy relationships. To me, it depicts a couple very much in love, but experiencing the raw reality of dealing with and supporting someone who is going through a mental health issue/crisis. We have all, to some degree, experienced both sides of this relationship. It's gritty, painful, scary, and going through it you realize the other person doesn't live on a pedestal. I find the end hopeful, though the singer is vulnerable and scared there is finally true honesty and they will work through this supporting each other. But, if I had had the relationship experience you did, that's just enough of a tweak so it all just twists a bit wrong instead of a bit right.
I love the song and the music video, and this video helped a lot but I'm still kinda confused, can someone explain his to me in a simpler more "dumb down" verson please?
I always thought it was a love song (I'm a bit of a begrudgingly desperate romantic), but I was confused about the lyric saying "you make a rarity of my genuine smile", which suggested to me that they made it rare for them to actually smile. The rest of the song always sounded to me like a person with problems taking to someone who could and did help, like depending on your romantic partner in a positive way... idk
I always thought this song was about depression or in other words like you said a medical condition and how the lyrics "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" was like you were scared of your own thoughts like when your alone and you just start thinking and you start thinking of bad and scary things and how you want the person your with to help you to take away all these bad thoughts and you depend on them so much that you start to break them as well and now your both at a breaking point and how "numb, fine" was how you tried to trick yourself that everything was fine and nothing was wrong which I guess was how you kind of meant it to be and I guess that's why I Loved the song so much because it kind of in a way interpreted my thoughts and feelings as well
During my first listening of the song i thought it was about 2 people being in love but one is afraid of the world running their relationship so the person in the relationship who is afraid once to become one suggested by clips in the music video and the word intertwined and the afraid member wants to try and get rid of the feeling but laughing it away or drinking it down. (sorry from my bad grammar, how it was understandable) P.s love the song and video. :)
ive listened to the song again and while it's clear that it is depicting the love life of a mentally ill person, i see another interpretation. i see a pair of lovers. they do love each other, but they have doubts. each of them have had irreparably damaging relationships in the past, leading them to constantly question their partners and ultimately cause the end of the relationships they feared would end. these two have found each other, but their love hangs by a thread.
I'll be honest, I was a bit confused at first because I had always interpreted "Intertwined" as a song where the writer is telling you that you are the anchor, you are what's keeping them together, and they are so so in love with the whole of you, your skin, your everything. So when I saw the music video, it didn't make much sense to me and while I appreciated the work and the carefully craft art put into it, I didn't understand what it had to do with this song, this song I had deemed as a sweet, happy, dream relationship song. But hearing your interpretation has cleared that up a lot and I like both interpretations greatly. Keep up the amazing work. I absolutely love your music.
The song feels to me like the couple is tiptoe-ing along the line between a genuinely supportive and sweet relationship and a darker, more troubled and toxic relationship -- so I don't feel the need to pick one of the double-meanings for each line that could kinda go either way, since there are multiple layers to the relationship. It raises the question of whether the toxicity comes from the particular pairing of people or if dating with mental health issues in general is difficult and double-edged. I've struggled with mental health affecting all the relationships I've had, but I'm pretty young and haven't had very many relationships so maybe I'm just unaware of how some relationships with mental health-affected people work better -- anyway, my point is, I am intrigued by the ambiguity this song presents regarding whether or not the relationship itself is really a bad thing or just a neutral/good thing that is struggling yet persevering through the doubts and dependencies of the darker corners of the partners' minds.
I took it as a less harmful relationship. For me a relationship needs to be a bond. You need to depend on each other to remain one together. The phrase "intertwined, free" was somewhat comforting for me cause I just image legs and feet and arms intertwined while cuddling with someone you love and despite being restricted you feel completely free. All of the out of place, and somewhat gruesome words made me think of the intimacy of a relationship. Your significant other see every part of you, the numb and the fine. The line "I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" was the concern of how you're affecting your partner. It's making sure that their okay even though you're venting through them. Then the chorus made me think of a past relationship where no matter how sad I was he could always find a way to make me smile. When I was feeling especially depressed or having an anxiety attack he made me feel safe enough and loved enough to laugh. I definitely took it as your love song but in a more realistic and wholesome way. It was based on sex or anything, but love. The good parts and the bad parts, but mistletoe the parts that make you feel safe.
As I was watching the music video the song changed for me. I saw exactly what you've described in this video. I saw the codependency and as soon as it occurred to me I thought back to some past videos of yours where you talk about how codependent you are in relationships and it all makes sense. This song has been a favorite of mine since the day you released it and I sing it all the time. The music video is brilliant and I look up to you a lot. Thank you for your videos! You're amazing. Love you dodie❤️❤️❤️
I suffer from anxiety and for me the song was something I could relate to in a really nice way. I read it as someone who's able to ease the pain of having anxiety through a loved one. Now I feel like I can never hear it the same way and I'm really sad and disappointed because it was one of the only songs out there I felt I could connect to, and one of the only songs that in turn helped with my anxiety as well.
Emmy B that doesnt have to change though! if thats what you think the songs about then you have total liberty to think that! the best thing about art is that there is no "right way" to see/hear it :)
I think your interpretation makes a lot of sense, but that's not entirely how it struck me upon first listen. I thought of it as being from the point of view of someone who had been treated badly in the past and was scarred from that experience. It seemed like they were struggling in a new relationship to move on from their past trauma and to move past the toxic thinking they'd been conditioned into previously, hence the abrupt shift from dark imagery to lighter, cozier imagery (getting overwhelmed by chaotic, dark thoughts and suddenly pulling themselves back out of it when they remember that this new relationship is different). They struggle with the thoughts throughout the song, hence the back and forth with the imagery, and struggle with feelings of guilt as well for making their partner go through this with them (the whole section about pinning hopes and drinking thoughts), but in the end they are able, at least somewhat, to deal with these feelings and move forward with this relationship (which is why the song ends on a more positive note).
The video didn't quite match my idea of the song, but I still really enjoyed it. The premise was mostly the same to my interpretation, but I didn't see a damaged relationship, I thought that was just the writer letting herself believe that she was hurting her partner.
I had noticed "numb" and some of the words you pointed out as gross or contrasting before, but had looked at the song as calming and cute, maybe even relatable.
I got in trouble for listening to this song during english class when i was supposed to be watching a video on persuasive writing and now i need to show my teacher this video to try and avoid punishment. Yay!
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Oliver Reiser2017-04-13 05:02:51 (edited 2017-04-13 05:03:11 )
I also kinda was thinking about mental health stuff when I was analyzing this song, but I didn't really get an unhealthy relationship vibe from it??? I felt like it was more about like how it's nice to have a relationship to rely on for comfort and support when you're suffering from mental health issues. But honestly, I feel like it could go either way, healthy or unhealthy. Both are cool concepts.
The way I interpreted this song was actually kinda the complete opposite. the song starts off with "skin", hearing this I automatically assumed it was an intimate moment between two lovers, this is followed by the word "heat", then "Hair in your mouth", and "feet touching feet". When I first heard this song I felt it was possibly the first time for this intimacy between the two, however it is possible that could be interpreted differently. the song goes on to say, "you and I safe from the world" this is almost as if to say that the subject feels safe with their partner, their body/ presence is a safe haven "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" I always thought of this as a fear of being close to someone, a fear of commitment and letting people get to close "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" This is a transition sort of saying "you are the exception, with you I can push away my fears of letting someone in, because you make it easy". "Numb, fine" For this I believed it to be a numbness of all things evil. with the certain person the song speaks about, the writer is unable to feel all the hurt in the world, that person can turn grey into white. This is followed with "fine" they feel fine now because their fears have been lowered, they feel calmer. "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" they are one of the few people the subject can be comfortable with, almost as if to say they are able to let go and be themselves with this person. "breath with me", they are becoming connected, they have deepened their relationship. "Can you drink all my thoughts cuz I can't stand them" The writer is asking their partner to completely eradicate the feelings of fear they have, make them less afraid to be a part of something bigger. "intertwined, free" this is another reference to the intimate moment, when the writer is with their partner in this way they feel free of burden. "I've pinned each and every hope on you" the writer is counting on their partner to pull them from the dark, they want to be able to fall deep in love. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" the subject is afraid that their un-sureness is going to affect their partner, they don't want to cause them pain or confusion. the song then ends with a repeat of "we can stay here and laugh away the fear", the writer is finally ready to let go, they are not afraid of committing fully to the person they seem to love. I see this song as a dance, as an acceptance of love and all the frightful things that come along with giving one's self fully to another person. To me personally it is a reflection of commitment issues, being afraid to let someone see you at your most vulnerable.
i have a passage analysis essay for literature that's due in a week and i might have watched this instead of writing that but it was definitely me studying close language analysis done by the writer themselves, i swear
I actually interpreted it they way you do!! (hope that didn't sound like bragging)
At the time this song was made and put on you tube I had a very close friendship with someone and I related some of the more intimate lyrics to the person and I. Later on this friendship began to struggle due to my issues with it (some doubt fear and anxiety) which makes this song even more relatable, which to me now is very interesting. My struggles were a burden and our friendship isn't close anyone (we're algood now though). Thank you for such a lovely and expressive song Dodie! xxx
I truly enjoyed the song and breakdown and video. I think Dodie is paralleled only by Stromae in portraying amazingly complex issues in beatiful digestible pop. I was in a romantic engagement with my best friend and we were both mentally unstable and we went down in a ball of flames, its nice to see I am not necessarily alone in my experience or expectation of a relationship turning toxic because of depersonalization, anxiety and depression.
Heeeeeeey Dodie, you should totally make a video/video series on lyric writing and overall song creation, because I love music and am a musician, and I have so many things to say. However, I'm really bad with words (especially lyrics and poetry) and I can't get the feelings and images in my head onto the page. Also please leave makeup details in the description because your makeup today is sO GOOD.
Ok, SO. I too, have a few pretty severe mental illnesses that got steadily worse from November to January. The peak of my mental breakdown was in December. I heard this song for the first time a week or so ago and I'm immediately started crying. It reminded me so much of a relationship that I had had with someone before my breakdown and how much I had loved them and how they had protected me from my growing anxiety. That person who I loved so much and who had presumably loved me back made promises they chose not to keep and basically disappeared on me. When my issues reached their peak that person wasn't there for me, and during some of my really bad times I would will them to be there, sometimes calling out their name somehow convinced that one day they would care for me again and that they were the only thing that could get me through. But they never appeared at my door to save me so I saved myself. Afterwards, I realized that what I went through had nothing to do with the absence of their love for me and that the only person who could put my broken pieces back together was... Me. People helped me, but ultimately I had to make the effort and I had to pull myself out of the dark. Anyway, when I heard Intertwined my first thought was the love and protection from "the things in my brain" that this person had given me so long ago. And all of the many other times I've listened to it and sang it since then, I've always thought of them in a loving and thankful way. To me the song was a medley of protection, safety, nostalgia, sadness, and love. But now that I've heard the interpretation of it from you, Dodie, I've realized the deeper darker meaning to it. You can't rely on someone to save you from yourself, especially when that person has let you down so many times before. To have a relationship that's essentially a safe place sheltering you from your insecurities and mental instability is unhealthy and damaging. I only saw the lighter side to your song, just like I still choose to see the lighter side of the toxic relationship I had with an untrustworthy person. I know that I don't need that person to love and shelter me but sometimes I still forget. This song is so beautiful and relatable to me and your interpretation just makes me love it so much more. All of your songs make me feel so much because it's like you can see all of my thoughts and feelings and you're spinning them into gorgeous poetry. It's like...SOMEONE PUT IT INTO WORDS. Thank you so much, Dodie. ❤️❤️❤️☺️
I think the music videos for this song and for Sick of Losing Soulmates fit really well (especially with all this explaining!) I also can't help but wonder: What if the videos for the songs were switched? So intertwined was depicting the sweet but solemn course of a relationship and SoLS showed the messy run of one. I wonder if that would match some people's visions more?
oh my god this is genius. like it's so cool how a video can change people's minds about a song. but, i do think the videos fit perfectly with the songs they have now. sick of losing soulmates is like fighting to maintain a friendship, while intertwined is about a toxic relationship. still, art is different to everybody, and all interpretations are valid
Something I find really interesting the idea of being sort of a pessimist about love. Maybe more specifically when talking about mental illness or emotional dependency and love, but either way. When I first listened to intertwined I did think it was this cute, romantic song but I like the explained message even better. I've been trying to understand love and my own mental state and its hard. We still don't really understand ourselves and our emotions enough to know the recipe to a perfect relationship. Or at least a lasting, loving, perfectly healthy one. After having just gone through a tough breakup I think I'm seeing how we're all fucked up. Kind of like the line in sick of losing soul mates. We don't see how the other person is just as flawed until later. And can we really find someone who is "the one" if we're all deeply flawed, lost, and mentally unstable? I just feel like people are like puzzle pieces. There's no missing half, that person only fits part of you. There are other parts others would fit into. And there pieces of we still don't, and parts that change. I don't know if I even believe love is the right thing for us as people. It's like a drug. And you can self medicate on people, which is like what you said in the video. Love, mental illness, and perception of self are things we still need to understand better. Idk man, I'm only 17 and this isn't necessarily a theory on the song but just some thoughts. You're cool Dodie. I really enjoy your song explanations. I also loved the music video. And I'm glad you're talking about things like this. You're such brilliant writer.
I didn’t actually identify the partner’s burden as a result of the writer’s mental turmoil, but here is my (rather inaccurate) interpretation: It appears that the writer has found an oasis of tranquility in her partner. The sensual intimacy and trust distracts her from both the chaos of the world and the chaos in her “brain”, and she desperately wishes to simply “stay here and laugh away the fear”. However, it is clear that despite the genuineness of their love, the partner only offers a temporary resolution to the writer. The subtext is that she is unable to sustain any romantic relationships, as she is far too consumed and burdened by her own psychological troubles. The tragedy of the writer’s situation is particularly striking when she pleads for her partner to “drink” her thoughts; she hopes (and pretends) that her lover is her salvation, yet even she knows all he can provide is fleeting bliss. Although she loves him, she is aware that the love affair was doomed from the outset.
I do feel like it did fit in well with the video. What I would have done is make all these happy moments with the dolls or even some stop motion doodles for when they are just doing cutesy couple things. Then have arguments, anxiety attacks and more negative aspects of the relationship with two real people. This would show that all the happiness in the doodles or stop motion dolls was a 'perfect' version of the relationship that isn't quite real but more of what they want/pretend it is. Thoughts?
i think the fact that a majority believes the song is sweet is kind of shows how relationships and mental illness and be easily concealed with sentimental words, smiles and false facades
I saw the darker moments of the song, but to me (at least until the video came out lol) I always viewed the mentally well party helping the mentally ill one and everything turning out well. Like the middle verse "Numb. Fine." In my experience has been me in the point in a relationship where I like someone, but don't feel I can trust them with my feelings and angrily tell them I'm fine and grow distant. But the next line creating smiles to me implies the speaker triumphed over that feel of connection and learned to let her lover make her smile. You point out the overwhelming OHHHHS at the climax, but they're then patted down to quieter oh oh ohohoh's suggesting to me the the thoughts have all been drunk and what once the speaker "couldnt stand" is now bearable. The line "Intertwined. Free." To me doesn't show an unhealthy relationship or any kind of contrast at all. In the best relationships you are intertwined and unified but you should also feel free. Also within the songs context, perhaps free of some of the mental strain.
I feel like the reason a lot of people imagined the video to be so different is because there really isn't a lot of songs like this around. I can't think of another song which switches between love and romance and mental illness like this. The mood in this song is always changing. Though the listeners are faced with gory language, they exclude those words and focus on the romantic ones because this is the social norm. We have been conditioned to think that certain things can only have one definite meaning - a love song is only a love song, a "horrible" song is only a "horrible" song. Therefore people think the video should be romantic as some of the words included fit the social normality and definition of 'love'. This song breaks those norms and 'intertwines', if you will, those two concepts. This song doesn't shy away from the truth which is why there is so much controversy. Many people aren't use to this amount of honesty about society and it's flaws. Thank you for creating this song! (Sorry if this makes 0 sense I literally typed it at 4:30am lol)
I took the song as this; a same-sex couple trying to deal with a homophobic town/society that the two were living in. After watching this, although I still like my theory, it is absolutely fascinating how my interpretation, jared off from the original interpretation of the lyrics/ what they were "supposed" to mean. I say that in quotes, because I feel like with art there is no right, or wrong. It just, is.
I'm just going to add onto what I was saying before about my theory. The couple lived in not only a homophobic place, but they were to figure out that some people were talking about them. This takes a dark turn from the relationship, forcing them to stay very closed off and over all, in a not very healthy state of mind. There home was the only place they could be safe, and soon enough they were even going against each other for being in a state of depression caused by the people around them. The relationship soon died down, ending in two unhappy people, in a place where they weren't safe. Yeah... that's what I got out of it.
so this video made me almost cry. hearing this explanation of a seemingly sweet song that's actually pretty twisted, and how every single word and chord and EVERYTHING about this song was so meticulously chosen, ugh it's so overwhelming idk why. i think im going to cry every time i hear this song now thanks.
My interpretation was very sappy and lovey dovey. I feel like this is a 21 Pilots song btw 😂 It has a happy tune but the lyrics are so so dark. Any who I felt as though two people were in a relationship, and the one needed the other so much that they just kind of intertwined and became one person. What a roller coaster. Love the song+music video Dodes! <3
I often listened to 'Intertwined' with my eyes closed and a cup of tea when my head was in a muddle. I didn't really think about why I did this, because my head felt an inability to grasp much haha. However, on reflecting on this impulse I've come to realise how powerful the lyrics of this song are. They have spoken to me so truly. As you mentioned, it is harmonically and melodically a sweet and gentle song with underlying bitter thoughts. These lyrics so appealed and felt as if they listened to my murky head. Yet at the same time, the soothing softness disguising the weight of the lyrics sent me into a state of calm.
honestly this just brings this already gorgeous song and brand new meaning and it's just amazing how much different it was in my mind and i've never really been that great at picking up different themes (especially ones that are so well hidden) so this is truly eye opening. keep up the good work!
Wow, I'm amazed! This breakdown gave me chills and took my breath away a little bit. Only Dodie could make a song sound both beautiful and dark at the same time, this is why I love her❤️
One of my most favorite things in life is hearing how someone who created some art form had felt or thought during the making of it and then comparing it to how I received it. and weirdly my intake on this was sorta similar to dodie's possibly due to also having depression and anxiety or not idk but anyways when I originally heard the song I imagined it as a character who had mental illnesses (obviously) who was in a relationship of some sorts where they placed a lot of their self worth and abilities on the other persons ideas of them. The line "the world will try-" made me think that the characters friends and family were attempting to get them out of the toxic relationship. the bit where it says "free" made me think of the person having thoughts of leaving but then being followed by "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" and soft humming made me think of the person giving up and staying under false pretense of being happy and safe.
damn that was long and idk if I did my thoughts justice oh well ...
I remember when I first saw you on tour and your intro to this song was "I haven't been in a relationship in a long time and so I wrote a song as if I was in a relationship cause gosh I'm so lonely lol" or something along those lines, so I've always interpreted the song as a daydream. A hope of healing and happiness that a relationship could bring that seems lovely in a dream, but in reality would be completely unhealthy. Sort of like a desperate fantasy in the search for a cure for yourself.
Boom! Mic drop indeed. This was awesome Dodie. The whole EP is great, but this song in particular is the one I have stuck on repeat. Full of atmosphere and tones of conviction - two of my fav' things to have in songs.
Really great way of going through your interpretation of the song. Thank you for sharing :)
this is one of the most fascinating videos i've watched recently. i typically like to interpret songs on my own, but i suppose i didn't realize how interesting it is to hear them through the eyes of the creator themselves. i especially appreciate you talking about the chord progression and how they linked with the words. this song is truly a work of art. you must be so proud!
i commented that at the halfway mark of watching this, but i just finished. i absolutely have to comment again about how much thought and effort went into every word and phrasing. i would never have seen this song or your writing style in such an intricate and genius way were it not for this video. thank you. this is incredible.
This is almost exactly how I thought of it, I never really considered it a love song due to the words "numb" "I can't stand it" "drink all my thoughts" it always seemed so dark and the music video was so fitting, honestly loved it :)
I. Love. This. Song. I've always seen it as a dark song masked by the cute melody and lovey phrases mixed in, but I didn't realize the full extent of genius of it until you pointed it out. You played with our emotions, so props to you. I love the way you contrasted the dark words with love, which I always saw as someone in a relationship trying to hint to their significant other that they a) aren't happy, or b) aren't okay, because they don't feel safe flat out saying it. I still kind of see it like that, but I also love the whole 'toxic relationship' theme. Because you can be in love and be happy even if you're draining each other's energy in the process. It's a sense of dependency, like you said, like 'you make me feel like I'm worthless but I'd be so much worse without you' which is a very real thing. The way you combed through every lyric (which is what it seems like judging by the depth of the song) is outstanding and it shows. WOOOOOT I LOVE THIS.
This is exactly what I hear when I listen to this deep song. I always look for the deeper meaning to match how I feel though so possibly it's just me 😂 I loved the video!
This was so amazing! I love how you described it, because in a much simpler way, my brain interpreted the song as a both beautiful and toxic relationship. I think I understood it so well because I deal with depression, anxiety, and co-dependency so that's why identified with it so much. I know you love it when we discuss how we viewed the songs, but I wish you would do videos like these more often!
i have such a hard time trying to interpret song lyrics, so when i originally heard the song, i thought it was about a dying relationship. now that i've seen this, i see the very dark meaning of the song and i LOVE it ah!
I interpreted this song as being desperate and lonely. It makes me feel kind of lost, like the world is shrouded in chaos, but like when they're with who they're with, the world fades away into nothingness, and to me that signifies a toxicity within the relationship. I thought the video was an extremely interesting piece of art but that maybe a different idea could have represented the intended interpretation better.
also after watching this im so happy i always thought this was kind of a darkish song that talks about how you can still be in love with someone and have happy moments while at the same time its not healthy and you're not mentally stable. i still dont understand while people keep putting dodie in this box of super cute happy romantic acoustic songs when shes a lot more multidimensional than that and can write darker songs like this one. i mean seriously "you create a rarity of my smile" and "im afraid of the things in my brain" and "numb" this isnt just some perfect little love song
I didn't interpret the song this way, as I imagined it to be a love song. But I am so glad that Dodie posted this and shared what she meant the song to be understood as
that was so lovely! I loved hearing you explain it, actually. MY interpretation, however, was more of someone's expectations of how the relationship was going to be, and then having that collide with how it really turned out to be, and the entire time you never truly know what is real and was was imagined.
Thank you for giving us your interpretation. Understanding the song more fully made me cry so much listening to the song again, because I'm going through what the song describes right now. Thank you for creating this beautiful gift of a song, for expressing one of the struggles that mentally unstable people go through. Love you sincerely dodie
Tbh, my interpretation was that sometimes love and relationships can be dark and gory themselves, but in the end you can laugh away the fear because the love is stronger than the negative emotions. Sappy, I know
Thank you so much for this! I love analysis especially musical analysis and this was a great explanation. As for what this song means to me, when I first listened to Intertwined, I loved it, but I didn't get too much of the deeper meaning. I came back to the song later after a classmate of mine had committed suicide. The weekend afterward I was planned to hang out with old friends who didn't go to that school, one of them being a crush of mine. The whole affair was a mess, I didn't want to break any bad news around such a rare get together and I felt masked the whole night. I stayed up late taking to my crush as the others feel asleep, and Intertwined always related to that time for me. A mixed bag of feeling happy for the first time in a while while feeling guilty and nervous right under the surface. I listened to Intertwined a lot during that time, and I was really intrigued and relieved to see the darker side of the lyrics that I always listened for. That was quite a long and heavy comment but there's my spiel haha, thanks for reading :)
DODIE i can't even explain how much i love this video. i live for finding meaning and literary aspects in literature, and i especially love when songwriters put a deliberate purpose behind each lyric of their music like this. this was wonderful, thank you for sharing your meaning of this song with us 💖
I could hear you talk like this forever, you seem so passionate about it. I really enjoy the way you express your mind dodie💜 Lots of love from Argentina🌸
The first time I listened to it, I thought of a relationship in which both partners had their own flaws and issues, but they tried their best to work past those and even embrace them.
I love this and the video make so much sense for it, it's really beautiful and really tragic and so much deeper than a casual sweet little love song and I think the video really works with that and highlights that
I interpreted the song as if it was from the pov of someone trying to hide their mental instability/ not understanding mental illnesses and feeling as if they're alone. Worried as they don't want to ruin their relationship because of these thoughts they're having they keep them quiet and undercover. But as the thoughts start getting stronger and more terrifying it feels as if they can't be contained. Then the mental instability begins to show, where is seen in the line "breathe, breathe" as I interpreted that as someone hyperventilating because of the weight of not being able to express all these thoughts. They then try to look for a way of coping so they turn to alcohol in hope that if they kept drinking the thoughts would go away which I saw in the line "Can you drink all my thoughts." All the while constantly worrying that these thoughts will ruin the relationship that they're in.
I'm not good at analyzing songs but the lyric "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" has always gotten to me like it's so dark compared to how it sounds
When I first heard the song, I FELL IN LOVE!!!!!! fav song on the ep, but I interpreted it as a song about mental health and, well, intimacy between lovers.
first off, i'd just like to say that this is a BEAUTIFUL song. it's my favorite out of every original song by dodie, with "i knew you once" in a close 2nd place.
i completely agree with you on most of the meaning, i definitely picked up on the contrast between the "pain" lyrics and the lyrics meant to mask the pain. it's my favorite part of the song.
the only bit you said that totally contrasted with what i was thinking was the "numb... fine..." part.
i interpreted the word "numb" to mean fuzzy or hazy, almost like the feeling when you're drunk or even tired when you let go of your thoughts and everything seems a little bit soft and crackly? it's hard to describe the feeling, but that's what i got out of the first word.
the word "fine" i interpreted not as meaning "okay" but as meaning "detailed" (as in "a fine tip sharpie"). i thought it contrasted with the word "numb" because obviously something very clear and detailed is the opposite of the hazy feeling i described in the previous paragraph.
i thought that those two words showed that in theory, the thoughts/feelings the relationships gave you were very clear ("fine"}, while in reality, they made you confused and it was hard to see all the details, just a feeling ("numb").
i'm sorry if this was completely illiterate but i hope to discuss this song with someone because i love it so much and i love dodie's minimalist beautiful songwriting and i WISH i can write songs like this in the future <3
I LOVE your analysis, Dodie, and I appreciate how it lets me understand the song better, as it is probably my favorite song of yours. I've also had fun reading the comments and seeing the other perspectives on your lyrics. I hadn't ever thought of this song as depicting a toxic relationship, though as you talked about it, it made perfect sense. I had always kind of imagined it as the two lovers finding solace in their relationship because they were dealing with a lot of shit from the rest of the world; like, they were only truly happy and comfortable and free when they were intertwined. At the end, I also thought the lyrics like "I hope that you don't bleed with me" was showing one lover genuinely caring about the other's well-being and outside life. I guess I took it as more of a healthy, beneficial relationship (building each other up because of, say, mental health issues) at first, but I love both sides.
This was incredible to watch. Such a tragic, bittersweet story. Having you do this brings so much clarity to a beautiful and heart wrenching song. Thanks! I hope you do another one of these in the future :)
Thankyou so much for this video! After the video came out I really hoped you would explain it and this is exactly what I was wishing for! I commented on the music video a couple days ago that I was disappointed with it because I didn't see its relation to the song and thought of it as trying to play into the popular creepy doll theme that I've seen in other videos. Now that I have heard your thoughts behind it I love the video! (My original distaste for it was probably not only for my natural distaste for anything I see as a trend but also because I get creeped out very easily) but anyway thanks for explaining your interpretation. This is not how I interpreted the song, (I saw it as about how wonderful it is to have someone to talk to about mental health problems with, someone who is on your side in life and gives you support in a relationship, but I didn't look very closely into the lyrics)
I definitely interpreted it as someone with a lot of fear and anxiety that maybe even makes things hard for awhile but that maybe even in the confusion there's moments of stillness almost like someone in a romantic relationship that has pibolar disorder where things can get messy but it's ultimately nice and their significant other is helping them work through stuff
omg dodie this video is just so amazing, I'm so glad that you made it. I was so confused when the Intertwined video came out; tho I really loved it I didn't quite understand it ¿? because as you said everybody has its own interpretation on art ((and its awesome and my favorite thing about it)), but I love that now that you explained it has a whole new meaning than the cheesy romantic lyrics I used to hear; now it's even a more beautiful piece of art and I couldn't be more proud of you for proving yourself and us that you can make something beautiful and amazing and actually helpful of something so awful as a mental illness, and that those issues don't have to stop you from being happy and love yourself (even if it's hard sometimes). Anyway, you keep surprising me everyday and I couldn't be more glad to have found your work here; you really are helping. I hope you are happy and proud of yourself, ilysm <3 also happy super late birthday
I've always seen this song as more of a positive type of song, where someone is mentally ill but finds help in another person and begins to feel better because of it. I think your meaning is also amazing, just not necessarily how I saw it. It's quite interesting how multiple people have a different perspective of the same song.
I originally thought the song was about a relationship on the edge of falling apart. The people don't know whether or not to continue this relationship. They have these really nice moments where they are intimate (the first verse) and everything is ALMOST fine. And then everything falls apart. They go back and forth between being together and falling apart.
this video was so interesting and intelligent thank you so so so much for this dodie. it was fascinating to hear your interpretation and how you wrote this song and the theme you wanted behind it. i interpreted this song as the story of a healthy relationship. someone who is very broken, being able to lean on their partner, finding relief in the relationship. it is truly fascinating how differently art can be interpreted. again, thank you so much for this dodie.
this was my exact interpretation of the song but i feel like the music video definitely referenced physical abuse rather than mental health issues which is why i think many people didnt think it fitted the song too well
What I would like to know is did Sammy come up with the music vid idea after just hearing the song? Or did you discuss it with him? Had he come to any conclusions about it?
i never really analyzed the song until the music video. the video definitely put across your interpretation to me, it really fits and gives the perfect portrayal
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Ella Daly2017-04-13 00:37:43 (edited 2017-04-13 00:38:02 )
I thought the song was definitely dark when i first heard it and then that idea was confirmed by the video. I believe there was an amazing message behind it and the way it was masked and created was beautiful. FINALLY SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS STUFF IN A SONG!!!!
I really love hearing your explanation behind your lyrics. I couldn't give you a concise answer as to how I interpret the lyrics but I love hearing the artists reasoning behind their lyrics and it gives me a deeper understanding of the song when I'm performing it 😊😊 I'd love to hear your analysis of your other songs Dodie 😁😁 I think that even though each person interprets as song/ price of art differently, it's interesting to hear the though processes behind it. ALSO I think that when I perform/ practice a song, the image of the song in my head changes the tone of my voice and different accents in places and stuff so yeah, I'd love to see some other videos like this 😊
Okay so, my own idea when I heard this song was the underlying theme that you can't love away mental health issues. I know this because I've tried desperately to fix someone. But in the relationship I am thinking of, I witnessed a person try so so so hard to love away my mental problems. So when the line "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed" really rang true because soon she tired herself out trying to fix me so much that her mental health worsened. But in all honesty we were so madly in love that it almost didn't matter. The lyrics "intertwined, free" really hit it one the head for what would be a perfect relationship. So perfectly intertwined that it feels liberating. So when you sang "numb, fine" it took this sickenly sweet song and brought it back to reality. One were the two of us in this relationship we're pretending to be okay when we could feel nothing when we looked at each other. It honestly took my breath away when you mention the lyric "laugh away the fear" really meant we were just ignoring what we really felt and just talked over it. Because as the relationship with the girl began to end this was how we acted. We laughed over problems that in the end destroyed us. Thanks you for writing this amazing song, it really was gorgeous and the music video for this song captured the meaning in a surprisingly beautiful way.
DODIE I have been in love with this song since it came out. I would listen to it and daydream about love, but then the music video came out and it completely changed my perspective! I think your take on this was so fascinating and I loved it. I agree with you, debating about art is so incredibly interesting. How you changed my perspective on your song really opened up a lot of things, and helped me understand a lot. I am now only more in love with the song, and I love playing it on my ukulele as well :))
My original interpretation of the song was of someone who was afraid to love, who maybe had a bad relationship in the past and is now hesitant with this new relationship.
please post more in-depth analysis videos of your art like this!!!!! these give the songs even more of a deep meaning than they already have and i live for this kind of stuff
When I first listened to intertwined it made me think of the beginning of the relationship where it's more passionate and raw. I saw the word "Intertwined" as the literal physical sense of two bodies being intertwined, I also thought that the "skin" and "brain" part was the couple beginning to explore each other physically and mentally, it all felt to me like a new relationship. After watching this video it really opened my eyes and made me think and appreciate the people who have the sheer strength to get out and even realise that they are in an abusive/unhappy/negative relationship. LOVE YOU DODIE💖P.S I also love the discussion of art and it's different forms and meanings xx
Yes yes exactly. At first I only thought this was a love song, very sweet and innocent. I watched the music video right when it came out and I UNDERSTOOD VEIW CHANGED MAD QUICK I watched it only twice and this is the explanation I came up with. I absolutely love this song and the music video (reminds me of a Stanley Kubrick plus west Anderson kinda thing <3) I really relate to the meaning and it does make me feel something knowing someone was able to make art capturing a similar phenomenon I and haven't been able to get a handle on. Love you and Sammy well done.
I absolutely loved the music video. I think the dolls made it creepier and fit the tone and message of the song! also I loved the analysis you're so cute :))))
BRILLIANT! i didn't ever think of the lyrics in this way by now that it's being explained it seems like the theme was right in front of me the whole time!! that's so cool dodie you did an amazing job as did sammy paul with the video.❤️
I definitely felt it was darker than the tune seemed to intend as I've listened to it. I interpreted it as a love song or story intertwined with the burden of mental health and have listened to it a lot while struggling with my own mental health issues, but i took it more as a possibly damaging relationship where one was putting a lot more than the other into the relationship and I definitely didn't see it quite as dark as it was intended to be. definitely love the song and the music video, though.
I always heard and understood the slightly less sweet undertone to the song, and when I saw the music video I literally screamed with happiness. It's absolutely perfect. It matches the song in the way it at first seems sickly sweet, two barbie dolls in a cutesy little dollhouse, but then becomes increasingly darker and more macabre. The song is an absolutely wonderful representation of a toxic relationship that is trying to be covered up by saying its 'fine'. I think the music video was perfect at portraying this. Wonderful job to dodie and the rest of the team that worked on it!
dude, dodie, I've never been more assured of why I love you so much ! This fills my creative, English-lit loving brain with SO MUCH HAPPINESS !!!! With regards to the song, when I first heard it, I can clearly remember my first feelings being somewhat disturbed and I would completely agree with the things you said in this video about like the vivid imagery of 'skin' 'brain' etc.. I also remember feeling the jarring of 'numb... Fine' very distinctly and noticing the oxymorons in there. But then as I got used to the song I heard the romantic (tho it still seemed more intimate than romantic if you know what I mean) aspect of the song and just assumed that was how you and everyone else interpreted it which I personally think tells a lot about what I expect (due to society, socialisation, stereotypes and expectations) from women songwriters. Can't help but be annoyed at myself for just going with what I thought was intended rather than sticking to my own intuition and thoughts but I am SO grateful for this video. Goodness you are brilliant.
i didnt really have much of an analysis in my head about the song. i was just enjoying it for what i had assumed it was, i didnt think about it. i did notice something was unsettling about the lyrics though. i love the song a whole lot more now that the music video made me think about it more. my favourite thing about music is that its always a layer deeper than i think.
Hi Dodie! I love your work and this is an awesome video cause I heard the song differently. Anyways, here's my interpretation lol. So starting with the "skin" thing, I didn't really find it jarring cause the soft beginning made me just imagine like, cuddling or something. Also, the contrast of words like "numb" and "fine" I just heard as the general ups and downs, and later with the "I hope that you don't bleed with me" I heard it like "I don't want to hurt you cause you're what's helping me" sorta thing. Overall (so this doesn't become a novel, lol), I heard the song more like a couple in love and one is just going through some pain of sorts, and their partner is trying to support them and help them through. So like, this is the song of the person going through the pain, scared of hurting the people/person that're trying to help as they themselves try to get better. Sorta a sad love song in my ears.
holy shit this is hands down my favorite video you've made- to see what went through your brain and what went into this song was seriously amazing. I listened to the song before the video and thought it was sweet, when I saw the music video I saw a totally different yet fitting interpretation and hearing you analyze each part with such heart behind each tiny decision is truly incredible. You are so very talented! I can't even express how I feel about this mental journey I've gone on with this song. Thank you dodie
I love your music, and I think you are brilliant. I've been watching you for a while now and I'm amazed by how much you've growth, But I'm not so happy with the way you've changed this past few months. You've placed a little too much entasis in the fact that you are not okay in your Dodie the singer/songwriter persona and that's fine but I think It's a little counter effective, you see; your music helped/helps thousands of people battling whatever life troughs at them daily and that's very noble and beautiful, but I also have conflicted fillings about it, It's becoming something predictable and almost forced like everything has to be about how not well you are (and hopefully I'm so very wrong)and that worries me a little.Its almost like you are brushing it off as "whatever its normal" and your fanbase have caught this attitude too, every day I see post from your fans talking about their mental problems with each other in the comments and Instagram and can't help to wonder how many of these post are genuine and which are just trying to fit in with this weird turnaround of people who've come to embrace mental health a little too much. I say this as someone not only clinically diagnosed with depression but who has also lost far too many loved ones to mental illnesses (for underdiagnosis and overdiagnosis), just recently a close-ish friend who showed heavy signs of an anxiety disorder was diagnosed with schizophrenia and has lost himself in the drugs he is taking (He partook in this "unsafe" normalization of mental illnesses trough his blog and such) I don't know if this is a little tone deaf or rude, art is art and it should be left to the artists to critic, but I just don't see this transformation to your brand as something helpful to our community. And I would like to clarify that this is in no way denying that people who have mental illnesses shouldn't talk about it (I actually believe that you do a great favor to the youtube community by doing so, and in some instances the vid you make me have helped me in ways that ill forever grateful for; If it wasn't for your depersonalization video I would've never known how to explain to my counselor how I've felt for so long) but I also stand by the point that the repetition of this "quirky it's cool to be ill" mentality that has erupted all over the internet is doing a disservice to the diagnostician and treatment of real illnesses Just to further my point of who its a little strange how you handled it I would like to point out that in 1:56 I just sounds wrong (IMO) and I get it, its supposed to be empowering but it just comes off cocky and dismissive.
I'll just finish by saying that in no way this is a callout, it's more of an invitation to re-evaluate how you are managing this topic. I wish you nothing but love and everything thats good. - A concerned fan
Okay so first of all, I am completely and utterly in love with how you wrote this beautiful song, I'm not going to lie and say that I totally understood it because I don't think that is what you intended to do with how you wanted to song to be taken. I think you made it sound calm, loving and understandable to hide the fact of the true darkness of mental health and relationships. If I'm wrong about my hypothesis please tell me but overall I will never hate this song because it really touches my heart more than ever. @doddlevloggle
I would love to see your english teachers respond to the analysis. I imagine they are extremely proud of you, just like your fans who have been watching for a while are.
I'm so glad you made this. like many, I originally was a bit thrown off by the music video, but it gives so much deeper meaning than what I had assumed about the song. there are thousands of cuddly love songs, but very few ones like this, and it is very well written and thought out <3
I always heard the song as being a story of fear, like an okay relationship going completely wrong (abusive). They (the person being abused) are trying to convince their brain everything is okay, hence the "laugh away the fear." They don't love their significant other anymore, but they stay, Intertwined in the horrible romance because of their dependence on their abuser and their need for stability. Just my thoughts, love you dodie!
I love this song so much because it relates back to my own past relationship.
But it wasn't me that started out as the unhealthy one. I mean, sure I had my moments, and I had unhealthy qualities, and other than my anxiety I never had any severe mental health issues. My partner however was diagnosed with depersonalisation and depression, and all chronic and due to his brain having a lack of chemicals and what not.
So our relationship start close, and loving (skin, heat) and mildly playful, your typical honeymoon stage of every relationship (hair in your mouth, feet touching feet). We had our own world, it was just the two of us together and it was peaceful and beautiful (safe from the world, though the world will try). Then as our relationship grew deeper, I learned more about his mental illness. And I thought I could help him. I thought that maybe by some miracle I was the girl that was going to save him from himself so that he'd be okay again. I start to "drink his thoughts".. I myself started to blame myself for his illness. I started to feel like shit a lot and I even started to feel suicidal. I hated myself for not helping him. I hated him for making me feel this way. But I was so sad because I hated but I still loved him dearly. And then I broke up with him. I told what was happening in my head and I don't think he realised that being with brought out a different unhealthy side to me that I didn't know I had.
I love this song and When so much, because I can relate it back to my old relationship. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him for his illness, not anymore at least. And I love and miss him dearly. But being with him brought out something in me I didn't know I had. And now I need to work on healing that part of me, without him.
when I first heard the song I though of it as feeling the other person in the relationship was like their "protector" and that the world was their fears. How when the two people were together they were shielded from the bad things in the world (I was thinking in the context of an lgbt relationship and how people would disapprove). But the writer still had doubts of whether they could handle the outside criticism. I guess lol (SORRY FOR THE JUMBLED MESS 🙃)
I interpreted the video somewhat similarly to your analysis. I related to the lyrics quite a lot because I have have my fair share of mental illnesses. Every relationship I've been in is a combination of telling myself I love them when I don't even know what love is (as a way to punishing myself which is quite dark I guess). I thought of the juxtaposition of the lyrics (numb and fine, for example) as the person trying to convince themselves that the relationship is perfect. The happier notes correspond with the person glorifying the small good moments in a relationship full of pain and sorrow. I personally love the music video, and I really appreciated this (much needed) analysis. My question: I believe you said "called it" in the beginning of the video, which leads me to assume that you have been in love. Do you believe this in depth thought of how you would act in a relationship caused the pain to occur? Normally, when I talk about awful scenarios and the issues it would cause, it inevitably happens. If I think about how my brain will react, it tends to react that way. Did thinking about how your brain would react to a relationship affect the way it did react? Or were you never in love and I'm overthinking everything? If so, I apologize.
i DEFINITELY had similar thoughts when i started to actually learn the lyrics. i thought of the relationship as romantic but she needs the other person to be okay/feel good and strong about herself. i did also see it as like a "hey, i'm kinda fucked up and i have a lot of shit going on in my brain, i hope you still love me anyway". which is the hopeless romantic in me coming out. but what scares me is that even after watching the entire video, i still see this song as romantic, even though i totally get your explanation of the toxicity. does that make me a bad person? are my views on love fucked up? (these are things i genuinely wonder, as my views on love are solely learned through friends and fiction, and i've never actually been in love). the teacher in me absolutely LOVES the format of this video (even if i'm a math teacher, not english). if my english classes were like this, i'd probably like it more lol.
Interesting. Whenever I heard the song I imagined that a woman has had a panic attack and her s.o. was calming her down. So the breathe with me part I got right. The woman was investing so much on the fact that when she had an attack her partner would always be there to calm her down. (I've pinned each and every hope on you) Then the stress and anxiousness of always having to calm her down got to her parter, breaking them. They developed the same issues. (I hope that you don't bleed with me). I always thought you create a rarity of my genuine smile was that the s.o. was seeing her genuine smile, something that was rare. Nonetheless amazing job dodie, as always.
Hi Dodie, hope you get to read this. If I may, this is my analysis:The first stanza refers to a couple in bed, the raw, intimate nature displayed through the use of blunt words 'skin', 'heat' 'hair' and 'feet'. The lack of complexity may 1. Refer to the way the relationship does not need to be questioned and romanticized, because it is beauty is in its raw simplicity. or 2. The relationship's intimacy has become purely physical and detached from emotion.Stanza 2 begins with 'Oh you,' Immediately drawing attention to the partner in the relationship. However the 'And I' connects the two for the next to lines, applying it to both people in the relationship. The world is constructed as a danger, that one needs to stay 'safe' from though it will 'try'. These lines construct a feeling of security and safety in the relationship, connecting the bonds within the couple and the safety from outside threats imposed on them. The third stanza begins with the line 'im afraid of the things in my brain.' The relation of fear to 'things in my brain' allow the audience to see how the threats have invaded the persona's mind. However, as they are only 'things in her brain,' they can be regarded similarly to nightmares - bad dreams - as the next line contrasts with 'but we can stay here and laugh away the fear,' demonstrating the safety and joy felt within the relationship, 'here' being used instead of 'there' shows that the persona can easily escape from her troubles to 'laugh away the fear.' As the fear is created in her mind and is not of a physical threat. (NOTE: I AM NOT DEMEANING ANY MENTAL DISORDERS)Stanza three begins with the word numb, which can be linked to an aesthetic, which decreases pain. Fine is a word used to convey a level of contentment in the situation. Though the personas smiles are a rarity, the second person in the couple creates them, which, while showing dependency, may also symbolize the positive effects of the relationship on the mental state of the person, as the 'outside world' is hostile. Stanza four begins with repetition of the word breathe. Breathing is a connection to living and thriving- every living thing must breathe. It may link to the colloquial, catching your breath; Allow down time, relaxation and recuperation. 'Can you drink all my thoughts' signals the persona's need for help, as she verbally calls to her partner to assist in relieving her of her dark thoughts 'Cause [she] can't stand them,' meaning she would like to be free of them.The title of the song is used in the last stanza in contrast to the second line - Intertwined and Free, may be used in conjunction to express the persona's freedom from her thoughts that has occurred as a result of her connection with her partner. 'I've pinned each and every hope on you' symbolizes her guilt for handin over all her problems to her partner and that she feels dependent. 'I hope that you don't bleed with me' demonstrates the depth persona's problem as bleeding is associated with physical injury, connecting physical and mental into one. The persona is wishing the best to her partner as she wants to make him feel better, the way he makes her. Hope you like my analysis. I know that it's not the way you saw the song but that is how I would interpret the lyrics. Also, apologies for the use of Hetero pronouns, it was faster to type 😅
I saw this song very differently. My mind focused on different things. I saw this as one person in a relationship was very stressed by the rest of the world and their partner offered solace. Basically, I saw the verses as a constant cycle of the partner creating a sense of safety for the writer. The writer also wanted to protect their partner from the stress of the outside world (possibly being overprotective), example being, "I hope that you don't bleed with me." I guess overall, the writer's thoughts being spilled to the partner was a way of warning them that the rest of the world is cruel and they should only need each other (showing desired codependency and human attachment). There were layers of codependency, overprotection, while on top of good intentions that could be considered a bit selfish but still sweet. I don't know if my explanation was really stupid or not. I am good in my english class but I haven't gone above and beyond for text analyzation in my fifteen years on Earth. I hope this was interesting!
The first time I listened to the song I interpreted it as cute and romantic because I pretty much washed over the lyrics and just listened to how it sounded. but once I actually listened to the words, it became darker and more haunting. now when I listen to it, I think of a relationship that kind of isn't working or isn't compleatly "safe" or "good" and is used to avoid dealing with feelings that are tearing the two people apart. so yeah.
i think a cute, innocent video is what everyone would expect for that song, especially without analyzing the lyrics. however i think the video you all made fits absolutely perfect. i love it so much and it is one of my favorite music videos of all time. thank you for everything you do dodie. you are so helpful and inspirational. also, happy late birthday!! 💛💛
I thought it was a cutesy love song but one of the lovers was depressed or over thinks everything as they are 'afraid of the things in their brain' and they want to other person in the relationship to help make them happy again and I thought of intertwined as when you hold someones hand and intertwine you fingers or intertwining thoughts between the lovers but I loved the video and I now watch it completely differently knowing dodies meaning to it.
As someone who originally and continually interprets this song as a lovey dovey, I interpreted the juxtaposed words and the last couple of verses quite differently. First, I thought that the "here" of the place mentioned by the speaker several times as some place quiet, comforting, and secluded, like a cozy bed in a bedroom.I interpreted "skin" as like the people skin is touching, which makes sense with the word "heat" to mean like their own "heat" like when people have sex or mess around with each other. I interpreted "numb" like when the person you like touches you and you feel really shaky and nervous but in a nice way and your skin it feels almost goes numb. I then interpreted fine as "I feel fine". I did interpret this as one person that has mental health issues (probs depression). However, I interpreted "can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" to mean that the partner is very understanding and listens to the rants of the writer. A person I know with depression talks to her gf the same way so I guess that's why it made sense to me. The last lyrics of "we can stay here and laugh away the fear" to me meant that the partner is helping the person through their mental health problems at least at the present time so the person feels happy (hence laughing) and content. The partner helps them get over that, hence connecting the "laugh away" lyric to the "you create a rarity of me genuine smiles." The speaker is still afraid of their mental health problem coming back again and again (hence afraid of their own brain), but they know their partner will always be there with them to "laugh away the fear," although not in the literal sense. Connecting that back to the lyric of "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles," the speaker now knows what works for them in terms of a successful relationship while still having mental health issues. The speaker is nervous in a sense that they are hurting their partner by them being in a relationship with someone who has mental health issues (which can scare some people in terms of emotional intimacy) and that their mental health is becoming the main focus of attention in their relationship, which makes them feel guilty. Thus the speaker doesn't want their partner to "bleed with me" because they do not want to cause any problems for their partner.
Intertwined is probably one of my many fave song you've written. Everything you've said about it matched up exactly to how I saw the song. It's nasty and raw and shows the reality of mental illness. The music video was so amazing and is even more raw and nasty but is beautiful. Also I LOVED THIS VIDEO. I live for art theory omg.
what i've always found interesting and clever about this song is that we are in a specific (mentally ill) person's mind throughout, so we don't get their partner's side or commentary on their relationship. They're clearly struggling, but I always interpreted it as mostly insecurity due to mental health; are their fears founded, or just projection and worry that they're not a good partner or a burden due to their mental health? Being in a relationship with someone who is mentally ill/struggling with mental health/neurodivergent IS going to be much different in a lot of ways from being in a normative relationship. The violent imagery and dark undertones are there, but I interpreted it more as their intrusive thoughts/panic/anxiety trying to ruin what is potentially a fine/healthy relationship. breathing with someone to calm them down/ground them is just something that you need to do sometimes, and especially in the case of someone with frequent panic attacks, asking for that help is not toxic and/or codependent. I always just read it as someone who is inexperienced in relationships maybe bc of their insecurity w/r/t their mental health, whose brain is trying to sabotage their newfound happiness bc mental illness sucks and is very good at making you feel unworthy of love and attention.
i understood the song more of a love i crave; something warm and intertwined. warm tea under blankets. i got that vibe from the chords, and the grain you added in the recording. the lyrics "im afraid of the things in my brain" i found i related to, as my sadness frightens me, and the love that is described in the song "laughed away" that fear. more on the chords... i imagined lovers playing them in front of a fire place, hence the grain, giving it a soothing feeling. the progression in the chorus was unsettling, reinforcing a sadder fear.
For several reasons I related to this song in several different ways that bear no relation to Dodie's stated intentions. I'm in a long term, long distance relationship, and the imagery of a couple Intertwined like this speaks to me deeply as an element I wish I could experience whenever I wanted. I relate to the darker lyrics not in a sense of struggling with mental illness (certainly nothing beyond mild anxiety), but more just through having lived through several lives and relationships already that have either stalled for different reasons or that should never have begun in the first place, and having to live now with the ghosts of my past selves, if that doesn't sound too incredibly pretentious. And while I know pinning your each and every hope on someone isn't the healthiest sounding course of action, what else are we doing when we present our hearts to another person when we fall in love with them? All we can hope for is that they treat it with the care and respect it/we deserve, and you find the right balance as a couple to make each other happy.
Anyway, I loved the song already, and I love it even more after hearing Dodie's own explanations of its intricacies, all of which made total sense hearing it from her point of view (definitely). Keep slaying Dodes, from a fellow Essex native!!!
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Kate Juliana2017-04-13 00:59:39 (edited 2017-04-13 01:02:06 )
OH I am so gonna analyze it how it spoke/read to me! I learned this song for an open mic thingy I participate in monthly. I love this song so much because you can read and relate to it in so many different ways.
Skin ( we are straight in the bedroom, This is clothes off, feeling each others skin, touching each other, maybe for the first time, or what feels like the first time.)
Heat(warmth, the feeling of love, lust.)
Hair in your mouth (just find this comically cuz OMG always!)
Feet touching feet (until the relationship i am in now, I hated someone feet touching mine so this part of the song sold me)
Altogether this whole first verse I feel like is the exciting new-ness of being with one another, how everything seems exciting and intimate.
Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try (the normal life struggles. Jobs or school taking you somewhere different. not getting along with each others friends or family, depression, stress, mood swings, disorders, difference in opinions, ideas, all the things that happens to anyone as a human.)
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain (this is about over analyzing, thinking way to far ahead in the future, being afraid of what your destiny is, whats to come, or whats in the past, whats going to come up, how broken you feel)
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear ( but with you I feel safe and happy and I can ignore the scary bits of being in a relationship and making my self soo vulnerable with you. Also, darker version. Avoid the world by hiding in bed, avoid the problems by getting frisky)
Numb Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles (well this is sadness, depression, like you said. With a happy twist because this person makes you forget, tying back up to laughing away the fear)
So breathe
Breathe with me ( i felt, especially with the way it was sang, this was calming down breathing. taking a step back from how consumed you both are in each other)
Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them (a plea asking this person to help you, take away your fears or share in them with you.and also recognizing you are afraid and telling that person)
Intertwined
Free ( free because you feel the safety you want with this person and are free to feel way more confident in your own skin. the person helps you feel free.)
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me (the fear of giving your heart or love to someone. knowing how vulnerable that makes you and so hoping the person wont destroy you. ANd hoping you dot cause this person to hurt either)
I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear
Now i want to be clear, not all of this "analysis" makes it a healthy relationship nor does it make it a bad one. Seeing things for what they are and recognizing your short comings, I think, is HUGE in a relationship. Overall I think this song is stunning and you are stunning, doodie. So glad you love how everyone interprets it differently! Also so happy for your success! I started following you at like130K and have now seen you play and met you. So proud of you!
i had to watch this video a few times to truly understand everything but i originally thought it was about someone in love who leaned on the other person a lot for comfort with their mental health, which i guess is how i would see myself in love. i'm still trying to fit the song to the video and this helped a lot.
I had a similar interpretation, but I thought of it more as being in denial of a mental illness. "Though the world will try- Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" shows paranoia about the world, that people are out to get the writer, but going on to point out the things in their brain suggests that they know their fears are made up. "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" made it sound like the writer is trying to ignore their worries and just laugh it off. "Numb, fine" suggests that the writer's first feeling is numbness, but they're trying to cover that up by saying they're fine. Overall, it seems to be an internal conflict within the writer. They're trying not to show their mental illness and enjoy a relationship, but the illness keeps finding ways to show through.
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Eve -2017-04-13 01:46:23 (edited 2017-04-14 15:26:21 )
HERE IS HOW I IMAGINED THE SONG (i thought about my crush alot during this song and it still does even when they rejected me..god i miss her)
Skin Heat Hair in your mouth Feet touching feet imagining how it would be to be with the person you want to be with
Oh you And I Safe from the world Though the world will try still continues to explain how it would be to have them like you as well but you do things that make them feel weird and they dont understand the hints you try and give them
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear *they are afraid that they do not like them but they choose to ignore it and continue to love them as they normally did like staring at them any chance they got but the crush finds it strange and soon figures out*
Numb Fine You create a rarity of my genuine smiles when you see them with someone else or when they are perfectly fine without you (unlike yourself where you die when you arnt around them) your numb but you choose to lie and say its fine and decide to ignore it since you arnt officially together (you like them but they dont know)
So breathe Breathe with me Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them asking them to stop confusing them (like giving them hope things will be fine and they will like you aswell)
Ooh, oh O-oh, oh, oh Getting even more confused cause jealousy and denial starts to form
Intertwined Free I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me they still worry and imagine how it would be to be in love with them and ask them not to worry when they see you down and upset knowing it wont happen
I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear when you are with them you are dying on the inside because you find out they dont like you the same way you like them so you decide to try and hide it by pretending it never happened and try to continue the friendship but..
Hmm, hmm Hmhmm the relationship ends up failing and you drown and remember how it was to be with them when they didnt know that you liked them and regret everything you said or did
TBH i cried as writing this .. ive liked her the entire school year.. and i find out she doesnt like me the same way. today she smiled looking at a girl which that look i could tell wasnt a friendly smile it was the kind you give to someone when you like them.. and i know she probably likes her since i was very close with her and i also can just tell by looking at her.. as i can with all my other friends
My idea of the song matched perfectly what you were trying to say think it's because there has never been a song written in the history of forever that's matched me so personally and accurately before 😞
when i first heard this song, it felt slightly out of place on the EP and almost... uncomfortable? i was reading things online about it being a love song but that title never sat right with me. the first time i listened to it i definitely felt that that was what you were going for but when i looked at the lyrics it all switched for me, like i was suddenly watching a relationship fall apart in front of me but if i took two steps back it felt whole and loving again. is that some type of metaphor for the true meaning of the song??? lmao probably.
I've found most people see this as a love song, but I always thought of it as a song about me, how I feel and my 'battle' with accepting myself and not brushing over anything bad (as I tend to do). The song sometimes implies there are two people, as you use the word "we", but I've always thought of it as two sides of myself, one side saying I should deal with problems, the other just saying it's nothing and that I'm overreacting. I don't know
actually my favorite thanK YOU SO MUCH FOR CREATING THIS
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Kate Oastler2017-04-13 01:48:54 (edited 2017-04-13 01:49:28 )
I originally interpreted this gorgeous song as relating to someone suffering with poor mental health drowning themselves in a relationship. Although i respect that the music video fits the meaning of the song, i personally prefer the original video of dodie singing Intertwined as it's a more stripped-back version, raw, with her voice full of emotion. however as dodie says, art is beautiful in that it is interpreted in an infinite number of ways :)
I LOVE THE VIDEO ITS SO COOL ALSO MY VISION OF A MUSIC VIDEO FOR THIS SONG WAS MAYBE LIKE TWO PEEPS IN LOVE KINDA LIKE DANCING SLOWLY IN A WARM-LOOKING CANDLE LIT ROOM AND EACH TIME THE CORDS CHANGED TO A MINOR OR SAD SOUNDING TONE ITD START TO TURN A COOL COLOR IN THE ROOM AND LIKE TEARS WOULD BE SLOWLY BUILDING UP UNTIL THE END WHERE ONE OF THE PEOPLE IS CRYING BUT THE OTHER DUDE HUGS HIM/HER AND THE VIDEO ENDS WITH BOTH OF THEM CRYING BUT HUGGING AND HAPPY THEY HAVE EACH OTHER LMAO ANYWAY I LOVE YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND THE VIDEO SO AHHH GREAT JOB
I personally think I was...definitely very aware of the themes of mental illness in the song, or at least that one partner had troubles in that area and they were depending on the other person in a, "Please help me. I love you and I hope you don't get hurt by all this but you might but please help me, " kind of way. I personally always pictured this moment as more of a conversation, possibly in bed, where one of them, the one with mental health problems, is talking to the other about everything they're dealing with. I also kind of got the impression that said fictional couple had been together for a while, or at least long enough for this not to have been the first time to topic of mental health to come up. The partner with mental health problems would be expressing her terrifying thoughts while the other was holding her in an attempt to comfort and listening to what she's saying. This scene (that I just described) obviously doesn't translate well into a music video. The one which was made of definitely more jarring and visually descriptive of what is going on in the singer's mind. Did I enjoy it, personally? Not really. Surrealism is just not really my thing. I did understand what was being communicated though. I think the reason why I felt the song and the video didn't quite match up was not because of the meaning of the song. I felt it was more the music, more, like, the beginning music? It's like one of those things that does kind of match up but not quite completely, at least in my personal opinion. At the end, with those hummin harmonies which are a bit eerie, then yes. Still not quite 100% on the rest. But then again, I'm not a massive fan of surrealism due to a past experience, so that's quite possibly why I didn't enjoy the video as much. But, again, it did communicate very clearly what was going on in the brain of the singer. And it was very well made. Good job, Sammy.
I actually read the song as being totally loving and completely and utterly in love, and very supportive, that even though the singer is saying that they are so scared and uncertain, their lover supports them and tries to get them to smile and breathe and listens to their thoughts and tries to help them even though it does sound like a bit much. It also seems to me like the singer loves the other person so much and sees how much they have become dependant on them for help and that she loves them for it but also hopes that because of the strain that they are putting on them, that they dont develop any problems of their own. So yeah, but overall I felt as if it was more love than problems and trying to overcome those problems and the love that comes out of that effort. Or maybe thats just what I want to hear because thats what I would like......
Wow wow wow OK this is so interesting but DAMN that is not how I imagined this song. I definetely saw it as a sweet little love song, a relationship where the good tries to overcome the bad, a tale of two lovers in a bed, fighting against everything else (inside and outside threats together). The music video defo threw me off and to be honest I'm going to keep my own interpretation of the song because I'm a hopeless romantic. Night x
The remarkable thing about this song is that the interpretation relies on the emotion and mindset of the person listening to it in that moment. For example, over a year ago I dealt with a toxic relationship where I was the only one putting anything into it and listening to this song afterwards would have broken my heart because it was relatable. I would have understood the darker elements of it and connected with that more. However I am currently in a healthy relationship and this song was released while we were together so I've always connected with it as a love song, one of hope of overcoming the struggles of relationships and thriving together. Perhaps I will interpret it differently in another year's time. But the fact you have woven this song so intricately and poetically Dodie shows the strength and brilliance of your song writing and the depth to your art: especially that it can be interpreted in so many different ways.
I didn't listen to the lyrics much the first time I heard this song, but I heard it again during a kind of tough time a little while ago. I was simultaneously realizing my gradual infatuation with someone who I felt helped me deal with a lot of the problems I was facing by making them seem less crippling and showing the beauty of (at least the idea of) love when I felt surrounded by a horrible, ugly world. Consequently I associate the song with him and I see it as a really happy time, but I still love the video's darker interpretation. Looking back on that time in the context of the song I see more negative ways it fits as well that I ignored before. It's interesting how art can seem to so perfectly reflect a situation, especially when you don't realize how truly perfectly it does so.
When I first heard the song I thought it was about two lovers depending on each other. In my opinion it's about one lover who has issues that they're dealing with but mask the terrible feelings with their significant other. Idk that's just what I think:/
What you said was definitely what I thought the song was about, and I think that, if I were to explain this like it's a story, the narrator (dodie in this case I guess) is in love with this other person, but her mental issues are trying to overcome her love and its effecting them both, and though they want to laugh it off and continue to be 'intertwined,' they also want to be free of the numbness that is mentioned in the song. This could even apply to not a relationship, but having feelings for someone and not being able to tell them because of depression or anxiety holding you back. I think that specific interpretation is because at the time of writing this I have a lot of strong feelings towards a good friend of mine who is the same sex as me and I don't know if she's bi/gay. Anyway, texting her about a tv show I'm watching that's her favorite makes me nervous because of social anxiety, and I almost panicked in school today a few times because I felt slightly rejected just because she talked to our other friends when I tried to say something, but it was just my anxiety telling me something was wrong when nothing was. Also: you asked what we would do for our own music video for this song. I really like the way the barbies are a metaphor for perfection (as barbies almost always are). So I think that it would still have the barbies, but there would be a person controlling them, the way a little kid playing does. The person would be trying to make the barbies lives perfect, but something would always stop them.
i thought of the song the same way u did. more of a love song gone wrong, unwanted, couldn't escape the so called "love" that was spoken of. The mental health of the person wasnt safe and very dark like my mind any way that was my thought love u
i sort of vaguely interpreted the song this way, but now analyzing the lyrics im finding So much meaning like i think the fact that it's a waltz is so #deep because the song is ultimately dancing around an unspoken toxicity - every time it feels like it's touching on the actual problem it's swept back into something pleasant and hazy again. Ultimately, the way i relate to this song (which you didnt mention specifically but might have been intentional because i know you suffer from depersonalization?) is as a dissociative state, because as someone who dissociates and tries to be productive through that im very familiar with this feeling of feeling something is deeply wrong, but not being able to focus enough on anything to fix it. Even as im panicing my conscious mind can't connect to the emotions and feels almost peaceful. This matches up with the surreal-ness of the music video. brilliant song dodieee!
my interpretation of the song along with the music video was: So basically there is a couple (no duh but whatever.) but neither of the two actually love each other. The only reason why they are together is for the sake of a replacement because for both of the people the two in the couple actually love do not love them back, bringing them into an extremely unhealthy relationship. the lyrics "can you drink all my thoughts, because I cant stand them" referring that they don't want to love the person they are loving or that they'd like to forget the person they are actually with isn't the person they would like to be with. as for the "oh"s I had put these to symbolize them in distress knowing that neither of them wanted to stay in the relationship, nor the they want to leave, resulting in confusion. the only reason they continued the promise because, even if they didn't love each other if they were the one to break it off, theywould feel typically bad for their so called "significant other' along with the constant fear of always being alone because when anyone is in a relationship they think that they are more safe, even when the relationship is clearly toxic.
for me personally, I imagine it completely different to your original meaning. I feel like it is how mental illness is a burden to the narrator and how she feels a burden herself to her partner, with the imagery at the start video of a 'white picket fence' shows that her partner was her only feeling of safety from the things going on in her own mind, that she cannot escape from.
but that's just me, I love your meaning though, Dodie! x
My interpretation was somewhat similar but kind of not... I thought of it like people in a relationship who have a lot a crap they need to deal within that relationship and they don't want to. They just think that if they fake it an pretend to be a happy couple then the problems will fix themselves. That's just what I thought though :3
honestly when i first heard this i thought it was about someone talking about how their Person (signif, friend, etc) helped their mental state and takes their mind off of things for a while BOY WAS I WRONG
It's been 8 months since I've done English at GCSE haha! (and this is me procrastinating from physics revision aargh!) so thank you for this english lessons (english lessons were fun weren't they!)
For me personally, I saw the song as a couple trying to make through and make their relationship better, they have all the passion they could have, (as shown through the first few words, "skin" and "heat" are usually associated with sexual endeavors, although the only sexual endeavor is between the couple, which is what made me think of the passion bit,) but still think that they (possibly) are not good enough for the other person. (I'm going to add names to make my explanation easier) lets say Alex (one of the people in the relationship) has hopes and dreams for themselves and the relationship. The other person, Kasey also believes in those hopes and dreams,they just are not as outward about it, both people in the relationship think that their relation ship is "good" or "fine"(see what i did there? with the lyric of the next verse?) when in reality its a great relationship, its just that the people in the relationship think that they themselves could do better, now I'm not saying that Kasey thinks Alex can do better, and Alex thinks that Kasey can do better, I'm saying that Kasey thinks Kasey can do better, and Alex thinks that Alex can do better. Now with the lyric "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" what I think is that Alex rarely has a smile not because Kasey isn't a good s/o, but because Alex just doesn't smile much, and that Kasey is one of the few people who can make Alex smile, and because its rare to other people, it is precious and shown as a good thing of how Kasey can make Alex smile so easily. Kasey and Alex are also support systems (in the good way, not the unhealthy way) to each other, whenever they have a problem they can always come to each other, so that's where I thought that "Breathe, Breathe with me" came in, they were teaching the other to calm down because they knew how to calm the other person down, and in my opinion I saw "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I cant stand them" as a way of "can I please just talk to and rant to you about what happened to me because you are the only person I can talk to you about this right now." (again, not in a bad way). and now we are at "intertwined" I saw intertwined as being in that passionate sexual scene again, a scene of love and hope and wishful thinking in the way that some people see relationships, I saw "intertwined" as two of them working together in the relationship and giving all they could to each other as a sign of love, and "free" in the literal sense of the word, free, they feel free in their relationship and not tied down and locked in a cage like how some abusive relationships can feel like (I know, because I was in an abusive relationship, I'm not saying that that's how everyone feels in an abusive relationship though) they felt free to be themselves with each other, even when stripped down to their own body (going back to that skin bit in the first song) and the line "I've pinned each and every hope on you" going back to Alex, the hopeful dreamer telling Kasey all of their hopes and dreams for the relationship, "I hope that you don't bleed" to me basically meaning "I hope that you don't leave me because of my hopes and dreams" and "oh I am afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" is sort of Alex literally saying "I'm afraid of all the problems I have in my brain, but despite that, you still make me feel better and you make me laugh away the fear and let me know that it'll all be alright." and to me the humming sort of reminded me of the intertwined bit, and I already explained that part, and the very end sort of made me think of "Alex" and "Kasey " realizing that no relationship is perfect, but also realizing that their relationship is still great nonetheless, but I don't know, that was my personal analysis, if I didn't explain anything clearly, or you got confused, just ask me and I'm sure I can explain it to you! But please do be civil!
I TOTALLY thought this song was about a healthy relationship and how the writer was suffering from mental health issues and how their partner helped get through their mental health issues but the real meaning is so dark and mysterious and I'm astonished how off I was on my theory about this song!
I was definitely one of those people that said the video didn't match the ideas that I got from the song, but I most definitely didn't find it as some wishy washy love song. I very much appreciate these notes. I love that I get to learn about how the song was meant to be interpretation. I love the contrast between having a nice calm ukulele song and having sort of a violent destructive meaning. I actually had a group of friends the other night and I wanted to know their thoughts on it. They had never seen or heard of dodie before but I first showed them the original recording of the song with just dodie sitting against the wall, and then after, showed them the music video. I got so many mixed reactions and it was so great.
Well, I found the video seriously disturbing to watch. But, I thought it was actually the point of it. I mean, I understand that those mental states you talk about are disturbing to expirience, so i think the song and the video match amazingly.
I think the song plays to the truth that is mental health; someone can go about life through the world's typically "romanticized" lens, but the truth is that just below the surface lies uncertainty and anxiety. Loved your analysis of the song as well :)
ok but i love you? And this was so good? I really love listening to you talk. the song for me is just a desperate plea for someone to touch you. hold you. to not be alone for a while and just be as two people intertwined
The first time I heard the song, I knew there was something a bit off about the lyric "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles". It didn't sound very romantic to me.
Dodie. Intertwined caught me by surprise, not because it was from you, but because of how much it was similar to reality. To me, it's about our insecurities to allow others to love us for what we are. We are brought up with stereotypes not only for body image.. in relation to what success means, and what's right and wrong, and how should you accept to be treated... and all these rights and wrongs, and fantasies create (whether we want it or not) a fear of not being loved, and the masks starts to come.....
The beginning of the song, to me, it describes exactly that moment of allowing vulnerability, and when you cross that line - if you aren't healthy, or with someone whiling to walk the hard walk, and understand you - then it will all burn
I definitely understand the concept behind the lyrics and song, however I think Sammy's take, with the dolls, kind of takes away from the overall quality. When watching the video, I found myself fighting over whether to focus on the lyircs, or the scene. I think your idea of two people in a twisted dance, going back and forth between sweet love and agony, would have been a better, and clearer portrayal of the song. But that's just my opinion.
my interpretation was someone who was in love, attached to someone, but they weren't together. One of the pair is screaming out for help, trying to get the other's attention, but they can't find the courage to come up to them and get help. However, they eventually quietly approach the other for help. They still feel attached to the person, they're close to them, but they're not close enough. It's a song of love, attachment, dissatisfaction, and crying out that seems obvious in a person's mind but isn't obvious in reality.
However, with your video, I liked the original, but a dance video would have been nice. If I were to make it, I'd make two settings, one with a house and one on a dance floor. A couple is dancing romantically, a ballet type dance mixed with a ballroom style. The same couple is lying in bed cuddling, one sleeping and one staring at the wall. The one who's staring gets up and goes into a kitchen, makes a cup of tea with the kettle whistling. The couple continues to...
ok my interpretation is a little far out but hear me out [this could be a lil long sorry im an english lit kid too lol]
a summary if you don't really want to read my nerdy analysis is i view the speaker as someone who has created a world with a character in their mind as a form of escapism from either a mental disorder or a physical problem, and they slowly leave reality and become permanently "intertwined" with the character in their made up world.
i heard the narrator as someone with a mental disorder, and the opening lines of "skin heat hair in your mouth" etc are the intimate moment with a character they've created in their heads, and "safe from the world" suggests they take refuge in their made up world. "the world will try-" are therapy, friends, family trying to pull them out of their own minds and the dash shows them 'snapping out of it' if you will, with "oh i'm afraid of the things in my brain" showing their momentary return to sanity and terror at accepting that they are losing themselves to the world in their head. "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" shows them slipping back into their safe haven, and the laughing is a very psychotic image showing what the outside world is seeing. "numb" to me perhaps shows the medication the narrator is placed on taking effect. "fine" suggests to me friends and family's concerns being brushed off in favour of remaining in their comfortable space in their minds. "rarity" shows that the speaker is rarely happy again hinting there is a rough situation in their life that they would be escaping from by creating this lover in their mind. "smiles" again show a very psychotic image reminding us of the slipping sanity of the narrator. "breathe" as dodie said is the idea of hyperventilating and panic however i see it as the direct speech of someone in the real world attempting to bring the narrator back to reality. the question shows that the speaker is directly interacting with the character they've created, which is a demonstration of them reaching the point of insanity. the high point on "can't" emulates a scream and helps us to see the desperation and helplessness of the narrator. "intertwined" shows them finally leaving reality and becoming tangled in their fictional world. "free" is the idea of them escaping whatever was going on in their mind or life to drive them to the point of insanity. "pinned each and every hope" i interpret as the movement of everything they had dreamed of achieving in their real life into their fictional world, "pinned"and "bleed"suggesting a painful and unnatural move as of course the fall into insanity is sure to be anything but graceful. the last verse being repetition of previous statements by the speaker to me highlight their lack of sanity. "i'm afraid of the things in my brain" to me seems like they could be mocking themselves and what they were like before they permanently left reality and "laugh away the fear" leaves us with the poignant striking image of an insane person reassuring themselves and laughing manically.
sorry this was a little long winded, hope you found it interesting to see another persons take on it (love the song btw) xx
I interpreted it as as a psychopathic person who had kidnapped their lover and the lyrics 'pinned' and 'but we can stay here' as more menacing and as if she is talking to the victim in a darker way. But also I still interpreted it as mental health with the things in my brain and those things being her psychopathic issues (not saying Dodie is a psycho bc imma psycho fan of her bc she is queen!!! 😍💛) So I thought the meaning of the song had a wayyyyyy darker meaning and was a lot more eerie and had a story to it. Here r some more examples of lyrics that relate to what I interpreted 😂 'pinned every single hope on u' - wants the person so much and is mad bc of them, 'I hope that u don't bleed with me' - the bleeding being maybe from torture and mocking that they r already bleeding (why am I so dark omg 😂😂) 'free' - obviously not free 😂 'rarity of my genuine smile' - mad, the lover makes her mad and the smile is a mad smile so yeh that's my interpretation of this killer epic song by the queen of lifeeeee! Hope u liked my darkness 😂😀💛
my emotions have sort of been gone for the past month so mental health stuff is both not at all and very relatable right now. Like me not feeling things isn't normal but like its almost a comfortable thing bc ew emotions?
This song speaks to me like no other has. I have this fear of people bleeding with me because of my mental illness. I'm afraid of ruining the person I will be with because of the scary things in my brain. I want someone who could help me "laugh away the fear" but I don't even know if that person exists in the world. Dodie, this is one of those songs that I wish I wrote bc this is me, in a song. Thank you dodie, you're awesome 💛
I feel like the dance with twisted themes fits the song better but the actual video tells the story better. When I listen to the song I see a dance (what else is new) between two people trying their best to look graceful while pretending they're not stumbling.
I thought it was about sharing yourself with someone else to an extent that you are becoming more like the other person so there losing them self like the words intertwined as in together free as in alown but dinal
I'm in love with this this is exactly how I interpreted the song and seeing you take it apart piece by piece to show how much thought you put into it is so wonderful!!!
I really enjoyed hearing your interpretation of the song, while I have listened to it so many times I have never noticed the contrasting lyrics. I personally listen more for chords as opposed to lyrics, but in looking into the words I see how differently I viewed this song. I did see it as co-dependence but I didn't realize how it was possibly toxic. I never thought about the highest note being a scream either. The amount of thought and effort put into the meaning of the song and video is incredible. When I saw the video I gasped when I saw the barbies brain, then realized the video would not be what I expected. It was jarring. Bravo 👏🏻 love you dodie! 😍😊
Intertwined has always been my favorite Dodie song, but this video of you explaining it piece by piece just makes me fall in love with it even more. Dodie is impeccably and utterly one of the most wonderful humans that has taken a breath on this earth. every song is like you're speaking out all the messed accumulations in my brain and putting them into words and songs. It's almost like you're inside my head as well. you take these thoughts that are mush to me and make them into something rare and definite, and beautiful. never stop creating :)
First, I'm in love with this video. I see a bit of both sides depending on my mood: When my anxiety is high I see the song as a conversation between my anxiety and I as my anxiety is "intertwined" with me. When I am feeling better or happier I enjoy picturing this song between two lovers because of the melody, etc.
I love this video! It is amazing to see how you put so much work into this amazing song and how you wrote it. When I did watch the music video I was a bit taken back at first. But, after I watched it again and listened to the lyrics more I could see it. I understood that this wasn't a light love song: that it was much more. When i first listened to the song, and up until the video came out, I saw the song as a love story. The voice/singer was in a relationship with someone they love dearly, but was going through problems mentally. They did not want to put this onto their love though, and while the affection and love from the lover made the voice feel better, they could not continue to hold it in any longer; and, told their lover everything (how they were not okay mentally). Then, the ending I imagined was the voice and lover sitting on the floor in a dark and empty house as the lover rubs the voice's back affectionately; and, the voice is curled up into them. The voice is crying and the lover is looking a bit sad as well, due to the fact that they had no idea that the voice was keeping all of this in. But, they will work through it together and they both know there is hope. This is such a much more powerfully song then I could have ever thought for it to be. Great work Dodie <3
I LOVED seeing your meaning behind the song!! I've always thought of it as a sweet, love song but then immediately looked further into it after the music video and began seeing implied darker themes in the song. I love love love it!
I loved the breakdown of the song 💞 it was really interesting and "stimulated" my brain as my English teacher says . I loved at least trying to see the song from your point of view 💫💕You should do MORE of these analysis' 💥
This was really interesting!! I knew this song wasn't exactly a sweet love song just from the lyrics. They always seemed dark. My interpretation has been that the writer is feeling a lot of inner pain and conflict. It seemed on the surface they are happy and the relationship had the potential to be happy (thus the intimate moments still occurred). But at the same time the writer isn't happy with their self and so they almost expect their partner to be able to make up for this, to make the writer happy. But the other person in the relationship, whilst providing constant reassurance, wasn't and could never be enough because the writers brain was like a broken record that kept repeating the same thing over and over -- in this case, the poisonous thoughts.
The version I had in my head was where the singer had gone through a traumatic experience be that a crash or something else and started to isolate themselves but either a partner or someone else came and spent a few days with them in like a fort/little safe haven they made, safe from the world So where they're protected from the trauma and anxiety that's faced by the singer
I never really looked deep enough into the song to find the unsettling bits in it, but it's quite interesting. Funnily enough, we're doing a poetry unit in school right now and we're analyzing some songs. My teacher said we might be able to suggest songs for the class to analyze, so I might suggest this one to see how my class interprets it!
I love the song and I think the music video really portrays what you were going for, but before I really understood the meaning, I would listen to the song to relieve anxiety and calm myself down, but now all I see is brain-exposed dolls and fire😂 Despite this fact, I greatly appreciate the creative courage you had in making this, as many would worry about being ridiculed for creepy style!
I'm in awe of you, I love the song, I love the video and I love how you explained everything about it! I always thought there was quite a dark tone to the song although it sounds sweet in parts, I also find it so interesting because I do mental health nursing ☺️
My interpretation was spot on with yours however I missed the word play in certain areas and I loved hearing how you wrote the song in a way that every word reflected the theme. So impressed by you and by Sammy <3
I think that the song goes perfectly with the video. My theory was that the song is about a relationship that is going well but she is scared that it might end because of the way she is feeling inside of her head. I like how you matched the scenes with the chords and the lyrics as well. Overall I ENJOYED it a ton and if I were you English teacher I would be so proud.
"Can you drink all my thoughts?" I always saw as someone giving into their partners drinking problem and using the partners issues to take their own pain away, but I like your play on words too and every time I listen I will think now about both meanings. I would also like to point out that I love that you put "my meaning" it goes along with my truth of everyone can take a song differently bc of experiences and emotional states. You are a beautiful writer and I hope to be as lovely of an artist as you one day.
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Sara Duty2017-04-12 23:45:01 (edited 2017-04-13 00:36:35 )
Thank you Dodie for explaining all of this. When I first saw the video and it turned to a darker undertone it surprised me. It didn't put me off, I still love the song, it just wasn't what I imagined. I had a lot of feelings and images in my head from my own experiences. I guess I saw two lovers bracing themselves against the world, creating a safe place for themselves wrapped up in their own world, intertwined. No matter what it's a wonderful song and I think Sammy and the others did a wonderful job on the video. :)
this matched up pretty closely to my interpretation. also, watching dodie analyse her song stirred my passion to be a teacher just a little bit more. xx
the song has always meant a lot to me and is, along with 'when', one of my favourite songs you've ever written. the lyrics always resinated with me because they reminded me of my relationship with my ex girlfriend, a relationship that was extremely damaging for the both of us and that ended in disaster. your talent and passion for music will always amaze and inspire me, i don't think i've ever loved an artist as much as i love you and your music. you are honestly a blessing and deserve all the love in the world
It's so fascinating hearing your take on the meaning behind this song as the artist. Especially when I can easily see the point of view of both groups of people, the content consumer and the content creator, as both a listener and writer of music. This is why I love art so much because you can have so many different interpretations of it, and there's no right or wrong way to do it.
I really really love the theme for the song, however when I first heard it, I interpreted it as how messed up both parties in the relationship were, and how they both poured their hearts out to one another and helped each other through their mental illnesses and/or general poor mental state, thus creating a kind of co-dependant relationship, but one that is healthy as they are both equally dependent on each other and are willing to work to the best of their abilities to help the other out.
Dodie- I think it’s wonderful that, as an artist, you’re encouraging and even initiating this type of discussion and analysis about your own work; I know it can be difficult to see interpretations that are “wrong” from your original ideas, so it’s really cool that you’re interested in these ideas. Here are my thoughts, and I apologize to anyone reading for writing so much. I tried to make it concise but…anyway. The first thing I noticed was not only the intimacy of the situation, but the mild discomfort or awkwardness; skin, “what do I do with my feet?” the image of hair in one’s mouth, describes a certain discomfort in a normally safe situation. I noticed that there is not much information about the other person, rather, the protagonist discussing their unhealthy behaviors, namely those that fall under the umbrella of putting too many expectations into a relationship and pinning all their happiness in this person and relationship; (I have a good friend who is in a situation that made me think of this: she is in a happy relationship and adores her boyfriend, but relies on him completely for her happiness and is utterly lost without him) I think there’s a lot of really jarring juxtaposition; between the warm safety of their relationship and the cold uncertain fears that lie beyond it, advancing and advancing, the main character knowing they cannot outrun them, but denying that just the same, treasuring the last moments of safety in the house (which the fire in the video really cements. There is something hypnotizing peaceful about fire, like an overstatement of warmth, too much warmth, something that cannot be avoided, something that is consuming, that is a very definite closing of something and/or beginning of something else; the warmth of the burning fire, the cold and silence and dark after it dies. Something that can both sustain and end life). The visual symbolism, as with any music video for a song with such deep meaning, does a good job of cementing the different meanings and sensory images that we see in the musicality and lyrics of the song. As you said, I also interpreted laughing away the fear as a form of denial, a form that fights fear and worry, at least for a while. And aside from the internal component, I think the song overall addresses this idea of trying to hide from something that knows exactly where you are, (ei; impending emotions and difficulties with mental health) and so you sort of realize you have no choice but to sit and wait for it to find and kill you. I got a feel for the tension, the juxtaposition between the happiness and comfort you can get from your waiting time and the dread and fear of an end you know is inevitably coming. Just my thoughts.
wow it's amazing how a piece of art can mean so many things. i always thought this was a love song about how being together seemed to pause/help those mental health issues. especially the line "intertwined; free" i figured they were two related, not opposing terms. like being intertwined with your love was freeing because the dark cloud of mental illness would let up a little
i love you, you're a fucking genius, and i'll never listen to the song the same again. thank you for giving us this amazing insight and thought into your lyrics.
Thanks for the analysis Dodie! It was interesting seeing the meaning of a song from a different perspective. Like I stated in the music video, to me the song meant calm love, any type of love really; platonic or romantic. Hearing "intertwined, free" made me think of being so comfortable and so in love with a person that even being tied up with them makes you feel free. When I hear this song, I see two people lying down on the grass in the summer looking up at the clouds and smelling the scent of flowers. To me it sounded like calm wind and laughing with your soulmate. Even at the start of the song, when it said "skin, heat" all I could think about the was simplicity of skin and how it can be beautiful and meaningful to someone or how it could just be a part of you that is taken for granted. I don't know, the song just seemed peaceful to me and reminded me of being a kid and realizing what it was like to have to grow up.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO! When I saw the music video, I was mildly terrified, because I never really analyzed the lyrics much. I just thought of it as a nice love song, and I was VERY confused about the video. Thank you very much for introducing to me a different perspective on the song, and it makes a lot of sense now. I now view the music video much differently, and I appreciate the meaning of the song a lot more. Thank you for being your lovely self <3
This video is why i would marry you in seconds. God I love your work, how open you are to even taking apart your own songs, you are amazing. Never stop being you <3
Personally, I absolutely LOVE the dark undertones of this song and after watching sammys video I can't hear it any other way. But, the first couple of hundred times I listened (prior to the video) I fell in love with this song for a whole other reason. The lyrics reminded me so much of my relationship and absolutely fit with my feelings towards my girlfriend and how I feel when I'm laying alone with her. The sense of her calming me down and breathing with me as I tell her my fears in that safe place where although there is so much fear and danger surrounding us and of course, in my head, we are safe and we protect each other. But there's always the voice telling me not to trust her because I'll hurt her (that she will bleed with me). It's like a small bit of fear that's managed to creep into our space which we thought to be secure. So I suppose I had a bit of darkness in my interpretation too but in a slightly different way. Anyway I absolutely adore this song and you as an artist and I love that youve opened up this discussion xx
it's really interesting to hear a new perspective on the song! i always thought of it as someone being helped through a mental breakdown or panic attack while the song is building up, then the very end being them feeling reassured by their friend/girlfriend/boyfriend that they would be safe from "the things in their brain" when they are with that person. it could just be me venting out through my own experiences though as i have gone through what i have just described. It's still really cool to see such a difference in perception of the song! love your EP! <3
How I personally interpreted this song. (Loved this video btw. I love how music means something slightly different to everyone based on our own thoughts and experiences aaaaaahhh it’s so much fun!)
“Skin/heat/hair in your mouth/feet touching feet” I felt like this was a very down-to-earth way of expressing what it’s like to make love. Very physical, not candy coating. It’s bodies together; intimate. Every sense heightened. Noticing every little detail.
“Oh you/and I/safe from the world” again, just emphasizing the intimacy of the moment. Just two people in a moment, the world this incomprehensible thing that for now does not exist.
“Though the world will try” The world could mean so many things. The world could mean people, your family, friends who for whatever reason don’t approve of who you want to be with. It could mean an outside force you can’t control, like time or the timetables of our lives that tend to tear people apart. It could even mean God or death. In this song, I think the “the world” is just anything outside of the two of you that would come between your being together.
“Oh I’m afraid/of the things in my brain” For me, I think of my fear of commitment and emotional intimacy when I listen to this. It’s this thing that I can’t really rationalize that keeps me from being in a relationship. And I’m scared of it because I want marriage and children, but these things keep me from being with someone. And I hate it.
“but we can stay here/and love away the fear” I imagine that this is me, and that I’ve somehow been able to get close enough to someone to be in that moment. And although the fear is still there, right then I’m happy. And I’m hoping that if I force myself to stay, I might change. I might be able to overcome this thing I’ve struggled with for so long. Love is stronger than anything, right? Right?
“Numb, fine” OH GOSH this line. This is me. This is what happens every time I get close to someone. For whatever reason, there’s this switch in my brain that flips. And I instantly don’t like someone anymore. And it’s the most horrible thing ever. I literally do a 180 in an instant. I go from walking into a room with them, being happy, to INSTANTLY being repulsed by their very presence. It’s horrific and I don’t know how to fix it. Fix me. Why can’t I love? I’m numb but I’m fine.
“You create a rarity/of my genuine smile/so breathe/breathe with me” this makes me think of being in sync with someone. When you click and they just know how to make you laugh. They know you so well that you can just look at each other in a crowded room and have an entire conversation. And breathing together, I think of that bliss when you’re lying on their chest, hearing their heartbeat, and it’s…serenity. Just the pure, unadulterated happiness of being with someone. Serenity.
“Can you drink all my thoughts/cuz I can’t stand them” When you know someone so well that you can spill all of your late night musings, your heart, your soul, your hopes, your regrets. I can’t stand them. Please take them from me. And I like the imagery of drinking it, because you’re consuming it. It’s going away but it still exists somewhere. And that thing about relationships, where when you break up, it’s almost like you lose a chunk of yourself. Like everything you ever shared with them suddenly loses all meaning because they don’t care anymore.
“Intertwined/free/I pinned each and every hope on you” How when you’re with someone in that intimate moment, you hope that they’re the one. That this will become what you’ve always wanted. That they’ll stay. That this beautiful thing in this moment will continue to be forever.
“I hope that you don’t bleed with me” I consider this into a phrase of everyone bleeding in their own way. Like the statement, “don’t judge me because I sin differently than you”. I don’t want my partner to have my problems. I don’t want them to see what I see and feel what I feel when it comes to those things that scare me about myself. I want them to bleed on their own. I don’t want them to ever think “I can’t live without you”, it should be, “I COULD live without you, but I would never want to.” I don’t want them to depend on someone as damaged as I am.
“But we can stay here/and love away the fear” just going back to that moment. The intimacy. The beauty of a moment that can’t truly be captured in any way other than memory. And the hums and the fading, and the little “mhm” is just the moment fading, and ending. It happened and it was beautiful, but now it’s over. I love your music. Thank you.
Ugh dodie I thought of it how you just explained it which is awesome. It's so poignant and truthful and the film clip was perfect I loved it it's all brilliant agh.
Since I first heard the song I imagined "oh, so sweet!, so lovely, so cute, pure love, no restrictions, they are giving it all to each other". But a lot of things felt wrong, then I realized the only things those two lovers were sharing, or just the narrator with their lover were negative thoughts, desperation, fear. Sure it was love, but maybe just for the narrator, and that narrator was just trying to "love", to be "free" or just to heal and feel safe. They are hurt, they want to think they are in love, but they are desperate and just want to be safe, maybe they don't realize that they're slowly dragging their partner to a dark place, they just want to love. And maybe their partner is madly, deeply in love, or just wants to feel needed, or heroic. Maybe that's love, just a selfish thing. Or maybe that's the relationship that's portrayed in this song. A true masterpiece by an amazing artist. dodie, you are so amazingly talented. I adore your content so much.
I definitely had the idea of "broken but together" in my head when I first heard the song. Kinda depending on the depression of someone else to keep you close.
this is the first time an english lesson has ever left me wanting more? and the first time a video has changed the way i interpreted a song so drastically
Honestly, your explanation was so much similar to my thoughts and how I saw the song. This is one of my favourite songs and I felt certain emotions aligned with the lyrics that you simply described in your explanation. [Which I'm super proud of myself for sort of understanding where you're coming from in the process of making this song] As for the video, it certainly was a bit more gory and different. Which falls into your description and vision of how you wanted the song but, I personally would have taken a similar yet different approach for the video. Of course that is just my own personal prefrence but, overall it was super cool and I'm super excited for you. This is great and I can't wait for more future videos!
your explanation behind the song really fits my experience of being in a toxic friendship while both of us were struggling with our mental health, I'm looking at the song in a whole new way now. wow, well done!!
loved the analysis! I like the dancing idea, maybe if the video started with two dancers moving elegantly and then over the course of the song, the girl's dance becomes more aggressive and begins to harm her partner? at the climax note she could push him to the ground? I could see a lot of beautiful dance moves associated with the lyrics though, "intertwined, free"
It gave me a reassuring and safe feeling, that feeling When youre cuddling with someone all worries go away and you keep eachother safe. This song sits next to You've got a friend in me from Toy Story, it stands for my friends and family who will help me and keep me safe❤️
When I first heard the song, I thought it was meant to be a plea for acceptance and safety. I thought that it was asking the significant other to accept them despite their issues, and a plea for the person to be careful with their heart because it had been broken before. I think it's so amazing how my interpretation and what it's meant to be are complete polar opposites. It just shows the power of music :)
I honestly love this song and would never want you to change it! The way I interpreted it was similar to yours, though the partner of the person was strong enough to deal with their lover's fears and doubts. So I guess my mind always tries to lean towards happy endings :/ They're definitely intertwined. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT THANK YOU FOR CREATING THIS SONG! <3 <3 <3
I always found it to be a more romantic song, although I absolutely adore the actual meaning you've explained. The video itself was very off-putting and uncomfortable to me, but it was cinematically very well done. (I personally find myself unsettled by the combination of childlike items and gore, which I place in my top three list of "Horror Nopes," or the tropes that make me the most uncomfortable) I think it's wonderful to acknowledge that dependecy on a significant other can be toxic, and I'm incredibly impressed by the amount of thought that's gone into the song! Even though I'll likely not be able to listen to it as a gentle, casual song anymore.
I actually saw this song as a self discussion during a panic attack. You know, trying to calm themselves down with a million disjointed thoughts running through the person´s head. Like the verses begin with thinking about themselves, and then they transition to reaching out to a potential partner (or even themselves when they are mentally healthy). Idk, just a thought.
Okay, the light tone and delicate melody totally had me fooled and I thought it was about two people in bed, in love, hiding away from the big bad world. One shared rock willing away the blustering storm. But when you explain it, I realize how I could have ignored how the lyrics are dissonant (to borrow a word) from the melody/chords. Like how Wes Craven films often have scenes that are eerily sunny and bright.
I feel like this is such a twenty one pilot esc method of having a really happy and comforting sounding song but the lyrics are actually dark and real. I love it so much :P
This is actually how I always heard the song. It tends to leave me slightly unsettled, and as much as I love it, I tended to worry for the couple portrayed. The line that always catches me, is "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" as I can both relate and find that it conveys the underlying dark theme and meaning. This was such a good and satisfying video as I adore analyzing words that people use when they are writing, especially songs cause they often reveal so much about the author but also the listener. Thank you for always being so honest about your mental health as it makes me feel less crazy and alone. Love you lots
I thought the song was a little (a lot) more sweet because in my head the "intertwined, free" part meant that even though the lovers are intertwined with each other, they feel free within them so It was a great feeling. Yeah, i was WAAAY far from the original thought.
WOW This brings a whole new light to the song! Also, the music video makes a lot more sense in that light...
I'd interpreted the song as as story of two best friends and lovers who were creating a safe heaven between themselves to stay protected from "the world".
Actually, the mental image I have when listening to the song is the footage from Hazel's TOTM of september 2016, when she and Jack go to the little cabin, and there's this incredible feeling of peace, and calmness, and safety.
So for me, the song inspires safety more than this dark tone that you actually wrote...
ok ik ur probably never going to see this but wow i am so deeply shook by this song. your voice is so crisp and i love the brutal imagery wow its wow WOW ur amazing so cool!
My interpretation heard the lyrics and related it to the beginning of a relationship with someone I loved.
What I found within the song is the connect I had with them, it was perfect, they made me happy without end and they became the base of my happiness [you create a rarity of my genuine smiles] and they were the only place of safety [safe from the world, though the world will try-]. I was afraid of being without them because when ever I was around them, everything I worried about faded away [laugh away the fear] But because of my mental illnesses [oh, im afraid of the things in my brain] I was doubting my worthiness of them and I felt I didn't deserve their love, but I kept pushing against all odds to be with with them and I hoped my illnesses wouldn't get in the way [ive pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me]
But with the true meaning, it hits home harder because it is accurate to how the relationship ended.
I love how this song is so gorgeously creepy but in such a subtle way. To someone listening to it on the radio or in a passing shop it would probably seem beautiful and like a heart throbbing love song, but when you really listen to the lyrics and chord progressions it becomes much more dimensional and so much more real. I found it actually kind of comforting that there was a song depicting mental health and how it affects relationships because I worry about it quite a lot and it will always be one of my favorites. Love you Dodes you never cease to impress.
honestly i relate to everything you just described. being in a relationship with mental illness silently takes you to that place where you're both very close and very far from a person at the same time. listening to your lyrics was like living that situation all over again, being at the edge of love and fear.
I personally didn't know my own analysis of the song, I always saw it more of a song about like one night stands to feel better and I was always like oh okay I don't relate to the one night stand parts but I relate to the other parts. When the music video came out it honestly clicked in my head kinda how it was supposed to mean as I saw the words more and then this video definitely showed what it means to you and to some people and I now see how many ways it can be interpreted. Good job!
As someone who was in an unhealthy/toxic relationship with someone who suffered from anxiety & depression for like 3 years - it definitely hit me over the head with the feeling of being depended on way more than is okay, although I never properly stopped and thought about how it could be a song about mental health & being in love. The line "I've pinned each and every hope on you" gave me that weird, unlikeable nostalgia when you remember a time in your life that wasn't particularly great, if you understand what I mean?? probably proof that your fancy English lit techniques worked (even if I didn't realise what the words were intended to mean)
i've always viewed this song as a very positive, optimistic one. heres why; "HAIR IN YOUR MOUTH"- this implies that the two are close enough that the author's partner doesnt mind her hair in their mouth- the whole image makes me smile. "FEET TOUCHING FEET"- the close intimacy makes the relationship feel special. at no point during the song does it state that this relationship is romantic; it may be a strong platonic one? we will never know; it's up to the reader. "I'M AFRAID OF THE THINGS IN MY BRAIN" - the author admits they are weak and vulnerable - describing her mental illness as "things" show that she is scared and does not know what is happening to her. admitting that you are weak takes a lot of courage, which means the two could have a strong positive platonic relationship!! "NUMB" - every time i hear this i think of a face numb from smiling. thats just my opinion, but thats the image i get. "YOU CREATE A RARITY OF MY GENUINE SMILES" - the author has admitted they are weak and scared, and so having a partner that create these "genuine smiles" while shes terrified about her brain makes them again seem to have a strong positive relationship
i don't know theres a couple of the reasons as to why i view this song as a happy positive one. i'm not good at being deep haha
I wish all musical artists would do this! When you go to an art gallery you usually get to read the artists statement to see what the intent of their work was but you rarely get that luxury with musicians, even in interviews they rarely address the lyrics so directly. Good on you Dodie, this was a super interesting vid!
AHHHH i loved hearing dodie's opinion on this because i knew that there was so many differing ones. anyway, after seeing this i kinda wanted to say what i thought and see if anyone else agreed???? so here's my analysis:
Skin Heat Hair in your mouth Feet touching feet — i found this like the simple parts of the romance that the two lovers enjoy and maybe fall back to. this could also represent how things start simply but escalate over time.
Oh you And I Safe from the world Though the world will try — this is where i saw dependence on a person stemming, especially since it started with the 'Oh, you' singled out. it's like the pair is facing the world hand in hand, and that the writer is reliant on that person to be there to fend off the bad.
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear — i saw denial here, like the writer is just shrugging off that their mind is filled with fear/negativity. the 'we can stay here' ties back to my view of the beginning, like being together/being close brought the writer that comfort. i imagined the 'we can stay here' this way because it puts an image in your head.
Numb Fine You create a rarity of my genuine smiles — this may have been the writers way of trying to please the others around them by faking it, making the 'rarity of genuine smiles' a lot more meaningful because the writer no longer has to put on a mask. they're clearly comforted by the lover.
So breathe Breathe with me — i saw this as the lover attempting to keep the writer calm before/during a panic attack.
Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them — this is where the dependency and desperate nature comes back, because the writer is relying on the person to take the pain away like they usually do.
Ooh, oh O-oh, oh, oh — this was the eeriest part for me, probably representing the horror of the mental illness truly getting at the writer and paring with the climax of the song in the last section. this may of been where the writer finally felt like they were alone and couldn't be saved by the other person.
Intertwined Free I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me — here i put the couple in my head right back where they were in the beginning, the form of this section being phrased/sang the same way. this may have been the aftermath of the panic in the climax. it also could've been the reality of the person aiding them coming back, snapping out of the fear/anxiety they felt, but the person being there in the end still aiding/comforting them.
I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear — i thought this was a light and simple way to end because it was restating words from earlier, maybe showing the calm before the storm. it was like the writer was saying that although their mental illness will weigh down on them, they will always be able to come back to their safe place and make it out of the terror alive and okay.
I had a similar theory, just not as in depth. I thought it was about a person (you) struggling with mental health, finding someone that helps them (lover/significant other), then the other person leaving the other the person that need help alone by themselves to fight. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful song with the world Dodie, it is truly appreciated. <3
doing english gcse i often felt like we extrapolated so much meaning from where there was so little just to reach the A* bracket. your art is so subjective and has so many paths of interpretation, its lovely to listen and explore what it could mean. as much as it felt arduous picking apart poems at gcse i miss analysing art and finding hidden meaning, and i loved watching this and re-experiencing that without an the weight of an exam at the end! amazing song dodie xx
I've always seen it as a "I love you, you're all I have, you are my hopes and dreams, I'm afraid of you leaving me. " sort of thing. I love you, but this is all I have, please don't leave and let me get worse.
Hey @doddleoddle plz can you do a tutorial on intertwined as i love it so much and no matter how much i watch the video i cant copy your chords or find a tutorial any where which matches up with the way you play it
i took the song to mean, like you said, a sweet tale of lovers one of whom is suffering with mental issues and the other person somewhat helps but not entirely, the "intertwined" and "breathe with me" added imagery of synchronising and how the lovers have melded together somehow and there is an element of condependecy
When I first listened to the song I though it was really sweet and then I realized that It was about a toxic relationship. I thought it was that neither one of the people wanted to leave the relationship but both knew it was bad
The first time I heard this song, I was reading The Parable of the Sower, which is a COMPLETELY different take on the song. It matches up really well, but it suggests a whole separate situation. (I highly recommend the book if you haven't read it already)
sammy must have really really listened to the lyrics and thought about his idea for a LONG time, just to execute a very simple, yet intriguing and deep concept
Intertwined is a really important song to me! I listened to it while going through a difficult time, I opened up to my partner about my mental health issues which was of course a big step, I felt like when I was with them all the problems melted away. Once I was dumped it totally changed meaning to me, looking back I wasn't supported as much as I should've been, we distracted from my problems rather than discussing them. So in a weird way the song just reminds me of that point in my life and how my perspective on it has changed.
Intertwined I've imagined this song in a music video. A birds eye view of a double bed for verse one. The girl (writer) remains constant throughout and the partner will change between verses.
The first verse, for me, is about a hook-up, one night stand type thing. 'Skin' and 'heat' are representing the main things that the people involved are thinking of and feeling (physically) the next lines go on to describe physical things 'feet' and 'hair'. 'Safe from the world' as the pair are alone and away from judgement and all other hurt it's just a physical encounter as emphasised by the focus on physical things in the first few lines. As the chorus first plays, the fear of the 'things in my brain' has unique background vocals to the rest of the line. This implies here that the 'things' are emotional things rather than the physical previously mentioned. But the girl sings that they 'can stay here and laugh away the fear' as this bit of fun will help to cure (more like cover) the 'things in the brain'. The shots for this verse and chorus in the video would show the girls side tables of an empty condom packet and Lacey/sexy clothes thrown around implying this causal encounter was planned.
The second verse, to me, describes a dying and empty relationship. 'Numb' interrupts the music followed by 'fine' as if to reference how the writer would describe the relationship to herself verses those around her. But she reminds herself that her partner can 'create the rarity of her genuine smile' implying the sadness she feels (possibly referencing the 'things in her brain'). 'Breathe, breathe with me' depicts the need for support from someone to do anything and everything including the basics and implies that the partner does that for her. 'Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them' emphases the need for support and now highlights the want of the writer to unload her emotions onto her partner. The chorus here for me shows that the writer is afraid to face her true feelings ('numb'/'things in my brain') because she needs the emotional support. This is so tragic when discovered that it's almost humorous 'laugh away the fear'. This verse and chorus's video would consist of photos and books on the side tables and even slipped waiting at the bedside and a neat duvet covering the couple. They would face away from each other representing the 'numb' relationship but still be together in the same bed, providing that support.
The final verse is beautifully describing making love to the one you love. The couple are 'Intertwined' because that is the only way to describe how they are linked because they are tangled up together so close. 'Free' as the true feelings are released just as the adjective suggests. The pinning of 'each and every hope' is a reference to the risk of pouring out emotions to this one partner. This is followed by a 'hope that you won't bleed with me' this describes the fear of hurting the partner through the baggage and hurt that the writers carries. The chorus that follows once again pins the fear on the 'things in (her) brain' and so shows that there is no escaping these emotions. The video of the final verse and chorus would show a couple in the bed face to face. They will hold each other tight and intimately. The side tables will have photo frames turned over to show the girl has moved on or possibly implying cheating and there will be causal clothes everywhere to show the passion in the preparation for the sexual encounter but also the lack of care for the classic sexy look but the actual appeal of eachother was inside eachother and not the sexy underwear they were wearing.
💛💛💛 I really appreciate that you took the time to explain your meaning behind the song. Even though my initial interpretation doesn't match up, I always love to learn about the "true" meanings/writers meanings behind song lyrics.
I personally had a very emotional reaction to this song because of the mental illness theme, but didn't see the sort of dependence theme until you first mentioned it (on twitter maybe? I can't remember... it was before this video though.)
Although I reject the romanticized idea that a person or true love can "fix" mental illness, I also believe that having someone helps. I'll be absolutely devastated if my current relationship ends, and if it does i'm sure i'll look back on saying things like this and hate that I said it. But right now, I'm in a relationship and it helps me. I have bad times and good times, but having Josh there for me--ready to talk things out if I'm feeling off, or distract me if I need a break, or simply hold me when I need to cry--it helps. Sometimes I do worry that I'm too dependent though, so that's why I can never sing along to the line "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" without a few tears. Personally, I always saw this song as pointing out the fears and the problems in a relationship where one or both parties suffer from mental illness, but focusing on the hope, happiness, and the safety of it. I still do, actually. I'm not one of those people who's going to say that your interpretation has "ruined it" for me. To me, this song is always going to be about having that person to hold on to. Having someone who helps you let go of everything else sometimes.
i always interpreted 'intertwined' as a sweeter song. like a conversation between two partners, one struggling with feelings, and gushing thoughts and asking for help from the other. and recieving the help? but now i see. i think i still feel a connection on a personal level, with how i viewed the song, but i do understand more now. thank you for all you put into yout music dodie. ily.
I sort of saw it to describe and close but limiting relationship. after watching the video I assumed it was about domestic abuse and how it can mess with your brain and make you feel trapped and doll like in a relationship if that makes sense. like "but we can stay here and laugh away the feel" I thought meant "this relationship is horrible but lets just ignore it as if nothing's wrong"
I guess I really interpreted the song as in she was more afraid of loving him or the other person or just love in general. As it says "I am afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" implies that her Brian is afraid of loving (her fear) but she tries to forget and tells herself we are only laying (laying=not in love yet. Also going into how you lay before you go to sleep but are not completely asleep right now.). "Numb and fine" although they are contrasting also leads that numb is the numbness of their relationship because she can't fully commit to loving him. "Can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" shows us that she wishes he could here what she has to say but she cannot speak it. For the lyrics "I've pinned each and every hope on youI hope that you don't bleed with me", this tells us that she has given him the hope of love but she is still working it out and doesn't want to see him suffer. I hope this isn't too rambly and hard to understand. Idk it's just what I thought it represented. I love this song no matter what it means and I love you Dodie! Congrats on 1 mil too😁
There was one line that I interpreted a bit differently: "You create a rarity of my genuine smiles". To me that sounds as though the person who is "you" is also causing some of the pain the singer is feeling. As though it says "it's your fault my smiles are rare" or "you've made my smiles into a rarity."
I love you. And I love your song. If people are disturbed by it, they're supposed to be. It's a great concept. And people need to stop telling you how to be or who you are. "Oh this isn't Dodie!!! This is too scary/dark!!" Um no, it is Dodie, Dodie isn't some perfect being, she's human and she's allowed to express her emotions
This is really interesting !!! Especially because when I listen to it I hear something similar but not quite the same. I hear it as though its all happening in a split second of thoughts and the speaker is panicking and fretting paranoid that their partner doesn't love them that much because of their desperation to "pin each and every hope" on them and to unload all of their shit on them. The partner in this situation is recklessly happy but confused by the speaker as they don't quite understand their thoughts. They are being strung along and are going along with it but not really taking any of the bad stuff. It truly is a beautiful song and is so incredible because of its deep deep meaning and the fact that everyone will interpret it in their own way and in a way that relates to them. Please keep making breathtaking music like this and I'm now going to have to listen to the whole EP again for the millionth time !!
I like this song a lot Dodie! I recentally went through (and am still kind of going through) a terrible thing. I had a very close friend and she was great to me for awhile. But a few months ago she changed. And she didn't even realize what she was doing to me (wich is not her fault bc i never told her(. She would sort of ignore the fact we were fighting a lot more and not as close. When i would try to explain this to her she would make me feel bad about it and somehow make everyone around us agree with her. She did other small things that would hurt too. I would stay up most nights for 2 months and cry ovee what was happening. It got to the point where i had (with her help) brainwashed myself to think that the only thing i was made for was her happiness (so everytime i did something and she didn't react positively i would mentaly and physically beat myself up about it later). It was a terrible cycle and i am starting to repair myself. I took up art and a few good books. I cut ties with her today (wich was way more dramatic on her end then what i wanted). And i just needed this song today. It was a nice outlet. Thank you ♡
A beautiful song that camouflages itself as a traditional love song, but when studied or considered deeper (more than most artificial pop love songs) it discusses the important and sometimes damaging part of mental health in relationships. 'Intertwined' is such a strong connection to my last relationship. I was suffering really badly from anxiety, and on some level depersonalisation, which removed me from the connection that I felt with this boy. I wanted so desperately to be a part of the love he gave to me, but my mind was running a million miles an hour and couldn't slow down to connect with him. "Laugh away the fear" strikes such a cord in me because it perfectly describes the mask placed over the top of any doubt or worry within a relationship (for me at least) especially when mental health is involved. I so often pretended that all was fine, but I knew that it wasn't working because I was too overrun by my mental health and I couldn't bring myself to burden him with it. He knew that it was a struggle that I faced, but the artificial idea of love and connection was pushed onto us and that clogged a lot of the pathways between us. Thank you so much, Dodie, for creating such a beautiful love song. Though it isn't the traditional love between a couple, it is realistic about the experience in relationships when mental health is involved. Thank you for being real and sharing your struggle with us. I promise that even when you feel the most vulnerable and broken, you will move through it and you are simultaneously helping other people xxx
holy shit do writers really think about all the techniques and structure when writing? i'm shocked, i just supposed that we were always just overanalysing random unintended techniques in english lit class.. :))
well, dodie, before i just listened to your wonderful beautiful voice. but when i watched the video, it made more sence to me. Before looking in the comments of Intertwined, i knew it was mental illness. becuase i have mental illness too. i understood. now i want to go learn the song. Tha k you dodie!
i'm actually making a short film for my 2nd year of film school inspired by this song that explores the themes of intimacy and vulnerability. I saw it, literally speaking, as the idea of 'intertwining' yourself with someone else, and how intimate that can be - and how vulnerable it makes someone. the line ' you create a rarity of my genuine smile' is my favourite because i felt that it shows how comfortable you can become around someone you love, just some thoughts i had :D but i love the song so much, it really got me
i figured that the song was about a relationship and depending on the other partner to be there to hold you up and help with problems when you need them, but i didn't realize it was written this way.
The way I interpret songs is like a story. So in this "story" there are two people who love each each other but have a hard way of saying it. In other words they love each other but they're too scared to say what they really feel and have to fight these demons in their head that tell them they shouldn't love one another. I don't know if this makes sense but I REALLY love this song and your music dodie ✨💕 thank you😊💕
Being a really not intellectual person, I never really thought of the background of the song. I just thought it was a nice DODIE song. But after this video, I listened to it again and, hell yeah, it's quite dark, and the way you wrote is super clever. Thank you for all of you music DODIE! Also, do more videos like this please! (Lmao DODIE autocorrects to capitols.... (Dodie*))
I love that this song can mean so many different things to different people. Personally, I saw it as a love song, where the two relied on each other. The person singing had maybe experienced trauma or had mental health issues but their partner helped them to overcome them and comfort them.
Wow I mean we knew dodge knows her stuff but JEEZ does she know her stuff. And I know this was her own song so she knows it very well but I'd personally love a dodie analysis hour where she analyzes all kind of music! She definitely made her English teachers proud.
Oh my gosh Dodie now I understand it so much better; the meaning seems so much deeper with the way that mental health/relationships are Intertwined. I won't look at it in the same way again, this makes it so interesting...
i actually blippin loved most of the music video, but i feel like some scenes took the lyrics too literally, with the timing of those still scenes matching up too similarly with the start and end of those lines (i guess it's prevalent in the first part) but other than that i am FLOORED
it's so interesting how myself and other can think so differently about the same thing and seeing different interpretations when I first heard the song, I think I related it to how I was a that moment which was extremely anxious and forcing myself into a relationship that I thought would fix me and make everything better. I thought the contrasting words at the beginning were comparisons of reality and the idealism that was in my head. I thought "intertwined" was like the mess of my good and bad thoughts messed and knotted together, but it also represented being close to someone and having intertwined arms and legs, aka what I thought was ideal. interpretations are so cool man
I love you interpretation! However its definitely not what I felt when I listen to the song. I sort of went along with what you said when you first uploaded it about how it was for a slightly intimate scene ( maybe you were not ready to share this part of the song?). When I hear it I think of the morning after, when the sun is just rising and the sky is a dark blue silver, with the significant other asleep as you watch them . Its like a reflection of what the relationship has been since then and how you are like one person now, you are so in tune with your significant other and you are "intertwined". for me its like a dark room that the sun is turning red and you know that you can never let go of this person, like you have found them for the first time and everything is peaceful and quiet. Its shows how in tune you are and how maybe you are scared of that, you are scared of what other people will think of this and how close you are and try to take you apart, which would be like ripping yourself apart, but when you are around the one you love everything goes away all the anxiety and insecurities because they love you so much. Its ironic because its such a contrast to what you believe, which maybe shows what sort of person you are- I'm a very positive person on the outside (not so much inside) , so I can see the light first, but ik now whenever I listen I was always think of the other side, which I kind of don't want to??idk??? But thank you for this dodo sorry I'm rambling I just want to A N A L Y S E W O O k bye
ohh boy. Intertwined hit me too hard when it first came out. Like some other people in the comment section, I interpreted it as a romantic partner being your escape from mental health problems. But rather than it becoming a toxic situation, it was a safe haven where you could work through some of the mental health things. I may have interpreted it differently if events in my life had been different. About a week before the intertwined ep came out, the guy I had a MAJOR crush on told me. When the ep came out, I decided to listen to it with my eyes closed to try and fully envelop myself in the music. And I lost it. The song made me vividly remember spending time with him and telling him more about my mental health than I had told anyone else. So thank you for explaining your reasoning behind the song. It's allowing me to fully enjoy this song again❤️
This video was so fascinating! Like I already got most of it but it's was super interesting! And also I totally see this happening to me in a relationship lmao soz future partner
For me, the song was kind of about unrequited love combined with mental illness (if that makes sense). That might just be because of who I am right now and the situations I have been in in the past few months. The first verse ("Skin, heat..." to "world will try") reads to me more like a fantasy; I'm dreaming of a world where I love you and you love me and we're happy. The last line indicates reality seeping in, the dreamer acknowledging to themselves that this isn't real and it won't work. The chorus is about the dreamer trying to forget reality and convince themselves that the other person returns their feelings. The "Numb, fine," lyrics show the conflict of the persons emotions around their love interest-- they feel happy because they're around, but they know that he other person will never feel the same way about them. The genuine smiles line might be saying that the person can only feel happy when the person they love is around them. The "Breathe breathe" bit portrays trying to calm your nerves around your crush, reminding yourself to breathe and slow your heartbeat. "Drink all my thoughts" shows that the person is sick of their crush consuming their mind and wants to get rid of their feelings. The fact that they have "each and every hope on you" means that they are still desperately wanting their feelings returned, but they don't want the other person to be miserable because of their feelings toward them.
Perhaps not as coherent a narrative as your version, but I think it's quite good.
I imagine it as like you get into a relationship and it's amazing and then it slowly gets worse and worse because it's abusive relationship and it's an ongoing cycle of abuse which the person is stuck in it and can't escape
when i first head the song i thought it was about someone who was afraid of falling in love, to like give in to a person and trust them but after i saw the video i analyzed the lyrics again and i thought maybe it was a couple who were happy and than they relationship started to fall apart, but they were to afraid to end things and be miserable
I definitely got the toxic dependency theme and how you were afraid of what that could mean but I did NOT realise all the other ways you emphasised that in the song absolute genius dodie absolute genius
For me I guess this song was about acknowledging your mental illness and basically saying you can't fucking stand it - and basically saying please oh please help me change my brain. I guess the idea of love and romance never came into it, for me anyways. But i love this idea of you making videos analysing your songs, it really makes me love the ep even more xxx
woah i feel kind of dark having quotes from this song on my walls now, i always interpreted it as being a metaphor for how scary things can be in the world but how you can always feel safe with your lover and how they can help bring you back to reality and make you feel safe again :p
my original interpretation of the song was that the singer (or dodie) was depending on her s/o to take all of the pain of her mental illness away from her so that they could share it and fight it together, which i guess is what dodie is saying here, but in my head it was a lot more melancholy and sad, like the couple are both desperately trying to hang on to one another and hoping that love alone will be enough to get them get through. The video has completely flipped my interpretation of the song into something a lot more toxic than I realised, which I think is clever because the melody is quite soothing, like it's lulling you into a false sense of security. that could kind of mirror the couple in the song shutting themselves away and feeling 'safe from the world' (the outside world being the thing they blame for their pain; they start denying that the cause is actually the relationship) and realising they only truly find their happiness in one another: 'you create a rarity of my genuine smile'. it creates a sense of safety within the relationship, but the lyrics start suggesting that they've fooled themselves into thinking that everything is fine and that they can share their burdens together. I also think the song starts off kind of sadly optimistic but gets darker as it goes along? as in the singer thinks that her s/o is stronger than her and that they can bear to help her carry her mental illnesses, but as the song goes on I get the feeling that she becomes hesitant and fearful as she realises that they struggle with mental illnesses too, and that they're only as strong as she is.. and she starts worrying that she's put too much of her pain on them, so she tries sharing their pain too and it just becomes a viscous cycle of dependence. I love the lyrics and the melody combined to make a beautifully sad song with really clever and subtle dark undertones - I just want to keep analysing it!
So here's my theory: The perspective is of the person singing the song (dodie). She was going through a bad break up and was remembering the most significant parts of the relationship, hence the little details. The story is being sung to another person, perhaps a friend. The Oooh are separating memories and reality. So it starts with a memory:
Skin Heat Hair in your mouth feet touching feet Oh
You and I Safe from the world Though the world will try
(dodie feels safe with this friend and she felt comfortable as well with her ex so she is conflicted to feel this way again)
(This is being sung to her ex) Oooh I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here and laugh away the fear Numb fine You create a rarity of my genuine smile so breath breath with me Can you drink all my thoughts cos I can't stand them
(I think dodie tried to explain this to her ex and scared her significant other)
Oooooooooh ohhhhh ohoh Oh oh oh oh o
(I feel like this is when she might be having a panic attack going thoughts switching from reality and memories)
Intertwined Free I've pinned each and every hope on u I hope that you don't bleed from me. (She repeated the part she said to her ex) I'm afraid from the things in my brain But we Can stay here And laugh away the fear
(She feels comfortable towards her friend but is going to keep her distance so she doesn't ruin the relationship like she did last time)
This probably doesn't make sense but it's how I heard it. Lol
they way i interpreted the song was with two people, lovers or not. one understanding what the other is going through, and being a happy place for the other person to forget about whatever mental illnesses they may have (depression, anxiety etc). one is going through a rough time, but relying on seeing and being with the other person to relax and be happy around, more specifically to lay with and cuddle with to make their unhappiness go away, at least for a little bit, while they're together.
i personally would have made the music video a lot more romantic, or intimate with more happy undertones in the video. maybe a pair cuddling, laughing, smiling. and to show the mental illness side of it, have them coming to see the person or leaving them unhappy, but showing the sad person as happy while being around the other (since they make them happy and forget their fears)
Okay so to me the song meant something completely different. In my head it was about two lovers who depended on each other in hard times and helped each other. Intertwined to me felt like they were made for each other and free felt like they feel free of their problems when with each other. Fine meant that at first one of the two lies about their inner torment and I say at first because this is in the first portion of the song. Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet meant that they were very passionate lovers. So basically to me it felt like the song was about two lovers who could count on one another as a good support system. The video for the song confused me quite a bit as you can guess haha
Honestly Dodie, this just shows that you truly are a lyrical genius. I interpreted the song to have the same overarching dark, mysterious ( or better as you put it, Macabre) themes as well as themes of struggles going back and forth with mental health and codependency. Watching this in depth analysis just shone a light on some other aspects I hadn't noticed before, and now i have listened to the song countless more times and I am in awe. Thank you so much for writing this incredible song, happy late birthday!
i think that the video is very interesting because of the use of the dolls, it kind of creates a sense of childhood, and for me personally how when you are a child everything that you think will happen in the future is seemingly perfect. but in the video it shows issues with relationships and mental health and how it's very distorted compared to the child's view of things. i think for me it kind of represents the sadness of what you realise when you grow up and experience things such as relationships which is something that is so romantisied
i don't normally comment on videos, but i just felt that i had to share this: i listened to this song religiously as soon as i got it on spotify and soon became addicted to the gorgeous harmonies and waltz-like rhythm. like most people, i didn't notice the underlying twisted theme and heard it strictly as a purely beautiful love song and envisioned two lovers dancing together in a kitchen with it playing steadily and softly in the background. incidentally, those two lovers in my head were replaced with me and my boyfriend at the time, and as i fell in love with this song, i fell in love with him. unfortunately, almost a week ago, he ended our relationship and was (and still am) distraught and heartbroken like you wouldn't believe. the very next day, i saw a music video for this song had been posted and i couldn't help but click to watch it even though i knew it would feel like salt on an open wound. however, i was shocked when the music video started taking a dark turn. it was so strange; as i kept watching it and as it got darker and darker, the lyrics seemed to unwrap themselves before me to reveal the intended meaning i'd been blind to. it's an odd sort of feeling, like the worst type of satisfaction, seeing how perfectly everything came together, as if my relationship was destined to end the way it did. i saw my relationship as well as this song as perfect and pure and untainted in the beginning, and even 'intertwined' the two together, but at the end, they were both unraveled before me and i saw the truth of them; neither of them were innocent like i thought they were. intertwined is now my favorite song, and even though it hurt like a knife in my heart to watch the music video, i can't help but be amazed at how it came to me when it did. it's a sort of sick, beautiful irony. thank you, dodie, this is really a gorgeously twisted song.
I was about to audition this song for a school coffee house, I was just about to audition but the lady auditioning me left. Then I left the school crying.
10/10 would attend Professor Dodie's english lit class again.
I was confused and a little jarred by the video when I first saw it, like other people it didn't fit with my expectation. Later on though, I thought about it and what YOU the writer were trying to convey, and it made more sense reading over the lyrics. It's a fantastic song and now I am convinced that the video goes perfectly with it :)
My view: At first, I didn't like the video. I understood that was about a relationship between someone with mental issues (perhaps anxiety, like me, wich is why I could relate so much and enjoy so much and be mindblown by you like so many times) and a person that this someone depends on. But I kinda notice more the cute perspective of the other person helping the someone with anxiety, I didn't stop to think that this could be a bad relationship with the "dependency" (sorry for my english) and I didn't see that on the video at first. But now I understand more. Thanks for the analysis dodie
I knew that the song wasn't a cute happy song because some of the things that dodie touched on in this video. I thought it was mainly about co-dependency.
Its odd because my take of the song was both the mental illness idea but also the romantic, more 'lovey' idea. I loved the video though, what a cool but creepy thing. Also i understood the 'can you drink all my thoughts' as an alcohol reference? Alcohol has been such a main subject on youtube recently so i felt like the use of it to avoid the real problems really fit in with whats happening in todays culture. It also references dependency because often those who're mentally ill grasp at everything and anything that will alleviate their suffering for just a little bit, whether it be other people, alcohol/drugs or something else.
I definitely thought of this song as a cute song about two people who make each other happy despite one of them's mental illness, but now i see the harmfulness in the relationship and it makes a whole lot more sense bc of the juxtaposition of the positive and negative words as you pointed out very eloquently. I also think I was just in another mindset the first time i heard the song, and now I completely understand bc of certain events that have happened, I've changed, my way of thinking has changed in such a short amount of time. I guess it just goes to show that stuff that happens to you, really makes a difference. (I loved the music video btw it helped me rethink my past connection to the song and this video cemented the new one)
I personally saw it as less of a dark song and a toxic relationship but more like... your partner is able to help you cope and find your way out of your mental health issues, and provide support. the writer is in pain and the partner can help alleviate that pain. "drink my thoughts" I saw more as being comfortable enough to share everything with your partner and pour your soul to them, "I hope you don't bleed with me" as I hope you don't have to feel my (the writer's) pain and go through the same mental health stuff? maybe I just saw it all with a more positive connotation because the music was generally pleasant-sounding and intimate
I actually never really liked Intertwined. For some reason the lyrics just didn't fit for me (possibly a side effect of being only 15). I wanted to like the song, but I just didn't understand it how the cute romance went with the dark themes. However, I absolutely adore the music video and it provided me a way that I understood it. Now this song means so much to me, and I think it's very beautiful. Thank you Dodie for this video and thank you Sammy for the VEVO video.
I kinda feel like it gives mental health a bad outlook to those who have never experienced it/dont know much about it. I have depression, anxiety, and depersonilization and my mom (although I have been diagnosed) thinks that I am not "mentally ill" because she has a bad view of what that means. I feel like the video pressed the idea further which upset me. It is a terrible thing to experience, I understand that completely, but I dont want people who dont know a lot about mental disorders to be scared of those whose who are. That is why the video upset me.
in all honesty, I didn't quite like the music video. it scared me quite a lot but I actually sort of love it after watching this. I think if I had the chance to make the music video, I would have had two different parts of the story, but only two in all. I would have the girl and her lover wrapped up into bed and laughing and cuddling and having a wonderful time. but I would have also had just the girl, alone, screaming, and pulling her hair, or crying, something that I do quite often because of my sadness. the last scene would be her in a ball crying, maybe with something broken around her and she would look up and her lover would be there, smiling, and she would laugh
I got annoyed at people trying to say that this is simply a sweet song and then complaining about the video... I always related to it because it was a little disjointed and twisted.
Ok my view Firstly the title suggests it is sex themed but it lyrics speak differently. Firstly the lyrics show the 2 are madly in love hence intertwined into eachothers lives but it is to tangled causing some friction but the melody is happy to happy suggesting that they hide the problem/s. Near the end when your voices overlay and reach the pinnacle in stress the bond causing the tangle is cut and you 2 are back to being madly in love but more mature
The way I interpreted it was that person A (singer or the perspective we see) is with person B. Person A is mentally ill, and person B takes care of them even though person A is having an extremely rough time. Person A has an illness that makes them afraid and maybe insecure, person B is concerned but isn't suffering because the relationship is taking a toll on them. However, person A is afraid that it is, this song is them saying they feel guilty for putting so much on person B. The relationship between the two is somewhat leaving person A dependent on person B, but not to the point that it's unhealthy. Person A isn't pretending to laugh while they're afraid, person B genuinely makes them feel safe. I don't know, I guess that's how I saw it, but I absolutely love your interpretation. You're like one of my favorite people in the world and you're so unbelievably talented, love you, Dodie! (You probably wont see this, because there's a ton of comments, but just in case.)
I see someone who wants to trust and love someone else but their own thoughts worry them. "She" wants love and all the things that come with it - hence the first part- but she gets so wrapped up in the way she feels that she does not feel. "Laugh" spoken in vain becuase she wants her own faory tale and she thinks the relationship is better than how she already felt. She is trying to make herself a false safehouse but the bunker metaphorically has no roof. In a way she is trapping herself in a relationship because she thinks she has to be there and she wants to be there but cannot help herself in that way. "Numb" referencing the way she feels as she tries to satisfy her partner because she thinks she has to and "fine" being how she shows herself outwardly. "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" you does not mean her partner but her inner thoughts and the manifestation of the relationship itself. She wants her partner to take away her grief and that's the only reason she is kept there in a loop of denial. "I've" refers to her now realising I have done this and she cannot stand to cause someone the grief that she has and she forces herself out of the loop realising she can't do this anymore. This all shows her partner was not the problem and didn't cause the pain, only she did because she forced herself to believe and the final verse is a sort of sardonic laugh, laughing at how stupid she thinks herself, laughing at how she could think it was going to work.
When melting plastic the toxic fumes come out. The plastic heads were melting like they were letting everything out little by little and whilst this was happening the fumes were killing anyone in the room... ???? I don't know that thought just crossed my mind. Probably doesn't even make sense
NO NO NO but I wrote that comment before I watched all of the analysis because I got too excited about the analysis but IT'S ACTUALLY EVEN COOLER LIKE I'VE NEVER SEEN AN ARTIST EXPLAIN ART PIECE BY PIECE it's so exciting can we have an art club yet omg YOU MADE THIS FROM YOUR BRAIN HOW COOL IS THAT
and now I have reached the end of the video and I am SHOOK BY ANALYSIS <3 I think the main surprise from the music video for me was it being portrayed by dolls. 'Skin. Heat.' is so NOT portrayed by these rigid dolls so it was quite jarring, but then it got freaky and I was like HOW ELSE COULD ALL THIS BE PORTRAYED?! So yeah it was cool to see those internal conflicts and fantasies of mental dependencies and struggles shown through two unfeeling 'things'. LOVE THIS TOO MUCH OKAY BYE.
hmm I thought the lyrics were suggesting a more freeing relationship, though I do understand the use of binary juxtapositions. Maybe suggesting the first is within the persons mind, and the second is true?
To me it was about two people who are really cosy, and while the world around them is tearing down and trying to take them down with them they resist- "safe from the world though the world will try". I also thought it dealt with mental health and that they get through it together. "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we" with but being the turning point towards something better. It's a beautiful song and can be so widely interpreted.
honestly im so proud of dodes, i've been with her since she released la vie en rose, and she's come such a long way in many aspects, and i couldn't be prouder of her she's such a precious angel
This video was a combination of two of my favourite things- Dodie and English Literature/poetry/analysis of text Do you think you could make more of these for the other songs on the ep I find them really interesting?
I love this. The song has grown on me since I first heard it, as each time I heard the lyrics I started to piece together a meaning very similar to what you explained. At first I thought of it as a lovey dovey, standard, romantic song, however as I paid more attention to the lyrics I realised it was more about a relationship where the people involved depend on each other possibly in a difficult time or just for their mental well-being in general. I love how much thought you put into Intertwined. It's probably one of my favourite songs, because even though I'm young and have never experienced this, I still feel like I can relate for some reason and it hits me right in the feels!
I think intertwined is an amazing song, which became even better after having listened to your analysis of your song :) I really liked the way you analyzed the song aswell
when I heard this song for the first time, I did actually interpret it as a sickly sweet kind of love song, and I think I know why. I'm bad at like 'music talk' or whatever but the chords and the way you sing and the melodies all came together to really make me feel that warm and fuzzy feeling. But it's kind of strange because I usually don't see songs that way, even if they are meant to be sickly sweet. I'm always looking for a deeper meaning. But with this song I wasn't. I was completely content with a beautiful love song, which I saw (or heard) a girl who was maybe a bit broken, falling in love, and with the help of that person slowly mending herself back together. A really cool thing about art is a lot of the time we see what we need to see, and I think that's what happened. In the moment of listening to this, I needed something sickly sweet and beautiful and lovely and aH I love this song so much.
YES YES YES YESSSSSS👏 When I listened to Intertwined I was like "Aw, that was a sweet love song about two broken people, probably after a intimate moment, finding comfort in each other" but then when I listened to it again and payed closer attention to the lyrics I felt slightly unsettled. Especially "I hope that you don't bleed with me" and the simple idea of being so thoroughly Intertwined with another person that you've "pinned each and every hope" on them and I realized oh shit, this song is about a sort of unhealthy relationship. I really appreciate the way the tune sounds sweet and peaceful, but is hiding a darker theme. Similar to the way people suffering with mental illness will say "I'm fine" and appear as much on the surface, but are hiding a darker reality. Really really cool parallel and an amazing song.
Thank you for making this! I think sometimes when we hear music, we see it only as it exists at that moment, through our own biases. We see it without its history. We don't see any of the messy bits or the effort and thought that went into it. This video felt like lifting up the curtains and gave me a whole new appreciation for this song!
I love this. I always love analyzing songs and their lyrics and it's so interesting to hear your meaning. I also loved how you explained the chord and tonal changes it made my music theory heart flutter ❤
Dodie, this is awesome! I love learning and understanding language and to hear it in the context of a song (joining the words with the chords) is really cool for someone who doesn't totally get music. I.e. This vid is sweet boi
the way you analysed this is pretty much exactly how i thought of it, only i still don't see it as a 'toxic' relationship. I've always seen it as two broken people working together to fix themselves, and yes it will be difficult and yes each of them will be worried about the other, both that their burden will weigh them down, or just generally that they aren't okay. i feel like the imagery suggests that they cannot fix each other and there's the worry of them breaking each other (which I've experienced many a time). to me, the music video felt just too gory for how i personally view the song, as to me, like with many of your songs, it means so much. i freakin loved this video though, as a total english nerd i was squeeing a little, especially as I hadn't noticed the 'intertwined' juxtaposed with 'free before'! I'd freakin love to see sammy explain the vision behind the music video and how he sees it link to the song, or both of you explaining the story of the music video (personally- obviously)!
this was such a thoughtful and interesting video and I loved it as much as I love the song, also I loved the music video so much I've been thinking about it 24/7 since I watched this and your explanation of it is so wonderful and heartfelt
when I first heard this song it really sounded like someone with mental health issues being in love and having a feeling of safety or like a reprieve from the thoughts in their head. It sounded like asking for help from someone they love and can trust to me and I just really love that but I really like why you wrote it too
THIS IS A REALLY COOL VIDEO! I know from writing a heck ton of songs myself that this is /genuinely/ the sort of process that writers go through to construct lyrics! Thank you for sharing this with us and showing the complexities of writing songs, showing that there's no such thing as thinking 'too deep' about it :D
I always thought the song was just a happy song about love, then the music video was such a stark contrast to this which got me to think a little deeper and listen more closely. This is such an interesting video, I love this sort of discussion. ❤️❤️❤️
I'm in love with everything about this video, this is hilarious! How do you make something so serious so funny? (I love the part when you plug your own EP) The glasses and the stick really make your look complete. I thought the song was about how the person singing the song was depending on their partner, and how their partner was there to support them. I saw the partner more as a shoulder to cry on. I wouldn't have suspected that the partner would be affected by the things the singer was telling them. This just goes to show how you never know what is going on in someone else's life or relationship. Dodie, I'm impressed. Thank you for this amazing piece of art! <3
wow this is so interesting! i saw it more cutesy and romantic, like someone who helps you through the pain and all those dark phrases seemed more intimate than dark to me, like sharing these deep things that you wouldnt share with anyone else. i thought of the listener as hope essentially. but, i love this interpretation as well! i think both appeal to different situations. as someone who has both been in a relationship where my partner dragged me in a state of constant paranoia and left me with lasting depression because of her mental health issues AND a relationship where we were both in dark places but we dragged each other out with listening, understanding, and care; i fucking love this song. thanks for the awesome video dodie!!
This is so interesting, because I had such a simple view on the song, as a sweet and almost pure song about someone who was a bit broken and found someone who they could be themselves around. I love reading everyone's different takes on it and what Dodie originally meant it to mean to her
when I first heard the song I was like oh it's a sweet love sing and when I saw the music video I was like wow this is different from what I thought and I loved the fact that I was wrong so I could experience the true meaning of the song and now that I know the true meaning/analysis of the song I feel I can relate to it I have anxiety and depression and I find that my relationships begin to become poisonous and toxic because I lay all of my problems on my partner. I have had few relationships because I'm pretty young but all the relationships I have had have started out amazing and I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders but it quickly turns sour and horrible because I lay all my thoughts on the other person. anyway I absolutely loved that you explained this dodie and I'm so happy you did because I feel I understand the song in a better way thanks dodie and continue to be an amazing person. xx
Wow Dodie, I knew your songs are amazing, because you put a lot of thought and effort into it and you're immensely talented. But it's also really interesting to see the thought process behind it all. Thanks for sharing! <3
And just when you thought that she couldn't be more amazing, THIS DROPS. So THAT'S WHY the song is so good! The amount of thought that went behind it is (in the best of ways) almost overwhelming! I would love to watch more videos that peek behind the scenes of the creative process like this one. Thank you :)
dodie !! i loved the video so much because it made all this stand out more in the song- when i listened to it at first without the video it just seemed like that sickly sweet you described, but i feel like i get it now. i love u and everyhing u do .it's now one of my fav songs of urs :,)
when I first heard this song (the original video), I found it as a song that explains a relationship between two people that both have mental health issues and the way they cope is being together, and spending time with each other, but as they continue to do that, they depend on each other, & soon enough it turns into a mess of a relationship
This matches how I understood the song and it makes me even more heartbroken about. I've been in love with a person with mental health issues and it broke me. Yet I somehow feel attracted to people who are broken a bit and I had to learn to distance myself in order to not get hurt. Knowing a person you love does therapy definitly helps carry the weight. Oh what a bittersweet song.
shiiiiiiiit, Dodie! I loveeeee this more than you can imagine, I was confused at first watching the video, but a part of me did get it, and now I totally get it and your explanation is perfect! Wow x
i personally loved the music video and the story behind it . it's amazing how we relate songs to our own experiences and everyone can take something different away from the artist's lyrics . for myself it reminded me of my own mental health problems , and putting all of your hopes of happiness into the other person of your relationship . after knowing just how as you put it 'toxic' that can be the song has always given me that bittersweet vibe . when i listen to music i always sort of picture a 'video' of how i would visually represent the song , for intertwined i thought of a couple who were happy in the sunlight of the morning lying in bed and dancing around the kitchen , but by night they would argue and the girl was upset desperate to stay together . sorry this is so long i just really related to these lyrics and think they are just beautiful . wishing you all the happiness dodie & congratulations on 1 million , so proud of you ! 💛
Im completely in love with the music video it's so artistic, in a way you rarely see in media today as it's to risky but I'm enthralled you took that risk. I certainly interpreted the barbie aspect of the music video in several ways (so warning this may take a while to read). First of all the idea that you 'numb' your feelings to appear 'fine' and almost perfect much like a barbie does, but as the brain is the first 'odd' thing to happen in the music video the rest of it is her pouring out her thoughts to the point of destruction (the fire and the red liquid) due to her numbing her feelings for so long making her final acknowledgement of the 'things in her brain' to start to destroy her. This fits with the idea of her being 'afraid' of the things in her brain because she has suppressed them for so long she's scared of what she and the people around her will do when she finally confronts them and the fact that she isn't the perfect barbie image that she shows. I thought also the idea of numbness is also represented in the fact that they are dolls, they don't don't feel anything maybe as a result of suppressing emotions. And finally a really stupid one but the fact that they are toys, maybe they are toying with one another's emotions? Sorry about the length but oh well
I'm going to go ahead and call this English revision! Love it so much. Ah screw it I'm hitting replay, I just love being able to like Dodie said feed on the discussion of art. Ah love love love ❤️️
I pretty much got it right! When i first listened to the song I imagined a couple, a very loving and happy couple, but one of them was suffering from some sort of mental issue that they eventuyally share with their partner. The partner however starts to see the World from the others perspective and ends up with a fair share of their own mental issues, and this results in a relationship that is so twisted and unhealthy, but at the same time, these people connect to each other, and they can relate to each other in a way that they can't with anybody else. To me, the song was about a very unstable couple that found stability in each other. Lmao that's kinda complicated but ayyy
YES DODIEEEE this was soooo satisfying. I secretly do this with all of your songs- I listen to it the first time to drink in the beauty and then a second or third time to pause it whenever i have thoughts on the verse or the way the sound molds or contrasts with it. (Signs of a future English Major lol) To be honest, I fell for the cutesy love song feel at first while I purposefully ignored the "hiding something beneath the surface" and "dependency" vibes you explained in your meaning. I really enjoyed the sound of it and I wanted it to remain a simple, calming song in my mind. I can respect that of myself, some things you don't have to analyze to appreciate, but after the music video came out, I realized that I appreciate the representation (of how mental health effects relationships) and the vividness of the representation (to the outside eye-no matter the obvious evidence of the story line) more than letting intertwined be this simple, warm love song. The fact that I let it be that for so long furthers the theme of there being something under the surface-so obvious and yet unreachable to the close-minded. sorry if this was utter nonsense lol. ahhhhh it's just so good. thank you thank you thank you Dodie, as well as Sammy. I love these kinds of videos btw-if you don't mind, i'd like to see more of these?? If you want to of course<3
This is pretty unrelated to the video (amazing as usual btw) but I just wanted to say how extremely happy I am that they're finally letting you see some professionals for your depersonalization. It's so shit to be waiting and I've experienced that first hand, and I just hope it's everything you want it to be and more. Xx I just wanted to say that ❤️❤️
I saw it as romantic until the video. I got to understand the pain of not being able to fix somebody who is broken. I found it bittersweet and truthful
I always associated this very beautiful song with the relationship that I have with my best friend. I, like others, imagined two best friends cuddled up and supporting each other even though they are both struggling themselves. This is how me and my best friend are, some view it as destructive because its true that we do heavily depend on each other, "I've pinned each and every hope on you" but for now we're helping each other through our madness and that is very good "intertwined, free" yes we are both tangled and a bit fucked up but we are there for each other. There are sometimes downsides yes but I wouldn't have anyone else by my side helping me and that's part of why I love this song so much. I relate it so much to my struggles with relationships and my mental health, especially when I've been with someone and I've had a panic attack "breathe, breathe with me" this is often the phrase that helps me to slow down and I love how that is sung so slowly and reassuringly. Basically thanks Dodie, your awesome and I love your music soz for the long personal comment xxxxxx
Not gonna lie, I would L O V E to see a continuation of the story from Intertwined. I think it was perfect, and wouldn't change anything about it if I had the chance.
this video is awesome!!! i feel like this is one of the songs you can interpret in so many different ways, and I guess everybody can agree looking at these comments. and that is one of the things that fascinates me A LOT about humans. the way we see things very, very differently, and that's so cool. i firstly heard this song and though that maybe, possibly, it was about mental issues, but having a relationship that can take your mind off it. it seemed angsty, but romantic. sometimes I felt slight horror-feelings, and thought that perhaps there was an undertone of uncomfortableness in the relationship, something toxic. then, I saw the music video, and my mind kinda blew up. of course, I though, this may be the undertones my brain had been hinting to me about. the song itself seemed romantic, but some romances doesn't go the way you'd like, and I think maybe that's it. you know, a pretty house, two Barbie dolls, who has in a long time meant 'perfect' in many heads. so maybe, the two lovers wanted a romantic, awesome relationship, but couldn't get it, but they were still reaching, and that made them both go kind of insane. reaching for something that most definitely weren't there. and then, the music video made me think of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, which made me think of all the theories about that. can you imagine as many theories about this music video/piece of music, as there are theories about dhmis. that really made me smile. cause this really is a piece of ART! and it deserves theories, speculation, criticism, everything that has to do with opinions. it's THAT brilliant. well done, everybody who worked on this music video- and also dodie, for writing amazingness.
I love how I always got the lyrics / dodie's meaning of the song and I wasn't surprised by the creepy/gory theme of the video , I think it's because I have mental health issues too ( anxiety /depression and such) and I depend a lot on other people, I love how this song captures the way it feels to be in a relationship having a mental illness so well. I love you Dodie and all of the "dodie shades" that you've shown us and I loved how the video was made as well, hope you had a fantastic birthday! much love 🌼 - Nai xx
i always thought the song was about dependence and codependency and i think the video matches my interpretation and dodies (which are quiet similar) and i honestly love the song and video 😊
dodie, i just realized how brilliant that line about "drink my thoughts" is. i've heard the analogy of "pouring out your heart" to someone, but I've never heard anyone take the analogy further than that, involving another person and having them drink the thoughts. honestly, so brilliant
woah, this analysis of the song was really interesting with respect to how it was made lyrically. as for the connection to the video clip, i had really enjoyed Sammys portrayal (though it did surprise me at how eye opening it was when it began) and it did seem to match a few theories that i had previously had. 1) similar to dodies interpretation (on her own song lol) lyrically i believed it to be about an unhealthy relationship- however i was more so thinking towards a more evident abusive relationship rather than mental health. i thought of this from the strangely agressive/ gory vocab used intertwined (#spon #available out now) with the light and fluffy lyrics perceived about love and romance. to me it symbolised how when one someone can easily deceive when hiding their true intentions amongst a flowery shield of lovely words. the video clip also supported this theory of mine when the first third consisted of doll poses of the "perfect couple", y'know its Barbie and Ken. but as the story continues and they drastically alter their appearence, it seemed like they were revealing themselves - the violent truths. by the end of the video where the house is burning with the destroyed dolls inside, to me it kind of represented how all the troubles and abuse- their secrets of it as most cases of domestic abuse arent known- is burnt away and the evidence is no longer there. then again, this is only my theory :) dodie did write the song and explained it in a lovely manner 💛
to me this song has always been kind of about what you talked about but a bit less dark. This song to me is Even and Isak from skam, dealing with mental health and social pressures and breaking down and depending on each other for happiness and dealing with their problems together.
When I first heard this song I assumed it was intended to be romantic so I listened to it that way but it was very unsettling and I couldn't pinpoint why. Seeing the music video have a darker twist helped me understand some of the intention behind it and I feel listening to it as if it was telling a darker story than just two people in love made a lot more sense.
This was everything it was so interesting seeing the writer analyse there own work out of interest when you analyzed it did you see/hear/feel things in the lyrics that you'd subconsciously put in a didn't realize how it effected the overarching meaning of the song
Low-key wishing I had dodie as my English teacher lol I always thought the song to be a nice, love song but now that you've explained it I definitely understand the video and I think I love the song even more now which I didn't think possible. Good job !
I love this song such an incredible amount, I think I interpreted the song quite similar to how you intended it and I've always loved the intimacy intertwined (out now) with the macabre and damaged, toxic atmosphere of it all. I think Intertwined is such a strong song, fascinating lyrics accompanied by a beautiful, heartbreaking melody. We won't even talk about the climax and the "oh's". I love it so much❤️
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Jo Guevara2017-04-12 22:02:13 (edited 2017-04-12 22:02:48 )
I loved it so much Dodes! I think that the way you put it was very brilliant, and I do feel like many people over analyze many things, which isn't always bad.. but can lead to the wrong impression of what the writer truly means. although reading other peoples ideas of what the songs real meaning is, is really really interesting and good to read, because it's from a different prescriptive. I loved it loads xx
I liked reading the lyrics as you explained your 'interpretation' of the song! It was fun :) I read/hear it, yes as a love song, but a love song about being in love and mentally ill. The dark tones and express and direct darkness in the lyrics do an incredible job of pointing out how hard it is to be happy and in love but also still depressed and ill. Dark thoughts and sadness doesn't go away because you're in a relationship or you're happy like we're so often told. They're reoccurring and always hanging over you - intertwined (out now) in your life, even the happy times.
very cool! This more or less matched up with what I thought. Perhaps I didn't realize the relationship in the song was so "poisonous" and I kind of thought "Oh how nice, the person in this song found someone to make them feel not so crazy."
this video just reassured my love for this song. Even when my perspective was completely different from what it is now that I've seen the VEVO video and this one, Intertwined has been my favorite song from the EP (and possibly out of all of dodie's songs). My love for it has definitely grown and it now means so much more to me than it used to. Dodie, you're a genius. This song is so well crafted and it blows my mind how even the tone of the harmonies carry a single meaning with them. I honestly admire you so so much for your music, and will make sure to pay close attention to your music from now on. Love you :)
Also I've always noticed the contrast between "numb, fine" and "intertwined, free". I've thought for the longest time that it had been, as you said, kind of an internal conversation/fight between a rational part of consciousness and the other part that's "blinded by love". Kind of how the person sees the partner as the "savior" or the "doctor", since it says "i'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear", implying that the other person is a distraction from the mental issues and therefore the person thinks it is helping them. My perspective has always been kind of similar to what dodie actually intends it to be, but it has always been a lot less dark and, ironically, "blinded" by how romantic it sounds. I think now it is a lot darker, and a lot more real, which (as said before) just makes me love it even more.
I always thought of Intertwined as being a take on a twisted relationship, the combination of what we usually would see as being romantic, and what we most fear will come out of our relationships. I listened to the song and during the first words i was pushed into the loving memory of my relationship with my first girlfriend, but then as the song and the plot evolved, my mind was being held hostage in the memory of the last 2 months of that same relationship, i was taken back to the feeling of being depressed and feeling like i was nothing, i was so spaced out, and i wanted her to 'drink' my thoughts and feelings so she could get a taste of the pain that i was feeling because she just did not treat me right.
This song means so much to me, because i literally have never felt the power of a song cut in to my heart, whilst gluing the pieces that have been crushed back together. Thank you.
when I first heard the lyrics 'can you drink all my thoughts' it came across as a relationship where the woman is dealing with mental health issues and the man suffers with alcoholism. with the blood in the video it kinda paired with this with the theme of like liquids taking over, the numb the man feels when he drinks from having to suffer along with his partner also. the genuine smile part plays along too as it shows parts of the relationship that are still funny and new but there's always the dark undertones of the problems both parties are facing. I love this song very much and I especially love how brilliantly it can be interpreted. another way is how me and my mum use the song to symbolise our relationships (ridding of the intimacy obviously) and how she copes with my mental issues. a beautiful piece, I love it
i thought the video was perfect for the song and also kinda understood the meaning of the song. I think it's easier to understand for those who live with mental illness (like me lol) LOVED the video, it was perfect for this song ♡
This is my favourite song of yours ughh it's all so clever, but the beginning just...ugh this is my favourite song of yours The thousand times I listened to it, I thought "skin" with a few empty bars after it was a bit jarring to start with but I passed it off because I thought it was unintentional. BUT NOW I KNOW YOU WROTE IT ON PURPOSE IM SO BLOWN AWAY AND ATTACHED TO THIS SONG AAA<33
I have to say I loved the music video. Sammy, as always, managed to show something that made me think in a completely different way then I noramlly do (dude is mad genius tbh). It gave me images and memories of how a couple can be so sfae and secure with each other in bed, hiding away from the world, perfectly at peace.. but underneath that the problems of a person who is somehow broken inside can just eat away at the person they are closest to. It's almost like the times when you are not lost in each other you are just lost.
When I heard to song it felt to me about a person who struggles with their mental health and life in general, but for a moment tries to embrace the bittersweet comfort of being intertwined with someone else. It's that simple, sad tinged feeling of just being in someone's arms and being too drained to try and deal with it all in your own. Just maybe a moment in time where two people lay down, not saying anything, and choosing to try and forget the problems for a moment of peace.
I actually pictured "Can you drink all my thoughts?" as sitting in a bar, alone, drinking to forget your problems. Considering your recent "problem" with alcohol, I thought of it as fitting (in a drowning your sorrows kind of way)
i think itd be interesting to hear a song from the other point of view as well, a song about what its like to be in a relationship where someone puts all their issues on you and you feel responsible for them and stuff idk
Hello so my interpretation The first verse always feels calming like your so in love it's the start of a relationship which has been hard for the writer as they just came out of a difficult relationship which I thought was implied with "though the world will try" this verse to me represents love that could also mean "sex" You are in love and rely on each other. With the second verse you start to remember what it's like to be in a relationship where your not happy and your scared it might happen to this relationship that you "rely on". So as it starts to get louder and having more of an impact it symbolises the fear coming up in your brain but you don't say anything as you don't want to ruin this relationship. So you keep on laughing and falling deeper in love but the fear is still there so you laugh it away and pretend it's okay. The third verse. You are trying to numbed your self of fear and emotion and say your fine. But with this mental problem happening it minimises it's self by your love and makes you happy and you are happy and nothing seems to matters in thoughts moments because your in love. This is when you tell your partner about your thoughts and you become one in that moment as they know your brain he is absorbing your thoughts "can you drink all my thoughts". You have talked and you feel free you are able to scream and move on because that fear is gone "the ohhhhs". Once you are less scared you are back to being intertwined in love free of fear. Than a thought of him being scared of your thoughts and him being dragged into your negativity appears "I hope that you don't bleed with me ". But you think back to having those fears and scary thought and remember what it felt like and Your happy again that your not like that and you are still in love. You can laugh the fear away because the thought of those thoughts are funny because you could never think like that anymore. That is my interpretation.
Your interpretation of your own song is how I understood it, not in as much detail as you have gone in to but I basically understood it as themes of mental health and a relationship
That awkward moment when you underestimate the gravity of the mental health (I noticed it but didn't realise how dark it was), so you put it on a mixtape for your anniversary, then split up two months later for many reasons that kind of relate to dependency but definitely to mental health and anxiety.......
Just based on my personal experience with mental health, I definitely interpreted it as a more hopeful song than it was. I absolutely saw the dependency, but I didn't really catch the bits about how the relationship was damaging to the other partner until you explained it. I saw it as more steadying and how the other person provided hope minus how it could hurt both parties involved. Maybe it was just my brain trying to find what I wanted to see out of the song and apply it to my situation. Either way, it's a genius song! When you explained it I definitely saw what you were going for! Personally, when I saw the video I was so uncomfortable, not because I can't handle gore, but because this hopeful song had turned into that and it was a little shocking. However, I definitely see the appeal and even though the experience probably won't be the same anymore, it's expertly made and a terrific song and concept! I also thoroughly enjoyed the EP
This is going to be pretty short but my interpretation was more on the side of close/best friends. The lyrics painted an image of two friends sat on a sofa with blankets and tea talking about there problems. I love the song and I think the music video is amazing!!!
I'm one of the people that interpreted it as a (loosely) happy love song. You said that you based it on how you think you would be in love, and I think that's where the biggest difference in interpretations is. I am currently in love, living with my boyfriend of 2 years. I struggle with many of the same things as you, and being with my boyfriend has changed so much of my outlook on life. Every relationship before him had felt toxic - I felt as though I was "too crazy" for the people I tried to be with, that I wasn't good for them. So I took this song as an ode to someone that finally, you know, got it. That you were admitting that you were not well, admitting that your smiles often stemmed from them, that you needed them a lot more than you were comfortable with. I picked up on the codependency and mental health issues, but I saw them directed at someone that understood.
The music video was prefect and so creative. I love the idea . I thought it was very cinematic and told a true story of love. I personally got a lot of Romeo and Juliet vibes as when i first heard the song, to me it was about how the world was trying to tear them apart, however they stayed because it was common to them, they felt safe and secure. The use of oxymoron suggest that they didn't have a set plan and that they both wanted different things but we're both on the same path suggesting the title "intertwined". I loved in the video the director picked up the word such as heat, skin and mind and applied it to the video scenes of fire and open brain. The video is one of the best pieces of work I've ever seen. Well done to everyone who was apart of making this happen.
Damnit Dodie, I wanted to write an essay about this at some point but now you've done all the work for me! (Just kidding, I still might analyse the video. And this was SUPER interesting and SUPER impressive wow GOOD JOB!)
Jodie, it called an oxymoron when two contrasting things are put next to each other, for instance sickly sweet and laugh away the fear. Also Feather of lead and cold fire, both Shakespeare! Have good day. xx
I actually feel like im in a literary analysis class in the best way. This makes me want to break down all my own songs like this now. I think it is natural to always wonder what the writer meant and was thinking when they were writing. And I think this shows just how much goes into writing. You are doing so much more than just finding two words that rhyme. Inspiring. Love Love Love. MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS PLEASE <3
I was really glad to hear your explanation of the song, because it perfectly matched my feelings towards it. I am married now and my husband is incredible, but I know I depend upon him to "drink" my thoughts and wrap me up in a duvet when I can't deal with life. It is such a beautiful thing to be "intertwined", however, it can also leave you feeling unable to stand upon your own two feet.... but hey, that is the joy of anxiety. You did an incredible job of portraying how anxiety doesn't only strike when something bad happens, it can creep up on you even when you "should" be happy, like when you are wrapped up in bed with the one you love <3
Dodie, I really enjoyed hearing the breakdown from your POV. So many artists hide away from pinning down a specific meaning because of the reasons you mention; art has different meanings to different people. That does make it wonderful, but I wish more artists joined in the discussion in this way. Not saying "this is what it means and that is all. End of" but just saying what it means /to them/ and welcoming varying interpretations.
Personally I got a very similar meaning from it because I have also suffered from mental health issues and one of my biggest fears surrounding my mental health is how it might affect a romantic relationship in the future. I've only recently found friends that understand and accept that I will push them away sometimes but will always pull them back in. How am I ever going to find a romantic partner that will be that patient? Not to mention one that doesn't care that I'm asexual 😅
When I first heard the song, pictured it quite romantic(and it is, to me, still very romantic) BUT, the theme of the music video suggested a different point of view. It wasn't until I saw the video, that I actually read more into the lyrics and realized that the video was, indeed, about mental illness and how it can have and effect on relationships. Love the song a lot and I look forwards to hearing more songs by you, in the future.
Love You, Dodie! (and I know already said this on a different video's comments, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLY!!!) ❤️❤️❤️
if u can be my english lit teacher then that'd be swell! but really thank u for sharing your interpretation of the song with us!
i always saw the song as a sad, romantic or platonic story, sung by two people! some parts are sung by the person with the mental illness (person a), and some parts by the person who's trying to help them (person b). the first set of lines, "skin. heat. hair, in your mouth. feet, touching feet." it could go either way for whomever is singing it. i'd like to think its person a, and it's a sign of comfort. how they find an amount of peace with person b. so, these lyrics are just innocent, loving. the next set of lines, "oh you, and i. safe, from the world. though the world will try-" i'd think person b is singing those lines. they're trying to reassure person a that everything is fine, that they'll keep them close and help them no matter what. the last line, where they're cut off, that's when person a sings, "im afraid, of the things in my brain. but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." the first part of that, about the brain, i think is sung by again, person a. they suffer from their mental illness and are scared to approach it, scared to try and get help. the next lines after that are sung by person a TO person b, trying to convince person b that they're fine and there's nothing to worry about. but person b knows this isn't true. the next set of lines, "numb. fine. you create a rarity of my genuine smiles." it's person a singing, saying that the times when they're "numb" (disassociated) are hellish to them, but they'd still say they're fine. "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles." this is my favorite line. it's person a saying to person b that they're the only one who can make person a genuinely happy. a form of happy, one that isn't suffocated by their disassociation. the next set of lines, "so breathe, breathe with me." this is sung by person b, trying to calm person a, who breaks and screams, "can you drink, all my thoughts? cause i can't stand them." this is person a finally admitting that they need help. they're telling person b about their mental illness and how much they "can't stand them" (their thoughts) anymore. the next line, "intertwined," is sung by person b, saying that even though it feels like they're miles away from person a bc of their disassociation/mental illness, they still feel like they're close, together. the next line, "free," is sung by person a, saying that every thought they bottled up is out now, and they can truly get help. they can really confront their illness and have a form of hope. but that's what person a wants to believe. following after, though, is "i've pinned each and every hope on you. i hope that you don't bleed with me." this is person a singing to person b, realizing that they feel awful for pouring out on them about everything, and hoping that they don't hurt person b, just like they way they're hurting. the next few lines, "oh, im afraid of the things in my brain. but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear," is person a singing to person b, emphasizing that they're still afraid, but for a slightly different reason; person a doesn't tell person b that. the following lines suggest that person a now afraid of hurting person b, thus going back and telling person b that they (both) will "laugh away" person a's fear of their mental illness, just like how they said the first time they sung it. because now, person a's new fear, is hurting person b.
but hey, this is just my two cents. i've read a couple different interpretations and it seems like mine turns out to be much sadder than the others, lol. but again, thank u for sharing this with us! it's super interesting to hear about how you compose and write songs. keep making beautiful works of art like this one bab. <333 :)
From what I saw it seemed to be a relationship that started well and sweet, then going to dependability further down the line, just to the style sang rather then the lyrics. As well as the contrasting imagery from the happy beginning to the sad end/
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James Peters2017-04-12 22:00:51 (edited 2017-04-12 22:03:51 )
Whatever the interpretation, it's still a great song and that's the beauty of it. If you read it as a straight love song it works. If you read between the lines and see the sadness, it still works. That's what's so clever about it. It's a song that works both for the lovestruck optimists and the cynical pessimists. You masterfully weaved the sadness both into the lyrics and the music so even if you're not lyrically minded, you can still feel the emotions through the song and vice versa. The "dual meaning" reminded me of When I Grow Up from Matilda. When kids hear it they think "yeahhh! I'm going to climb trees every day when I'm old and I'll be strong enough to climb even taller ones" and adults think "whoaa... where did that childlike attitude go? When did I become so OLD?". To a child the lyrics are hopeful and exciting but to an adult, they're bittersweet and melancholy.
(also, being the flowery actor I am, I think you should write a musical because you manage to imbue such character into your songs.)
I love this video, the music video confused me so much because I didn't think it matched up with the description that you gave at the beginning of intertwined but I think it was just because of how extreme the video was. I always saw it as a little of a twisted love song and depending on someone else for happiness but nowhere near to the extremes that the video took. I appreciate it much more now although I still find it a bit strange but each to their own, i'm not always going to love everything someone makes.
i've always really loved the song intertwined (although i think sick of losing soulmate is my fav on the ep oops don't kill me please) and i never really knew how to interpret it. sometimes i'd listen to it and think "hmm nice song about a lovely couple la dee da dee da" and other times i'd be like "THE WORLD IS ENDING AHHHH". i ALWAYS try to analyse the lyrics in a song whether it be katy perry or bmth. as a song writer myself (a really bad one, might i add), i LOVED this. i think you are truly a genius when it comes to lyrics.
I always thought that intertwined was about a couple who had fallen out of love with each other and everything went a bit violent and they were like trapped in the relationship but saying that things were all ok etc. I think the music video for the song is incredible, when I first saw it I was unsure about it all, but then I watched it again and fell in love! Well done dodie for creating such an incredible peace of art work x
I had always interpreted the song in a sweeter, less dark way with the theme of mental health as sort of an underlying issue, as if the "I"/the writer of the song was trying to say: 'Yeah, I have mental health issues, but I can still be in love and enjoy the moment, let the "fear of the things in my brain" fade away every once in a while, because of "you".' Which is why I was surprised with how "disturbing" the music video was. I think I understand the music video much better after this explanation and it makes me like it more. The way I interpreted it at first can be sort of a 'surface interpretation/image', while the things you explained can be a deeper, darker, underlying meaning. It seems as if, or the couple in the song tries to pretend that, the problems can be taken away (even if only for a while) with laughs and sweet moments, but in reality they are just ignoring the real problems and the relationship is unhealthy because of the dependency. Thanks for explaining your interpretation, it's very interesting to know how much thought went into writing this song!
DANG DODIE It's like I endlessly doubt how much art will mean to the artist and how much thought and time they actually put into their art, but if I could just speak to them about it, I would understand. ILOVEUNDERSTANDINGARTYOUDONTEVENKNOW
i had always interpreted the song in this exact way, but people would always talk about it as a cutesy love song so i thought i was wrong and tried to change my interpretation. now that i know this is the initial meaning of the song it makes it hit a little harder i guess because its exactly how i am when im in love, i guess we're the same there dodie
I thought the music video was perfect! The only thing I would change would be slight flickers to black and white during the darker words in the song . This would help create emphasis on the instability of the relationship the song portrays.
Holy crap i didn't realize my interpretation was so similar. Like i got the parts where the one singing the song was struggling with mental health but i didn't think it was too severe and that the relationship was kinda keeping the singer afloat but the other one in the relationship wasn't doing too hot. I think the video was a tad more extreme than what went with my interpretation but it fit for sure. I would've had a video with two actual people showing them being happy together one possibly having a breakdown and then the other trying to help but ultimately getting frustrated. But like the song, flash back and forth between the highs and lows of the relationship. I like seeing facial expressions to help convey feeling but the use of the dolls were fantastic.
This is so interesting! I got this theme from the song, but not in as much depth as you described it/wrote it. Mostly I thought it was a love song about somebody making your troubles lighter and "laughing away the fear" in the first way you described it, as being happy together so it takes the fear away. But I still got the hint of maybe-this-isn't-so-good. The lyric that was the most jarring for me was "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" because that contrasts so much against my interpretation of "laugh away the fear." My favorite line is "I pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me". I like the connection between pins and bleeding. So basically my interpretation is the same as how you wrote it, except I hadn't realized how much thought you really put into it! You're amazing.
Before watching the video, I thought it represented a relationship, that the world didn't approve of. These thoughts then took over your brain making you think that the relationship isn't right, but in denial you continue in your relationship. You then begin being abused but feel as if it is all in your head, because of what other people say. You feel that you can't reach out to anyone because it is all in your head, and you defended this Person and you have nobody to trust enough to pout out your thoughts to. This should be someone you should trust, the person you are in a relationship with but you believe that you have trust issues and you are stuck in a three way relationship with you, your partner and your mental health.
this is one of the first times my interpretation of a song has been nearly correct whoot!! when i first heard the song, i thought of it as a person looking back on times they had with the one they loved. the thoughts are sweet, depicting a couple in love and safely keeping each other warm and safe. as the song continues, the thoughts become sour, as though their love interest didn't try hard enough and let the person down, maybe alluding to the reasons the person and their love interest are no longer together. then, when i saw the video, it became clearer to me that mental illness came into play with the message of the song. (the following explanation is one that i sent to my friend who was asking about my interpretation of the meaning of the video) two people fall in love, and everything is nice. they provide a home within each other, a safe haven. however, especially for those with mental illnesses, a safe place away from the world will not suffice, because it is their mind that is actually out to get them. at the most unexpected times chaos will erupt within one's head, creating a chaos of its own for the people around this person, which could harm/affect not only the person with the disorder, but also those that love said person... of course, i didn't include the unhealthy dependency and toxic relationship, but overall almost the same message. beautifully painful song, by the way. thanks :) - m
i didn't mean to write a whole hecking essay for that, but i forgot to add that my favorite part of the video was when the blood was rushing in, and you were hitting the high note in "'cause i can't stand them." its a very emotional moment, and the nonchalance of the chaos is almost heartbreaking
I had an image of two people in love, but the world slowly poisons their relationship until they're just pretending, but they just "laugh away the fear."
Honestly I got most of this from the song originally except for the whole unhealthy thing. This is one of those songs that is an "our song." It the song chosen to represent one of the relationships in my life at the moment. The more dark elements surrounded by an almost pure light couldn't be more perfect. Both me and the other person in the relationship are pretty mentally unhealthy and aren't very happy people. The way I always saw it was that as we drink away each other's fears they turned into the light. The darkness we hold becomes joy when we're together. We soften each other's ripping and sharp depression and panic. I love this song because you can feel the violence coming from within but also the gentle warmth enveloping the pair, the two. I never saw the relationship as unhealthy, I only ever saw the people that way. The gore becomes light when the two touch
I have listened to this song on repeat since dodie released it online yet never looked deep into the lyrics. based on the sweet and mellower vibe of the melody and harmonies and ukulele, My instant interpretation was a very sweat and calm love song where everything was perfect. Since the video has been released I've been questioning that view of it. at first i was confused cus it didn't fit what i would have viewed it as in any way. Then I fell soooooo in love. It blew my mind how something that seemed so innocent was so twisted and dark and i never thought to look at it that way! I just think the video and song is just such a beautiful piece of artwork
i thought it was about experiences in a same sex relationship in which their relationship is frowned upon by others ('the world will try') but that when they are together, they can shut themselves away and forget about the negativity towards them and 'laugh away the fears' of being judged constantly. this interpretation obviously follows the idea of being 'intertwined' and intimate with someone else and being in love with someone.
lol i feel dumb. When I first watched the Intertwined video I was a bit taken back as it was so different from what I originally felt the vibe of the song was. The Intertwined video also presents some creepy and gory themes that were not used to seeing in association with Dodie. But as I read through comments and thought about it more, I began to understand what meaning the video was trying to portray. Now that I've watched this video, I cant believe how obvious the true meaning of Intertwined is.
My interpretation was isolation. The couple believes that as long as they have each other, they can not be harmed by the outside world, but that thought is proven to be naive when their downfall comes from inside the safety of their home (ie. relationship)
Initially this song wasn't one that stood out to me on the EP- It just wasn't really one that I really listened to because I didn't feel anything for it... That's definitely different now. This song now means so much more to me, and I don't know how to coherently say it- but I relate so much. It's incredible and the lyrics mean so much more to me now and the harmonic analysis is too perfect- I could write an essay on this haha! I get that art isn't about having it explained to you, it's your initial interpretations, but I thank you so much for explaining this one because I think I really missed out by glossing over the lyrics when I first listened. PS- The music video fits so much with the chaos in my mind when I'm symptomatic- thank you to Sammy for coming up with this concept <3
I like how the only thing I didn't like about the music video was the fact that they were demolishing barbies, which I consider a very dear part of my childhood, but I LOVE the dark twist!
I heard the song in a more romantic tone, where the writer struggles with mental health (in my mind it's anxiety bc, well, hashtag relatable) but they are content in the moment they share with their lover.
The lyric 'skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet. You and I, save from the world, though the world will try' for me it describes an imperfectly lovely situation between two people who are just content to be in each others presence and won't let the world ruin their little moment.
With the lyric 'I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me' it portrayed to me the vulnerability that comes with love and caring for a person in that way. When a person can make you that happy, there's with the risk of that happiness being taken away again.
The lyric 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear' describes to me that even though the writer had their own mental struggles, their lover makes them feel safe and forget their worries for a while.
'Can you drink all my thoughts? Because I can't stand them' sounds like, even though the lover makes them feel better, they cannot 'fix' the writer's mental problems permanently, though they (arguably selfishly) wish they could.
I know my view isn't the 'correct' one, but I personally prefer the easy breazy, love dovey interpretation. But I love the song either way.
2:45 -- tonally, that's really more of a flat 6 than a sharp 5; it's what you call a chromatic mediant (Google-able).
It's not such an unusual chord (while sharp 5 = wat). You're right that it is technically outside the scale, but it's actually borrowed from the minor version of the same scale - the song's in G, so the 6th is E minor, BUT in G minor, the 6th would be Eb major (which is what you go to there). Spelling it like a D# major chord is a lot more head-scratchy, not least because it functions like a 6 chord rather than like a 5 chord in the progression.
tbh I never thought of the song like this but instead thought of it like a one sided conversation between one person who struggles with mental illness talking to and another who is mentally healthy and loves the person speaking and wants to help them. I think this way about the lyrics but the contrast between the lyrics (which are about a mentally unstable person) and the melody/instrumental is what particularly catch my attention because yes the lyrics talk about mental instability but the way the instruments are played and vocals are used a calming and cozy mood is produced. also, the video fits perfectly for this interpretation but with mine i was expecting more of a short film that takes place in a bed where the relationship between two lovers is shown (it also shows how mentally unstable the lover speaking is and how the mentally stable lover helps but struggles to help the mentally unstable one). ya feel me?
I always thought of it as being about a toxic relationship. But what I took out of it was that it was two people that love each other and really want to be together, but they know that they can't be truly happy like that. So they spend time together, trying to forget the bad things and laughing away the fear of how their relationship will end. Their friends and family are trying to end it for the good of the two lovers (the world will try), but no matter how fucked up it gets, they're in love.
I thought of the whole mental illness thing as a factor, and why it says "can you drink all my thoughts" , but their partner can't handle supporting them like that. The relationship is only hurting them.
I never analysed the song in much depth but after seeing the video and hearing a more in depth explanation of it I definitely agree with you. I never really thought of it as a "love song" a) because of the contrasting lyrics (or all the lyrics) and b) because it was you're song. Dodie writing a totally platonic "love song" with no underlying meaning never even crossed my mind. It is such a beautiful song which is sung equally as beautiful but if you listen to the lyrics it has so much more to say beneath them. Which is why I Dodie is such an amazing person! :))
I think I interpreted the song pretty much the same as you wrote it, but what I took away from it was more the relief a partner or relationship can give someone and how so much of relationships is just the two people caring for and looking after each other. It didn't feel like an unhealthy sort of dependence to me, but probably because I'm thinking from my own experience :) This was the only acoustic guitar song besides Hey There Delilah that I've ever liked because your lyrics are so beautiful and as a literary sort of person I really appreciate that
(keep in mind that english is my second language, so my vision can be strange) I misunderstood song lyrics when I was listening this song for a first time and i thought that it says "love away the fear". Funny how one word changed the whole point, cause it doesn't sounds like a song about toxic relationship in this case. It sounds more like a song about two sad people trying to find a way to help each other.
Is Sick of Losing Soulmates only about romantic love or you or does it also refer to the way friend groups grow apart and break away from each other as you grow into adulthood? It always really resonated with me and my experiences with my closest friends from when I was younger who now can't even be in the same room as each other because of bad breakups or drama or whatever.
I saw it at first as conversation between two people in a relationship. The writer of the song almost replaying the happy and comforting moments in their relationship as they talk. Then as the conversation moves into an argument about their commitment. They realise what this person does to them and how it affects the way they think and feel. The writer then ends the song feeling lost and scared
I think it's important to add that there isn't a wrong way to consume a song. For anyone who's feeling a bit inadequate, that your interpretation doesn't aline with Dodie's or maybe you didn't interpret at all bc it's just a nice song to have on repeat - that's completely fine! While art is meant to be deciphered and analysed, above all it is meant to be appreciated! There is no wrong way to listen to great music <3
honestly while i hadn't thought all that much about what i thought it meant, i definitely had vague notions, and your analysis made sense to all of them. the only think that caught me off guard was "so breathe, breathe with me" 'cause i had like, panic attack in my head. so literally breathe with me, help calm me, drink my thoughts 'cause i cant stand them. so when you said "more likely they're fucking" i went WAIT WHAT ASEXUAL ME STRIKES AGAIN
To me it's always been kind of a song from a sick hopeless romantic who one day dreams of some one to love but there are a few like "glitches" in her romantic fantasies where her sadness and sickness reveal themselves
personally i view the song as what a relationship would look like with someone who has mental illnesses and the other person does not and how they both try to understand what each other are thinking and how it can be frustrating and masking the problem of not communicating thoroughly and just leaving the conversation short. i honestly think the music video for sick of losing soulmates fits this song well too! it was cool concept for the music video intertwined, but i think it would have gone better with a different song personally <3
I always imagined two people underneath the stars and one of them is trying to reach towards the other person (like speaking to them) but the other person is telling them to leave it and enjoy right here and now. But the other person can't enjoy the beautiful night and stars because they feel numb and are reaching out to the other person but are being let down. The other person is enjoy the night but feels pinned down to the weight of the other persons thoughts. It's just what I imagined when I first listen to the song and I imagined to ending as the person trying to reach out turning to the side and trying to laugh away the fear which is slowly taking over them. lol I know it's dark but it's just my thought love you Dodie 💞
whoa, this is probably just me cause english isnt my first language but i always thought "can you drink all my thoughts" meant get drunk with me until i literally pass out so i dont have any thoughts anymore. lol !
Dodie, I love intertwined and I really want to understand what your thoughts were behind it, but I don't understand what you mean because of the way you say it :( if you or anyone for that matter please explain it in a simpler English?love you!
i always thought the song was about a love between two people but one has a mental illness and doesn't want to hurt the other. the "numb, fine" is a conversation between the two. the mentally ill one describing how they feel with "numb" and their lover saying it's "fine" and they'll still love them. the "i pinned each and every hope on you i hope that you don't bleed with me" is the ill one saying that they don't want to ruin their lover's life with the burden of their love. then states again that they're afraid. the lover responds with "but we can stay here and laugh away the fears" saying that they can laugh away the problems and just live in their love
i think the way i interpreted it was kind of a mix between how you wrote and and the sweet romantic way a lot of people interpreted it as. like you, i thought of the song being written from the point of view of someone with a mental illness like depression or anxiety but they're maybe a bit more hopeful? like its about those moments when you're laying down just cuddling with someone you care about and you know that your brain is a bit fucked and you also know that just being with that person isnt going to fix it because thats not how mental illness works but still it's comforting knowing that you're not alone and that someone cares about you. so yeah for me the song is basically "my brain isn't doing great and there's nothing you can do about it but i appreciate you being here nonetheless" (thats just from my personal experience of being in a relationship and having anxiety) (pls i love you and i love this song <3)
"can you drink all my thoughts" made me think the other person in the relationship had a thing with alcohol to try and deal with their partner's issues but that sounds so dumb now hahah
If i were tomato a music video, I would have it start off with this person that is make out of paper, they are black and white and everyone else is in colour, i would then throughout the song make they person they are singing to turn into black and white version. At the point of drink all my thoughts both, and their house, would be in black and white with a very colourful world outside; the are locked out by a big lock on all of the doors. I really needed to write this it has lifted a weight off my shoulders
I personally interpreted the song as the writer was going through a rough patch with their mental health and they're taking their mind off it all by becoming involved with another person who is taking In their thoughts but maybe starts applying these thoughts of the writer to themselves? I don't know how to explain it but for example if the writer thought she needed to lose weight and went on some crazy diet and lived off water for weeks, then the other person, who might've never had an issue with their weight before, suddenly believe that they too must loose weight. I also think that the writer would then become dependant on the other person and see them as an outlet whilst the other person just comforts them and reminds them it'll all get better and stuff, whilst getting dragged more and more into this pit of mental health issues. That's why I think the song contrasts so much because this other person has two faces, the kind comforting face the writer sees and the down face that the other person is turning more and more into mainly because the writer is feeding them with these negative thoughts an feelings whilst this makes them feel a bit better its making the other person feel alot worse. I'm not too sure how well this theory or whatever fits with the song and music video but I also think this because of things that have happened to me in the past but I always thought of it a bit like this aha
I always took it as someone with a mental illness and when they're with their SO they feel relief like they haven't before kind of??? Idk if that makes sense
Holy fucking shit dude I am gonna swear a lot in this comment. dodie is so fucking talented like I've always seen her lyrics as absolutely beautifully written and so touching but this analysis has just blown me away to a whole other extinct. I've seen it as what I wanted. Thats how I have analyzed it. I gotta like a lot of mental health issues and what I am dreaming of is somebody who will just hold my hand and tell me encouraging words till I get to the other side. I used to want someone to save me but now I want somebody to just hold me through this shit. But this analysis makes so much sense and I've kind of thought about the fact that if I was to find that someone to hold my hand I would become so independent on them and they could in a second break me more than I already am so a toxic relationship as described in the song. dodie keeps impressing me and with this amount of talent I don't understand how she don't have a fan base of millions. Like that lyric is the same amount of clever as the poems I've analyzed in school. It wouldn't surprise me if dodie become famous like those poems are now. She definitely deserves it and I'm honestly just so touched about how precise this lyric is to me and just how amazing the lyric is that I might actually have a breakdown.
Sorry for the rambling apparently I got no stop button.
I kinda hit in the middle of Dodie's original thoughts and the commonly seen lovey dovey concept. At first I listened I saw all love and romance, but the more I listened the more I saw the dark undertones. I always interpreted the song to be about two lovers, but one is mentally ill and the other is not. The mentally ill lover feels like they are drowning and is so stuck in their own head and filled with all of these ugly dark feelings that make them feel both overwhelmed and numb at the same time. But the other lover, acts as their lighthouse, in a way. They are the lantern in the darkness, and they help guide the struggling lover back home to safety and love. Their unconditional high regard, physical reassurance, and acceptance of day's good and bad help keep them both afloat. As the song nears its end, both lovers have accepted that they want to be there for the other person, no matter what kind of day it is. So, with fear being the last word sung, it reminds the listener that love doesn't fix mental illness. That fear, those problems, will not just go away. But the fact that the lovers have each other makes it a bit more bearable.
But something to keep in mind is that I am in the exact situation I've just described, so my own life situation impacts the way I perceive this song. I'm a mentally ill person in a relationship with someone who's not mentally ill. And he's kinda my lantern.
I kinda thought the same, but less "unstable" and more juxtaposition. The lyrics (to me) shows someone frantically trying to cover up a mental condition from a lover, occasionally slipping up, shown in the more gory and contrasting words. The music video then fits that idea with the main object or noun, so to speak, being barbie dolls, which usually correlates to youth, innocence and, to some, happiness. However, the foreground (noun, barbie) is trying to cover up the background, or the verbs- what the barbies are doing. The gruesome and mentally ill things the barbie's doing constantly contrasts with the fact that they're just a barbie doll. This shows that like the lyrics, the writer is trying to hide/cover up a mental illness. I would write another paragraph about the chords but I should finish this essay and start the one I'm actually supposed to be doing so have a conclusion: To conclude, I believe that the overall song "Intertwined" is less unbalanced and more a story of how the writer is trying to cover up a mental illness, whilst simultaneously crying for help, which is shown in the fact that the song was written in the first place. This is a vicious cycle and can make the audience conflicted and possibly confused, but the more intelligent members of the audience would notice the underlying message and leave with sympathy for the writer.
I see it as not just one person's point of view but the shared views of both people in the relationship. For me this relationship is new and exciting but both people have fears that something will go wrong because of their own individual problems.
{short version} Overall I see people that have their own problems coming into a happy (but not necessarily healthy) relationship and trying to make it work without it crumbling around them. The song to me is a snapshot of a perfect moment where the fears are beginning to creep back.
{vv long version soz} (• = each verse) • 'Skin, heat...' - maybe it's just my dirty mind but I though this was the moment after sex. They are lying in bed and feeling as if time has stopped just feeling how they are in the moment. The physicality of the relationship. Everything being very literal in this verse which is very different to some other parts of the song.
• 'Oh you...' - Again time is stopped and in this moment when they are together nothing can get to them. They are safe but there is still the lingering problems (mental health, problems in the relationship itself etc.). They are in this moment and time is stopped because they do love how they feel in the moment but are both scared of what will happen once it is over because they know their problems will be hard to over come hence 'the world will try'. They are brushing this inevitability off to try and prolong the good feeling.
• 'Oh, I'm afraid...' - Continues the idea that they are scared that their own problems will negatively impact the relationship once time starts again but if they can stay in that moment forever then the relationship will be prefect. The fear comes from the fact that they know they cannot stay in that moment forever. They are also willing to try and really want to make it work - 'we can stay here'
• 'Numb, fine ...' - The mental aspects of the people and the relationship, this time not physical. Mirroring the beginning, this phrase is telling us about feelings in the relationship, but this time they relate to the mental issues that mean that even in the perfect moment their mind is still numb and fine. However, even with this, the other person can still make them smile and laugh while they feel numb. The word 'genuine' indicates the pretence of other smiles I.e. The person is hiding their numbness from the rest of the world and pretending like everything is okay when it is not. In this moment they are happy because their smile is real but they are scared for the time to end and the fake okay to come back.
• 'So breath...' - this again is them trying to prolong the good feeling before the magic wares off and times begins again. I think this is also an invitation to each other to know and understand everything about the other person all the way to their breathing pattern. The question 'can you drink all my thoughts?' to me is more of a rhetorical one. They are asking each other if they can tell them all their troubles but only asking to be polite. They know that there is trust within the relationship, even though it is a new relationship, as the two are so similar that they just understand each other. I don't think the question is 'can you drink all my thoughts?' But will you survive my thoughts? I think this because of the next line. Neither one can stand their own thoughts so they know deep down that eventually the others thoughts will crush them in the same way their own do. They share their thoughts anyway because it is a quick fix of support that will eventually fail. At this point I think time is beginning to start again but then...
• 'Intertwined (#plug), free (#absolutelynotrecordingisexpensive)' - ...but then either time slows again or they remember the feelings when time had stopped. Then they are kind of terrified that they have opened up too soon or in the wrong way or too much. It's kind of an I've told you please don't tell moment. As well as this it's the idea that they know deep down they cannot 'fix' each other but they really want to 'fix' each other and they really want to be 'fixed'.
• 'I'm afraid...' - mirroring the earlier sentiments but this time they are maybe saying it out loud to each other. They know they have problems but they hope that they can at least try to get through them. Here I feel hope that this relationship could try to support each other but also that fact that this is unlikely as they are basing it on a very fragile feeling, physically - the moment after sex - and mentally - emotional vulnerability.
+doddlevloggle I always pictured a person with extreme Anxiety (and possibly other mental health issues) being in a relationship with someone, (or how they perceive them to be) without mental issues. Although they are in love with this person and feel better alround them, they're scared to put all their problems on their partner and be a burden. They seek a safe haven in this relationship, by avoiding their problems (which can lead to unhealthy thoughts and feelings).They want to share, but are scared to. Ultimately they're afraid of the world, their problems, and causing problems for others, which leads to denying the fact that they have any problems when asked (The first Numb is internalized, and the Fine is what is vocalized and expressed to others) I think this is similar to your theory, which i really love and can picture as well <3
I apologize if someone already pointed this out already, but I feel like the fact that people who initially listen to the song and then think that it's really romantic and nice go to see the music video and get confused as to why it's so filled with gore and violence may kind of capture the point of view of the person who is in this relationship. Like how they think everything is happy and alright but they don't actually realize the reality of it all??? Yeah sorry for any grammatical errors I made lol
that video literally ruined the song and scarred me for life. I wanted to curl into a ball and bleach my brain....You can probably tell I have a fear of dolls
+doddleoddle Please can you help me? I think I have Anxiety and Depression. I am 13. And that is the issue because my GP won't do anything until I have a diagnosis from a phycologist but the phycologist won't do anything until I get a diagnosis from the GP. How do I break this cycle? My panic attacks and depression are only getting worse. What do I do?
Idk why but I thought it was about a girl with schizophrenia and her boyfriend and though out the song a video she gets madder and sicker.... yeah I can get pretty creative
this was so interresting to watch
1368 likesi loved the contrast in the song between the inside of the lyrics, but also between the color of the music itself and the chaos of the pictures
a cute song about fucked up love story and mental health, my kind of jam ♥
Replies (21)
EEEEE YEAH :D thank you!
123 likesdoddleoddle hello
0 likesIn Love With A Ghost favs
1 likeOhhh, please think about collabing :3 That would be such magic!
6 likesin love with a ghost listens to dodie and my musical youtube worlds are colliding help
8 likesIn Love With A Ghost Oml I love your music and Dodies so much if you did a collab it would be amaze
2 likesOMG COLLAB PLEASE
2 likesIn Love With A Ghost who r u
2 likesare you going to make a remix of it because i'd love it @ILWAG
0 likesIn Love With A Ghost ilyyyy
0 likesmy two favorite people in the same place I'm dying
1 likeIn Love With A Ghost
0 likesI love you so much omg lol
ily my two faves
0 likesIn Love With A Ghost I DID NOT expect to see you here. Hello!
3 likestwo faves
0 likesYES BABE
0 likesIn Love With A Ghost OMG I LOVE YOU I'm happy to see you here
0 likesI love you both so much >.<
0 likesoh my god i love your music
0 likesIn Love With A Ghost 5
0 likesThis!
0 likesdodie has once again blown me away with her intelligence and thoughtfulness
2023 likesReplies (3)
👐🏼
5 likes
1 likeˏˋolivia ˎˊس*enter Michelle Obama speech here*
2 likesHey queen! You have done it again. Constantly raising the bar for all of us, and doing it flawlessly
Welp... There goes my cute sweet wedding song
1421 likesReplies (9)
Oh NOOOOO ahaha
631 likesDandanz3112 HAHAHA I can't 😂😂😂
22 likesaaaa
5 likesDandanz3112 omg sorry
6 likesI’m performing this at a wedding soon 😂
22 likesDandanz3112 lmaooo samee
4 likesIt's still cute and sweet! Go for it bud! Don't let anyone ruin it for you!
13 likesLiterally why I watched this video. Oh well, back to the drawing board for my super cute, walking down the aisle song ><*
6 likesSame! Literally exactly what I was thinking (although I might just keep it and try really hard to keep my boy/girlfriend away from this video
5 likesI love how dodie made the song, but I kinda always thought it was love coexisting with mental illness instead of mental illness being the parasite breaking down love. I thought it was like "intertwined" was how you thought you were then "free" was how they made you feel and "can you drink all my thoughts" was like venting instead of toxic, and "laugh away the fear" was how they made you feel, how you had always been anxious or depressed, or depersonalizing and then all of the sudden this person makes you feel happy and good and laugh. I thought "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" was also confirmation on that, that they make you feel wonderful, unlike how you always fine confined to your depressed state.
444 likesReplies (4)
Toxic Toast that's a great way to see it and there are some people like that in others lives :)
2 likesmy thoughts exactly
4 likesI'm super late, so I apologise, but I thought the exact same thing! Instead of it being toxic and harmful, it's soothing and healing. With a mental illness, it's hard to be alone but even harder to be with someone else because you think you'll drag them down with you. That you're the toxic part- as Dodie is open about being mentally ill, you can see her standpoint in how she would feel as a counterpart. Others can feel that, instead, the person wants to help and do their best to help them with their illness, especially when it gets worst, as most mental illnesses have ups and downs when you have it.
9 likesNash Hansen this is how I see it too.
0 likesMy meaning
641 likesThis song is about an unexpected crush on my best friend.
"skin, heat. Hair in your mouth, feet touching feet,"
A fantasy about us being together, in my head.
"Oh you, and I. Safe from the world though the world will try"
We're safe from the accusations that we're dating, though the world will try to push us together
"oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain"
I'm afraid of these fantasies, Because if we date our best friendship will be ruined.
"but we can stay here and laugh away the fear"
We laugh about people saying we're dating or together, (the fear) becuase "we're only friends" and "that could never Happen!".
"numb, fine."
Feeling numb, knowing the fact we'll never be together. Telling people I'm fine when they ask if I'm okay.
"You create a rarity of my genuine smiles"
I used to be able to laugh and joke with you but now it's just not the same. Struggles with telling you or keeping it secret are getting the best of me.
"So breathe, breathe with me"
It's you telling me to breathe now, because you can tell something's wrong. You try to help me through it.
I respond to you with,
"Can you drink all my thoughts? Becuase I can't stand them"
I tell you that I have thoughts that are getting the best of me, you tell me I can talk to you anytime but I can't, can I?
"Intertwined, free"
We are so immersed in each other's lives, yet we are also both single.
"I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with Me"
I've now tried to subtly tell you I like you, hoping you catch on, but I realize now that I don't want these fantasies to hurt you the way they hurt me.
Replies (22)
Mrs.Misty-Eyed this is my life in a comment.
33 likesMrs.Misty-Eyed wow. wow.
14 likesCeline Wu sameeee haha
4 likesAww I love your interpretation
14 likesFor me it’s like that. Also the song She is like that because I’m a girl who feels things for a girl who is my best friends
14 likesWow/2
1 likesame I like my best friend
4 likesYou have now “drank” my thoughts
6 likesYES👏YES👏YES👏YES👏
3 likesthis is literally my interpretation. like, spot on. i am blown away. what the heck.
4 likesThis feels like a fan fiction
1 likeThat is a great way to interpret the song. I also like my best friend and the situation is very similar to your interpretation of the lyrics.
3 likes☝☝☝☝☝☝☝
0 likesI got goosebumps reading this. Great interpretation :) 👏👏
3 likesCeline Wu same
0 likes[Rio] Aaaaaah! So many different interpretations! This is amazing! My view is that it's about escaping your problems for a little bit while being in the comforting arms of a significant other
1 likeI took a similar meaning from the song, but with a different ending
1 likean analysis of the song according to me :)
skin
heat
hair in your mouth
feet touching feet
oh you and I
safe from the world
though the world will try
these are the thoughts of the person singing the song, fantasizing about a relationship with another person, a crush, about being safe and together
oh, I'm afraid
of the things in my brain
these lyrics portray the person being afraid to share these thoughts, this fantasy with the person it is about, for fear of rejection
but we, can stay hear
and laugh away the fear
returning back to the fantasy in her mind, our narrator distracts herself from her troubles in a rather unsettling way
numb, fine
these lyrics turn the story to a time after the narrator confesses her feelings for said crush, and is rejected. this makes her feel very numb, as her heart has been stomped on, but she pretends that it's no big deal, that she's fine
you create a rarity
of my genuine smiles
he was the only one who ever made her feel special, and by using the present tense create as opposed to created, the artist implies that she still continues to think about him in this way
so breath
breath with me
just as dodie says in the video, this line depicts heavy breathing or hyperventilating, possibly while crying
can you drink all my thoughts
cause I can't stand them
now she finally decides to open up to someone about how she has been feeling, perhaps a best friend, and by asking the person to "drink all her thoughts" she is asking them to listen to and understand her seemingly unbearable pain
intertwined, free
the person she has confided in is telling her that she shouldn't be thinking like this, like her life depends on this crush, like they are intertwined, to which she responds with no, it's not like that, I'm 100% free
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me
telling the person that she's confided in that she hopes the complicated relationship doesn't also hurt them, because of them watching her suffer
[Rio] this is hitting so close to home... definitely a fave interpretation, definitely i've been interpreting it mainly the same. /oof i know i'm late to the party, shh/
0 likesWow I love this.
0 likesif you asked me what i'm going through right now and if you cared about me enough to catch onto how i'm really not fine when you ask and i say i am, this couldn't describe it more perfectly.
1 likeshe told me she liked me in april and then i told her that i liked her too a few months later in june (even though i liked her back when she told me in april. weird, i know).
it quickly became awkward and we didn't talk as much after that. i realised she was becoming closer to this other girl around about this time and shut myself off completely (i take it personally when it comes to things like this okay). my sudden DiSaPpEaRaNcE only led to her becoming even closer to her and they both eventually caught feelings for each other over the summer (i guess but i think it could've been earlier). i realised this was happening but, of course, i was in dEnIaL.
SO ANYWAY,
she then made a wattpad account at the start of the year and started writing poetry like diary entries (she's v talented at writing :') ). i was confusing myself trying to disect every word of every line and try to piece together in my head whether or not it was about me until one day i read this entry and thought "shit this is me oops".
our friendship thing was becoming kinda toxic quite fast. it was just a vicious cycle of us hurting each other via wattpad entries aimed at anonymous people (each other) until i finally cOnFrOnTeD her about it last week to the day actually.
i asked her * just * how much i had hurt her. she said "i fear i have hurt you more". i thought that nothing she could have ever done would be the equivalent to the amount that i have hurt her.
but she did.
she did actually hurt me more.
i have been hating myself for *months*, thinking i'll never be good enough, i'll never be worthy of someone's love, how everyone will always hate me, including myself.
she then confessed that she had asked this girl out, she said yes and she didn't tell me. i don't know when she asked her out but i'm sure it's been a few months. she's lied to me for months. i've wasted my love for months. i've hurt myself for months. if she had just told me, i wouldn't have kept giving myself false hope. i would've stopped chasing after her and she bloody well knew that it was only building up, that it would only hurt me more when she would finally tell me the truth but aLAS.
it hurts like hell and i feel like i've been cheated on even though we were never together. that's what i regret most. i was too much of a coward to do anything about us. the day before i confronted her, she dared me via instagram story for said anonymous person (me) to say that i loved her. so challenge accepted, that's what i did and,,,,, wELL LADIES.
she didn't really respond, we just hugged each other.
this led to her writing that wattpad entry that made me realise she was talking about me hehe. she told me she feared she hurt me more etc. etc. and this led to her telling me she had asked this girl out later that day via DM so it's fine i'm okay i'm great i have never been better.
but no, i'm heading in a downward spiral, a great depression if you will, and it's getting out of control. i'm most sacred of losing people, hurting people, rejection, being lonely or abandoned and well kids, she did all of that to me whoops.
i love her and i hate her at the same time, it's so confusing but i don't feel nothing about her. she taught me what it was to love but she also taught me what heartache really does feel like. she's taught me what it's like to hate, to be scared, to be truly hurt. she taught me love over a long period of time but made up for those months of love that i felt to her with a large amount of pain and hurt in a week.
i can't forgive her nor can i forget what she's done to me right now, but hopefully in the future i will learn to forgive her.
but i will never,
never
forget what she has done to me,
positive or negative.
so for now emily,
the party's over.
hope you had a good time.
goodbye.
@aoife I'm searching for the right words... this is SO GOOD. And somehow exactly what I've been going through for the last monthes/ half year even it was actually very different.
0 likesI got a best friend over the internet and was only texting with him because of the distance. He had a girlfriend I knew about her but I got a crush on him. We were really close, somehow it felt like we were a couple because we spent so much time texting with each other.
This went that way for a few months until I came to the point that our relationship was toxic because I was jealous at his girlfriend (without realising), he still kept me close the way we were before, we were arguing a lot and the best parts of our conversations were the "I don't want to argue with you", "You are important to me", "I don't wanna lose you", "You are my best friend".
Finally I got away from him, but not with the attitude to never talk to him again, but "needing a break".
This was two months ago now, I guess.
At first, I had to think about him a lot and missed him quite hard. But it got better, I felt better, I got my own life back. It wasn't nether healthy or normal how much contact we have had.
Now, after months, I am thinking about how I want this to continue. IF I want this to continue. I am not sure.
I don't know if he waits for me, we didn't had contact since than. I don't know if he still wants to be my friend, if I am going ro break him his heart (in a friendship-way), or if he feels better without me.
I want him to miss me, but this is selfish and unhealthy/ toxic, which is an argument for not continuing this anymore. But I still got to tell him about this. Anything else wouldn't be faire.
I am scared.
@sholaghh omg same haahh
0 likeswith "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" i was always confused as to whether it meant the other person made them smile when they never really smiled at all, or that the other person made their smile a rarity in the first place, like it was the other person making them smile less
205 likesReplies (6)
I'm glad I wasn't the only one confused about that when I first heard the song.
11 likesOh my god SAME
1 likei still don't get the meaning tho. when i first heard the song i was so impressed because i thought it meant you create my genuine smiles even when it's impossible for me to smile. but i guess i'm wrong..?
3 likesYES! i kind of prefer the interpretation that the person makes their smile rare because it fits the toxic theme
2 likesCould be both
4 likesIt could be that at the start they were the only one they would really smile for it now they have to fake it
OOOOO I LIKE THAT
0 likesFull marks, pal!
233 likesI'd add some food for thought, that your use of the contrasting words at the start of verses is an especially human verbal device. Opposed meanings don't necessarily contradict each other - it shows that you can, indeed, feel both intertwined and free, which seems ironic, impossible, magical, etc. It reflects how human beings are full of contradictions, and it's exactly that sort of paradox that makes the best writing - exactly that!
TLDR: People love paradoxes
Replies (2)
I LIKE THAT BEN
50 likesThis is why I want this song to be my first dance song. It is so REAL and straight to the point that our mental orientations may conflict with each other but in some unique way it works and it makes our relationship undeniable.
1 likei interpreted the song almost the other way round! i saw it as someone who has been struggling alone for a long time with mental health problems but they have this other person who, for short periods of time, makes the pain and hurt wash away, or at least softens the voices of anger and fear for some time. and as the two people grow closer these fleeting periods of security and safety are elongated and drawn out, and the person experiencing these issues feels as if they have finally found a safe haven, and instead of living in a constant nightmare with tiny flashes of hope and peace, the entire situation has been flipped on it's head, and they are living in a world of maybe not happiness exactly but of support, security, love and serenity with brief patches of terror and confusion that are much easier to control when they do crop up.
51 likesReplies (1)
OML SAME
3 likesThis video was so fucking satisfying to me, oh my goodness. I'm addicted to reading people's interpretations of songs, so to be given an in-depth meaning breakdown from the SONGWRITER is like Christmas to me lmao
18 likescan dodie be my English teacher
3473 likesReplies (12)
sAME
9 likesAlainna Panda i would learn so much more 😂
22 likesexactly
1 likeYAAAS
1 likeRitihiks Ravi Why do i see you everywhere on youtube
1 likeunicornhorn dodie, bts, kpop.....if youre fans of these thats probs why😂
6 likeshere here!
2 likesikr
2 likesThen i would actually want to go to school
5 likesI remember in her I was bullied and a bully too video she mentioned her English was quite good so yes I agree
0 likesErm I want her to be my music teacher cos OMG I could use some advice
0 likesPLEASE
0 likesEnglish teacher Dodie may be my favorite alternate timeline version of Dodie
49 likesCan i just say I LOVE THIS SONG
82 likesMy interpretation of it when I first listened to it was that it was written as a sort of out there love note to the writer's crush. I thought that they had mental health issues and that had led them to overthink and obsess to the point where they only believed they'd feel fine again if they were in a relationship with this person. Some of the "sweeter" lyrics in the song are them trying awkwardly to sell themselves to their crush in the hopes their feelings will be reciprocated. As we move through the song I feel the writer becomes more and more desperate for the other's love, and as we leave the first 1 or 2 verses it feels like they're panicking. Maybe, that they now fear this will not happen as they imagined and they will never be happy. The line "pinned all my hopes on you, I hope that you don't bleed" is them confessing to their crush (probably a good friend who has shown them kindness) that they feel desperate and don't know how else they'll be happy, but also care for their crush and don't want to blame them for their incoming breakdown. Perhaps the use of juxtaposing words like "intertwined, free" indicates that although the writer thinks otherwise, they have little idea of how a relationship would actually work with this person, and that their imagined indulgence is impossible to recreate. Overall, I see the song as a letter to a crush, or even possibly to Love as a concept, asking for the one thing missing from their life. After all, in the writer's eyes, if this is the only thing they don't have compared to their friends, if this doesn't fix them then they must surely be truly broken.
Replies (2)
Emma Hancock this is a really good interpretation
0 likesthis is how i perceived it as well. well done on explaining it.
0 likesDamn Dodie, that was a hecking wonderful analysis. As much as you live for the discussion on art I live for art that is so full of meaning and imagery and well thought through like you just explained aaahhh frigging amazing!!!
39 likesSo my ex actually chose this as "our song", a concept which I am adverse to in its conception because music, to me, should be enjoyed as a wholly personal experience, and not ascribed arbitrary value within a relationship, but hey, he did, and I'm here talking about it.
11 likesAnyway, he chose this song for us because he thought it was super cute and romantic, and I suppose I accepted that because why not? I like this dude. Cut to now, having broken up, and looking back onto the relationship with untinted vision, I see how truly manipulative and toxic the whole relationship was. Not to get too far into it, but we had no honest concepts of each other as individuals, let alone together, and are much better people independant of each other. Watching this breakdown, and seeing the music video really hit me because it was exactly the situation with the relationship. It was foreshadowed; predetermined, almost.
Ultimately, he chose the perfect song, unbeknownst to the two of us, perfectly fitted, in tone, and intention, as we eventually drove each other away with a series of events akin to a Lemony Snicket novel.
I've always thought of the song as like a metaphor for mental health problems trying to take over your life but then you find that one person who becomes a safe haven in a way. Like the one who gets you to breath when you're lungs fail you or a solid rest when you haven't slept for days. Everything could be a wreck but you have that one person who makes everything feel okay.
1354 likesReplies (26)
So not so much a codependency but more of finding home in a partner
24 likesThis is how I imagined it! I'm glad someone feels the same way.
6 likesI think the original intention of the song already tackles that very well. Having been in a relationship like this with a mental illness, it does feel like that. You feel safe, like you've finally found a home where where you can breathe and not worry because you have this person that's always there for you and being with them makes everything better.
25 likes"Safe from the world though the world will try"
But eventually, your mental health catches up with you. Because this person makes you feel more secure than you've ever felt before, the thought of losing them is very scary. And because of your mental health issues, that thought will start to intrude in your head more and more the longer the relationship goes on. And then, you remember something's wrong with your brain and that it could ruin relationships.
"Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain"
At first, you don't let it bother you because it will never happen since you're both so happy.
"But we can stay here and laugh away the fear"
This song reminds me of the transition between the very good stage of the relationship to the part where you become dependent on your partner and it starts to become toxic.
Me too
0 likesI've always thought of it this way too. I thought it was so reassuring and sweet and warm. It's really interesting to see the different interpretations, and I love Dodie's, but I think I'll keep this one.
38 likesJamie Swann Took the words right out of my mouth
3 likesexactly what I thought
0 likesThat's not a healthy way to view people. That's exactly what the song IS talking about.
4 likesGrace Lowery I don't mean in a literal "I can't function without you " kind of way. I've always seen it as more of two people leaning on each other for support and trying not to let mental illness define you. Like a "yeah life is hard but it's not as hard when we have each other " Personally, I interpreted it as more of a two way thing instead one being completely dependent on the other. But what kind of healthy relationship can you have where you and your partner don't both support and care for each other?
12 likesIt sounded a lot less like that in your original comment. Thank you for clarifying.
0 likesJamie Swann Although I love her interpretation I agree. To me as the song progresses it gets happier as the person finally found someone who has saved them.
0 likesPeytonsa FlowerPetal but I don't quite think of it as being saved by someone. I think of it more as finding the person who helps you save yourself if that makes any sense.
7 likesJamie Swann Honestly that makes even more sense and is better wording. I also would like to add that at the end of the video when I saw the doll house burning I interpreted that as a metaphor for the fears being finally taken away from her head, almost like they were being set free as she finally found herself as the person she loved helped her through everything. The tone of the song almost seems to change in my opinion as her thoughts change to good ones. Although the fears may not go away completely, this person was always there to somehow make if better along with her finally taking control of her own thoughts. (although I'm not quite sure if it would be the outside or inside of the dollhouse that represents her happiness). I think that part of the song is very important almost like her walls are being taken down and she feels more comfortable with the thoughts that go through her head as she finally has someone to share them with.
2 likesBeing in a relationship doesn't solve mental health issues. Being in a relationship doesn't solve anything. I still think this is what the song is talking about, you're just romanticizing unhealthy relationships. Ya'll(I've commented a few times on this thread) are putting too much responsibility onto your potential partners.
1 likeGrace Lowery I'm not talking about a relationship that fixes all your problems. When you have a mental illness it's something that you have to fight yourself. No one else can beat it for you. What I'm saying is it's easier to do that when you have someone by your side. Just like any kind of relationship, you can't let your problems consume it entirely. You can't be completely dependent on a partner because that is unhealthy and that's not what I'm talking about. But when you and your partner make each other feel safe from the bullshit of life and you both find home in each other, that's part of a good relationship. A mutual feeling of relaxation when you're with them.
8 likesJamie Swann ye same omg
0 likesJamie Swann Basically that is what I am trying to say. She found someone who can help her but not completely get rid of her fears. At the end of the song when the dollhouse is on fire, I interpreted it as a metaphor for basically her fears being contained. Not going away completely. Just that her partner made it slightly easier but her mind is the one that truly is containing and breaking these fears. So I think we are saying the same thing just in a different way ☺
2 likesJamie Swann ME TOO
0 likesJamie Swann o
0 likesThere's this poem by Tyler Knott Gregson that kind of reminds me of your interpretation of the song. Anyway, I thought it'd be fitting to share:
15 likesI
have battled with things
inside me
for longer than you know;
I do not know
what they are
or why they are there,
I only know
that they feel
manageable,
defeatable,
when I am around you.
Amanda W.
2 likesthat was so beautiful it broke me.
Amanda W. It goes perfectly with it, I LOVE IT! It's really beautiful.
2 likesJamie Swann that's what I thought
0 likesMe too
0 likesJamie Swann omg same
0 likesJamie Swann I thought of it as a relationship that's toxic and deals with mental health but makes them feel better
0 likesI knew, the first time I heard the song, that there was something a little bit "off." It was/is beautiful, but not a happy-go-lucky love song. Actually, I found it a little creepy, and I think that's why I liked it so much. With this explanation, I think that I'll enjoy listening to it even more <3
39 likesI always thought of it as if the relationship is in the early "honeymoon" phase of bliss and joy and the person is anxious about going deeper and discussing their mental health. They want to stay in the little perfect bubble but can't stand keeping their thoughts to themself. I agree with the dependance of sharing the load of the mental illness. However, I also think that they're conflicted about thinking they want to be treated the same as before and laughing it off as no biggie vs. the deep yearning to find someone that truly understands them.
46 likesReplies (1)
I feel like it revolves around the intimacy of skin to skin interaction vs the intimacy of sharing your thoughts with someone
2 likesi kinda did what dodie did
76 likesSkin- mask for loved one
Heat- intimate moment
Hair in your mouth- “
Feet touching feet- “
Oh you- admiring other person
And I- comparison of them to you
Safe from the world- happy, in a bubble, away from the bad
Though the world will try- People are negative but can’t pop said bubble
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain- Can’t share feelings, stuck, carries skin theme
But we can stay here- still in bubble
And laugh away the fear- use mask to hide fear and laugh it off
Numb- mask wearing down
Fine- lies, common answer when not actually fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles- mask failing, bubble wearing down
So breathe- keep calm
Breathe with me- help get through tough time
Can you drink all my thoughts?- distract me, extract thoughts = no problem
'Cause I can't stand them- going insane, losing it, breaking
Ooh, oh- time passing, or really just a filler, a break
O-oh, oh, oh- “
Intertwined- back to intimate moment like start
Free- careless, out of tough time
I've pinned each and every hope on you- negative connotation, dependence
I hope that you don't bleed with me- Brain skin theme, ties into sols bc of the lyric “i can finally see you’re as f*cked up as me”
I'm afraid of the things in my brain- back to where we started
But we can stay here- still in bubble
And laugh away the fear- ends in denial of fear
Hmm, hmm- sad, sinister vibes
Hmhmm- humming implies being closed off whereas oh’s are open
Dodie giggles in EP Intertwined on iTunes and Spotify now lil spon for ya - can deduct that there is underlying happiness, or dodes is just gigglin who knows amirite
When I first saw the videoclip, I felt super weirded out, even unconfortable, because it was no way how I imagined/pictured it. But then I re-watched it a few more times, and when I finally understood what you wanted to say, I fell in love.
12 likesThis video of you going a bit further and explaining it more just makes me fall in love even more.
I'm so proud of you, dodie. You're such an amazing artist. You create such deep art, and anyone can see how much effort you put in it, and for that I will be forever grateful, and forever proud.
Yo inspire me SO MUCH, and I couldn't be more proud to call you my idol. Thank you, I love you.
Maybe this is just me projecting, but I've always thought of this song as a sad song, an unrequited song. "Pinned each and every hope on you"...I've been prone to putting all of my future plans on one person's shoulders even when I know they don't feel the same way. I put on my rose coloured glasses and fall into a dream world until all I can think about is said person and our perfect little love story with our perfect little house and our perfect little family. Sometimes this will happen a couple of sentences in. I spend so much time obsessing, wasting my time, my thoughts, my words, my energy, on people I don't even know. Going into it i know it's unhealthy but I can't stop indulging. It feels like there's a tug of war happening inside my brain; my rational side trying to save me by tearing down the walls, my disillusioned side unable to swim to the surface of the sickly sweet molasses. So this song sounds like someone trapped in the illusion of perfection, trapped by the idea that everything will be alright if they just love me, someone slowly losing all identity. While "the world" and "the things inside my brain" are trying desperately to get them out, trying to get them back.
17 likesWell... when I hear the song, I think of my own mental health issues... and the things that I'm scared of... for some reason it makes me think of a break down... you're trying to hold on to someone that'll lift you up... but it doesn't really interests them... I obviously take it to a personal place. I love the song and your music dodie!! Thank you
6 likesI love how deep, symbolic and intellectual the lyrics are, that's so my thing
3 likesWow! I never would have that it was actually about mental health problems. My mind is blown. The depth of this song and how much thought was actually put into creating blows my mind. I've written a couple songs but never have I ever put this much thought and intelligence into it! Amazing!
6 likesoh, if all artists and creators were so open to different (and valid) interpretations of their work! Great video :) I love your explanation, and the fact that you speak so openly about mental health <3 you go, gurl :)
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ahhhh ur lovely!
54 likesdoddlevloggle aww, and happy belated birthday :) a million years old and 22 subscribers (everyone is making that same joke) haha ❤
10 likesAlso, did you know last week I heard sick of losing soulmates playing in a bar here in Brazil? Hahaha :) that was a first :)
11 likesDodie.. you're amazingly talented 😭 I love all of your music
1 likeWhen I watched the video, I completely fell in love with it.... I took it as the fears of being in a relationship. When you are in one you find things out about yourself that you don't necessary like. And maybe even about that other person. But the flit between romance and fears, I saw it as a conflict between the reality of being in a relationship and accepting the other person with all their fears, and the concept of relationships that we all fall for in love films and music.
4 likesI thought the video fitted perfectly and have watched it more than once. Poetic and beautiful xxx
Heard it once and I spent 2 minutes convincing myself to go onto this video instead of playing it again.
1 likeIT’S SOOOOOOO AMAZING!
"You create a rarity of my genuine smile" I always heard that as: the partner makes them unhappy, therefor their smile is very rare
3 likesAs a Lit student currently torturing herself by studying for a masters, I think I might dig this even more than the actual song. This is my jam haha :)
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omg yes haha
7 likes"And honestly zooms in CALLED IT" -dodie 2k17 I TOTALLY DIEEED
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quietly "#spons" I CANT ANYMORE, I STOPPED BREATHING, MY BROTHER IS CONCERNED
1 likei had a few theories to this song. Honestly Dodie i love your songs and relate to them so much as i too have mental health issues and your music helps me alot so thanks so much.
2 likesFirst of all i totally agree with you. I previously suffered a very toxic relationship and alot of the "toxicness" came from my mental health. And that is my first therory.
I also believe this song could be about a person who has lost their friends and is suffering mentally who turns to self harm to help their and "drink [their]thoughts" and at the end of the song they self harm so much that they are slowly bleeding out.
My last theory is about someone who likes someone possibly their best friend and turns to them to help them with their mental health issues. But they have a massive crush on them and their fear is the idea of rejection or awkwardness. And laugh away the fear is a metaphor for being friendzoned. Drinking the thoughts is the friend helping them or trying when really they are one of the problems. I mean fanfiction material LOL.
Seriously love this song and it helps me calm down during my attacks or when i am trying to keep my flinches in thanks. <3 <3
I literally just sat here eyes wide, jaw dropped, fingers to temples for 6 minutes. I always interpreted the song as being about love and mental health and how they affect each other but I never realized how pointed each and every word was. it makes the song even more relatable for me wowowow I love this soso much
2 likesthis is why dodie is one of my absolute favourite artists :) the intricate little details weaved in and out of the lyrics and the actual music is so beautiful! i don’t think i’ve ever seen anything like it. when i first heard the song i related it to myself and my own mental health issues and i felt that bittersweet, up and down meaning of it. i wish i could put the essence of intertwined into a bottle and keep it with me forever. amazingggg !! <3
2 likesI know I'm a little late on this (sorry) but my interpretation of the song was a bit different that Dodie's (or what the song was about). I thought of it as a mental thing that tore the person up from thin inside and they would try to find someone to talk to or tell them what's happening. They would eventually find someone but the didn't really understand nor care so they left them alone. The person who is now alone (once again) has given up and decided to pretend their feelings. I forgot to mention that the "heat" "skin" part were for that the person is longing someone who will love and care for them. It still had to do with mental health but somewhat it an other way. (and I love the English teacher Dodie lol )
5 likesThis song reminds me of my first relationship which started right around the time I started having experiences with depression. It became a burden and the relationship didn't last. the lyrics describe the experience of feeling like you're constantly too much to handle and your insecurities eventually becoming a reality perfectly.
1 likeI LOVE your analyzing of the song. It gives me even more appreciation for it. I definitely thought it was more of a doe-eyed, lovey piece but now seeing it as you intended it I admire it even more :)
0 likesyou are amazing, Dodie.
1 likeThank you <3
i did find the song sort of unsettling when i first listened to it and i wasn't sure why, but i now understand the cleverness and subtlety of the lyrics to create that feeling of unease in what appears to be a simple, nice love song. dodie, you are such a talented songwriter (poet, even), and i absolutely loved hearing your interpretation of this song after having watched the music video. you are so incredible and such an inspiration to me! i love you!
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Me too.
2 likesthe-moon-eats-mochi
0 likesI was the same
this makes me very happy, I love literary analysis so much it's one of my favorite things to do, especially in a classroom where you hear all the different interpretations and you get to know people based on what they feel from a certain piece. It's honestly such an intimate thing, thank you for shaaring
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My interpretation was that both partners in a relationship have mental illness and they were trying to help each other by being supportive and trying to take away the pain and push it away but they were still both weighed down my the mental health issues which the other was trying to push away to "help" which lead to the downfall of the relationship
0 likesThis has opened my eyes to how much goes into writing songs. Thanks for helping me and the rest of us understand your song better and possibly (definitely) help someone with and English exam ❤️
0 likesI love this so much!! Perfectly and eloquently explained!
0 likesI remember hearing the song for the first time and falling in love with the sweet soft tones, but I never really took in the lyrics until I watched the music video and everything started to click. It really sent the message about a toxic relationship and it was executed beautifully! Love the song and the video!
0 likesI think it's so cool to hear everyone's interpretations of the song!
0 likesDodie this is incredible, I hope you're proud of yourself. That's an amazing amount of effort, thought and creativity. I also love that you are able/excited to encourage other people's interpretations <3
0 likesOmg she's a fucking genius I love how well thought out this is and how the chord changes and harmonies match the lyrics
0 likesthe first time i heard the song i was consumed with the thought that it was a sweet romantic song but as i listened to more of it it started to become unsettling and panicked so i believe the video depicted it wonderfully. it starts off with something sweet and familiar to many people but then the small things that can be looked at as good twists and becomes jarring
2 likesMaybe all the techniques we learn in English really are worth it! Whenever we analyse a poem/play/novella I always think we overanalyse. Don't get me wrong, I love doing it but does a 'blue curtain' really suggest the author is attempting to portray a 'blue' and depressing atmosphere? It's nice to see a modern artist like you actually come out and show us that the techniques you learn in English really does pay off!
541 likesReplies (22)
With the example of the blue curtain, I really think a lot of the time it depends on context. If the scene is otherwise quite cheerful, then the connotations of "blue" as miserable is probably unintentional. If, on the other hand, a character is feeling down in the scene, the writer may well have intended to portray that atmosphere through the colour of the curtains.
11 likesOveranalysis is fun! What's actually written on the page is just the tip of the iceberg :)
Grace Platt there's also the John Green philosophy of books (and other art) belonging to their readers. What the writer intended is always a good interpretation, but in the end (no offense artists/writers) it really doesn't matter what they intended. If you got something out of it, then the art served its purpose, regardless of what it was you got out of it.
8 likesThat's just one way to think about art but I like that when you take interpreting into your own hands and don't put yourself in a box, it's impossible to underanalyze or overanalyze
Joshua Coombes What I said was literally just an example but I completely get where you're coming from! I absolutely love literature and annotating text but even my English teachers tells me that sometimes we can overanalyse text unnecessarily and get the completely wrong message from it.
1 likeGrace Platt really ARE* worth it. English lessons not going well?
1 likeSammietheAverageGirl It's so odd to hear this called the John Green philosophy haha. In literary criticism, we refer to this as the Death of the Author!
5 likesJosh Cook umm I got an A* in my English GCSEs but I'll take the criticism thanks :3
0 likesI agree
0 likesLeonor Diaz haha same, I know John Green made this more famous among the everyday audience, but it's weird hearing this coming from a background in English literature (as Roland Bathes is so well known among literary criticism for this idea) :)
2 likesI feel like, when doing the analysis of a text, the tricky thing is to find a good balance between sticking to what the author says about their own text and overanalyzing. And by overanalyzing, I mean that we can find anything we want in a text, and if we try hard enough, we can find elements to prove that we are right, but it's best trying not to force the text in giving us what we want to see in it.
1 likeCamille Hamon exactly!
0 likesKatie O'Brien You said exactly what I was thinking! I guess at the end of the day, the concept being understood is the important part though, so I'm happy that even if they don't know the specifics, they at least get the gist of it.
2 likessame! i never imagined that writers really thought about all the small details and just assumed that they went with the flow instead, creating unintended techniques that i thought were overanalysed!
3 likesGrace Platt haha the "blue curtain" thing kinda makes sense though if it fits in with the rest of the scene like writers can actually use colour symbolism very cleverly
0 likesGrace Platt "English really do pay off"
0 likesI'm sorry I'm not going to be very deep with my comment, but I swear I'm a good English student. xD
1 likeI started using the example of the blue curtain from the novel In the Heat of the Night when my teacher asked a question about what the curtain means. When joking around with my friends, I didn't remember the exact question but I'd always say "what does the blue curtain mean?" because blue meaning sadness was more obvious.
I started hearing my friends use the example too, like just yesterday I had a friend who made this exact same joke about the meaning of the blue curtain.
I never really expected to come across this specific one on the internet either, but here I am! I guess it's more common than I thought. OwO
Rose Molyneux I guess it depends a lot on the context
1 likei actually really enjoyed reading ur discussion😅
3 likesGrace Platt it means they are in ravenclaw
6 likesFrancesca Conroy me tho 😂
0 likesFrancesca Conroy haha 👍💙
0 likesI've found it really helpful across all areas in art, because to integrate meaning into art you have to be able to understand symbolism and all that, whether its writing, a song, poem, artwork. As an artist learning how to analyse texts helps so so so much
3 likeshave you listened to Sleeping at Last? that guy is full of 'em techniques lol
0 likesDodie, I loved this! Both the song and the analysis, and it has so much meaning. Thank you for being you, fren
0 likesthis is literally the best way to share your thoughts!! I really wish I had the talent to share all my thoughts in this way
0 likesAmazing!! Reminds me so much of the way Sylvia Plath mixed vulgar language with innocent language.... something so sinister and kind of unsettling about it!! Also evokes so much feeling, love love love!!💜
0 likesI hadn't really thought about how amazing your lyrics. I love the idea of contrasting themes
0 likes"A desperate plea from the writer", said the writer.
28 likes😆
My life goal includes being able to explain my (secretly depressing) song lyrics to people who are actually willing to listen to me.
0 likesAnd you're my new role model now 💕
This is why you're one of my favorite singers. The thought that was put into not just this song, but every song, is just amazing.
0 likesThis definitely matched up to my interpretation of the song. Your intentionality in choosing the words wasn't lost on me. I love analyzing lyrics and can relate to the themes you present
0 likesAs a music major, I highly appreciate the chord analysis and how you connect it to the lyrics
0 likesDodie, as you mention the idea of having to drink away the thoughts poured and the general theme of how mental illness affects a relationship, it reminded me of the French concept "folie a deux" which means "madness of two." This is based around the concept that someone with a mental illness can give a significant other/friend/etc their illness just by being around the person and exposing them to the various effects of it. Just a thought :-)
208 likesP.S
the only way I know what any of that means is due to the fact that Fall Out Boy has an album called "Folie a Deux" and I wanted to know what it was. Woops.
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WOW
49 likesdoddlevloggle
2 likesI SECOND THIS.
WOW
Folie a deux aka the best fall out boy album in existence
14 likesdoddlevloggle WOW I was definitely not expecting you to respond! I feel kinda honored in a really silly way haha xx
4 likesDid someone mention Folie a Deux?!
2 likes+Marlo hell yeah
0 likesRosie Weller Nice
1 likeLove love love this. Love the song. Love the meaning. Love you, Dodie!! I wish every artist did this with their songs. The whole in depth music theory behind it, the meaning, everything. Just makes us listeners and watchers feel closer to you. At least I feel that way! xx
0 likesoh I just love this in depth literary analysis of the lyrics! I just finished watching the video and this analysis just helps me to enjoy the song even more!
0 likesthis is a wonderful blend of music theory and literary analysis. I love vidoes like this, and I love your music!
I loved looking at all the lyrics and seeing how much thought was put into everything. I always do <3
0 likesWhen I heard the song, I heard a happy love song. When the video came out, I noticed lyrics I had never noticed before. The took a new meaning; this meaning. Thank you for making this video Dodie.
0 likeshonestly, i thought it was beautiful and just wanted to thank you--i have mental health issues and seeing myself reflected in both the song and the video was really amazing. please keep writing and recording!!
0 likesI honestly just appreciate the song so much more after watching this, now I realize how much thought went in to crafting this beautifully dark song
0 likesI love that the actual theme of the song is so much more than i imagined and it honestly makes me love this song more because i think about how my mental state affects my relationships a lot.
0 likesthis song always reminds me of my relationships. I am struggling with untreated mental health problems, and feel as if every time I begin a new relationship, I end up poisoning or burdening my partner with my thoughts. I love this song so much, and the video fit perfectly with the way I imagined the song.
0 likesOkay, I'm glad I had a similar interpretation as dodie, where my mental health and uncertainty was something that damaged the beautiful relationship I was in greatly
0 likesI love this interpretation of the song. When I first heard the song I was in a relationship very similar to the one described and I interpreted it as the romantic love song way. But, now that I am out of that relationship and the new videos are out I see the song in a new light also what the reality of my situation was.
0 likesI adore your writing style and I also love the deep meaning behind this song. My A level Lit brain was eating this up and now I feel perfectly enlightened with the meaning you were trying to portray. Bravo ❤️
0 likesi loved this....I under stand everything in the song <3
0 likesamazing!
I took the song as being in a toxic or unhealthy relationship, so the happier lyrics were what other people saw or the outside view of a relationship and then the more grungy lyrics represented the thoughts going on and what other people don't see, so the two opposite words show this more. I also though it might have been about someone who's using another person in the relationship. "Laugh away the fear" could be interpreted as one person isn't happy in the relationship however they can't get out so trick themselves into thinking they like this relationship because they can't see the alternative :)
257 likesIdek I'm obsessed with this song and theses were just my thoughts when I first heard it :)
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MeowItsIzzy 7 that's how I interpretated it x
0 likesYeah I kind of thought this too!
0 likesBecause the significant other "make(a) a rarity of (her) genuine smile" which I thought was sad
2 likesI love this analysis, good job!
4 likesMeowItsIzzy 7 these are great theories wow
0 likesMeowItsIzzy 7 it hurts my mind to think of what the song means even though relationships can be like this.
1 likeMeowItsIzzy 7 I also thought of the song like that!:)
0 likesIt’s actually what I thought it was! Wow.
3 likesBut I’ll like to share an interpretation I had as a duet. Person A(anxious) and person B(depressed and alone).
Note: By “issues” I mean anxious thoughts and the problems that happen because of them.
Skin(B-craves touch)
Heat(A-craves a comforting presence)
Hair in your mouth(B-craves closeness)
Feet touching feet(A-craves reassurance)
Oh you(B-A is more importan than me)
And I(A-I’m not worthy of B)
Safe from the world(A-to be safe from my issues)
Though the world will try(A-my issue will always come back to hurt me/us)
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain(A-I’m afraid of my issues)
But we can stay here(B-reassurance to A’s worries)
And laugh away the fear(A-we’ll laugh away the problems)
Numb(B-without A I feel numb)
Fine(A-we’re fine? You’re fine. I’m fine?)
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles(B-only A can bring my genuine smile)
So breathe(B-reassurance to A)
Breathe with me(B-reassurance to A)
Can you drink all my thoughts(A-can you handle and understand my anxious thoughts. All my worries about us/you/me?)
Cause I can't stand them(A-I hope so, because I can’t)
Ooh, oh(A & B)
O-oh, oh, oh
Intertwined(A-together we’re one)
Free(B-free from my loneliness)
I've pinned each and every hope on you(A-that you can handle my issues)
I hope you don't bleed with me(A-I hope that I don’t hurt you like I hurt myself)
*Then the previous analysis repeats*
I'm afraid of the things in my brain(A)
But we can stay here(B)
And laugh away the fear(A)
Hmm, hmm(A & B)
Hmhmm
You are a genius!!!! Oh my god I could never come up with something so amazing ❤️
0 likesThis actually matched up perfectly with my own interpretation of the song, sort of sad how much it reminds me of my own relationships and accidentally dragging them into my unhealthy state of mind
0 likesDodie, I LOVED the themes of the video. I really enjoyed how the song sounds so mellow and sweet contrasted with the chaos because legit that's what mental health problems ARE like. It's a slippery decline sometimes and this video showed just that. I thoroughly enjoyed the video.
0 likesthe way i always took the song was probably more romantic than the music video interpretation.
660 likesfor the first line "skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" i always thought of a couple, or even best friends, cuddling on the couch during a cold wintry night, with fluffy sweaters, a warm drink, and a crackling fire where they are warming up their chilly toes.
the next part is just her (i always saw the song being by a girl but it's probably just cause you sing it lol) saying how with them she feels okay. i saw the song having to do with mental illness aswell, and the girl is constantly being battered by the world, but with this person she feels sane, like herself, just.. /okay/. happy even. "i'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we could stay here and laugh away the fear" being with someone dear to you can often ease anxiety, and sometimes just people's presence can give a bit of help to one's head.
"Numb, fine," is not so much a lie whereas she feels numb but also it's okay. this person isn't a cure for mental illness, it just feels ever so slightly lighter to be around them.
"you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" and "So breathe, breathe with me" kind of go together. i think every person struggles in their own ways, so maybe the girls love/friend has his own monsters. and those lines to me are her trying to reassure like 'i love you, you bring me smiles. and for once they are true smiles. so you've got this. just breathe. i'm doing it, so you can too" but perhaps then anxiety gets the best of her. this friend is stronger than she is, so in order to escape her head she, admittedly wrongful, desires for them to take it away. "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause i can't stand them" and the oooh's are similar to what you, Dodie, said, but it's just kind of them alone and not as happy as the beginning (not dark like the music video ahah) but they both ache.
"intertwined, free," they are together, and might be a little sad, but together they can fight off the world and slowly feel okay again. but together is their only solace, and there they do feel free.
"i've pinned each and every hope on you, i hope that you don't bleed with me" We often place a lot on people that are like our remedy. like friends that end up not feeling the same way about you (almost like 'She') or celebrities who you get to meet and don't live up to the fairytale our minds create. The girl has practically her life pegged on this person, because unfortunately they are her happiness, and she so desperately hopes her head doesn't cause them to ache too. 'please don't let them fall where i am'
and the repeated chorus is different than the first time
"i'm afraid, of the things in my brain" this time may not be anxiety so much as the rash impulse of sabotaging friendships and relationships because you're scared of them leaving. the brain is a silly thing sometimes, isn't it?
"But we... could stay here... and laugh away the fear"
that person loves her, and they won't leave, they are strong, they won't fall. it sorta goes back to the first scene. they're okay together, and together they will fight off the world and monsters that come with it.
yeah! sorry for this massive comment, but that's my interpretation of it!! it's great to see other people's version's!
Replies (28)
oOOOOHhhh this is so nice! I love this view of the song! It's so romantic!
99 likesdoddlevloggle thank you! i think so too! ^-^
1 like+
0 likesDefenestrationNation My interpretation was very similar to yours!
8 likesMusicpediapedia oh sweet! I'm not the only one then! :D
4 likesthis is exactly how i interpreted the song i just couldn't get it into words lol
10 likesAnna Banana ahaha! glad i could help! ^_^
1 likeDefenestrationNation this is how I interpreted it too.
3 likesthis is exactly how i interpreted too :))
3 likesDefenestrationNation I love this comment your interpretation was great
1 likethis is exactly what i thought !!!
1 likeI saw it a lot like Dodie explained but also more romantic . I imagine two people in love and one of them has issues or is a little broken in some way . So this person is constantly worried about their mental health interfering with the relationship, but things end up pretty ok , there are problems but not so bad that the two of them can't fix and they laugh away the fear in a good way , saying "can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" didn't ever seem toxic to me it felt like that person can calm the other person by drinking away their thoughts . But the person with mental health is very dependable on their partner , because their partner has made them more happy , less afraid , they create a rarity of their genuine smile,which can be very unhealthy because "I've pined each and every hope on you" is bad if that person leaves because the hope will leave too. So there is a little bit of fear in the song , like "what if they leave me" because now they are so intertwined with each other that if they break up there will be a part of them missing
6 likesI really like this interpretation. It goes so well with the song and I can really picture it with the lyrics, its so meaningful
4 likesYou had my exact interpretation of the song too. I interpreted the line 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles' similar to you, I feel like this line represents the person in the singers life as being able to get to the person beneath the mental illness. They are their hope and safety of knowing that they can get through it together. And the next line like you said goes along with 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles' as I feel also that it represents that being together and getting through it as a couple or friends. It solidifies that friendship or relationship further 😁
5 likesI COULD NOT DESCRIBE MY THOUGHTS BETTER OMG YES
3 likesDefenestrationNation I absolutely adore this thank you so so so so much for writing this :))) xxxxxxxx
1 likeDefo how i see it as well in a way.. ur good with words btw , this was actually nice to read bc it was honestly beautiful
5 likesthis is, like, EXACTLY how i interpreted it
4 likesDefenestrationNation i was going to write one of these and thought "oh i'll just read some of the comments to see if any are similar to mine" and yours perfectly describes it. this is very well done :)
1 likeLady Cakes YES EXACTLY!! that's a much better description of the drinking thoughts. i had a hard time getting it into words, yours is closer to what I originally thought!! thanks!
1 likeEzz P You're very welcome!! thank you for reading it!! <3
0 likesmalin tie thankyousomuch!! that's such a compliment, for i am a writer, so being good with words is my main goal! thank you kindly!!
1 likeZoe Aha! glad i could save you the time!! thank you!!
0 likesEXACTLY What i felt YES
0 likesDefenestrationNation this is exactly how I interpreted it too I just couldn't explain it
0 likes+DefenestrationNation +doddlevloggle
5 likesI had the same feelings towards the song when I originally heard it, however, I also loved Sammy Paul's version because I feel that it is also correct. Sammy Paul's interpretation takes the romancey side of the song and twists it into the fears that someone with a mental illness would have. People with mental illnesses often fear that they will end up hurting people around them, and I feel that the person in the romantic version would be afraid of Sammy Paul's alternate outcome becoming a reality.
One could argue further that the song depicts a person who is caught at a fork in the road between two universes, one where they can be happy forever yet also another universe where their illness hurts someone they love.
DefenestrationNation THIS IS WHAT I THOUGHT TOOOO
3 likesthis is exactly my thoughts about the song. i love dodie's version of her thought process about the song too. it gives the song a deeper, more intimate feel for any interpreter because everyone has a different relationship with the song if you get what i mean. art is up to each and every viewer and i love it so much.
4 likesThis matched up to my interpretation perfectly and this made me so happy because so often these days people depict emotional Co-dependency as a desirable trait in a relationship when it's rly toxic and I needed someone to phrase theae feelings ugh i just love this song so much ok thank you Dodie ❤
0 likesthis is so great!!! so awesome!! oh my god!! i'm so happy and so fascinated by your art and how you view your art and how you create it and present it to us i love it all i love you :o <3333
0 likesi’m still gonna think of this as cute bc i fucking love this song and i can relate to your interpretation but also my own the first time i heard it. beautiful
0 likesthis is so profound i am so amazed at your talent and i admire you so so so so much dodie!
0 likesshe's such a peaceful cute little person who deserves all the success and love she gets ily Dodie 💕
72 likesOhhh-this makes a lot more sense. I already loved the song, but now that I know how much effort and true talent whent into it, I love it even more!!
0 likesI loved this! You should analyse more of your songs! It's so interesting what you thought and meant while you were writing your songs! :) <3
0 likesI love the duality and the two very different mindsets portrayed in the song, but listening to it in moments of darkness, I like to think of it at its simplest and most face value; basically a short description of a moment in time between two lovers. Equally comforting, relying, and trusting each other, whilst staying with the theme of being “intertwined.” The image I first got when listening to it was two people cuddling in a warm bed as it snowed outside. However, I do think that the idea of the mental health issue having a negative, even toxic effect on the partner as well as the relationship as a whole is very cleverly executed in the lyricism. Overall, good song, multiple meanings depending on how I’m feeling. Very Dodie. 👌
1 likeThis is so amazing. I absolutely love analysing and looking really deeply into things, it's why I love English so much. I love listening to people go into their view of something and this is just oh my gosh... I eat stuff like this up
0 likesListen if you were my English teacher dodie, I wouldn't be complaining
I'm having a really weird experience right now and had to share, I always thought you were really weird and annoying when I saw you in other peoples vlogs, but I just stumbled upon your songs and really loved them, and am now watching like all of your videos :D you are such a great artist and I respect you so much for your writing
0 likesThe song is so freaking beautiful!! You are so inspiring for real no joke. Thank you so much for making this song because it makes me happy when I listen to it 😀
0 likesI fell in love with this song a while ago but after watching the music video and this video, I can honestly say it's my new favorite song. I love how she portrayed the passion and reality of a toxic love through the lyrics with a soft, almost bitter sweet melody. Just love love love everything about this.
1 likeThis explanation is so good- very teachery! And I think the music video conveys it well. But I would also love a dance version of the song. That would be so cool.
0 likesI notice you touched a lot on the musical implications of tone but nothing (understandably as it was Sammy's vision) of cinematography. So here's a shot by shot analysis of the music video in essay format. Basically I just felt like writing an essay since I haven't used my english degree that much. Anyway you can read it in the replies of this comment if you want. (Poured this out in a couple of hours, debated going more in-depth but it's already 2000+ words and I mean you get the point).
312 likesReplies (21)
The music video starts with the perfectly aligned and centred shot of a pink crisp doll house. Already a key implication of this video is clear. The alignment of the shot is wanting everything to be perfect. The depiction of these lyrics are portrayed by barbie dolls. Similarly to how children will play pretend by playing House, where they have the perfect little family. Dodie's lyrics go on to suggest that she acts like everything is fine while crumbling inside due to her mental illness, singing line such as “laugh away the fear”. As well as language, the lighting and colours in the music video play a crucial role as they get darker and darker to match the tone of the unfolding doom of the relationship.
149 likesThe first word we hear is “skin”, which is a little odd as it is presented as a stand alone sentence, providing the scene of pure visuals for being intertwined. Letting itself nicely fall into this very visual representation of the lyrics portrayed within this video. The word itself combined with the following “heat” suggest an intimate and vulnerable scene. This can be seen as an array of cute and touching imagery, while when we read deeper perhaps more likely a very vulnerable state of being intertwined with another and sharing you body and thoughts with them. Again the lyrics “You and I”, may seem sweet on the surface, but the pacing is rather sporadic as there are a lot of pauses that don't flow with the music this suggests that there is something under the surface that’s not quite right. Showing their relationship may be a facade, hidden under language with lovey-dovey connotations. We see the word choice change and begin to reveal some deeper truths about the authors feelings with the line “Numb. Fine”. She sings numb quickly as if stating it but not addressing it, much like the word itself it is sung numbly. Then she changes to “fine”. Fine is higher pitched, like one would say if they were lying, it is also more drawn out to suggest that she is stressed saying this as she knows it’s not true. But most likely feel societal pressure to act fine and not speak openly about mental illness. Dodie goes on to sing “Safe from the world, though the world will try”. Implying that the she is hiding from her problem by consuming herself in her partner’s arms, this suggests co-dependancy. This is shown with a shot of both dolls eating lunch at the dining table. Which first of all is not something we often do as this generation tend to eat on the couch while watching TV, showing the idea of a supposedly perfect life. Perhaps not her ideal but society’s ideal vision of a relationship. The shot cuts to the doll house again as soon as the word “though the world will try” are sung, showing that them hidden inside their doll house (their relationship) and intertwining themselves in each other, is actually using one another as anchors to numb their pain. Perhaps only from the authors perspective she sees herself as the one destroying the relationship ultimately from dependancy and wishing away all her problem onto her partner. “Drink all my thought because I can’t stand them,”. The words drink and stand are very crucial here as they convey sense of urgency that he (assuming the partner is a he, based off the video) must consume her thoughts and bear the weight for her or she cannot stand and function.
[Continued in the replies]
This second shot of the doll house is meant to show that they can hide from the world but the “world will try”, proving that just because you can't see the outside problems doesn't mean it’s not still an issue. Eventually numbing the pain will only make it worse when she finally comes to face it. Which can be seen at the end of the video. This shot also provides a notifier for a shift in time to dusk, in this case showing that the further the relationship progresses the further it’s cracks begin to show and break them apart. Especially sense this is shown through dolls the progression will be much faster in their time (as children will depict their entire life in three minutes, much like the song’s length). As the doll’s lives progress together, the next shot shows the video to start taking a darker turn which has been hinted at in the lyrics and the abnormal erratic pacing of the musical notes. Barbie’s brain is shown protruding through her head while “I’m afraid of the things in my brain”, plays over the video. This shows that over time she begins to show him more and more of her inner thoughts. There is pain in her voice as she draws out the notes but then it quickly switches back to a more happy tune when she sings “but we can stay here and laugh away the fear”. “Fear” is always very drawn out when sung. It is clearly a very important word in the message of the song. Almost every time Dodie sings it however, it builds up only to stop and fall back to simple strumming., immediately changing the tone. This further proves how the author is unwilling to confront her fears properly and instead concerns herself with the cute parts of being with her partner instead of their real underlying issues they have. A lot of which is because of her unwillingness to admit any real problem. The word fear is also uses in in hand with laugh in this line. This is not the first instance of contrasting language, as well as the changing pace, the juxtaposition of these words mirrors the ever changing stability of the mind’s ups and downs when metalling ill. Simultaneously the shot changes to the two dolls in bed together naked, showing that while they are literally intertwined limbs their thoughts are becoming intertwined as she relies on him more and more for comfort as they hide together, they nakedness conveying the vulnerability of sharing themselves with each other. The lighting has changed to a dim yellow in this shot, only centred around the dolls. This lighting choice conveys that they are only consumed by each other and ignoring the rest of their environment that is in the dark around them. Barbie’s hair and face are covering Ken’s face (the male doll). Perhaps in an effort to show that her thoughts are the dominant force in their relationship.
162 likesThe doll house is then shown at night time with the dark lighting and yellow light emanating from the windows. This could suggest a brain not being able to turn off as all the lights are still on. Night is also the time when a lot of issues you can ignore in the day by keeping yourself busy can come to the forefront of your mind when you have to sleep but can’t stop thinking. The dimly lit lighting with green tones, focused mostly on the doll only show her consumed by her thoughts yet again and she ends up cutting off all her hair. This is a common conception of breaking down and wanted a change. Possibly she is also wanting to rid her head of so much weight when her thoughts are weighing her down. However while this is happening Dodie sings “Numb. Fine”, showing that even when falling apart she refuses to act acknowledge that she's anything but “fine”. You can hear in her tone that she is numbing herself to her full emotion. But this does not last long as the anxiety begins to build again with, “Breathe, breathe with me”. The repetition of the word breathe shows its significance as she needs him to be with her, intertwining themselves further. Dodie catches her voice for breath, this hasty need or breath likely co-insides with that of a panic attack for which she needs him to calm her down. The author pleads her partner to “drink all my thoughts ‘cause I can’t stand them” As her voice beings to climb, blood begins to poor on Ken and the room he is in on his own, obviously symbolising all of the writer’s thoughts being splashed on him all at once, drowning him in her sorrow. Meanwhile Dodie sings calming “oooh”s and “ahhh”s. This contrasting nature gives an eerie yet very effective tone in showing the problems of her illness and how they can be damaging to her partner when she expects so much from him. Yet she still pretends that everything is fine by singing like nothing is wrong. The next lines are “Intertwined; free”, indicating that she feels much better now that she has gotten all of her worries off her chest and projected them onto him. Off her chest is shown quite literally as Barbie is seen with bits of her flesh missing from her body. As she opens up more to him and exposes her thoughts, she feels more “free”. The choice of words one after the other, further implicate this idea of by being connected to her partner she feels free. The scene that shows on “free” is a wide shot of flesh-less Barbie sitting at the dining table but this time she is by herself. She now feels free but Ken does not feel that same way as he is not in the shot because he is consumed by all of her issues now instead. “I've pinned each and every hope on you” is another literal depiction, where Ken is in the bedroom with multiple pins stuck into his head that consume his face entirely. “I hope that you don't bleed with me" shows a shot showing Barbie bald and battered with blood, proving that although she felt better in the moment she is still sick and shows the constant cycle of her repetitive negative thoughts taking their toll on her. The bald hair from before conveying mental breakdown. There is also a huge signifier for depression in this shot as Barbie can only be seen through a dimly lit circle. Much like depression when experiencing it, it can be almost impossible to see anything past your own dark hole of abyss. Everything outside the circle is complete blackness. Now her negative thoughts are also taking a toll on her partner. The blood of her thoughts has already knocked Ken over from before as it shows him falling from the impact but cuts to another shot with the lyrics change. This portrays that he is falling but the relationship has not yet completely broken. Her fears have also been eating away at Ken, as his skull is seen where face should be. He is alone. While Dodie sings “I’m afraid of the things in my brain”, there is pain in her voice and when she finally sings “but we can stay here and laugh away the fear, she seems to have given up on the facade by her tone, knowing that she is only fooling herself. This fits well with the climax of the songs as it shows the end of their relationship begin to crash and fall. In contrast to earlier shots, the line “but we can stay here”, shows that Barbie is the only one on the bed without Ken despite, the author singing “we”. She has isolated her partner from herself, and without his help she begins to crash. It then changes to Barbie on the floor again with no hair and covered in blood once more. This high angle shot implies that Barbie has no control over her situation any longer. A strip of light is focused on the doll while her surroundings are hidden in darkness. Showing that while she can pretend everything is fine in the previous shot, in the end she begins to relapse again and finally this results in her burning up, literally, as the dolls are set on fire. First Ken, then Barbie.
Ultimately the relationship was doomed from the start in her eyes and this is finally shown as they both burn up together - intertwined. The co-dependant relationship has taken it’s toll on both of them. The last word we hear is “fear”, proving the significances of this emotion in dooming their relationship. Arguably the anxiety of screwing up the relationship is what may have doomed it in the first place. The last shot (excluding the credits) is the dollhouse burning up too, signifying that the author’s idea of playing pretend is now over. She can now start to see the mess her mental illness has made. While everything is burning in fire, Dodie continues to sing and hum almost as if she has accepted her fate. Perhaps she sees a little comfort in things playing out like she assumed they would, reaffirming her self-doubt in her ability to love properly. Even as they burn up they are still smiling because they are dolls. I like to think that now they have accepted the end of their relationship but continue to smile through the pain as it is the only thing they know how to do.
The very last thing we hear is “mm-hm” further showing the singer’s acceptance in her reaffirming tone that she is breaking down and no longer trying to pretend otherwise.
CookieCreamCrumble Send multiple mini comments (each a "reply" to the last)?
1 likeThat was absolutely amazing
18 likesthis is So Good? thank you? i love this so muCH
14 likesCookieCreamCrumble oh my GOD YES.
199 likesThat is amazing! Well done.
1 likeCookieCreamCrumble replying to bookmark this for later reading
0 likes+CookieCreamCrumble wow.
0 likesdoddleoddle ah! i hoped you would read this. yay im glad you like it.
14 likesTHIS IS INCREDIBLE OH MY GOSH! Wow makes so much sense it's also very extensive and thorough!
0 likesCookieCreamCrumble your interpretation was beautiful and so psychological well thought thank you for sharing your interpretation
1 likeCookieCreamCrumble ~simply beautiful~
1 likeCookieCreamCrumble m
0 likesI'm gonna read this later
0 likesCookieCreamCrumble replin 4 l8r
0 likesi'm like literally blown away from the monitor as soon as i click the "read more" button, like literally...
3 likesReplying for later!
0 likesthis is awesome. you are awesome. thank you.
1 likereplying for later because man i love the english language so much and i am READY for this analysis
0 likesReplying to save this for later!
0 likesThank you, Dodie. This video has quite officialy helped me to realise what was I searching for the past year of struggling with anxiety. Thank you so much for everything you do. <3
0 likesThis was honestly so interesting. Thank you for doing this!
0 likesaahh i love this!! i personally saw intertwined as a couple that help each other through tough times and make each other better, but your meaning is soooo good and deep and all the word play is genius i LOVE IT
0 likesI love this song so much, and I'm glad to see that my first interpretation of the song almost matched up with this. I don't know why I'm sharing this, but I thought I would add my own little analysis :)
0 likesI saw some of the lyrics as if they were almost two thoughts arguing each other. At first, thinking things will be okay to be in a relationship with that certain mental state, but as the relationship continues it slowly overtakes the relationship together. The fear is wanting to talk to your partner about the said thoughts, or mental issues but being scared of those having an affect on the partners mental state as well.
So yeah, this basically is almost what is said in the video but I just thought I would give a little bit of my analysis 😂 probably doesn't make much sense.
I interpreted it like they were too deep in the messed up relationship- possibly abusive- and the 'scared of the things in my brain' was her getting ideas that actually this isn't right but she brushes them away and 'laughs away the fear' because she doesn't want it to be true. I love this though, also this is the hardest thing to do in English exams! I always forget quotes that would actually prove my point when I'm writing but I'm pretty sure you make a better example than miss hardy brown and miss mapes!
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That's such a unique take on it! But yet it works so well! :D
1 likeSo, the "Safe from the world, Though the world will try" is others in her life *try*ing to show her the truth of the relationship. (?)
And "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" is her tying her life around him and hoping she doesn't make him feel bad/bleed like her. (?)
I hadn't thought about that before, listening to it again with that in mind! XD
Marvel Mockingjay yea! and 'intertwined' refers to her being caught up in a net and not being able to get out of the relationship
5 likesI hadn't thought about it! That's actually really smart. I'm gonna see it in a different way now :D
2 likesI love your view on the song my interpretation is somewhere between yours and Dodie's. (If that makes sense)
2 likesah this is so amazing!! i miss this! i miss reading poems and analysing the shit out of everything :/ please do more of these they are interesting and my god every video you make convinces more of how much we would click and be the best of friends!
0 likesi love you and your content so please dont ever stop creating and making stuff
thank you <3
Your joining of the chord timings and lyrics are perfect. You are truly a genius
0 likesI love seeing different points of views on this song. I always thought of it as sweet like a lot of others did because of the nice light chords. I thought of it as jumping between how this person felt before they had their partner in their life, and how they feel now as their partner has helped them through their negative mental state.
0 likesI always interpreted the line "You create a rarity of my genuine smile." as the writer realizing what happiness is and that they only feel that with their partner, therefore making genuine happiness rare to the world outside of the relationship.
0 likesI am both in my final year of an English Lit degree and very mentally unwell but in love. This song pretty such sums up me in love too, and I interpret it very much as you wrote it. I have analysed it a bit further and thought I’d add some things I picked up on that you didn’t cover in the video. I am not in any way musically inclined so this is language-based analysis.
761 likesThe form of the song is particularly poignant to me in that there is a sense that something is building and growing. The first two lines of the song are just one word, and one syllable, each: ‘skin’, ‘heat’. The following two lines grow: they are four syllables long, creating a kind of pattern: 1,1,4,4. However, all of the words except one: ‘touching’ are monosyllabic. ‘Touching’ stands out from the rest of the verse. It breaks the pattern, and our expectations. It is out of kilter. This reflects the something that is out of kilter in the mind of the persona. The fact that it is ‘touching’, that stands out is also interesting. In that it represents both physical touch and has a connection to emotion. When something is ‘touching’, it pulls on our heart strings. This song is very much about touching each other and connecting emotionally, as well as physically.
The second verse begins with two syllables and two words in the first two lines, much like how the first verse begins with one syllable. The pattern is then, 1,1,4,4, 2,2. This contributes to the sense of growing or building anxiety. The next line progresses to four syllables and words: ‘safe from the world’. This follows our expectation created from the previous verse, leaving us with 2,2,4. We expect the next line to also be four syllables long, but once again the pattern is broken with a five word line: ‘though the world will try-’ (also a broken sentence as Dodie pointed out). Like in the persona’s thoughts, patterns and expectations are not being followed and are broken. Also, ending the verse on a longer sentence emphasises that building anxiety/fear.
This sense of building and growing brings us to the even longer line: ‘Oh, I’m afraid of the things in my brain’. The music builds with this. There is a sense that it is a climax. The previous rhythm being monosyllabic and each line being relatively short, allows for this to be truly emphasised. And it is important to our argument that it is all about mental health. This line is repeated later. It is important. Almost the point around which the whole song pivots.
There is though, for me, perhaps due to my personal circumstances, a sense of optimism in here. The lines 'Safe from the world', and 'laugh away the fear' are ultimately positive, if with neurotic connotations. Although the relationship is unhealthy in terms of dependency: there is a sense that the pair love each other, and that the foundation of the relationship is good. After all, they are able to create genuine smiles. No matter how rare the smiles are, their presence in the relationship is important. It is not entirely unhappy/toxic/unhealthy. The pair cannot solve each others issues but only support each other. It's kind of fucked up. But the love really is there.
The final thing I just have to pick on is the lines: 'I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me'. The rendering physical of the emotional is just glorious. I don't even need to analyse it. I just wanna say well done and thanks to Dodie for putting how it feels into words. This reminds me of the line in Sick of Losing Soulmates: 'I can finally see you're as fucked up as me'. This realisation that your other half isn't superhuman and might break under the weight of your mental health is terrifying. I don't know what to do with the realisation. But that it isn't just me kind of helps.
This song is basically one of my favourite and most relatable pieces of art. Thank you Dodie. I've been watching your videos for about 6 years and I am utterly in awe of what you have gone on to create.
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Maya Wow You're really smart and it is making me rethink of academic studies. I tend to forget that it can give you better weapons to articulate your opinions and to understand others
14 likesWOAH DUDE! This was intense but very in depth. I agree on the relation between the line "as fucked up as me" and "I hope that u don't bleed". Both are portraying that one person of the relationship is leaning on the other even tho neither are perfect. Again I am really astounded by your analysis! I hope Dodie sees
9 likesI'm geeking out, I love this analysis
12 likesMaya OMG I LOVE THIS U SHOULD MAKE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL ON REACTING TO SONGS
12 likesDamn, Maya. Damn...
4 likesI'm so lucky to be the one you're in love with.
2 likesGUYS!! Thanks so much. I wasn't even going to post this because I have 0 confidence but now I'm so glad I did. Maybe a channel one day Bre, but I don't articulate verbally half as well as I write haha.
4 likesHope one day you'll make a channel! I'd love to watch!
0 likesJesus christ… WELL DONE!!
0 likesThis is one of the most eloquent and well thought out analysis' I have ever read! Definitely think about starting a channel my love, I'll subscribe for sure! Xx
7 likesMaya Abraham-Steele i like this. Go make a YouTube channel or some tumblr dissecting songs. I'd follow!!
12 likesngl i feel kinda awkward watching an analytical breakdown of such a sweet song, but maybe that's just the english student in me
0 likesWow!!!!! Thi was amazing ad so perfect.
1 likeI'd definitely watch your channel if you had one. And you don't have to appear talking in front of a camera if you're worried about that. You could write everything down and record your voice reading it and then add that on top of a video made up of images, videos, etc. There is a channel that uses this format called "Nerdwriter1", you should definitely check it out if you haven't already.
Have a nice day!!!
This is great! If you ever decide to post videos or blog your analysis on other songs, please comment it over here so I can go and look and be your fan
0 likesMaya Abraham-Steele That was so beautiful to read.
0 likesThat was amazing, it really help my understanding of the song in deeper context especially after seeing Dodies video. I hope she sees that 🖤🖤
0 likesamazing; thank you!
0 likesthis is freaking perfect. thank you for this analysis, it's just amazing.
0 likesThat was amazing! Thank you for making this!
0 likes"Intertwined" is my favourite song of yours, and the video made me love it more it was sO GREAT
0 likesI remember When I first listened to this a couple of years ago I remember interpreting it as a soulmate relationship and I wanted it so bad. But recently I was listening to it, surrounded by friends, and I realized it reminded me of them. They help me get through my problems and its just pure and simple as the song sounds
0 likesThe way u explained it!!! Awesome!!! It was like a perfect combination of how I interpreted the song and the video individually... U BLEWED MY MIND
0 likesLOVED THE SONG TO BIIITTTSS!!
77 likesHad it on Repeat ALL DAY today lol. Thank you so much for the breakdown if the song.
Please also do one for Sick of Losing Soulmates. It is, by far, my favourite song EVER (emoji). Thank you.
Hugs
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Mossa Meme She has done a video of an explanation and tutorial about the song - it isn't line by line like this one but it is similar. If you just search 'Dodie Clark sick of losing soulmates' and scroll done a little you'll see it x
14 likesthis was the most amazing thing. the play on words completely flew over my head while listening to the song. this gave me such a greater appreciation for the song o wow thanks dodie
0 likesThis is so deep and well thought out I love it
0 likesWhen I first watched it I was confused, but when I watched it again I started to get it and now I completely get what you were trying to say. Thanks Dodie xx also loved this video, it's so interesting to see how u view your own songs and what the meaning is behind them! 💛
0 likesaww thanks for making this video. I'm really happy to see the thought behind one of my favorite songs
0 likesthe video definitely fit with the song perfectly in my opinion. maybe it's just my love for gore and slightly demented things with a sweet and beautiful undertone, but this was executed so well. i definitely got the feel of an unhealthy relationship where both people involved are fronting (the unchanging, permanent faces of the dolls really helped that). i love dodie and her work so much as well as sammy's; i'm looking forward to the beautiful things that will come.
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also i didnt mean to make this such a long comment i got carried away by how much i love art
4 likesOh my god yay you're on spotify! I hope we'll all be fine at the end of it all, dodie :)
0 likesso, basically, the meaning behind the lyrics is "haha yay.....aaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!"
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Lol yeah exactly
1 likeI absolutely loved loved loved this. It's always so interesting to see the thought process that goes into someone's artistic work and you were so eloquent and lovely in your explanation. The song is amazing, and the meaning is amazing. Thank you for not shying away from discussion about mental health issues in relationships. You're incredible.
0 likesThis is so interesting to watch, can't wait to watch more of your videos ♥️♥️
0 likesMy interpretation was that the world was in a chaotic state and the things around them were terrifying. The lovers were haunted with horrible memories but chose to block it all out to spend their last moments together in a state of ignorant bliss.
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Naawww! That's adorable! XD
0 likesaWwwwWwH
0 likesSarah Studios this reminded me of that titanic scene where the ?? this mother put her children to sleep while the titanic was sinking
4 likesWOW. I love this. I love it so so much. I want dodie to do explanations of her songs more. It was just enjoyable.
0 likesMy interpretation of the song was about someone being in love and then getting a mental health issue like anxiety or depression and then their partner left them because they couldn't understand them.
1 likeWhen you break apart the lyrics it's just wow the amount of thought u put into it is impressive
0 likesthis was SO interesting goddamn, i would love to see more of these videos, analysing the art and the lyrics and music. wowwww!! <3
0 likesThis song is a perfect interpretation of me being in love, or my love life. I always feel my mental state puts me in an unlovable position. One thing from the video itself, and I don't know if anyone else has said this (if so, I'm sorry!) but I loved that Barbie dolls were used. Dolls, especially Barbies, are thought of as perfect; flawless and beautiful. You wouldn't expect a person who appears to be beautiful or perfect on the outside to have a completely contrasting inside, because mental illness isn't beautiful. I just really liked that touch, if that was intended.
0 likesOmg, I loved this. You should do this more often!
0 likesI'm so pleased that I can listen to this song and know it's more than a love song and has a deeper meaning to it. The fact that it's able to to interpreted to so many in different ways is so cool to me. I had only ever heard it as a love song until the video and then the darker themes and lyrics made so much more sense to me
0 likesIt's brilliant and I love it and the music video was perfection💕
0 likesthis is so interesting! to me, the song was about desperate dependability on the partner, but also deep love. it was about the narrator praying that the partner would be able to support them without being dragged down too. but in my head, it wasn't dark and twisted, but just loving and desperate. like an internal battle in the narrators head about whether to maintain this potentially toxic relationship, for the partner's sake. now that I've heard your explanation, I can definitely see where you're coming from with the music video.
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YES absolutely!
21 likesthat's literally my favorite thing in the world bc intertwined is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and makes me feel lots of things I can't really explain
0 likesI thought the video went really well with the song. I understood it. I do love the different interpretations as well. Art is beautiful
0 likesI love the 'laugh away the fear' part. It genuinely made me feel something..
0 likesEvery time I have writers block (like now), I watch this and it does something that pushes my gears back in motion. Thank you Dodie!
0 likesI always interpreted as a song about the struggles of being in a relationship when you are mentally ill. Also the line "I've pinned eache and every hope on you hope that you don't bleed with me" goddamn I relate to that shit so much. THE WHOLE SONG GODDAMN I RELATE
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goddamn I adore my boyfriend so much but it's incredibly hard not to get too attached and not to feel like I can't live without him or to get so so insecure that it drives me crazy. It really is a constant struggle and something that you absolutely have to actively work on as to not harm eachother.
12 likesI wish I could write songs like this with hidden meanings and different interpretations and a pretty melody
0 likesThis made me love the song even more 😍
0 likesThis song and secret for the mad are my favorite songs by her❤
0 likesThe first time I ever heard this song was when my girlfriend showed me it, I took it as her being scared that our combined mental health issues would destroy us, or that I would leave her because it was too much to handle (even though I never would) It's still one of my favourite songs, mainly because it fits out situation so well. We're both scared, but we're still trying.
0 likesi interpreted intertwined very similarly to your meaning! the style of the lyrics and music are a bit reminiscent of my writing style, where i mask dark themes with contrasting language. it tends to confuse the person reading it but gives them an "ah-hah!" moment when it all comes together. i think because i too struggle with mental health issues, this specific meaning was almost immediate for me, especially paired with that phenomenal music video! congrats on your ep love 💖
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yes! I think that's why so many people are confused - because it sounds quite sweet and melodic.
37 likesThe fact you put so much thought into the lyrics is truly amazing and I love the dark and twisty feelings underneath the pretty sounding song and I did definitely get the theme of mental health and the damaging effects. Honestly I thought the pretty sounding song with such dark sounding lyrics kind of demonstrates how people with mental health issues might seem fine but it's not till you look closer you see things aren't what they seem. As well as the idea of dependancy on the partner did anyone get a small feeling like the partner was abusing that?
0 likesWhen the song first came out, I kind of just imagined my own story in my head as a huge nice flashback in a way. Then the reality is that it wasn't great. It also reminded me of a toxic relationship my mom was in at the time
0 likesHello dear Dodie, Im a very anxious person and dependant in love... when I heard your song for the first time it was like honey in my ears and sunshine in my eyes
0 likesThank you 💜
I kind of thought of it in the same way, and it reminded me of two people in a relationship who are depending on eachother but also being overwhelmed with their mental health issues? amazing art, Dodie, the chords and lyrics seemed so raw it made my heart ache and I love it a lot. <3
0 likesThis was so interesting! Thank you for explaining <3
0 likesI'm glad to know that I wasn't too "off" from what your personal interpretation was. Honestly every time I hear the "pinned/bleed" lyric I get chills, as it's just so well thought out and scary and meaningful and wow. I've always known your writing is stellar, but it's so intriguing and special to hear you explain it! xx
0 likesevery dodie video that i watch makes me fall in love with her( in a distant, healthy way, of course)
0 likesa little more.
like ahhh
her voice
her presence
ahhh
I am surprised how close I got with my thoughts to your thoughts. I loved the little details you added that no one else might not get. I love to use that in my art too. I love the dark theme under a seemingly lovely song. In conclusion, I love the whole concept and music and the theme. Thank you for your art!
0 likesi always thought of the song as a person with mental health in love with someone. they rely on the other to listen to them & help them work through extreme situations (like breakdowns). it's a love song to me, but a live built on pain. i guess i kinda relate to that. ps: i personally view the singer & the (singee?) person being sung about as girls
59 likesThis was so interesting to listen to. Intertwined is one of my favorite songs from your ep, the one that connected most to my life and love life. Though I would have never expected that this is the meaning you were thinking of while writing the song. It opened my mind to new possibilities and that now the song could relate to me even more with mental health in a relationships Thanks dodie! ;)
0 likesyessss it fits my interptetation and i LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH BECAUSE I RELATE AND IT'S BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND ALSO YOU'RE A GENIUS.
0 likesAs a fellow songwriter who really values lyrics, I would love to see more videos like this for your other songs or even some of your favorite songs by other artists!
0 likesI wish all musicians would do stuff like this. It's amazing.
0 likesDodie, I had previously had a mind-movie of a romance that was dissaproved of by "the outside," maybe friends, parents, or just generally a not excepting society. At the beginning, the unspeakable thought of the world taking them apart causes the lyric, "try-" to be cut off, they need each other as they truly have no one else:
151 likesOh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try-
The couple was overcoming it by spending time with only one another thus causing them to become rejects in the eyes of everyone else. Gradually, this decided need for only each other becomes restlessness of being stuck together and fear of what would happen if the relationship were to come apart, "I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me."
As one falls slowly out of love with the other, he/she realizes that they want to move on, yet is unable to because there is nothing left for them in the society that pushed them away, "I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear."
They are only free when they are intertwined.
Replies (4)
*accepting society
0 likesS Smith wow so far this is the best theory i've read in the comment section
0 likesThat's actually sort of similar to what I thought. I sort of interpreted it as sort of the lovers finding peace with each other amidst the chaos and anxiety from "the outside" in a similar way.
5 likesthis is so beautiful
0 likesNow that you've explained everything, I have realized that this song is very relatible a fits in alot of situation. thank you for this blessing of a song
0 likesThis is so great! When I first heard this song, my thoughts immediately went to a friend of my who I'm constantly worrying is overwhelmed and bothered by my mental health issues. Since he's the only person I trust with that stuff, it pops up in conversation a lot and I was worried he would think it's the only reason I talk to him (I talk about it much less now because I've realized its a problem so we're all good). He kind of became my go to person when I had breakdowns because he made me happier than anyone I know and it felt so nice to trust someone. The line 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" really stuck with me because of this and him telling me to breathe every time I got panicked. Hearing you explain unhealthy feelings of codependency also reminded me of this friendship (at that time, like I said its better now). At one point I even pretended to have a crush on him to try and distract myself from my mental health issues, and that was just really unhealthy. I did not meant to write an essay I'm sorry but thank you for sharing this; I love your music!
0 likesThe mv totally changed my whole perspective. like many others, I too thought it was more romantic and lovey but the mv opened my eyes to the deeper meanings. and now it's hard seeing it any other way. like it all makes sense now
0 likesfirst heard the song in the short film "Warmish" and I instantly fell in love with it. I was so dumb as to I didn't really give attention to the artist which is dodie. This is my first time watching her vids and actually listening to all of her works. I'm already in love. She's such a wonderful artist and she blew me away. Feels good to stay away from mainstream music rn haha
0 likesHonestly, just the thought that went into the song is just fantastic. The details and breaking down what each part meant was just so interesting.
0 likesi LOVE this SO much wow i miss english lit. your explanations are so clear and mind-opening. love the double meanings. love the song.
0 likesI WANT MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS I really love seeing how each lyric was written. If you put out more videos like this I would really REALLY appreciate it❤️
0 likesI'm so glad I didn't underestimate how fucking amazing you are, this is brilliant I love English lit and art
0 likesWhen first listening to this song when it was first released it thought nothing of the lyrics and chose to focus on the beautiful harmonies and music. After a while of listening I started to imagine the song as a mental battle between a person's logical and truthful feelings and the sweet denial of "everything is going to be fine". I personally think the music video was perfect for the song and truly represented the incredible harmonies and strumming are a mask of happiness to cover the pain behind the lyrics. I absolutely love all of Dodie's music however this song along with She are my favorites since I can so closely relate to the interpretation I have of both songs.
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yes yes yes yes yes
9 likesI always interpreted this song as the many stages of a relationship, accompanied by the insecurities and worries that hunt the mind of one of the partners, while kind of going through the posible consequences of one's dependence on the relationship.
0 likesYES THIS VIDEO IS SO WELL MADE, YOU'RE SO WELL SPOKEN I LOVE IT
0 likesThe moment I heard this song, I cried. Because I knew exactly what the lyrics described. I relate to this song on such a deep level. It should make me sad ... and it does ... painting such a scary thing with such beautiful words and chords. But it also calms me and reassures me. I am not alone. <3 thank you dodie
0 likesThis is exactly how I interpreted the lyrics. The video couldn't have been more perfect for them. I can't listen to nor sing this song without tears running down my cheeks.
0 likesI thought basically the same thing? I imagined a couple, one of which has an unstable mental health, but convinces themselves that they're "fine", that the partner will help them to block out those thoughts. Over time, the thoughts start to build up, and the main character starts to doubt their capability of containing them, but they try to keep a happy front. Soon enough, the main character bursts out ("I can't stand them!") , dragging down the partner with them. But when the partner recovers from the ordeal, the main character is left to suffer in silence and again wait for the break down to happen, while being "intertwined" with their clueless partner.
96 likesReplies (3)
mmmmmmmmmmmm YES
69 likesdoddlevloggle Dodie~ Ily <3 Even though I understand all this (quite deeply, actually), I'm still not a very big fan of the video. Sorry! :c
0 likesthis is the same thing i thought
0 likesOk so I had almost the exact same interpretation than you, and I completely relate to your (beautiful) english-literature-teacher-like explanation but I don't know if that means I should be happy to have had the same feelings about your writing than you or be concerned that that connection is that I deeply relate to your mental health issues...
0 likesAAAAAh intertwined is a FAV of mine and i reeeeeaally appreciate your analysis of this. definitely something to think about and made me become attached to the song even more. thank you. THANK YOU ❤️
0 likesThis song and lyrics hit me so hard. You, and the song share my exact experience, thoughts, fears. I love the ability art has to express what I myself can't express, or maybe even put my finger on in my own head. It feels good, and frankly validating, to listen to your song.
0 likesbeautiful, dodie. this is an amazing song.
0 likesI APPRECIATE THIS SO MUCH HEARING ARTISTS TALK ABOUT THEIR ART IS THE BEST
0 likesI needed to analyze a song for my english class so of course I chose this amazing song! It even has a video showing how you interpret it! I did change some things to match my own views, but for the most part this is what I wrote about
0 likesDOOODIIIEEEEEE. I'm a songwriter too. I've never really written a song like this before. You've opened up a WHOLE NEW WORLD FOR ME. THANKS!!!!!
0 likesIt matched my interpretation absolutely perfect!
1 likeThis matched up to my interpretation. I also love that it was using barbies because that is the IMAGE of perfection. And then you just destroy those barbies basically saying that PERFECTION DOES NOT EXIST! (I love stuff like this and loved that it was a bit of a juxtaposition with love and instability and dependence and perfection.)
0 likesWhen I first watched it I got kind of an unhealthy relationship vibe. Like the kind where one is too obsessed with the other. But sitting down with the actual lyrics and paying attention to them more I can definitely see your meaning. And I absolutely love it.
0 likesThis is an amazing interpretation and I share it almost entirely. What I really like about the song is the subtlety of the scary and toxic parts. The first few times I heard the song it was just a really sweet song about a mentally ill person in a relationship, but the more I listened to it the more some parts stood out to me as unsettling. The fact that it is so subtle is amazing to me, because in my opinion, it's the same with toxic relationships. You need to take a closer look to see the issue, whether you're a bystander or a part of the relationship. So when I saw the music video, the dimensions of the song became really clear to me, where it was just a feeling before. And now with the explanation I feel like I understand it even better, so thank you Dodie! I'd love to hear your interpretations of your other songs as well, even though you said you didn't like to do it. I don't think it's going to stop us as your audience from forming our own interpretations of it ;)
0 likesI think the first time I heard to the song, I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics so I thought it was a sweet little ballad, but as I started listening to them, I was really jarred by the ominous sort of tone the song was really trying to convey. The contrast between the calm and the severity is absolutely brilliant.
0 likeswhen you got to the part "intertwined ; free" and talked about how the ep is called 'intertwined' i thought you should name the next one (or album ???) 'free'. idk it just sounded like a cute idea it my head, especially if they're very contrasting with their content
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I LOVE this idea!!
7 likes60ShadesOfKiera +
1 likeomg yesss
1 likeYES OH MY GOSH
1 like60ShadesOfKiera I HOPE SHE NOTICES THIS COMMENT OMG. It could also contrast with her mental illnesses too. I'm not saying she's completely free from her mental illness but she has mentioned on her snapchat that things are getting better with therapy and stuff
21 likes60ShadesOfKiera +
1 likethat could work too, or possibly when feels as though she's free (???)
2 likesAw that's such a cool idea
1 likeI hope for her she'll feel free then <3
12 likes60ShadesOfKiera it'll be a bit confusing if "free" isn't free
12 likesTHIS WAS AWESOME! YOU SHOULD DO THIS WITH MORE OF YOUR SONGS! =D
0 likesI've always seen this as a beautiful love song, as it's portrayed. It's a moment, a couple in love, together. They're safe together in their own little bubble, for a few moments, from this awful world we're living in. This person, who the singer loves, is able to take away their fears and keep them safe. In this moment, their love protects them from every negative thing. It doesn't last long, but it's there. I have people who can wash away all my fears, while still keeping me in the real world, and I'm imagining a person like that in this relationship.
0 likesI'm crying. This makes me so scared of falling in love whilst still having mental health issues, fearing that it will destroy us both.
0 likesAfter watching all three videos, (this being one of them), I think that there's a entirely new mindset around the song, and truly, the message that dodie implements throughout the EP. Since I first originally heard the song before the music video came out, it was definitely expected. A soft, yet beautiful song about lovers and the hardships that they sometimes face. But paired with the flawlessly pulled off music video, it goes full circle to emerge the listener in a new mindset about the meaning of the song. And like she said, of course it's interpreted differently by every person who hears and watches it. The music video opens up a whole other message about unhealthy relationships and brings out a side of dodie that's not fairly seen throughout her music. The message about mental health and how it affects relationships is very realistic, and to what I believe, is a beautiful message that dodie fabulously implemented into this song. It takes a couple of listens to fully grasp the meaning of the song, and the lyrics are so perfectly chosen. Oh and the music video, I think that the barbies were an amazing choice of characters because they are what is seen as kind of 'normal'. But the way that throughout the song they morph into these 'unnatural' looking versions of themselves represents how mental health can affect the way you look and feel physically. The song and music video portrays her message beautifully, and adds, what I think to be, a new level of depth into the EP. Welp, that's my dumb analogy at least.
0 likesThank you, dodie for this! I really enjoy your interpretation. As someone who is diagnosed with depression and bipolar 2, I can very much relate with this song and your experiences. I've lost a few special people in my life due to my struggles and it's hard to know what to do and how to deal with it. It is comforting to know that I'm not the only one and that if you (one of the sweetest, kindest human beings alive) can go through something like this, I can too. Great job, Dodie! Looking forward to hearing new work :)
0 likesI loved it. And I got it. Since the first time I saw the video, I thought the song and the visuals were both masterpieces. The video is sooo accurate to the music and lyrics. Loved everything. I really paid attention to the harmony and it says so much. As you said, it gives a confusing feeling between love and illness, just in the middle, like every element in the video. Every part makes honor to the title and the title is so accurate itself. This piece is sooo perfect. I really loved it. I can't even describe what I feel. Everytime I watched the video, I noticed new details and meanings. I thought it was soooo brilliant, but now that you explained it, I just realised the dimention it has. Dodie, you are great, you are a genius, you are sooo brilliant. Wow. We don't deserve you. I'm sure our capacity of interpretation is sooo small compared to yours. You thought about every detail. I love it. It's so precious. It is art. My narive language is spanish, so my writing skills are bad, but I hope you know I really liked it. This is a masterpiece.
0 likesI have to say, I loved this. Now I have to go re-listen to the song and rewatch the video
0 likesThe "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" line always caused me so much dilemma because I kept switching between 'This relationship is taking away her ability to be genuinely happy!' and 'she doesn't smile often but she does with this person!'
0 likesGlad to have an answer 😅
p.s knowing the insane amount of detail that went into this song makes me love it even more! You're amazing xx
I listened to Intertwined the first time when I was in the midst of being in love. As I continued to listen to this song throughout my relationship, I began to hear it more as a song about a dysfunctional or abusive relationship. Soon I became aware that my relationship was also dysfunctional and this song still means so much to me even though the way I saw it and my relationship had changed.
0 likesI honestly feel like my relationship is as exact as this song. Your analysis summed up why I loved the song so much, and I really do relate with the song as well as the video, and it is truly my favorite song at the moment.. It's bittersweet for me to listen to it, but yeah, I love it..
0 likesI could watch this over and over again for the rest of my life and still be impressed at this analysis. Like wow
0 likesDodie...you are just amazing. I love Intertwined so much
0 likesAfter watching this, I went back and watched the music video, and it is so cool to see how now that I'm thinking about this meaning of the song, the video seems so different to me
52 likesReplies (2)
ME Too
3 likessame
0 likesCan you be my teacher ??
0 likesOh well anyways I really love your interpretation and I actually thought the same when I heard the song and I can tell that it's so relatable, you're simply amazing dodie !!! 💛
I love the meaning. I love the song's complexity.
0 likesThe amount of thought you put into matching the music to your lyrics is incredible. I love how passionate you are about your music, a lot of artists don't put in much thought and just create music for money. Literally how many artists change the sound, key/chord they're playing in to match their lyrics?!
0 likesdodie this is amazing! im going to watch the music video with a completely different mindset now. my original interpretation of the song doesnt dwell too deep, but i must admit that the harsh contrasting words like "numb," "fine," "pin," "bleed," etc, stuck out to me in an odd way that didnt quite sit 'well' with me the first couple listens through, but after that i just got used to it. seeing the music video for the first time then was a really odd experience, and i questioned what the true meaning of the song was (since you were so happy with how it turned out) but i couldnt figure it out. i guess i'm not a deeply analytical person, but i'm so glad this video was made. now that it's been explained it makes SO much sense! and gives me a greater appreciation of the music as well :-)
0 likeswell, english isn't my first language and I heard that song a while ago, so I didn't really understand everything that was said. But to me, it feels like a very cold winter day where two lovers just stay cuddled together in bed. I definitely got, that mental illness or at least "normal" anxiety (the one that everybody experiences once in a while) played a part in this. I love this song so much oh god
15 likesI love, love, LOVE the amount of effort you put into this song, and how you intertwined (hehe) the themes of darkness with the chord progressions and the climax of the song with the highest note being sung. It's very clever and I love it. But here's my view:
1 likeI tend to be an optimist, so I thought of this as a cutesy love song with the hints of mental health issues.
A girl is in a relationship with her lover, but she also has mental health problems.
The line 'you create a rarity of my genuine smile' is how I determined the theme of the song. The lover brings so much happiness in her dark thoughts that he brings to life, or creates, a genuine smile that is so rare for her.
OKAY i know you want to leave the writing to the interpretation of the listener but i enjoy seeing your thought process and i absolutely love the way you connect your chord progression choices with the text. AHHH! i cant get over it. i would definitely watch if you did this again
0 likesI really liked this!! You should do this more often!
0 likesilovethisilovethisilovethis
0 likesI enjoyed the song from the first time I heard it, but seeing the music video gave me that odd feeling of catharsis, which relatively short songs don't manage to do very often. I love the balance between happy, lovely lyrics and tones and the added twists and darker themes. and then the added emphasis on mental health made me really fall in love with it.
as a psychology geek who loves music and art and sad/dark things, especially those with hidden meanings, Intertwined reached into my heart in a way that a song hasn't been able to do in quite a while, and it's such a nice feeling.
this is easily one of my favorite videos dodie has ever made; it seems to bare more venerability than even some of her more blatant mental health videos while also providing a lovely clapback to all those assuming they know exactly what she means by everything she writes. there's a certain beauty in songwriting and writing in general that allows the author to convey thoughts in a way that is either more glamorous or more metaphorical and causes the audience/listener to feel their own interpretations of the writer's emotions or experiences. i feel like the video for intertwined perfectly represents all the discordant word choices and the very obvious desperation dodie seems to sing with in the recording and every live performance i've heard, though i'll admit i totally misinterpreted it until the video was released. the song and the video are truly works of art and i commend dodie, sammy and all the others involved for bringing the words to life.
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OH MY GOD WHAT A COMMENT. Thank you so so so much!
75 likesoh my goodness I love this analysis, please do more!
0 likesI absolutely love everything about this song, lyrics, video ALL OF IT
0 likesand guys,
04:32
I sometimes watch this video frequently and it actually makes me want to analyse texts and stuff.
0 likesI always viewed this song as romantic but your meaning makes so much more sense to me. I love that you used metaphors to talk about mental health problems and yet make it sound so peaceful. A beautifully crafted song
0 likes(also I would love a tutorial on this song! It one of my absolute favourites and I'm dying to learn it)
See, I am in love with the 3 dimensionality of it all. Your drawing out of all the thread used in this song has put even more concepts into perspective. But, for me, as it is art, I had a different point of view, also it can be confusing and I'm pulling out what going on in my brain. Sooo, this may be a BIT long. Sorry.
58 likesThe beginning of the song; "Skin, Heat, Hair in your mouth, feet, touching feet," gives me a warm and comforting feeling of cuddling, not necessarily romantic, maybe platonic, or even the little cuddles you would have with your mum as a child. The warm, kinda drowsy blanket was draped over me through the the entirety of the song, the whole thing could be interpreted quite literally or metaphorically. "Oh you, and I, safe from the world, though the world will try," this part, for me, really sealed the sense of an intimate moment under a blanket. Two individuals being 1, them ignoring the rest of the world, and its tribulations. "Oh, I'm afraid, of the things in my brain," This one, yes, does give me a sense of mental illness, but also, (again, for me, specifically) not completely, as everyone's a bit mad {a bit of madness is key lol} and that sort of wrapped (I'm not speaking for anyone else) us in sort of a sense of relativity, how down inside, there's a storm constantly brewing. "but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." This is a comforting thing of nervous laughter and how the 2 of them are sort of held together by laughter and underlying pain. "Numb, fine" This is sort of a road block in the relationship, where one of them is distancing themselves due to internal turmoil. "You create a rarity of my genuine smile," This definitely means a lot to me, as a fake smile to satisfy others is so prevalent in my life. Showing that the main focus character is getting quite attached to the person, almost seeing them the main source of fleeting happiness and doesn't want them to leave. "Breathe, breathe with me" Basically saying that they want the partner to not panic as they pour themselves out to them. "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them," This is definitely the breaking point of the song, where you breakdown and are kind of begging that source of happy to stay, to understand, and to take in everything they're saying, because the things happening inside of the brain is too much for them to handle. "Intertwined, free. I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" This is where it's one of them fearing that they haven't shared too much of the darker pits of their soul, and hoping that it won't overwhelm the partner.
And then the warm blanket is placed again on our heads and lulled to sleep with the repeated verse of being afraid of the things in their brain.
ART
ART
ART
Thank you for creating such a beautiful piece of art.
Replies (5)
your comment interested me so much I just watched ur veda 07 and uM you neED to make MORE
8 likessubbeeedddd
11 likesdoddlevloggle thank you so much, wow. Just, wow. Thank you.
4 likesThis is how I interpreted it too yes I love music ahhh
1 likesame! i was reading through all the comments/explanations and this is the only one that describes exactly what it felt like to me. i couldn't put it into words myself.
2 likesWhen I first saw the music video I was taken aback a little bit because I wasn't expecting the violent looking visuals at first, but I still loved it sooo much. The music video for Intertwined is easily my favorite music video of all time and I hope to make something that awesome one day
0 likesI love this it lets me appreciate it so much more
0 likesI really love seeing this kind of video analyzing your songs!
0 likesI absolutely loved this breakdown
0 likesHowever, I originally interpreted it with a bit more optimism. As someone who struggles with mental illness, I related to the lyrics, but where you saw toxic behavior I saw a support system and growth
Before seeing the video, I had regarded the song as mostly just romantic and sweet, and I'm not particularly sure why, because I tend to read everything as having dark undertones...maybe I just wasn't paying any attention. After the video though this more distorted angle just seemed so completely obvious! I very much believe in the idea of the 'death of the author'; in any art, a writer's personal intention does not really matter, since a piece of art means something different to everyone who consumes it, however this was fantastic and you explained it so precisely! It makes sense if you wouldn't want to do this kind of thing for your other songs, (you did say 'just this once') but I would love to see more things like this if you wanted, because this definitely gave me new appreciation for Intertwined :-)
82 likesReplies (1)
niiice :)
1 likeThough I can imagine people find this song sweet and endearing, I did sense the darker tone in the song, but in a slightly other way then you wrote it. It gave me the feeling of feeling isolated by your own life and habits. You are together with someone you were madly in love with, but you never came to actually loving each other. And now you just feel stuck. You can't make yourself feel happy anymore, you can't remember how it felt to be happy and that is why you stay in this situation: you assume that it can't get better then this and that you are just over thinking and overreacting, cause there are good moments with your partner and with family that could and should make you a very happy person, but it doesn't. So you just laugh away the pain and wait for something to save you.
1 likeThis all sounds very sad. But remember: eventually, the only thing that can save you is you. You have to realise you are allowed to feel happy and you will feel genuinely happy again.
Love your songs, dodie.❤ You are a very wise, talented and creative person. Love from Julie-Anne from the Netherlands💝
the video did fit, I did catch a similar meaning to watch you describe here. although the video isn't particularly original I think it was executed really well.
0 likesand honestly you are one of my favourite songwriters at the moment, you bring something so refreshing and original to your style of music. I can't wait for more.
I love this and from my thought I saw a very different song. I saw a song of pain pushed down and a girl who needed her partner to help. the skin,brain,numb along with other words show the way she felt and the free,fine and other words show how she is freeing herself from the struggle with the help of her partner. I love the true meaning of the song as well and think Dodie showed the struggle of the pain in a very cool way. love the video and the song, I have been playing it on repeat for so long.
0 likesWhen I first listened to it, it was cute and fuzzy. Now realizing who wrote it again and reading the lyrics I see your point I love it
0 likesLmao you said English lit and I'm like ayye okay a lit video and then I realized it was short for literature and that's how downhill my life is going
815 likesReplies (6)
Marwa Katir why did I laugh so hard at this
46 likesIdiotDino
1 likeLmaoo
omfg
4 likesThis happened to me in school once lmao
3 likesOmg I'm crying 😭
5 likeslmao
0 likesPlease do something similar to this again I really enjoyed it!!!
0 likesdodie, I adore how intelligent and honest you are! this analysis is absolutely wonderful. I think it's so interesting to see how other people view your song and how you, the writer, view the same song. thank you so much for this video, I really loved it! 💖
0 likesI love it. It's perfect for the song. What's your next project!? You're awesome.
0 likesthis was so beautifully written wow
0 likesWow. That's... Amazing. Woah. My interpretation was waaay off. When I first heard Intertwined, I imagined two lovers sitting by a campfire at a beach on a hot summer night. The first two lines(?) gave me the impression that, even though the weather makes them feel mildly uncomfortable, it doesn't matter to them. They're happy to just be having that moment. The writer finds comfort in their lover and feels like, in that moment, they get to have a break from worrying about their darkest thoughts all the time. It jusy felt like a song about that moment, y'know?
0 likesI actually imagined sort of a hopeless love that is intoxicated my sadness or depression, but throughout the song I see "intertwined" as a couple holding onto one another, and actually saw it as a healthy dependency, as they helped each other
1 likei could listen to you dissect your songs forever, you have such an incredible creative and wonderful mind
0 likesI mean I always knew, kind of on the surface, that dodie's job was a lot of work. Learning how much effort she puts into them though, so much thought and intention into each word and note, is so eye-opening and really helps me more fully understand HOW MUCH WORK GOES INTO EACH SONG. dodie is such an artist. her music has ~lAyErS~ much like an onion. or shrek.
0 likesi was one of those peeps who, despite loving the creativity behind the video, still feels it doesn't match up to how i felt about the song - and i honestly think that's so interesting that the way i listened to and what i felt about the song was so far from what the creator had intended like WOOAAHH ART MAN
19 likestho ofc i do really see sammy and guy and the team really did match up to how you wanted the song to feel and what you wanted to portray - but it's still so different to how i see it and that 👏 is 👏 so 👏 interesting
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i listened to the song and thought of all those horrible mornings i didnt want to get out of bed and wanted not to be here, and thought of the times people had said kind words to me or told me i deserved love and it had made me hold on a little tighter - in a way i guess that that IS unhealthy to depend on others and so has that darker undertone - but for me it was a sleepy and gentle reminder that even if you're sad af there will be people, maybe also even sad af, to hold yout hand and open your curtains and help you make breakfast
4 likesdodie's version is about romance masking the true festerimg disturbing realities of mental illness underneath, whereas mine was about acknoledging the issues and confronting them with someone else to stand by you? i guess?
and despite that's that's very removed from your intentions, it's still what it means to me and i like to listen to it thinking of that
and that, kids, is what you call the "peer review" critical theory - Assessment Objective 5 on the English Lit A Level dabs
1 likeoh my god. i love this song 100% more now, because i always loved your stuff, but i thought intertwined was way too mushy for me. but with a different analysis and what your intent behind the words was, it's so much better and i can appreciate it a lot more, probably cus it's darker than i thought
0 likesThe song makes me cry every time, because it's so accurate of what I would be like :(
0 likesin other thoughts, I now understand why I fell weird and uncomfortable when I listen to this song! you've made it so the lyrics are unsettling and makes us uneasy to create the atmosphere that the couple is going trough 😱 brilliant Dodie 😁 ❤
0 likesThe video definitely fit the theme. Having mental illness and being in love is ABSOLUTELY terrifying. You always need to be reassured and tell them your problems. It is a toxic relationship in the end. It can effect them and make everything feel worse. I completely understand this.
0 likesthis means so much to me because when I initially heard the song when it was released, I heard it as the sweet love song that it's perhaps masquerading as. over the past few months as my mental health has declined, I started shutting myself off from people and began to wonder if I could form stable relationships while I was in such a dark and precarious place, and when I revisited this song as the music video was released I heard a new meaning in it.
5 likesit's amazing to me that you've created a piece that not only touches on a more serious topic than typically talked about in the media, but also one that changes along with the listeners perspective. thank you so much for finding the words to describe something I'm unable to, this song has really touched me <3
When I listen to this song all I can picture in my mind is two people slow dancing as the first dance at their wedding, it's so nice and the rhythm of the song is perfect for it. Can't you just imagine that professional type of slow dancing with all the little flicks and twirls InTeRtWiNeD throughout.
0 likesI can't wait until I get married.
It's such a beautiful song! The theme of dependability and relying on someone to make you happy is so bittersweet. The way I thought of it is that you find someone that makes you so happy when nothing else can, but when things go downhill you refuse to leave that person because at one point you felt genuinely happy. They helped you with your mental health but it starts to make you feel guilty because you feel like your using them. That's just what I think because I can relate to the theme of agnapesis, but Dodie's interpretation totally makes sense to me.
1 likei always thought of the song as a representation of a great relationship going downhill. when you're realizing that you like this person but you know being with them won't last. as soon as you put out the video i was thinking it confirmed my theory with the "blood" and the guts, it was just a more severe way to show the pain and heartbreak of a relationship that's ending but was so great while it lasted. so things were going amazing with this person but then you seem to come to terms with the fact that it can't be forever, that you're not with your soulmate.
0 likesI love Dodie because she thinks of music in the same way I do. And she's awesome at what she does.
0 likesthe video gave me so many feels and so many emotions and i felt so much love for you and your work and you're my inspiration and ugh i'm just so proud of you and i'm sorry i'll stop rambling... <3
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ps your hair looks cute af
4 likesholy heck how do you write this deep this is amazing!!
0 likesI love this song very much and I appreciate it even more after watching this video
1 liketo me it's about that happy little butterfly feeling that melts into a very cozy warm numb feeling when you're cuddled up with a person you love
and it's funny because you fell in love with them because of their kind, intelligent words they share with you and you love talking with them for hours
but your most favorite moments with them are when you exchange very few words at all (which kinda matches the short one word phrases in the verses of the song)
and it's all just physical touch and for the first time in a very long time
your thoughts are wordless
and your mind is quiet
and everything is just safe and warm and alive and real with them (a rarity of my genuine smile)
and the rest of the world is blurry and unimportant (safe from the world outside)
and they're so good at quieting your thoughts (im afraid of the things in my head but we can stay here and laugh away the fears/can you drink all my thoughts)
but as soon as you're away from them your heart aches for that warm numb feeling and your mind is filled with more thoughts and worries and anxiety than it was before and you just have an endlessly unsatisfied craving for them and this constant need for their help becomes a burden on them (I've pinned each and every hope on you)
that was long sorry basically it makes me think of how love is a drug in the way it temporarily cures anxiety and becomes addictive and dangerous but is also the thing keeping you alive
You are a brilliant human being. I really enjoyed listening to you explain this and going so deep oh my lord it was amazing I love arT
0 likesThank you dodie! I understand the song/video now 😊
0 likesI first thought of the song as a sweet cute love song, but the lyrics to me suggested dependability on a certain level. I thought of two lovers, one with mental health issues with a neurotypical partner. Although they're not in the best mental place, they still appreciate their partner's efforts to be supportive. Perhaps they haven't been able to open up to others or trust others before so this one neurotypical person that lets them in is highly depended on. They depend on the touch and warmth of skin, the freedom they feel with the other. They open themselves up to them, pinning their hopes on them like their hopes of getting to a better place.
10 likesI didn't view it as a song about a toxic relationship, but more something from a place of vulnerability. Your skin is bare, you bleed, you can't trust your own thoughts. But you've found someone that helps you hope, that can ease the burden of your thoughts, and helps you through the rough spots. So it's a little bit of a sweet love song, but a bit darker too.
My interpretation of the song was love pure love and when the creepy bits were played it was highliting the strength that the relationship has. I love this song and in my head it still makes me happy even though I now know the true meaning of the so g
0 likeswhen i first heard this song, i mostly just hummed along to the beautiful melody and didn’t think much about the lyrics considering how the first verse sounds very much like a sweet piece, a love story between two people. later, however, i began to perceive relationships in a toxic manner and i remember listening to this song again and deeply resonating with the song towards the end, realizing the song is a dark piece about a toxic relationships. i kind of molded it into my experience with a sort of first time crush. because of my vulnerability and some old childhood trauma, i became obsessed with an image of a perfect relationship and used that crush as a face for the concept. it was a dangerous thing to have done, and quickly became my reassurance that i will not end up in the same situation as my mother (as in there are still good boys left for me to love). i began to obsess over it and cling to the toxic relationship i had built with this person in my head as a way to cope with my mental issues. i resonated with “i am afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear.” very much because it became very difficult to stop becoming lost in this fictional world. the lyrics “you create a rarity of my genuine smiles” also struck a chord in me because the habit i had to cope was driving me apart and ruining me as i realized i can never have the person i created in my head. “can you drink all my thoughts and i pinned each and every hope on you” added to belief the song was about using another person to cope with trauma, anxiety, insecurities, etc. as i was doing.
0 likesI love so much how this is about! And my goodness. The last relationship I was in..this describes how I was COMPLETELY. It wasn't till it was over I realized how depended I was and how not okay it is. I keep telling myself if i get into a relationship again, I will never let it get like that..but i think a part of me knows I might still be that way. Love is hard. And loving yourself should be your first priority. Great song! And loved the music video!!
0 likesI've thought of it simply as a love song written by someone who is very much in love, but knows how they love each other is unhealthy. I was actually very happy that your video reflected that. This song is what so many young people think is romantic.
0 likesI interpreted it as a mixture of a person dealing with mental illness, and an unhealthy/abusive relationship. Possibly both simultaneously. I love both the video and the song.
0 likesi... interpreted it almost exactly the same way. it's probably because i, myself, have mental health issues, and that at one point, it took a toll in my relationships (both romantic and platonic, but especially romantic). so, when i first heard the lyrics i started crying because it just... made sense?
0 likes"Don't tell me why I wrote my own song" BEST LINE EVER
1 likeThis song is so complex yet so simple; I love it
0 likesOmg DODie YoU Got DIagNoSEd!!! THINGS ARE LOOKING UP, I actually can't wait for you to be free of pain YOU DESERVE IT 💛💛💛💛💛
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Wow I was feeling these thugs whilst listening to the music but now I know why, this delicately crafted work is so much deeper than Once thought thank you 💛
2 likesOkay I totally adored this meaning, I'm so happy you explained it all - it matches how I interpreted the music video! However, by listening to the song alone I personally imagined it with the much more innocent meaning. To me it still definitely has all the signals of struggling with mental illness, but feeling like you can truly be yourself when with your S/O. E.g. "You and I, safe from the world, though the world will try" - you know that sometimes your world comes crumbling down but you feel protected from that part of your life when with that person.
0 likesI love that it can be reinterpreted in all these different ways, that is what I love so much about clever lyricism such as yours. Considering doing a little cover of this song, even more now I know your true meaning.
When I first heard this song(without the music video), it spoke to me and I found it relatable in a different way. to me it brought up a very familiar feeling of having so much love for someone and wanting to be intertwined with them, almost blended into them, but that feeling being induced by the pure fear of losing them. Basically holding onto someone and pouring yourself into them while being utterly terrified that they are going to be taken away from you (again)
0 likesOddly enough this is pretty close to how I interpreted the song.. I love it!
0 likesI love the music video and the song, I think they fit so nicely. I actually found the lyrics very true to my own circumstances. To me the song portrayed a girl suffering from anxiety and depression who had found love with someone who tries to help her through it. Talking to herself and to her partner (either talking to him in person or her wondering what it would be like to be with him), ultimately conflicted. Not necessarily a toxic relationship but one where they fight and struggle. However I am unsure of my own understanding of the end of the song, i think its nice to have a little ambiguity.
0 likesWhen I first heard it I was with a person I love very much, and we both have mental health issues so I felt like it was a romantic song about being together without anxiety or bad thoughts. Now that I've seen the music video I see how much darker it could've been, and I love that so much!! It has so many different dualities and meanings and it's so so gooooodd ahh!
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Also touching on the "numb/fine" lyric I felt like that could mean like even if one person in the relationship was going through a depression/anxiety attack the other person is always there to comfort them through hard times
0 likesYour analysis of this was amazing cause I was one of those people who was like "this isn't dodie" I love love love this
0 likesI just thought it was about how wonderful love can be an how another person can help a mentally ill person by being an escape/safe space, and I related very much to it, but now that I've heard your meaning, I'm questioning whether my relationship is healthy or not..
0 likesHi dodie Great music video 👍 You're such an adorable,multitalented,genius! Your honest and humble way of sharing yourself and your talents with the world is wonderful. As a songwriter my self I stumbled upon your songs in a "uke songs" Google search. I am an artistic person who is not officially but most likely has ADD, which can be annoying for my family to put up with, but I feel like it's part of why I'm so creative with singing,songwriting,and drawing. Even though I'm much older than you, I'm a fan because you seem to be able to relate to your audience so well. Great job on all your channels 👍 I wish you all the best in life! Thanks for being you🙏🏻✨ ...@briantsings /Allihoopa.com
0 likesThis is basically how I saw Intertwine, but for me the music video still doesn't fit because I feel it doesn't show the mental illness as well as it could. It confused me but I still love the song (and the EP) and the music video so keep up the good work ❤️
1 likeCan we please have more of Ms. Clark? This video was so great!
7 likesThe overall theme definitely lined up with what I thought when I first heard it. I always just felt the song was safe and comfortable, but obviously only very temporarily. The best way to describe it is when I'm doing something I love tremendously but only to avoid/distract myself from something I am fearing. That overwhelming feeling of anxiety of knowing it's coming and you can't fix or delay it, and it makes the thing you love only falsely sweet as you spend the whole time dreading the future.
0 likesthis is so clever, i aspire to write songs as full of meanings as this
0 likesI definitely interpreted it as like, trying to make a relationship work but ultimately not being able to work through the emotional and mental baggage the singer has. So I really liked the music video, the visuals were really stunning and powerful.
0 likesAAH--how I love your little teacher-like analysis (x
1 likeThanks for sharing this, by the way! :)
holy fuck dodes, youre a genius! i played this song for my church talent show (heehee rebel) and it was one of the best things ive ever done, and performing your songs makes me feel so happy and confident! luv ya!
0 likesWhen i first heard the song i thought it started as a love song between two people. It was a new/young relationship that was a happy one.and as time progressed one of the people was becoming more and more mentally ill and soon the other partner starts to notice it and tries to help a little, but they end up just hurting her more. So she relizes she needs to take matters into her own hands after it gets really bad, so she looks for comfort in other people and as she does this she puts all her trust in people hoping that they dont have the same thing she does, but then she still has the illness, but now with the new friends she is getting better. (and on the EP if you listen close enough dodie says a little "um hum" at then end and i think that is the cutest thing)
1 likeI love this song and I love your hair!! 💙💙
0 likesI've always related to this song for the exact same reasons. My mental health issues making relationships unhealthy with depending so much on the other person and also, the 'unhealthy reassurance.'
0 likesI am in a relationship currently and I can already see all these things happening and it scares me to tears.
From another bad mental health sufferer, this is exactly how i interpreted the song
8 likesI interpret this song as a fantasy, where the ‘writer’ is in love with one of their close friends. I imagined it as the quiet moments when they’re alone together and the writer wanting so badly to be close to the friend, but not wanting to ruin the bond they have. The first verse being a scenario the writer has built up in their head of them being together. The main part of the chorus ‘I’m afraid of the things in my brain’ being that the writer is afraid that if they let their feelings out, it will ruin their friendship. ‘But we can stay here’ implying that their relationship will probably remain a close friendship, and ‘laugh away the fear’ being that the writer will try to neglect their feelings by being joyful with the friend. ‘Breathe, breathe with me’ could be when the writer is talking to another friend, and the writer is panicking because they’re about to tell another person about their feelings and the other person is trying to calm the writer down. ‘Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can’t stand them’ the writer is confiding in the other friend to help alleviate the pain of being in love with someone that can’t love them back. ‘I’ve pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don’t bleed with me’ the writer is putting trust in the other friend that they won’t share their secret. The closing lines, followed by the harmonies depict the writer carrying on with their life, still in love with the friend.
0 likesIt’s dumb, I know, but that’s what I think of when I hear it.
i definitely identify with this song in the way that relationships whilst having mental health issues are difficult but rather than viewing it as a negative type of relationship i associate it with having a "rock" as you will, someone there to help you cope. a bit different to your meaning but as you say art is always made for interpretation <3
0 likesp.s i hope you find your rock xox
(TW: self harm)
1 likeFor me I thought this was a romantic song with a bright side, maybe because I'm a hopeless romantic and I look for love and beauty anywhere I can.
For my the first part of the song "skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" came to me very nicely since my love language is 'touch'. Skin being the nice warm feeling (this also plays into heat) of human contact and the feel of your lovers chest against your during intercourse, the feeling of holding hands, the feeling of their body against yours while you cuddle/sleep. Heat also comes along with skin and touch. The warm hot feeling (inside and out) while you have intercourse with you s/o, the sweaty palms after holding hands for a long time, the heat from each other's bodies connected together creating a warm feeling.
"Hair in your mouth" just reminds me off the pure akwardness and mess that sex really is, unlike it is depicted in pornography. Real sex is messy and in perfect and that (at least to me) is what makes it so fun and enjoyable. Sex if seen as very serious and is only meant for pleasure, and I know that there are people who only want pleasure, but sex can also be a way to show love. "Feet touching feet" reminds me of the post-sex cuddle you have after sex. Being close to one another after a big spiral of touching everywhere and feeling the warm and fast feelings of intercourse. A post-sex cuddle is a way to cool down and maybe even talk about the amazing experience you had.
" Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain,
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear" this is a line about mental illness (like Dodie said) and in some relationships mental illness can be a real struggle and hardship on the relationship. I struggle with some depression, anxiety, and I even self harm (which my boyfriend knows about). My struggle with self harm has hurt my s/o before because he doesn't want to see me hurt and in pain, and I do try to stop but there are days where it's really hard for me. Thankfully I have him but that where my anxiety kicks in because I don't want to bother him or anything but I know o can always count on him.
"Numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smile" numb and fine could be ways of saying that they are trying to numb the feeling from mental illness and fine being the face they put on, the fake smile for the rest of the world but showing their true real smile and happiness to their s/o.
"Can you drink all my thoughts
Cause I can't stand them" to me this says can you swallow and drown out my dark thoughts and fears from my mind and remind me of the love you give me.
"Intertwined, Free, I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope you don't bleed with me" the words 'intertwined' and 'free' most definitely do not mix together but I can also see how they do. You can be intertwined with you s/o but also having a free feeling from you dark thoughts. "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" speaks to me on a different level because of my struggle with self harm. This could be pinning the hope of sanity and sanctuary on your s/o, which could be a lot for both parties ending up in either resolution or disaster. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" could be meaning "I don't want you to feel my hurt" when telling them about your past and your struggle.
I know this may not be a very good analysis of the song and I know it's not what her interpretation was but it's just how I saw the song. Kind of a song of a new love.
Dodie put and continues to put enormous amounts of effort into her songs, making me love her even more! ❤️😊
0 likesintertwined was beautiful 👌
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I thought it fitted perfectly 👌
2 likesYour voice is fantastic while singing!!!
0 likesI know this is late but I LOVE this song. My first interpretation of the song was a love song. But the more and more I listened the more jarring it got. Example: "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me"
0 likesWhen I first heard that I knew it sounded a little off but ignored it. But now I realize how toxic and reliant it is. There are many more but I won't go into them all. Love your writing and love you Dodie!
i am getting ready to go on a camping trip to explore the night sky with my astronomy class. This music makes me want to breathe in the universe. thanks dodie.
0 likescan you do a cover of the song give me one reason by tracy chapman?? i think your voice would sound amazing on it!! also, i love this video <3 the meaning is much more deep than i thought. beautiful!
0 likesTeacher!Dodie fics need to be written...
7 likesyou guys are saying you can’t listen to this the same anymore because it now has a different meaning but listen.
2 likesIf it had meaning to you, and that meaning was important, that’s still valid. Art is an expression of who you are, it’s what you make of it that is yours.
Please like this so people can see. I feel like this is important to know.
this is fascinating! at first i wasn't sure about the music video, but it fits perfectly
0 likesUnrelated to the video but-- Dodie, I love you so much. I've watched your videos since 2013 and you inspired me a lot. You helped me to be more creative when writing songs and to branch out and try the uke rather than guitar (I even came to know that I PERFER the uke.) Your creativity inspires me and keeps me going. I've always felt refreshed by watching your videos. And hearing things you say about your anxiety, depression, and even depersonalization...I feel for you, but it comforts me. I thought I was alone and weird and messed up, but you go through it too. I love all of the same things you love and you have a confidence that I long for. You are a BEAUTIFUL person and I admire you deeply. I wish we could somehow be friends because I always fail to find friends that get along with me well and you seem like you'd be such an amazing one. <3 Love you Dodie, I'll always support you.
0 likesoh my gosh dodie this was so interesting, you've made me love this song on so many levels 💛 I totally saw this as just a sweet and simle love song but I'm so impressed by the depth and detail and how the chords add to it as well aahhhhh I'm so excited I love your lyrics 💕💕💕
3 likesI'm so glad you posted this. When I first heard the song I got the impression of a strained relationship, but the music video and now this explanation helps make it even more powerful. I think the video might be a little surprising at first to those who aren't super familiar with your work or the themes involved, but in that way it can work to fill new listeners in on your deeper meanings and the feelings that may have gone into it. The contrast between the "scary" video and the calming music is very effective and the video matches the song on a deeper level and in a more interesting way than a lot of other music videos I've seen. I am currently writing some stuff concerning my mental state and struggles and this definitely inspired me. Thank you :)
0 likesI aspire to be as amazing and artistic as you one day. Seriously wow.
0 likesI first used this song to describe my previous relationship, thinking it sweet and romantic. Following the relationship's end, in which in retrospect I realized the truth in all those who said my relationship was unhealthy, I interpreted the song much differently. From visualizing the lyrics' dependency as romantic to visualizing the dependency as dangerous, my interpretation has vastly changed since my first hearing it. Rather interesting, I think.
0 likesI always thought it was about a person who finds comfort or an escape in love despite their anxiety and/or depression and is helped by their significant other in their struggles with mental health. I also always felt some undertones of the person worrying that their significant other that their problems may rub off on them even though they subconsciously know that they need their support even if that was happening. Now that I've heard your interpretation, my mind has completely changed about it haha.
0 likesAt first i was shocked and confused by the video and now i understand. This is beautiful thank you. I don't think i could have ever done the song justice when singing it without knowing this. The creators have done a wonderful job and your lyrics are beautifully thought out XX
0 likesI really like your interpretation and thoughts Dodie, here are mine! I think to me the ukelele sounds Parisian and sweet, all the imagery is light and lovely. The singers mental illness is apparent but I read into it as their partner comforting them as best they can, for example 'breathe, breathe with me' being told to the singer as calming advice. I always try to help my ill friends by telling them to follow the 2,8 breathing technique. I know this isn't as detailed and wonderful as your analysis but here are my ideas! X
0 likesI love the depth of your lyrics. I understood your original meaning when I first listened to the song and I love the imagery and implications. I personally choose to interpret the song as someone who is in a relationship that does have a mental illness, and their significant other helping them on their journey to become healthy again. I relate to the song completely when I interpret it this way. I love the dynamic of lyrics and all of the versions that people can and have come up with.
0 likesdamn i did not realize how deep this song was until the music video came out, and even more now that dodie made this video! props to you dodie, the amount of meaning you can put not only into a song but into each individual word is incredibly impressive and shows a lot of talent and intelligence.
0 likesi loved this so much. hilarious/ brilliant idea to analyse your own work in the way an english teacher would, while still somehow leaving me feeling like any personal interpretation was totally valid.
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:D!
1 likethe first time i herd the full song i started crying because its so beautiful no joke
0 likesoh my gosh you look so cute! also, thank you for explaining your song, I really wanted to know your interpretation of Intertwined!
0 likesi'm super late but i love love love your meaning!! i interpreted as some sort of sickeningly sweet dream world, where love reigns over all and everything is okay. as the song goes on, i feel like the person who is in love realizes that they have to face reality and all the bad things that come with a relationship (ex: mental health problems not completely disappearing because of said relationship, arguments, etc.) sometime soon. no one can live in a dream world forever.
0 likesI swear i remember you saying it was your interpretation of a 'steamy' moment but I adore this interpretation.
0 likesTeacher Dodie crushed it!!!
0 likesThat was absolutely a proper English class on one song and several different topics; great job!
Also, nice to hear what you intended with the song, Dodie
Similarly to how you described it, to me this song is about a good relationship (not necessarily romantic) that suddenly turned very sour over night but they can't/don't want to split. Although this might because when I first heard the song I had come out to my sister and her negative reaction forced us to live in the same house but avoid eachother.
0 likesWhen I first heard the song I knew straight away that it was a more dark themed song (also didn't think it was out of character) and it never crossed my mind that anyone would think it wasn't cause the lyrics are so obvious
0 likesrecently seen the film "6 years" and I think this song matches up with their storyline so well !!
0 likesWow I loved this so much! Honestly I just saw the song as a romantic, sweet song and the twistedness of it went completely over my head. I was very surprised when I saw the music video and it was pretty disturbing, especially that scene where the ken doll has all of those pins in it 😦 but after watching it a couple more times I could appreciate it a bit more and listen to the lyrics. But I still find it pretty creepy. And I think that after watching this I'll be able to enjoy it more. It was SO well done and I'm so glad that you are so happy with it. Was your first reaction to seeing it filmed? Because I would love to see that. Love you lots 💗
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Also I would love to know the reason behind the choice to use Barbie dolls. I'm guessing it's to symbolize how the couple presents themselves as perfect and is in denial about their problems and to make the darkness in the video even more jarring. Also, maybe to represent innocence?
1 likeDodie!!!! I love the video so much. I adore the idea of all of those things happening to Barbie dolls because they have that plastered smile on just like we do when we have mental health issues. The plastered smile is a part of our daily routine just like a doll. And too, I loved how they both were struggling, but together. Burning-but together. It's an accurate representation of how extremely hard it is to not only love yourself, but someone else when your brain is refusing to do anything of the sort. Great work dodie, I absolutely love it. Thank you for writing life in its most raw form because it's refreshing and true. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!
0 likesokay, i had similar thoughts as you and was confused when people called it a love song because of the panicked words. Love the music video and song!
0 likesThis is almost exactly how I always interrepted the song. and as much as I know art is there for conversation, debate, and people will always feel different about it, it kinda concerned me to see all the people on the music video who were upset about this "sweet innocent romance song" to be turned so dark. as a person who has dealt with a lot of mental health issues and unhealthy relationships, romantic and not, its scary to know some people arent seeing all the warning signs in the lyrics. like the most obvious one "Im afraid of the thoughts in my head" is clearly showcasing mental health and the line following can be taken as abusing the relationship and not dealing with the mental problems. I guess it just kind of scares me that there are people overlooking these signs and interpretting it as romantic and sweet because this happens a lot in real life too. there are many people who dont accept mental illness as a real issue or people who push aside their mental illness and try to hide from it. its a lot like the people who are watching 13 reasons why on netflix right now and calling it a romance. its ignoring the main issue. and maybe yes it is just a song or a tv show or whatever, but those things do trickle down into real life
0 likesThe most interesting part of this song is how incredibly complex it is. It does have an intended meaning, but, as, Dodie has said, it can be interpreted in a million ways. I've seen loads of comments explaining what each lyric meant to them specifically and it still works in that context. The lyrics are ingenious, with so much meaning behind them that each individual can still view differently. Truly a masterpiece.
0 likesIf my teachers explained their subject like Dodie describes lyrics, I would be a fuckin genius
5 likesi didn't realise how much thought went into your songs. this is talent. this is commitment. this is amazing.
0 likesit was really interesting seeing how you spoke about what the song meant to you personally, it's now given me and entirely different view on the song itself!! like, damn, it's amazing how much thought brilliant songwriters like you put into their work :^)
0 likesI found this video very interesting for the reason of how differently people really see art. Hearing this song for the first time even inspired me to write a short story based on my interpretation. I imagined it as the background to a silent film where a couple meets at a train stop and engages in goofy/flirty incidents. Aah yes I love the contrast.
0 likesMy interpretation was someone who struggled with mental illness, more specifically, anxiety, and the coexisting of love and the anxieties that the person struggles with everyday. But the relationship sort of helps them cope.
0 likesI would highly recommend Spike Jonze's film Her! I don't know if you've seen it but it seems your style, and it has a similar theme. It's a larger story hiding underneath/blending with a love story.
32 likesReplies (4)
Jack Perez she actually wrote the song after having seen the movie! 😁
7 likesI have this vague memory that she said Her partially inspired the song... or something about the song... But either way I agree! Its such a good movie
12 likesJack Perez yeh dodie said in the original intertwined vid that she based this song off of the 'semi-steamy' scene in that film!!
7 likesY E S. YES.
0 likesI didn't even notice the contrasting words at the start of each verse but now I have I love them!! It's so clever! Brilliant song about mental health and relationships, Dodie.
0 likesI always interpreted it pretty darkly. At first, with I found it not so much romantic but just intense, with the solid description of skin and heat, instead of a detailed and romantic description. Then with 'we can stay here and laugh away the fear' I thought maybe this person was sharing their thoughts but that it was going to be okay, but by the end with 'ive pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me' it seemed as though they were suffocating with the fear that they would drag their partner down with them if they shared too much, that they already had dragged their partner down in fact, as I'm sure many sufferers of mental illness feel. But overall, to me, the tone and the intent and panic that I heard in the song got worse and worse and i think I saw the relationship as one that would be helpful in the long run, but that the song was taking all of the terrifying moments and pushing them together
0 likesI'm so impressed right now, if I wasn't already. With my songs, it's just like, oh, these words sound kind of good together
0 likes... Let's write a song!
I listened to this song while going through a rough patch in my relationship and family. So i totally connected to this song in a different way, "though the world will try" are the issues hurting my relationship. Being intertwined with my lover, skin touching skin and just forgetting about the world and its issues, it made the bed my safe place, where i could pour my thoughts and pains out to him. it was just a place of comfort and a place i wanted to stay in until hopefully the world calmed down or stopped. its a very dreamy lustful state of mind to be in...but i had to leave the safe place eventually
0 likeswow, i never thought this song was more than a cute lil love song but now that you explain it, its so much more and more interesting. I love the contrasting and how you played with the idea 'pouring' out your thoughts and the recipient drinking them. When I first saw the music video I was confused and didn't think it fit the song, thank you for helping me to understand it from another point of view :) Love everything about this and you x
3 likesI love Dodie's interpretation, it's so interesting to hear how the writer hears her own song :). i'd allways associated this song with the relationship between me and my closest friend. she is like a sister to me, but is allways there when I am struggling, beit emotionally, physically, mentally or a mixture of the three. when i first listened to it, it made me think of the security I have in that friendship, as i also do everything i can to help her when she needs it in return for her helping me. I often am 'afraid of the things in my brain' but when i've told her whats going on, or i see her, i feel very definitely 'safe from the world' also, i'm very scared of hurting her in the process of her helping me. luckily this hasn't happened, but this is my absolute favourite song, for me it captures something nothing else can.
0 likesAt the start of the song, the audience believes the two lovers to be in a happy, healthy relationship. "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" are her second thoughts on the relationship. Then she combats that uncertainty with reassuring herself that everything's ok. "Numb, fine" are her thoughts that are mostly being planted in her brain by her partner. To say that this is about an abusive relationship is not understatement in my mind. The only thing that is keeping her with this man, is his constant reassurance that everything's fine even though she feels like it isn't.
1 likei know this is a little older but this was MY EXACT MEANING OF THE SONG !!! I remember thinking this but seeing people pin it as a sweet slow love song made me feel so uneasy because of the personal ties i put into the song
0 likesI absolutely loved this. I didn't have any real thoughts I was mainly confused. but this makes more sense now that you broke it down. I love the thought in this idk why but hearing you go straight into a deep analysis made me so happy???
0 likesOH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS MY INNER ENGLISH LITERATURE STUDENT FOUND SO MUCH JOY LISTENING TO YOU DISCUSS ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL LYRICS I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW
3 likesthe song was so sweet to me!! it was like two lovers were willing to ignore the fear as long as they got each other, i even thought the way the song ended in "laugh away the fear" was so sweet and that the humming at the end implied a sense of safety in each other's company. i didn't expect it to be written as a kind of dark love song 👌 amazing
0 likesOk, I always loved this song and always will.
0 likesFirst time I heard it I fell in love with it musically, then I could understand the lyrics (I am French this took me a while lol) and it just meant so much to me. It did because I knew to be fragile and dependent, but I was (and am still) in a healthy relationship now : he could drink all the thoughts I could not stand. (And now they almost got away :) )
But when I saw the clip I was so disturbed, moreover that I was listening to it again and again this week! I was shocked.
I then saw this video, and accepted this new sense. And now it is EVEN MORE meaningful to me : I had been this person drinking in a very unhealthy relationship (destroying me at the time that have changed myself for ever) but I still was dependent. And I now understand him... (I hope)
Thank you so much Dodie ♡ love you ♡ I will love this song now with the two approaches I have, because well, there are the two interpretations, neither are wrong, only that one happens to be the writer's
at first I thought Intertwined was a cute little love song, but t when I really listened to the lyrics, specifically the "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles". When I paid attention to this line, I could hear that depending on the other person like you said. From then on, the song was very different for me and I grew to love it so much more. As I have been in such a damaging, dependant relationship for a very long time, my heart just leapt and drank up those lyrics as soon as they made sense in this way.
0 likesNow that I've seen this the video definitely fits with this song and it's meaning
0 likesIt may be a bit dark, but I played this once for my boyfriend and it has evolved into "our song". I suffer from a lot of mental health issues, as does he. He's definitely become a safe haven for me. We've been through a lot together, and this song just fits. Even if is a bit depressing. Probably a bit too dark to play for a first dance at our wedding, but we love it anyway. <3
3 likeshonestly, i first thought of it as someone with such a toxic state of mind and they're just doing horribly, but then they meet someone who helps ease the pain at least a little. cool analysis and amazing song!
0 likesOhhh as a music/english lit student I absolutely adooreeeddd this video!! More of this EVERY DAY <3 if you can lol
0 likes"you create a rarity of my genuine smile" is such an intriguing line for me -- because people take it that the person's smiles were always rare but their lover makes them smile regardless, but i've always taken it as the person "creates the rarity" of the smiles. in that -- the smiles the person gives their lover aren't genuine - these genuine smiles have become few and rare.
0 likesExcellent work by creators and the whole team. It is good to have a place to explore our feelings, the inner selves. You are an artist and you are meant to live out loud and I thank you for sharing your mind with us. You are still a very pretty woman in my eyes. It would probably take a full criminal conviction to change that.
0 likesi'm no joke supposed to be in class (i'm online schooled) and when my mom said to go work on language arts i was like "no, i'm already doing that"
164 likesto which she replied "no you're just watching dodie again"
and i tell her "it's pretty damn close to language arts at this point, guess when this video is over i can just move on to algebra"
so long story still pretty long
if you believe hard enough that your favorite youtuber will somehow be your substitute teacher or some shit, it will happen eventually
Replies (8)
hahaha lol
47 likesoh hello there i'm internally screaming k cool
4 likescan't wait to meet you at playlist live i hope
ahh okay bye
I'm online schooled too and I felt like I was just doing a lesson for AP Lang, no joke. She used a lot of the same language I do when analyzing pieces (hey College Board, it'd be great if you could have us analyze a dodie song please and thank you)
5 likesWho needs school when you have a Dodie
1 like(Also I read your username like the lyrics in intertwined "Intertwined, free" but "intertwined, Blake," MOVE I AM TRASH)
lol true also AND I'M TRASH TOO
0 likes...online school is a thing?? Wow
0 likesYeah it is a thing (in fact, it's been a thing since 1995, when my online school started). It's actually pretty great, but it's not for everyone :)
0 likesDude I highkey wanna just do the entire song but just switch intertwined free with your name wow I'm not okay
0 likesi've never related to song this much in my entire life this is wonderful
0 likesPersonally, i interpreted this song to be very romantic and sweet. I pictured two lovers cuddling in bed in the morning where its cold outside of the sheets but inside its very warm and safe, its a beautiful song and it makes me feel cosy ❤️
0 likesIt would've been interesting if my interpretation had been completely different from your original one, but it was actually surprisingly identical. I commented on the original music video when I first saw it, describing my interpretation, but I had no idea that it was so much deeper than that. You out so much effort into each and every single one of the lines and words in this song, and now, I love this song even more than when I had previously stated that I love it even more. When I first heard this song, I didn't look into the words that much, so I only saw it as a nice, cute sounding love song with some creepy dark undertones, which I LOVED. Now, when I listen to it, I listen to and hear every single one of those conscious efforts you made to make this song as perfect as possible. Not a lot of singers and musicians nowadays put this much effort into matching the lyrics and the meaning of the song to the music itself. Congrats on being my favorite musical artist.
0 likesI think the video was what helped me interpret the song, and it kinda lines up to what you said it's about. To me, the narrator in the relationship has some sort of mental health problem, and they feel guilty about bringing that side of them to their partner. I really actually relate to this song, becuase I have the same hesitant feeling when talking to my partner about my illnesses.
0 likesmy gcse english lit and music brain is LIVING for this
204 likesReplies (3)
YEH
110 likesjess godfrey SAMMEEE
5 likesactually same
0 likesThis definitely is what I imagined the meaning to be, how mental health can break down a relationship and become toxic if not handled properly by getting real help rather than putting it on your partner.
0 likesI think your intended meaning comes through in the recording perfectly. The tone of your voice paired with the contrasting lyrics made me immediately picture a woman with mental health problems who is scared to drag her partner down that hole, while desperately hoping that he will be able to resist and lift the burden of her instead ...... Maybe I can just relate a bit too well, I don't know. This is so clear to me (and btw, I love love love this song! Just discovered it yesterday and I think it's my favourite from you right now <3)
0 likesI love this song so much. For me it really depicted loving someone so much that you can't see the damage you're doing to each other. It's like you focus on these loving and beautiful things in the relationship when in actuality there's all this chaos and calamity happening all around the relationship. However, both of you continue on because everything is pinned on this person and you're totally dependent on them because you feel as though they ease the anxiety and depression you feel. But in truth they're making it worse and it all boils down to; do you face this and lose them and feel your whole world crumble around you, or do you continue to live in ignorance and continue making each other worse?
0 likesCurious!! Do you find you put this much intense thought into the lyrics as you wrote them, or do you find you wrote mostly from the heart and looked back on the lyrics and put meaning to them then? Or maybe a mix of both?
0 likesFor me when I'm writing lyrics I find it's a mix of both, I put a lot of thought into the feelings or emotions I want to get across, but most of the double meanings or symbolism comes from altering the lyrics later on, or moreso, I find I wrote things that didn't necessarily have a meaning at the time but developed one later on?? If that makes sense??
Also my first reaction to the video was that I was a bit uncomfortable and weirded out because I didn't expect it but I think that's a good thing, I think that comes with the reaction to mental health and mental issues and it comes with the fact that they're not things like physical disabilities or colds that you can evidently notice right away, they can be unexpected, they're not supposed to be soft and gentle, they can be violent and unpredictable and consume people and ultimately, relationships too.
Looking back I LOVE LOVE LOVE your meaning and all the clever language you used, this is by far one of my favourite videos of yours because it's cool to see how my interpretation of the song and video can be completely different than intended by you (or any other artist) but it still isn't wrong, it just reflects me as a person instead of you, which is by far one of my most favourite things about music.
Totally saw this as someone singing to their mental illness, that it is a love-hate relationship balanced between wanting to be free and relying on the illness to make choices in your life. Personally I fear so much that it becomes who I am and something that I need to feel like myself and feel like I can go on, mainly because it is something that is so constant. The song is beautiful in showing the inner gore of mental illness and how it can make the world seem like a gruesome place, especially when you feel like it could tear you in half. Just another thought bubble, absolutely love the song!! <3
0 likesFirst of all, I loved the song and the video and listening to your analysis! I definitely got the subject of mental health, but understood the relationship to be helpful, like a relief, such as with "laugh away the fears", "numb, fine", " you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" and "breathe, breathe with me". And the line "I hope you don't bleed with me" seemed like an apology. Like: I love you but don't want you to suffer with me - as if learning to share your feelings/thought/mental health with someone but not wanting to upset them, like you do with someone you love. You said "skin" to be jarring, but for me it added to the intimacy of the first few lines. And the "intertwined, free" I took as a definition of a healthy relationship: that you are one with each other but able to still lead your own lives/follow your own aspirations.
0 likesI really loved the music video, but I didn't really get it until this. Now I love it even more!
0 likesTo be honest, my interpretation of the song relates to my situation perfectly, but isn't quite what you wrote it to be. The narrative of the song for me was about the person singing (in this case me), for the first time in a long time, feeling completely at ease with someone, but they feel guilty because of the things in their brain, and how it affects their mood, the way the partner has to deal with that person, but they seem to be strong even though the narrator feels incessantly guilty. My boyfriend at the beginning of this relationship was happy, and I honestly feel that the deterioration of my own mental health (I think. Something just isn't right and I think it's getting bad but I'm not one for self diagnosis or anything. Idk how to quite describe it) these past few months has weathered him, to say the least. He says he is strong, and for now he is one of the few things which make me genuinely happy, but I do feel an immense guilt due to the fact he has to deal with me. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" is particularly poignant due to the fact he has always been this strong, happy figure in my life, and whilst I know it hasn't always been like that, I don't want him ending up in the same situation I am in or worse, whether it be because of me or otherwise. It's honestly horrible, and indescribable and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I always thought there were dark implications to both the song and my situation, but I didn't realise quite how much until I saw the music video, and it made me cry because it showed everything I'm scared of happening. This song is incredibly powerful and meaningful to me and I'm so grateful you made something that (coincidentally) fits, because I'm a terrible lyricist, and nothing so far has made quite an impact such as this. Now I have just confessed to a bunch of strangers who don't care about my story. I hope you see it at least.
0 likesI love the song and I kinda got the meaning the first time, but it was nice to delve deeper and really know every bit of the song. Despite absolutly loving the song, I didn't really like the video. Not becouse the video didn't portray my inperpretation, but becouse I dislike dolls and melting of faces and such. I get why they chose dolls (something happy, euphoric and childlike) and wrecked them, but those kinds of things really don't do my brain any favors. I get intense nighmares and all it does is bring me back to the weird gorey dreams. - On a lighter note, I bought a ukelele today and I'm currently learning to play Adored by him (Intertwined is next on the list). So that made me happy and bouncy and i feel content with life.
57 likesReplies (2)
April Castle Try Intertwined, I just learned it and the chords are super easy!
0 likesThis is exactly why the video is such a good one to me. They transform something naive and childish to an weird and uncomfortable moment. The oppositions joy/fear , good health/ mental illness and love / hate are pictured just so right ! The discomfort you experienced watching it is wanted (I think). That was the point.
2 likesI understand why you can be disturbed by the message of the content they've made but when you direct a film/music clip or any type of art you want people to react to it. In my opinion this video is not here to please people's eyes but to show them a fuck*d up interpretation (which fits really good with the song btw).
I hope you'll learn many things with your uke,
peace.
(English is not my native language and I hope you understand what I wanted to say).
The way I hear the song is that it's learning to love and share burdens when it's difficult. I, too, am afraid of the things in my brain, but spending time with people I care about calms and distracts me. The song seems to be in the context of an existing relationship where the writer is happy, but is having trouble trusting the other person. She wants to share her struggle with mental health, but she doesn't want to damage the other person. The writer is happy with the other person and pushes away the things she's struggling with instead of actually dealing with them. I see the song as romantic and sweet, but incomplete. The songwriter and significant other don't have a constructive relationship; rather, they have a fairytale love that is shallow.
0 likesWhen i listened to intertwined for the first time i thought it was a cute and lovey dovey kind of song. I listened to it on repeat and found myself humming the beutiful tune. I was singing the lyrics (I've pinned all my thoughts) and i realized that that seemed a bit toxic/unhealthy for a relationship. Refusing to believe that my new favourite song was about something much deeper (because for once i liked something that seemed airy fairy) i went to google for the lyrics. I read them over and over and came to the conclusion that while the lyrics were right there, dodie fooled me and other people that it was something that wasn't a big deal with a light waltz like tune. That it was light and happy just like most people do with mental illness. It blows my mind the amount of thought that goes into the lyrics and chords, each one representing something with such power. I honestly am still in love with this song, perhaps even more because of it's eerily symbolic simple looking tune with deep and meaningful lyrics.
0 likesI learnt more from this than from any of my English teachers 😂❤️
0 likesI still like to interpret the song as a more romantic one (when i listen to it i get a very dreamy, lovey vibe) and something i find funny is that watching this video and you pointing out the codependency only made me add the song to another romantic-themed playlist for one of my books, lol (the book is called Fears and is heavily based on the main characters - romantic and otherwise - depending on each other to survive because of their mental illness)
0 likesDamn....that went deep Dodie 😄 but I love the song and i love the music video for it
0 likesnow i'm completely terrified because i relate to this song on such a deeper level time to cry
2 likesYES YES YES this is exactly what i thought about this song, especially the dependency part and how it ends up hurting them both
0 likesHonestly I would so love to interpret and analyze songs like this in English, it would be so much more interesting for me. Also would be able to connect with it more because, this may surprise you, old cis straight white men don't exactly talk about the struggles I might face.
0 likesThe song , when I first listened to it seemed like it was leading to something else but I never really dug into it but after watching the video and this I'm actually glad it wasn't as simple as it seemed.
0 likesMy interpretation was that the song talked about that endless void. When your life is happy, supposed to be perfect, but just isn't. You feel like you're in a shroud of nothingness, that cannot be filled.
0 likesThanks so much for making this. The delivery is very impressive but also i relate to a SPOOKY extent. Hmm. Maybe I need to get some mental health care.
0 likesDodie, I'm an american (just wanna let you know you have an international reach). I deal with some crazy bad depression and mood swings and whatever. Just want to say thanks dodie, you are a very inspiring person and I'm doing so much better.
0 likesI'll only be satisfied when this video is used in a classroom to teach students how to decompose and interpret a piece of art
3 likesI just bought your album last night and began listening to it. For Intertwined, I thought it was the mental state of one not being so "stable" while the other is trying to help but is not quite understanding the full impact of the other's mental state.
0 likesthis......is me. this is the most beautiful video i have ever watched. thank you so much dodie
0 likesWhen I first heard the song I did relate it back to mental health and depending on another person to feel happiness, but after the music video was released I realized the true darkness of the lyrics. Depending on someone so heavily to feel like a normal person can be very toxic and I think the video perfectly captured that. I absolutely loved it (though it was quite unsettling if I'm honest lol). You are wonderful Dodie and I hope you're doing well <3
0 likesI would rate the song a 6/10
0 likesI'm kidding, it's beautiful! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful, 44 (my favourite number)/10
Your hair is so beautiful in this 😭 and your skin looks so good I'm
6 likesReplies (1)
You're the cutest lil bean ah, heck
0 likesI want to see other artists and writers analyze their own pieces in a quirky English teacher way like this.
0 likesthis is so fascinating!!!!!!!!! i always assumed it was just about the intimacy between people, with nothing about mental health. more recently, i'd been wondering about some of the contradictions. it's such an interesting and thought-provoking song on its own and this video has grown my adoration for it, as well as adding far more depth than i had previously thought. you're an amazing artist, dodie, and i look up to you a lot. i think this song perfectly conveys the message you were aiming for, and now that i understand it better, i can definitely relate to this song. as someone with depression, anxiety, and ocd and in a relationship with a partner who also struggles with a few mental health issues, mental health and communication play an important part in our relationship. i believe this song definitely shows what can happen when two partners (especially when one or both has something wrong in their mind) don't communicate. thank you so much for writing this, and i thank all of the wonderful people who have created the music video. it was stunning to watch and is currently my favorite music video. <3
0 likesI interpreted the song as a relationship that seems perfectly stable and good, "a picture perfect relationship" if you will, but the writer is hiding their pain and thoughts from the other person. They hope and pray with all their being that the other person will notice, but they don't and the relationship continues in this pattern, eventually destroying the love that was once felt. I also thought the video went well with my interpretation, even if it wasn't exactly the authors original interpretation😊
0 likesadore this, dodie <3
0 likesI'm really glad you made this video. It was a little darker than some of your other songs but I still loved it. (Sidenote) did you take music theory class?
0 likesThis has made me love the song much much more
0 likesI never properly thought of it like this. I always felt like i ~should~ think it's a love song because it's about love. but that never really sat well with me, I guess my brain subconsciously picked up on some of the other things you mentioned
0 likesI think I identify a lot more with it as a slightly fucked up version rather than a cutsey love version
i love this song so much but it gives me so much anxiety. it just has always reminded me of my mental problems and adding on the whole relationship part just reminds me of one of my past relationships. i'm not going to to say that it ended badly because it was more than that. it started bad and ended horribly. my mental state always gets in the way of just about every relationship i have have. this song depicted my struggle in a light fluffy sounding song that would just sound like a cute love song from the outside to the normal person. After you released this song i listened to it on repeat for just about 2 weeks and i literally just broke it down and evaluated every little aspect of it, from the very first note to the very last. i wanted to get a better understanding of the song because i knew it had to be more than just a love song the lyrics were implying other wise. when it hit me, i stopped listening to it. yes the song made me feel as if i wasn't alone in a way but it reminded me of my past. it also probably didn't help that my boyfriend loves you and always sings this song and he sees it as just another cute little Dodie love song, which i of course do not see it as. it made me feel weird and uncomfortable. of course i still listen to the song it's just not as often, even though it is one of my most favourite songs. the depictions are just too real for my crazy sick mind
1 likeI sort of saw the contrast between the darkness of the world and the comfort of being intertwined as a less unhealthy and toxic situation. Picture a raging thunderstorm, and you move through the window to see the couple together in front of a cozy fireplace, their little escape from the hectic chaos they face in their normal lives. Really like the writer's interpretation though :)
3 likesWhen I first watched the video, my reaction was: Ew, what, this is scary and disturbing... But i Must look into it.
0 likesAfter looking into it: *crafting-- imean crying amirite* the message is beautiful. The songwriter is so creative T_T
I thought it was a person being helped through their mental health with comfort and relationships that were helping them but I get why that's wrong now. Honestly Dodie, Imagine you teaching English, I would love each lesson 200% more.
0 likesI never thought of my or other people mental health issues like this but this opens my mind more to your songs and their meanings :(
0 likesplease do more videos about the meanings of your songs and you would be an amazing english teacher lol. also, this was pretty much how i interpreted the song and also why it made me cry the first time i heard it bc i am mentally ill as well
0 likesokay dodie can you just like stop being so amazing? thanks. and also when is your 'dodie teaches songwriting (including how to write deep poetic metaphorical lyrics) course' coming out? i would legit pay a lot of money for dis.
3 likesI'm literally going to ask my English teacher to put this video on next time we're going through the mark scheme for our tests - it makes waaaay more sense to me than most test answers do!
0 likesThe lyrics, I absolutely felt everything that you were trying to portray. When it comes to the concept of the video, I (being a dancer) also imagined a twisted, dark, but powerful dance duet with a color scheme very similar to the video you currently have.
0 likesDodie you're such a beautiful person inside and out oh my gosh
0 likesi got the meaning of the song and thought the film clip intendified it. beautiful. right in the feels
0 likesTHAT IS EXACTLY HOW I THOUGHT OF THE SONG. However, I did not think that the music video completely represented my interpretation of it. I would have never thought to use dolls, Sammy did an incredible job on that one. I think the only reason I am not dalling head over heels in love with the video, is because of the fact that they are dolls, it seems a bit impersonal to me. I loved the shots of the outside of the house, however, the shots of the dolls themselves, seemed as if they were moving unnaturally. (As they probably are)
3 likesBy the way, great job on describing this, I was glued to my screen the entire time!
-Emma xxx
3 months later I finally watch this and am blown away.. I didn't think of this song as showing mental health problems and am just so shocked because it makes sense. I always thought of this song as someone falling in love and didn't plan for their feelings to be as strong as they are and it's basically their first love so it's scary and completely terrifying.
0 likesFIRST THINGS FIRST: i love the English teacher vibe and how you explained this so well. It goes to show how much thought song writing must take. I really do adore your EP i downloaded a it on Spotify and listen everyday more than twice haha. :)) Next when i first heard the song, i didn't see the lyrics so i thought it was just a sweet lullaby or something. when i saw the video i was jarred and shocked so i looked at the lyrics again. i did think it had something to do with mental health and i didn't want to dig much on it but yes it does resonate with me. I have undergone talk therapy for suicidal intentions and soon after finishing 4 years of therapy I rushed into a romantic relationship that i thought i could handle but alas it was just my own intent and not the other person's intent with me. I think my mental health broke us both. After that I had to go through therapy again and stopped recently. I do especially love the part "breathe breathe with me' because it really feels like someone trying to get over a panic attack which i get a lot of. Thank you very much Dodie! I really love your music and this video! More power to you!!💙💙
0 likesI'm happy that you're satisfide with your work but really I didn't "love" the video just because I felt it was ...creepy, but what I did like is about this video is how passionate you are with your work and just because some people didn't like it (I'm talking about me) dosen't mean that other people will not . I hope that this dosen't sound like I'm hating on your work
0 likesI always thought it was about a relationship after an abusive one, where you're sorting out all of the problems and memories and potentially PTSD from the horrible experiences in the past and trying to make things better with a new partner who you feel absolutely safe with, but don't want to hurt with your past
0 likesto me, i feel like the song is definitely dark and about having mental health issues, but this doesnt have to mean the relationship is unhealthy cause of it... i have many a time had to "laugh away the fears" because it was the only way to not be completely hopeless. laughing away the fears, to me, remains something good.
0 likesI AM PROUD OF YOU
1 likeim absolutely in love with the music video that sammy made but, i saw it as this bittersweet type thing. where it goes from like being happy (possibly with said s/o) and then it flashes to like the girl crying and drinking heavily.
0 likesas a beginning songwriter this breakdown is extraordinarily helpful thank
0 likes1) i love the song, the video, everything about it. i love you so much, you're amazing💕
3 likes2) i wrote an essay about intertwined for extra credit in English recently
3) who da fuq disliked, imma hunt them down
omg I love this just as much as the song. if I could get this for every tøp song, I'd be soo happy.
0 likesIn all reality, I don't normally make my own interpretation. I know what feeling I feel from a song, and then the imagery that goes along with it. I think the I saw the darkness as kind of an abyss... Like when you're waiting outside for a bus, or a train, and you can see the empty trees on a grey sky. And like everything's fuzzy... because it's out of focus because it's a conversation within your mind with references to others that they'll never hear.
0 likesI really love this song because they're aren't very many songs that are so soft and lovely and yet look at mental health in a way that is so poignant in it's accuracy. So this is a little thank you for your courage to say things most people struggle to say, in ways that are so eloquent; your songs are beautiful.
0 likespersonally what i like so much about the song is how "laugh away the fear" sounds so much like "love away the fear" and to me it's very genuine and consoling that way and it reminds me of how love and fear are opposites and of how there is nothing to fear about love. Seeing the house burn down is only an example of tremendous courage that love both requires and brings out in people; the bed is standing in the midst of flame and will do so until every last bit of it hast turned to ashes. To me it represents the fight of loving until the bitter end and its means a lot to me because of that
0 likesOne thing in particular I took away from the music video was how it was made using barbies. Since Barbie dolls have the "perfect body" and faces, I interpreted the use of barbies instead of real people as a way of showing how we are supposed to be perfect, and the same as everyone else. Just as normal, just as "beautiful". Which, is most definitely not reality, nor should it be.
3 likesthis is utterly incredible. this video puts a whole new perspective on how I view this song. I always saw it as a "bittersweet" song,the tie between pain and admiration is such a beautiful contrast. Analyzing and digging into the lyrics has changed my view completely and every time I hear it I fall in love all over again. Now that I see how much meaning is behind these words, and how much effort you put into this song, I can't help but to become obsessed again. Intertwined always puts me in this mood.every time.i.listen. This song numbs my brain of negative thoughts creating a comfort, but contrasts with the pain I feel deeper in the lyrics. I am so so so in love with this song and I love the twisted love story that the video added. you are such an incredible artist and this song blows me away, you truly have meaning behind your work and don't just feed into what the people want. You deserve endless applause.
0 likesI definitely see what you were going for, and I love it that way.
0 likesMy original interpretation was similar, although downplaying mental health aspects.
More or less I thought of it as the "chicken" stage of a relationship. So its definitely from the point of view of someone who is in a physically intimate relationship, and someone who wants an emotionally intimate one as well. I took some of the juxtapositions to be anxiety or worry that the partner maybe wasn't feeling the same or on the same page. I took it as fear to admit love and take it to the next level out of fear that someone would get hurt/heartbroken. So in the end the couple (or at least the person who's point of view we have) decides to not take that next step for now (with the repeat of earlier lines. Dismissive language like numb and fine pointed me to that person suppressing their true feelings) and keep things light (laughing away fear) in what would otherwise be a heavy and intense relationship (drinking thoughts and whatnot).
Hopefully that helps to feed your love of knowing how others saw your beautiful art!
I just made my boyfriend explain the lyrics to me and he thought it was about drugs personified because of the lyrics "numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" and "we can stay here and laugh away the fear". I thought that was very interesting since I had never thought of it that way
0 likesThis song has always made me sob and I never truly knew why exactly but
0 likesI always got a sense of security(?) from it, I dunno. It made me think of being with my significant other, feeling safe with him and extremely loved but at the same time dealing with my own personal mental health issues and trying to not have him feel burdened and saddened by my anxiety and depression (that’s how I took the line “I hope that you don’t bleed with me). The line “Can you drink all my thoughts/cause I can’t stand them” to me was a desperation and a cry for help in my heart to my loved ones (especially my significant other), like what I want to say to them but I don’t want to burden them and have them “bleed” with me.
I guess that’s why it always made me so emotional to listen to it. I know that’s not like Dodie’s ‘true’ explanation but that’s how I always saw it.
Sorry that was long and this is an older video anyways so no one will read this i’m sure. I’m just venting to no one i guess lol
Dodie definitely is my girl crush. Every new video confirms it again and again.
4 likesdodie, can you make a video talking about the basics of composing? lyric and music wise? <3 thought Intertwined was a brilliant piece!!!
0 likesThe first couple times I'd heard the song, I was a bit confused. I kept getting happy, sweet vibes but some of the lyrics just seemed a bit too off to fit into my original interpretation. I now interpret this song as being more of a silent war going on in the mind of someone. The more dark and gory thoughts keep trying to come in, but are covered up by the happier, more romantic thoughts. I never really saw it as being romantic, honestly.
0 likesWow I definitely did not consider that amount of thought put into your writing, but that was a very clear breakdown and I am just blown away.
0 likeswhen i listen to intertwined i definitely just feel it very romantically, but i apply it to my own relationship. my girlfriend and i are very very close (obviously) and some days it feels like she's the only thing that can help take away the bad thoughts (as i've been mentally ill for a majority of my life). so i've interpreted it as a little song reflecting on my own relationship :)
0 likesI absolutely loved this.
0 likesI myself am a person with mental health problems in a relationship, and I always really related to this song. I try so hard to explain to my partner what goes on in my brain but even I don't really understand it, and it doesnt help that when it gets really bad I can barely get out of bed let alone explain whats going on coherently. At the beginning I used to lean on my partner a lot through bad times but I've learned to step back quite a lot. The line "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" makes me feel sick every time I hear it because I remember how stressed and scared and confused my partner gets when I have panic attacks in front of them, or when I told them I didn't remember anything that happened in the last week and I thought no days had passed. I love my partner with all my heart, but three years in the cracks my mental health made at the beginning are starting to widen and things are slipping through. I love this song for all it makes me feel but I hate it for being so true and so sad.
0 likesI interpreted this song as a sweet love song between a lover and someone who is struggling. The song to me seems very intimate and close. I always interpreted the “drink all my thought because I can’t stand them” as the person having too much going on and being overwhelmed and wanting the other person to help them by listening to them.
0 likesI find Dodie's lecture voice so calming.
0 likesomg yes art
14 likesthis song highkey resonates w/ me lol but honestly the music video perfectly depicts the song for me because at first glance you would think that it's a cutesy perfect love song like with the barbies then later shows the sort of graphic but romantic dark side and it's really interesting idk but i love this so so bloody much it's a work of art
oh boy
0 likesi love this analysis. i made a video analysing each of the songs on your ep when it first came out and i remember that i said that this relationship sounded "perfect but dreamlike and not real". i knew something was off with it but didn't start to think about the implications of that until i saw the video. i knew that the dependency mentioned wasn't particularly healthy but i think i wanted to believe it was.
(it's abt to get personal oops) i am suuuuper dependent on my best friend and suffer from mental illness. they are the person i tell my stresses to and my joys and they do the same to me. when they're not around, i sometimes struggle. is that unhealthy? i honestly don't know. surely it's okay to need people?
now i'm just thinking about dependency and when it's okay and not okay. hmmmm
This song meant so much to me. Including the fact that this song had to do with my last relationship. It was toxic and I thought it was love and this just really hits everything this song this meaning. It hurts.
0 likesi love how open for interpretation intertwined is
0 likeswhen I first heard this song i was definitely more drawn to the idea that the song revolved around dependence; the writer needed the subject of the song to save them from the things in their brain. this is probably because of a friend I was crazy about who I relied on to feel okay years ago . I prefer your interpretation, hoWeber it makes me nervous about writing anything of my own, for writing anything so in depth would be foreign to me and I know nothing about contrasting chords! I adore this song, lovely to hear the writers perspective!
0 likestalk more music theory, pls, i always love it!!
12 likesI want Dodie to be my English teacher. She'd make such a good teacher
0 likesProbably my favorite song of yours ever
0 likesooooh thank you dodie, i LOVED this
0 likesDoes anyone else watch this and the video of intertwined bc they love the meaning of the song and it's just overall amazing..... bc same
0 likesWow, okay, so the first time I listened to Intertwined it gave me this off-putting feeling. I interpreted the song as someone in an abusive relationship. "Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet." For me I saw this as the person in the abusive relationship being hit, then the abuser trying to comfort them saying it will never happen again.
0 likes"You and I, safe from the world though the world will try." Once again this felt like the abuser was comforting them, but then they start to realize that it might happen again.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." I felt like this was the person struggling to convince themselves that the abuser really does love them, and they try to laugh it off.
"Numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smile." After being in this abusive relationship for a while they become numb and they just want out, they try to tell people that they are fine, they never smile anymore because they feel hopeless so a smile is something rare for them.
"So breathe, breathe with me, can you drink all thoughts cause I can't stand them." This goes back to the person trying to convince themselves that the abuser still loves them even if they're being abused.
"Intertwined, free, I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me." This is the person trying to get help, they want to be free but they're stilled intertwined. They then tell someone else what is happening but they're afraid the abuser will find out and hurt them both.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." The person wants to stay with their friend (the one they told everything to) because they are scared to go home and suffer more then they already have.
Oke this made me love the song even more.
0 likesThe interesting thing is that i felt all that you described but couldn't place it why it worked like that.
I'm so afraid of what i think and what a tell myself, and so afraid that i give myself fully in a friendship and that it's so toxic that i ruin it. But i will never admit that i'm afraid and anxious and maybe even totally stressed. I would laugh and say to myself "This is fun, this should be fun" directly contradicted by my thoughts that this isn't what i am and need.
It is all so much in this song and i felt it.
i felt the connection.
But i didn't know why i felt what i felt.
It's confusing.
It is weird when words hit you.
But you don't know why.
Unconcious i knew what it meant and how it perfectly fitted me.
This explenation made my head so much more clear. Thank you, you explained the song.
But at the same time you explained a little piece of the working of my brain to me, in a way i didn't understand.
Thank you!
Weirdly I wasn't a huge fan of this song until I saw the music video but now I fucking lOVE it, its so hard core and daring and awesome. I really think the song and the video make each other
0 likesI also love that the video is Barbie and Ken as they both (especially Barbie) are depicted as perfection, which again emphasis the metaphor of mental health and that it's an 'invisible' illness. Yet all of a sudden there's a breaking point and the darkness takes over
0 likesHAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY
3 likesAND CONGRATS ON 1M
AND THE MUSIC VIDEO
WOW IT WAS A GREAT WEEK FOR YOU
ALSO SNAPCHAT EYYYYY
This is pretty much how I understood the song. The writer (you) being someone who is afraid of damaging the person you love because of the things going on inside your head, but at the same time you just want to be loved and be close to them.
0 likesPersonally I (at first) thought the song was a form of an emotional ballad. Starting mildly sweet (as many of the lyrics of the first verse could be interpreted, ex. safe, stay here, laugh) and then going to "numb, fine" in the start of the second, changing from a safe relationship to an "walking on eggshells" kind of relationship, re-enforced by the line "you create a rarity of my genuine smile." BUT... I feel as if the last verse was another installation, confusing in the way relationships often are. The word "intertwined" followed by "free" meant to be how the person feels when with the other person vs. how they feel alone, yet still showing an unhealthy relationship because while intertwined may be romantic, if free was an allusion to how the person feels alone, they feel trapped with the other person which is obviously unhealthy. The last repetitive chorus kind of showing how things are being left at current, how the person has accepted how things are, for good (laugh away the fear) and the bad (afraid). This was just my original interpretation!
0 likesHowever, after hearing dodie's explanation, I love it sooooo much more. It connects every line with such powerful purpose and makes the song just so much more heartfelt and significant. Just, wow. I love this song so much.
I love how she's explaining it like she didn't write it lol
0 likesI think I imagined this song to be two people, just happy and together with complete trust but also dependence on each other.... but one struggling with mental health but finds comfort in the other persons company... Anyone else?
0 likesLove your songs Dodie x
now that I know what it means THIS SONG IS GENIUS
4 likesI originally thought of the song as a sweet love ballad with a hint of codependency, and after seeing the video this further confirmed this theme of unhealthy thoughts and relationships. I am absolutely in love with the song and the video and I can really understand all different types of interpretations of the meaning. As someone constantly struggling with mental health (I'm currently in rehab, not for substance use but for codependency, unhealthy coping mechanisms, negative thought processes, emotional disregulation, etc, etc, all that fun stuff) I really related to the song and this particular analysis of it. I am a gigantic fan of all of your work, and I can't thank you enough for the support and hope your videos and music have brought me. Lots of love always xoxo
0 likesIf this is really how Dodie pictures what falling in love would be like, I hope she knows that love can still be beautiful even if you have mental health issues. Someone who deals with mental health issues does not have to “damage” the person they are with. The relationship can still be beautiful, and each person can still lift each other up. That being said, you’re so deserving of love, Dodie! And keep writing these beautiful songs 💛
0 likesI view the song as two friends who depend on each other to feel happier then their brains say they are, the parts hinting towards cough sex are actually about them making each other forget about their mental illnesses
1 likeThere are so many songs out there where I wished the artist would have made such an analysis of their song. Loved it!! It's a really nice way of looking into someone else's head and understanding what they are saying in their song better. So thank you for sharing <3
0 likesYou're a good egg, I'm so proud of you.
3 likesI have to admit I was a little surprised when I saw how dark the video was and it did make me reinterpret the lyrics. When I first heard the song I related to it very strongly as it reminded me of how much my girlfriend has helped me through my own mental health issues. I wouldn't say our relationship is at all codependent, toxic or unhealthy and I didn't quite pick up on those themes when first hearing the song but I can definitely see it now. Overall I think I'll stick to my initial interpretation of the song because it really means a lot to me and my girlfriend (which is why I was reluctant to watch this for a long time) but this analysis was really interesting to watch so thank you for making it
0 likesI thought it was about how a relationship seems fun and loving at first but then after a while you realize how it's not perfect but at the same time it reflects on a not so good relationship to point were one of them is done with life but that it was mostly that person that probably over thought things and played a part into her relationship burning
0 likesMe, a person who overanalyzes everything. Very much enjoyed this. Thank you.
0 likesI always thought that the song was a battle in somebody's brain when they have mental health issues and they feel "numb" but tell everyone that they are "fine" so that people cannot see the true pain and the lyrics "intertwined, free" made me think that you want to be close to friends or love interests but are afraid of having to share your problems with them and want them to be free.
0 likesAlso with the beginning verse it seems as though you are in a relationship but the world or your brain has poisoned it and the relationship didn't last. Finally, the lyrics "I pinned each and every hop on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" makes me think that while in this relationship you spilled your thoughts and hoped that they would help you but instead it impacted them.
Okie dokie here's my interpretation!
3 likesSkin,(expressing maybe how the partner admires the other) Heat, Hair......(expressing love scene)
Safe from the world though the world will try-(try to break them apart as a couple)
I'm afraid of the things in my brain (my thoughts overpower my emotions)
But we can stay here and laugh away the fear (try to distract each other from our thoughts)
Numb, fine (your heart is numb for my love. Passive aggressively that's fine with me)
You create a rarity of my genuine smile (I show who I truly am when I'm with you)
So breathe, breathe with me (stay calm)
Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them (only you can make the pain go away)
Intertwined, free (I'm free from the thoughts when we're intertwined)
I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me (you are my last hope to get me to forget my thoughts. Don't turn out like me or who else will fix me)
CHORUS (same stuff)
That's it ❤️❤️❤️ love you Dodie but I see the song more lightly than you. I fully respect your opinion as I hope you can respect mine 😊
I'll be honest here: while listening to your EP, I found myself skipping over Intertwined because I had only heard the first few words and didn't really understand the meaning behind it. The other day, I finally listened to the whole thing, and oh boy, have I been kicking myself for skipping over it since then! The subtle changes and cues in the song are very, very well thought out and I thoroughly enjoy the song. I don't know if this was intentional, but the first few lines sound like they're sung a little shyly, and as the song progresses, that isn't heard as much anymore. I think it fits the song very well as the lyrics take a darker turn after the sweet intro. Awesome lyrics and love your work! <3
0 likesA great song, unique yet following the theme of even your most recent ones now. Speaking of this EP; I now work for the people that regulate solicitors in England & Wales. As part of that regulation they, more often than you might think, have to intervene into firms being naughty. They sometimes have to do it because the senior manager falls ill, but it's normally because they're being naughty. Today I created a shared folder to store some useful templates to use when responding to queries about firms being intervened. I didn't call it 'intervened' though, of course, I called it Intertwining.
0 likeseven though this song is almost clearly romantic, i just kind of applied it to my relationship with my best friend. The first verse being kind of a mockery to the line between friend and couple; leading into the second verse, that we don't need anything more except each other to be okay, even if the world and all its worries will try to break us down. We've been on each other's mental health journey every step of the was and no matter how hard it got, we've always been able to 'laugh away the fear', even if it was just for a little while. in the fourth chunk, the first two lines are a short look from the outside, or moment of separation, the times where we felt lonely or forgotten or insert negative adjective here, but then the last line, 'create a rarity of my genuine smile', brings us back to being in eachother's presence; joy, relief, happiness. The next bit, as the song intensifies, is where it dives deeper into our bond, during a dark moment, but one is there for the other, 'breath-breath with me' and begging the other to take away the pain in a sense, because they have the ability to do so. Next is kind of the morning after a storm. it being okay for now, but then feelings of anxiety and fear linger, hoping our problems don't become theirs because that's the last thing we'd want; the one we love hurting because of ourself. then it returns to the chorus(?), or as i see it, a descriptor of my friendship, that those fears made up in our minds can gtfo cause we are exactly what the other needs, a joke, a solution, a distraction.
0 likes.aaaaaaaaaaaand thesis submittedHAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY DODIE💛 ILY
5 likesi can't explain how much i love this
0 likesMy HSC major piece for visual arts is about mental health and this has given me so many more ideas to add to it thank u Dodie
0 likesWhat I think when I listen to the song is the relationship with yourself. Your "healthy" side aka the side you show people and the person you wish to be, the person with no mental illness. This is the person you "pin" your hope to, the person you can feel you're being when you're happy, excited and unstoppable, the person you wish to be constant some day.
0 likesSo what I see in front of me when I listen to the song is a mirror, you're standing inside of it and on the outer side of it is the "healthy" you. When the part with "cause I can't stand them" the you inside the mirror starts smashing things, screaming and crying and then you just fall to the floor, crying in to your hands. The "healthy" you sits down with you (still on the outer side of the mirror) and places a hand on the cracked mirror glass, giving the broken you a sorrowful smile and then the song ends. The "healthy" you, for me, is the one reminding yourself that it's okay to break down sometimes, but the "healthy" you will always be there to pick you up.
The whole video I was like WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH THERE----
0 likesI had no idea you thought so much about what you wrote. I totally understand everything that you've worked and implied into this song and I think you should be more proud of yourself. When I listened to this song when the video came out (before the album which I listened to NONSTOP by the way..), I had thought about how the person singing was finding herself tangled, knotted, and intertwined with someone she depended in on, in a way that her brain doubted and affected the relationship. About her insecurities and feelings getting in the way of her loving her partner or friend or whatever. I could see the abrupt switches between the love and the sickness and the sweetness and the bitterness- and I drank it all in, listening to it everyday. When I watched the music video, I was kind of just speechless. It definitely was dark, but I liked the new perspective, and I thought it was amazingly clever.
Dodie, I listened to you in a time where I couldn't learn how to love myself. Now I do, and I can still listen to your music and just be engulfed into it. Seeing your new uploads makes me so happy, because I know whatever the theme is, I'm going to love it. Thank you for all that you've done for me. I think it's phenomenal how youtubers like you can reach out and make a place in our hearts when viewers are around the world.
Keep doing what your doing. My heart goes out to you. :)
i personally thought that the song basically explains a relationship that has its ups and downs. "skin" meaning touch and wormth and "hair in your mouth" being an intimate situation and again" feet touching feet being" closeness." safe from the world " was for me as in the relationship or precense of the other person is a distraction from bad things happening in the world. "but the world will try" show that the people in the song still understand that they need to live their lives dispite bad things." I'm afraid of the things in my brain , but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" is basically that the songwriter is suffering from mental illness or a resent trauma of some kind. But the other person is there supporting and encouraging her to get over fears and sadness . This first line is a healthy relationship. Then..... "numb " indicating that the songwriter is feeling nothing or lack of emotion(duh) would say that eighter the other person has left her or petrayed her is some way. saying that there is no more laughing away the fear. "fine" as Dodie said being a lie to the person theirself or then family members or friends assuring them that she is fine and does not need help. "breath with me" sounds to me like she wants to still acnollege that she still is alive even though she no longer has that person there supporting and encouraging her to move forwards in her life. The "can you drink all my thought cause i cant stand them" is to me like the songwriter is pleeing to anyone to pull her off the ground or then she has found someone new to release those emotions. idk which one to choose.
3 likes"intertwined" she is once again in someone's toutch and comfort. "free" she has let go of the previous person. the repeating of the lyrics means that she is setting herself up for the same trick that she will fall in love but just to get her heart broken again and again.
holy moly it's 4:17 and I've been trying to ur song Dodie (btw i don't think u based it on like a true story tho) I'm willing tired +doddleoddle
Replies (1)
I'm gonna look at this tomorrow and gringe so hard omg i cant
0 likesquietly pitying the people that posted "this reminds me of my bf/gf" comments yikes,, i did love the song though!! and it was lovely to hear you explain it <3 cant wait to hear more music from you!!
0 likesI'm not really sure why i thought this but when i first heard this i saw two people in love who then started to open up to each other and slowly started to get more comfortable. then one person breaks and tells his/hers deepest thoughts and the person becomes almost dependent of the other and their souls were like "intertwined" hehe. But agh i love you and this song so much :)))
0 likesDue to my own experiences of relationships - I interpreted the song very personally. For me it was about how the writer was first in love with this relationship, but as they became more dependent on the other, they became manipulative in a way that they were forcing them to stay, and by the end of the song the relationship had rotted from the inside out but the writer being so consumed by the idea of love pretended that everything was fine whenever really they were both very unhappy. Both being so dependent on the idea of being loved now, kind of destroyed them. That's what I thought anyway :) but thats just because it relates to me and my own experiences.
0 likesi personally saw the "intertwined; free" part as the writer, being intertwined with a person they trust and love and suddenly feeling the feeling of freedom washing over them
0 likesqueen
63 likesReplies (4)
um?
0 likesI love how anyone not in the phandom is just really confused
1 likeI watch Dan and Phil's every video but i still have no idea! Maybe i've just missed something
3 likesMihpu oh it's bc dan tweeted that his grandma was concerned bc someone called him that
1 likelisten I want dodie to do a video talking about chord progressions because when she was talking how she uses the sharpened fifth for emphasis on a certain part I was like YESSSSS GIMME THAT MUSIC TALK GIRL I need more that good shit
0 likesI remember when intertwined came out I kinda brushed over it, it was a gorgeous song but as a consumer I always like to relate to the emotion within a song- SIGHHH, too bad I can relate to it now ffs. Gorgeous song through and through, however: I wanted to ask you, or anyone who sees this comment, an open question- do you feel like the word “toxic” to describe this type of relationship is fair? Surely the sufferer can’t control their mental state right now and obviously does not intend on being harmful (“hope that you won’t bleed with me”). Is it fair to label such a person as “toxic”? Just a random question I was wondering for opinions on! :)
0 likesI definitely got the message of mental health and started to get the codependent vibe when I heard "I've pinned all my hopes on you, I hope you don't bleed" and "intertwined. Free."
0 likesBefore watching the video, I'm going to say my personal thoughts of the song. I think it relates to mental illness, and how it can affect a relationship. The girl with mental illness struggles with her partner, because she wants them to be happy and healthy like her. In the line "you create a rarity, of my genuine smile." I've always heard that line as their partner making them smile less, rather than making them smile more. The word rarity means that something is scarce, so that would mean that their partner is making their smile scarce? Despite that, I feel like this song expresses a desire for a healthy relationship. I'm going to watch the video and see how wrong I am :)
0 likesim counting this as revision for my english exams
42 likesAs someone who just finished her AP Literature exam I screamed a little when I watched this but anyway...
0 likesI definitely saw the song as more romantic although I think especially after this lesson it's so clever the way you write it and used the subtleties, and thinking about it more I think one of the reasons I thought of it as sweeter and more romantic is because that's what kind of song I needed to listen to and that I still do need to listen to. The song is one of my favorites because it created such a happy image for me and as someone who's going through a lot of stress right now that was a really important feeling for me and I often listen to it as I'm falling asleep because it makes me so calm.
Also the reason I saw it this way was the rhythm and the very gentle background to the lyrics and the first part to me was definitely two people lying together, then the part about the "rarity of my genuine smile" to me was an argument and then the breathing was calming down and I really just heard it as a very calming and lovely song about two people lying together and protecting each other. But either with the intended meaning or my own interpretation, it was a great song!
i was wondering why this song made me sad but it sounded so…lovely i guess?
0 likesboth the song and meaning behind it is so clever and beautiful. the harmonies just fit so well together and the song really shines a light on an issue that's never really talked about. dodie's music is just so refreshing and has a sense of elegance to it, its just so cute <3
0 likeslove it, Dodie
0 likesDodie just made a whole video for a Genius lyrics page. XD <3
3 likesEvery time I listen to this song, I think of my own personal situation going on.
0 likesSo I'm in love with my best friend and all our friends think he's into me. He's even said it himself that he's seen me as more than a friend many times and has often imagined what it would be like for us to be together. The one problem is that he has a girlfriend of four years. He seems to spend more time with me than with her and everyone has noticed. We say I love you and even write letters to each other. He's going off to college in a few months and we're probably going to end up at the same school and he said that he's pretty sure we'll end up together once I'm there. ANYWAY, every time I listen to this I just picture us away from everything and everyone and all the problems going on and just being together and being happy. So yeah. That's my version in case anyone wanted to know.
Tbh i think the music video fitted the song because when i heard the song i thought a constant fight with mental health and ‘laugh away the fear’ meaning covering up the fact your not okay, and how love is a distraction and helpful but has its disadvantages. Overall i think the song is more dark and twisted with a bit of love emotion❤️❤️i love the song
0 likesCould you please do this with one of your more recent songs?
0 likesI saw the song as this concept where the two lovers are more of the shy type of lovers that have been getting this bad wrap from not opening about their feelings and communicating well enough so lover A thinks that lover B doesn't want them and so this leads to lover A being "afraid of the things in my brain" but through soft touching moments that might go through without any talking or actual verbal discussion (if that's how I can best phrase it), they know that they're safe with each other, even through doubts and fears. And the humming at the end makes me think about scenarios where they both think back to all the past panic they had and their doubts about each other and how scary it would be if one were to leave the other but in the end it's all resolved and there is love for the lovers.
0 likesSHE'S SO CUTE AND SMART AND I LOVE HER AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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jmo1123 your name 😏
1 likeExactly what I got out of it. It would have been a perfect song for Bates Motel, in fact when I first heard it I thought for sure it must have been.
0 likesHey Dodie, love you! I was just wondering how getting an appt. at the depersonalisation clinic is going?
0 likesalrighty. now watching this analysis video and the mv, i have a hard time remembering what my original thoughts on it were. ill try my best though.
0 likesokay. we start off with the first verse, "skin, heat. hair in your mouth, feet touching feet..." i interpreted that as a soft little cuddle on a couch in a dimly lit room. like something had just happened and all is now silent.
we continue to, "you and i, safe from the world though the world will try.." what i got from that goes along wth what i thought about the first little line. maybe this individual has a lot of mental health issues, and is constantly needing to be reassured by her lover/close friend. this person may have had a breakdown, and this is the aftermath. a beautiful, but twisted song about needing someone to "drink all their thoughts".
"i'm afraid of the things in my brain. but we can stay here and laugh away the fear." this line is self explanatory. the person is obviously afraid of their own head and the thoughts that come and go. i feel as if they're kinda begging in a way to have the other person comfort them. laughing away fear contradicts itself. they could simply be trying to play it off as they're fine.
"numb, fine. you create a rarity of my genuine smile." we now see that they aren't as happy as they imply that they are. this person creates the rarity of their genuine smile, implying (my opinion) this person does not make them happy anymore.
"so breathe, breathe with me. can you drink all my thoughts? cause i cant stand them." the higher pitched cant is presumably a breaking point for this person. like when your voice cracks when you're about to cry. as i said before, this individual wants someone to take the bad thoughts away.
"intertwined, free. i pinned each and every hope on you i hope that you don't bleed with me." this person is getting relief, which only lasts a short while, as the chorus implies that they are in fact still afraid of the things in their brain. them pinning each and every hope on the other person is saying that they want this other person to fix them. and they hope they can, though they know they can't. hoping that the other person doesn't bleed with them is like saying "i have these issues that are dragging me down but i don't want you to get dragged down as well."
that was my insanely long interpretation of this amazing song.
(my theory sucks oops)
I showed my mother the music video, and then this, I then said “what did you think when you first saw the video?” And she replied with “the images don’t really fit the beautiful melody” I then said to her “and what do you think now?” And she replied with “Barbie and that dudes relationship is fucked”
0 likesMe:my god mum
Why do I love so much when she puts her glasses on.
4 likesMy interpretation is that this is how a person with mental illness fears love will be and this is the scenario they put inside their head that stops them from reaching out or even telling their partner about their health and just kind of ends it or doesn't search for love in the first place. I see it as kind of a conversation the person is playing out in their head like they're afraid of being intimate with this person because they think that once they are, they're going to ruin them. Like especially with the title intertwined, it makes me think of a kind of chaos and two balls of yarn and the person with the mental health struggles is all tangled up and the person they love will come closer and just kind of get sucked into the tornado that is their life and end up finding themselves twisted inside the first tangle. I think this is perfect bc these are the sort of extremes I know I tell myself in my struggle with mental health. This embodies the "I can't be loved. I'm ruining everyone's lives. They won't understand and I am messing up the one good thing I had" mentality I and I'm sure many others also feel. Like our brains tell us this is what will happen if we try to be intimate and in love and we will either ask too much of them or not enough and end up exploding or more correctly, imploding in our mental illness and it will just ruin the one good thing we had and everything will eventually go down in flames, like at the end of the video, because that is the way that our lives always seem to go. Just a thought, though.
0 likes‘Don’t tell me why I wrote my own song’. PREACH!
0 likesSo I totally related the song to my own relationship. of course. I just see the first verse of a description of all the times we've been together and it's great and lovely and well self explanatory. Second verse we're in our happy bubble. Now onto the third verse about my brain. I dont have mental health problems but I got pretty down last year, we're in a long distance relationship and I got lonely and I just wanted my boyfriend to take my crappy thoughts and feelings. Then when we eventually see eachother we can laugh and be happy. The intertwined bit is so interesting because I see it as when we're together and hugging but I feel free from everything else because I can forget and live in the moment. And I think that's basically it. I love the dark theme of the video though!
0 likesI personally thought of this song as more hopeful, with the same themes of finding solace in another person but without the toxic element of the relationship. Perhaps that's because in my own experience, I used to worry a lot more about my struggles affecting loved ones than they actually did - they were happy to support me, and I was the one unduly worried about burdening them.
0 likesSo with that in mind, the contrasts of 'numb - fine' and 'intertwined - free' could more suggest the solving of a problem, the lessening of a burden, and how having people to support you can help you get better - rather than suggesting denial. And the gory language could reflect the dark, morbid thoughts that can creep into one's head during mental illness, rather than reflecting a darkness of reality in an unhealthy relationship.
But I love the darker, intended interpretation too! It's certainly more interesting.
4:22 can you drink
3 likesI have pinned... blood
omg these two parts are SO POWERFUL
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OH and the OOOOH "the thoughts being overwhelming and washing over the writer's brain" is when the blood "washes" over in the set
1 likewhen i listen to the song, i imagine two parts of someone's personality kinda going against eachother? like it would be anxiety and safety, so the anxiety is all the negativity but the safety is trying to cover it up and make the person seem fine. near the end where you sing 'can you drink all my thoughts? cuz i can't stand them!' i imagine that as a sort of mental breakdown where the anxiety part of the brain won. by the end, the safety has taken back over and the toxic cycle of coving up anxiety and bad thoughts continue.
0 likesWow... Dodie you are so amazing
0 likesThe video and the song reminds me of the song evil by Interpol because the song seems happy but the video and the lyrics contradict it ,making you look at it from completely different perspective and adds an element of complexity.That's why I think intertwined is a really good well thought out song.
0 likesthis is soooo 100000% interesting as hell!!! this is why i love u so much!!! i heard this song in a spot in my life where i was very much in love andddd i played it in the car while i was making out with someone in the backseat. i chose it because i thought it was as romantic as a song could be and i always continued to see it as so!! it wasnt until i saw your music video that i even considered the alternate meaning and i totally get it now. art is so wonderful and u treat it perfectly:))) love u dodes
0 likesAm I the only who wants her to be my english teacher now?
3 likesThis is so interesting, because when i first heard the song i was like "Oh yeah this is a cute love song blah blah" but now that you explained the idea behind it i can't understand why i didn't get that...
0 likesI thought of the song as someone with a mental health problem has found a relationship that is good for then that can help them feel happy I never really thought of it as a toxic relationship but rather a relation that helps the writer notice the good things in life
0 likesIm young and have not yet “suffered” through classes like these... it actually sounds fun
0 likesI would love to be able to write like that!
0 likesDODIE. WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE GLASSES I WAAAAANT
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Chloe Lopez me to i want them so bad
2 likesChloe Lopez / she probably got them off glassesusa.com because she was sponsored by them a while ago (:
23 likesChloe Lopez GLASSES TOUR DODIE GLASSES TOUR
3 likesIt's nice that you pointed out at 1:21 that art has several interpretations, which is why I feel that the piece isn't as intense as it is in reality, but I take some form of comfort in it as someone who thinks too much when thinking of it in a less intense manner. Excellent lyrics; you know you've done a song right if people can discuss what the lyrics mean and come up with different interpretations!
0 likesWhen I first heard the song I interpreted it as thought the writer was dealing with some sort of pain or anxiety in their life and was conflicted over what to do, therefore turning to their significant other for comfort and reassurance.
0 likesmic drop and that is how steph teaches an english literature lesson
personally, i interpreted the song video as a couple who are completely in love, but destorying the other as they did so. i saw it as a perhaps unstable relationship, where one person was falling apart and that affected the other. i dunno. but i still love this song
0 likesI have no words to describe how much I loved this? I adore seeing how much thought went behind every word of the song and how even the chords and melodies and harmonies just subtly accentuated your meaning of the song. This felt like a poem my English Lit teacher would hand me to analyze and honestly, I love it. I'm shaking as I write this because I am just now realizing how much meaning this song has not only to you, obviously, but to me as well. As soon as you got to the "numb, fine" part, I just started sobbing because yes, you're right, I will always deny it. Like, I'm fine, I'm fine, but really no, I'm not. Everything about this is amazing and I'm so so glad that you decided to put this up. Thank you, Dodie xxxx
0 likesintertwined (out now)
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lol
127 likesomg dodie
25 likesOlivia Russell Ikr 😂
2 likesTo me (I guess the video more than the song's lyrics) it appears that it's about Intrusive Thoughts OCD. The calm, almost childlike settings, followed by sudden violent scenes does portray what it may be like in ones mind who suffers from this form of OCD.
0 likesI interpit this song as almost the same. I pictured it through my own story. One person struggles alone with mental health problems until they finally reach out to another person. When they do it feel good and the writer feels comforted. But frequented with anxiety the person pulls back from the person embarrassed and pretends to be "fine". In the end the person goes back to the one they trusted and the two keep an honest and healthy relationship and the one with the mental health issues is able to live with it with the help of the other person. ( in my mind the helper is a friend, but it could be anyone really. A parent an significant other. I just thought of my good friend who helps me with my mental health.)
0 likesDodie, from Lit Head to another, I'm officially an enthusiast now!
0 likesI’ve always had this weird relationship with my best friend. We’ve only just got close enough to where we are intimate with each other in a benefits way. The beginning of the song helps show that. Safety in being together and giving each other what we wish we had from other people. The fear being of people discovering how we are in our private space away from all of the world, our vulnerabilities finally bringing to light to the outside. Scared that we will either be ridiculed, or people will try to push us together. The drinking of thoughts you mentioned in your explanation is same in my interpretation. This is just… it’s one of those songs like “in the bed” or “I kissed someone (it wasn’t you)” where it highlights the shameful and more dark desires I’ve been experiencing as of late towards this person. It helps to hear it in music and in words the thoughts I can never know how to express.
0 likesI envisioned the song in a darker theme, however the video did take me by surprise. I didn't really have any expectations for what the video was going to be, but I suppose I assumed that my take on the song being darker was incorrect and that the video was going to be less intense? I love it nonetheless but despite having no expectations on what the content of it was going to be it was definatley a twist on my assumptions 👌
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also would u like to pls replace my gcse english teacher ty
3 likesI had also originally pictured a strange slightly confusing dance duet or solo, but I personally loved the actual video. I love how different people interpret the same thing so differently but also so similarly!! It's beautiful what Dodie has created here xxx
0 likeswell i mostly listened to this song when i was completely depressed over my ex boyfriend for about 4 months and thought of us and couldn't really get other deeper interpretation of this song so yeah..
0 likesI just see myself in this song, and my romantic involvement. Which is essentially what you've described, if only a little more stable (I hope)
0 likesi have to tell you that i'm LITERALLY obsessed with this song. it's so pretty and i relate to the lyrics, mostly (unfortunately) with the mental health part. (i'm a bit struggling currently with ed or i don't even know if i'm allowed to talk about ed bc i don't feel legitimate) so i have to tell you a massive THANK YOU because you're helping me a LOT :) i'm so happy when i watch your vids that it makes me forget my sadness
0 likesalso sorry for my english i'm french and i think imma delete this comment right after posting it (or will i after all i'm not sure this is even real
I love you Dodie
3 likesI LOVE this vid 💕
0 likesThe song always seemed very desperate to me, the sound and lyrics also created this feeling of anxiety. The song seemed to me a painful longing for someone. A heartache that looked beautiful even though it probably shouldn't.
0 likesI always thought it was a sweet little love song. This is way better!
0 likesi really feel like taking this to my english teacher just because analyzing dodie would be the best thing ever and you can just tell how much effort is put into every single word gkhsgjkfgksj i love it
0 likesIf you got a B in English Lit A Level with that sort of analytical skills, how the hell do you get an A or even an A*? Do you actually have to be the examiner or the author... I mean right now you're at an advantage but still. I'm glad I only took physics, maths and history in the end because this is way out of my league.
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lol right also HOW DID U REMEMBER I GOT A B
43 likesYour results video got recommended to me about half an hour before I watched this for some reason and I have a great memory for incredibly random things and it finally paid off
17 likesI'm taking English literature GCSE at the moment and /a lot/ of the marks come from remembering large amounts of quotes and knowing a lot about the historical context behind a piece of writing which is where most people lose marks, (don't know about Dodie I'm not her examiner lol). If you want to know anything else, just ask :)
2 likesKat Rose thanks for the offer but I took my GCSE's a few years ago and I know just how much of it was memory. It would have helped my mark if I had read the books I had been studying. I highly recommend reading the books before the exam. I could talk at length about how that system punishes creativity and personal interpretation is thrown aside for set themes and ideas set out by examiners but a YouTube comment is not the place to have that kind of discussion
1 likeThat Guy Called Dewi three different interpretations of a single word
1 likeEllen Sa that sounds like it would be more confusing than quantum mechanics and that stuff can literally not be interpreted logically or even illogically with form of accuracy
1 likeThat Guy Called Dewi she was analysing poetry and music. it is much harder to explain these ideas for literature
1 likelotus ann gregory that's why I'm no expert on any of those things. Put some maths in front of me and I will make it work but give me a creative piece to interpret and I'll just say if it was good or bad ☺️
2 likesI was going to do a short film with intertwined and I was going to make it really creepy but I was afraid Dodie would find it and see it as creepy and scold me
0 likesidk why i always thought it was love away the fear.... im still singing it my way
0 likesI thought is might be about sexual abuse at first, but the more I really listened he more I got your interpretation, amazing work
0 likesim such a nerd for this kind of stuff every second im like OOO THATS WHAT THAT MEANS
3 likesAs a literature nerd, I love this.
0 likesI live in my world of anxiety and depression, desperately seeking a third option where medication and therapy have failed to yield any positive results. Intertwined is a song that resonates with my day to day and to some degree my view on relationships. I'm not in one and haven't in a decade, but the fear of projecting too much on someone I care about is a constant setback to developing any form of closeness. My interpretation of the song was being able to find someone who can take in or absorb your problems and make it all seem a distant memory. But naturally I'm susceptible to expanding my horizon of thought and to hear the different perspective of that sort of absorption being destructive, I've taken a different but more fulfilled appreciation of Intertwined. I can now appreciate the dark twistedness of portions of the song, but I can't stray too far from my initial interpretation of the song which is "what if there was a person who could lift the burden of mental health off your shoulders, even for just a little while, you can be selfish in small doses! The joy!"
0 likesThis song made me think about me and my dad, how he's helping me through my gender identity crisis and supporting me despite this world having another view on nonbinary.
0 likes---
"Skin, heat"
My body is ugly.
"Hair in your mouth"
I needed to cut my hair. He was the only one who helped.
"feet, touching feet"
I'm so scared of everyone around me, I shiver in the corner, hands clasped together and feet nudging each other.
"Oh you, and I, safe from the world, though the world will try,"
When me and my dad are together, we're safe. I'm safe. He helps protect me.
"Oh, I'm afraid, of the things in my brain"
I hate feeling angry at others who've done nothing wrong. It's not their fault they don't understand.
"But we can stay here and laugh away the fear"
Dad always knows the right things to say and the best jokes. He always makes me laugh. He taught me how to laugh. How to block out the world's pessimism.
"numb, fine"
Acting around others is so difficult when all it does it hurt.
"you create a rarity of my genuine smiles"
I'm not sure if I smile at anyone else like that. Not with a romantic love, but a platonic one. Molded and built upon trust and years of caring for each other.
"so breath, breath with me"
I'm reassured when I can hear my dad, when I can feel his presence.
"can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them"
This one should be odvious. My dad's the only one who took the time to sit down, listen, and understand the mess in my head.
I love my dad. I love him so much. Thank yoy, Dodie, for this song.
When I first heard the song I thought of it as a kind of love song but with something off-putting about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Maybe implying being in a relationship where something doesn't feel right but you don't know what it is.
0 likesI knew this song was amazing but oh my god dodie youre Shakespeare
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Side Note: I loved this music video, I thought it was beautiful and did match the lyrics entirely which i didn't realise at first. At first (before the music video) I thought the song was about a person with mental health problems who relies on his/her significant other to protect her from her thoughts and everything would soon get better. What i didn't realise was that the person was you but also that this mental health problem was dragging the relationship down a dark hole which was inescapable. I realise this now and i absolutely love what it does to the song! I particularly love how this songs lyrics can be interpreted in so many different ways. Stunning song Dodie and congrats on 1 mil you deserve it you're incredibly talented and I am very jealous. Love from Dublin!
0 likesNow that I understand it more I'm going to cry even more
0 likesI did think it was a sweet love song, but it makes more sense this way and has in no way affected my love of this song or Dodie
0 likesIt’s funny, I was in this relationship with a guy for a year and like it was good but I was still mentally in a bad place and I would listen to this song and insist it was sweet and a romantic love song. He broke up with me at the start this year and now I’m with someone new and this person has helped my mental health so much and now I listen to this song and I see that more dependent, less healthy side and I look back at that old relationship and see the dependency I had in that relationship too. It’s so interesting how my own perspective on this song has changed with my mental health and how I handle those issues. I really love this song and all the meaning you can gather with it.
0 likesI definitely thought the lyric was "love away the fear" not "laugh away the fear"
3 likesdamn me and my ears
Fuck I love analysing writing so much. This is the exact level of detail we're supposed to go to in the new GCSE and honestly I kinda like it ?? Love this song ahh xx
0 likesIve always thought that it was someone in love who was scared of what might happen or what was happening. "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" for me it was saying im thinking about you and loving you but that scares me because anything could happen if I'm in love. "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" was like someone saying let's not go there let's be casual and not go where our hearts can be broken. "Intertwined, free" was like they were together but had not crossed the line into love and that was okay with this person who was afraid of love.
0 likesAnyway I won't analyse all the lyrics that's just what the song meant to me.
I always thought the song was about how one person had mental health issues, and due to the relationship, sort of passed them onto the other person, therefore making a toxic relationship in a way
0 likesi always thought 'laugh away the fear' was 'love away the fear' which could be an interesting meaning
0 likesOk so legend says if you're really early and love Dodie so so much she'll have a look at your channel and it will literally make your life? Please?
8 likesWow, you are BRILLIANT and articulate! I'm sorry you are suffering from mental illness. :-( Love yourself. Go easy on yourself.
0 likesI wish we analysed songs in English I would enjoy it so much more
0 likesI interpreted the song as the description of a relationship where one of the partners has mental health issues and the other tries to take their pain and suffering away - out of love, of course. The mentally unstable partner, though, is not necessarily loving the other one - just living an illusion of the mentioned feeling due to the way they can use the other partner to numb away the problems. They know that they'll eventually become more and more dependent of the healthy influence their partner has and they'll get more and more desperate for the calm, normal state their partner brings them in. But at some point, all these imaginary world of sweet feelings and "being fine" will collapse on the unstable one and they won't be able to take it, so they'll end either the relationship for good or their own life. The happy verse at the end signifies the fact that the unstable person continuously washes away these thoughts, trying to avoid them as much as possible so they won't blame themselves in the end.
0 likesI feel like this is what'd happen to me if I were in any kind of romantic relationship with someone, and maybe it has influenced my opinion on the song, but this is how I feel about it.
oh I thought it's like about the anxiety of dating for real for the very first time and slowly trying to open up. like when you get to the word fine in the song, you're kinda just lying because I personally isolate yourself often in the beginning of a relationship. Like I have trouble opening up. so I guessed I thought the song was about becoming dependent with your partner
3 likesI always felt the codependency theme in the song and the theme of mental illness in a relationship but it never felt dark idk
0 likesi've always thought the song was about a romantic moment between two girls, a moment where they both cut out the noise and focus on themselves.
0 likesI LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS VIDEO
0 likesmy first interpritation was that you were looking at love as a goal or something to strive for but also knowing that you are damaged mentaly and that that might be an unobtainable or unrealistic goal. I heard the "Can you drink all my thoights cause i cant stand them" was you searching for someone to pour your heart out to, calling out to someone, anyone whould listen.
0 likesi think your version is much more beautiful and meaninhful, that was just my origonal take.
Good video, just sad you didn't adress the comments about it needing a trigger warning. I understand what message the video was trying to tell and I think it worked, but why didnt you put a trigger warning at the start, and do you refuse to talk about it?! From what I read a lot of people were very uneasy with the gory shots, including me. Just my thoughts. Xx
3 likesOmg this makes so much sence and you are so great!!
0 likesI want dodie to be my English teacher and Evan to be my maths teacher 😂
0 likesgettin my ap lang on lets go
1 likeMY INTERPRETATION as the first verse is almost a sickenenly sweet love song, we, as listeners, could interpret-instead of an actual relationship-an imagined one, an ideal image of what the writer wants. As we go on, we see more and more of the writer's gruesome mental state, a desperate plea for the ideal relationship to "cure" them. specifically, we could also relate the term "drink all my thoughts" as a parallel symbol to the wonderful but highly damaging affects of alcohol, relating to the high that neurotypicals seemingly get when they have "helped" a person with an obvious mental disorder. The quiet tone of the song and sprinkled dissonance adds to the cacophony of pain and FEAR the writer feels; and we can infer that they've never spoken these fears out loud. They really are, simply imagining.
my lang&comp teacher would be proud lmao
UMMMM
0 likesI hope you don't mind, but for my English assignment (a speech send help), we have to analyse some form of art, and compare the themes to a book studied in class. After watching you break down the lyrics and themes in an educational manner through linking (you basically did my assignment, thankssss), I've finally decided I'm going to incorporate your song into my speech!
YESSS GIRL!!!!
4 likesMy first anticipation of the song was odd; I believed it was a love song however the character singing was an abusive partner however they feared themselves and what they were doing
0 likes“Can you drink all my thoughts?”
Kinda suggests that the character relieves their burdens onto their partner by physical or perhaps mental abuse, giving them their thoughts whether their partner knows it or now.
However, the character doesn’t actually want to do it, in fact, they inevitably really love their partner just don’t know how to make it clear (perhaps in a previous abusive relationship?) which is clear with the quote;
“Skin, Heat, hair in your mouth”
Setting a romantic scene for these characters showing that they are infant in love.
Idk just kinda guessed, comment your opinions on my assumption/theory lmao
this explanation made me realise how exactly accurate the song is in describing my relationship with my ex.. co-dependent, toxic, damaging.... yay
0 likesThis might have been optimistic of me, but i always interpreted the song as describing a person with mental health issues feeling safer with their significant other. It may have been a false security, it may have not been meant to last - they only 'laughed away the fear', instead of talking through it - but the narrator still felt safe with them, and 'free' whenever they were together. When first hearing the song, i had thought that maybe it was about the genuine, deep, and vulnerable feelings of people sleeping together for the first time. They didn't know what would happen, or how, and it was awkward and anxious for them both, but thrilling, freeing, at the same time. Then the song moves on and describes their building relationship, them growing more and more dependant on each other. I'd always admired the song for how real it felt, nothing at all like a lot of pop songs that talk about sex.
1 likeI don't know. I felt like sharing my opinion. I probably contradicted myself a lot, but i really don't know how i would change that. I love this song, though. I love it so much. Thank you for writing it, Dodie, and thank you so much for everything you do and the art that you create. I believe you're an amazing person, and I'm grateful for what you bring into this world.
Thank you.
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aha, i just found someone who explained basically the same thing i did, but they said it more concisely. whoops. sorry.
0 likesfunny I also have a song called intertwined I wrote a while back where I simultaneously play piano and guitar. Mine is more about the connection between the 2 instruments and the sound of them together.
0 likes[WARNING: this comment is a looong interpretation of mine and I'm really lacking vocabulary right now cause my french-ass brain can't work]
16 likesTo me 'skin' is the sensation of skin touching skin so it's pleasant but then I heard 'heat' instead of warmth so I throught of discomfort. 'hair in your mouth': again discomfort despite it being cute. So I basically thought of a clumsy/imperfect , candid yet passionate relationship painted through the imagery of a sex/hug scene and also with an insight of what's going on in the "problematic" lover'smind aka future me except that I will NEVER allow myself to pin each and all of my throughs into one individual no matter how much I crave it at time. I'd rather feel them burning me inside than letting this uncontrollable dangerous fire burn the people that I care the most about. Moving on, I completely identified with the rushes of panick and desperate needs of help while you know deep down that you shouldn't do that (=be so dependant of someone and poisoning them). The way I personnaly work (and the way I saw the pb lover) is when I panick I tend to forget other's need and just want to pour everything out cause the fire inside is consuming me. The rest of the time I'm genuinely fine (well at least when I'm with my friends or traveling or at a concert
can't relate to the boy/girlfriend part oops) like 6/10 but that's enough , that's bearable. So I think the relationship is beneficial in someways to her because when she's in their arm she feels like a lively poop (where am I going with that) still a poop but a pool in a place where she feels welcomed and wanted and loved, a poop that has the right to smile, laugh and live despite how shifty she is. And that feeling is freeing because it's like not giving a fuck of what's the world is doing and not caring about the nonsense in your head and laughing away the fears. And maybe if you would let your lover/soulmate pour water on your fire every time that it's getting out of control, then maybe it will be over one day and the fire will become a teeny tiny flame that is still sitting inside of your heart just to signify that you're a human. At the end of it all, you're still an imperfect, fantastic, complex and unique product of the universe 💙💜💖Replies (4)
congrats to whoever read it completely. You're a warrior
2 likes"a lively poop" THIS WAS BEAUTIFUL
2 likesThat poop part was poetic XD
0 likesThank You 😅😅😅 I often feel like the smiling poop emoji when I'm happy so yeah... not the most mature analogy but it works ✌
0 likesyou are a genius and a poetic legend
0 likes3:49 i saw someone in the comments of the mv saying that creating a rarity of your genuine smile means that they make your genuine smiles appear less often, as opposed to making you smile, which is something that doesn’t happen often. i am CONFUSED
0 likesI love the way you edit so much
0 likesMy god Dodie, give yourself a clap on the back, this song captures so much that I personally feel and wish could put into words. I'm glad you went out of what people stereotype your songs and made one like Intertwined- it's one of my favorites and I love how real it is :)
0 likesDodie, could you learn Dutch for me and become my Dutch teacher?
4 likesI didn't realise I'd actually really need English lessons with the whole figures of speech and all that shit (unless I studied English literature or something later on) to live. Turns out our society nowadays pretty much analyses everything.
0 likesI love it
Hey dodie just so you know we have a little folk club group in our school and we had to perform a song for pensioners and we chose to do intertwined and they all loved it!!!!!☺️☺️❤️
0 likesI was one of the people commenting on how they didn't expect such a dark video, and in fact, your meaning really surprised me as I thought it was way more postive. But the thing is that the first time I heard this song it spoke to me so much and I felt so identified somehow that my interpretation, as it happens usually in art, reflects my own personal experience, so I should have expected it to be different from yours. As I heard it I was, and I still am, involved in a corresponding romantic relationship. I also suffer from anxiety and have struggled with depression at many points of my life. My interpretation was more directed towards the certain feeling of how a supporting relationship (it doesn't have to be romantic, it could be a friend or family, but I thought of my boyfriend) helps you to deal with your mental illness. Most parts coincide, actually, with yours. I felt identified with the fear of my mental health destroying my relationship or that I could be at some point in the future "forcing" my boyfriend to cope with it to the point that he wouldn't be able to stand it anymore. This was my main insecurity at the beginning, so that's what "I hope that you don't bleed with me" meant for me. But the thing is that, he proved me wrong. The first time I had a breakdown in front of him he acted in a way I wasn't expecting, he wasn't scared, and he managed to calm me and even make me laugh. He hasn't failed to do so since that moment. He doesn't see my problems as a responsibility he has to take, in fact he has made me understand that I'm the only one who feels responsible of my illness and that I'm wrong. He made me realise health is health, and there's no reason why an illness should make you feel guilty or like it is something toxic that can contaminate other people and destroy the things you love, that I shouldn't be afraid to have a relationship for that reason the same way I wouldn't for a physical illness. So when I hear the song I can't help seeing it in a hopeful way. For me, it reflected perfectly how I felt, and how I feel: I know that I have issues and I'm scared of them, I'm scared of what my mind can do, but I feel like he takes that fear away and he calms me and is like a safeplace. I don't know what will happen, but I really hope this will work out (in the sense that it continues as the healthy realtionship it is now and doesn't end in my dependence or his suffocation). I've always thought the song was like that, just an impression of a feeling: there's the fear but there's also this new ray of sunshine, and it might not work but it might work as well, and I always felt like the song never solves that question, it leaves that hopeful feeling open. That's, very summed up, what it means for me. It was so interesting to hear your analysis, but I will possibly never be able to see it any other way: it's now tied up to my life and that's why I can't thank you enough for the art you create.
0 likesPersonally I’m terrified of burdening my partner with my mental health issues but I’m also scared of being alone. I thought of Intertwined as a song about lovers doing their best to help each other through dark times, to the point where they’ve become intertwined. I thought the “breathe, breathe with me” might have been helping to calm someone down from a panic attack. But this is truly brilliant and beautiful. I love you so much Dodie you are a genius.
0 likescan dodie be my english teacher
5 likesReplies (1)
In all honestly, this idea of codependency and toxicity in a relationship being covered up by a seemingly sweet and honest outer shell draws me in. The misleading softer and kind melody distracts the listener from the darker side of the lyrics. It's easy to live in a world where you take things at face value, like thinking you're relationship is healthy or thinking this song is romantic and sweet and then ignoring the potential warning signs. I'm obsessed with this song as I can too often relate to it when I am in love and need to check myself, but sometimes it's nice to have moments when you can take that part of yourself and relish in it without damaging another person, which this song allows me to do. Brava!
3 likesI dunno about everyone else, but every time I scroll through the comments I never ever ever see any hate and it makes me supersuper happy because there's so much love for this smol little bean of a human and she deserves every bit of it <3
0 likeswell before watching this video i sort of knew and had a feeling this song wasnt meant to be a soothing song, it was slightly more sinister in the sense of the very rare instances of those gory words as dodie described them, but i never saw the song as representing a romantic relationship? i saw it more as of a relationship between yourself – as in the you portrayed in front of others and the true you, sprinkled with mental issues and a dark underlying tone, that was my meaning of intertwined!
0 likesI used to think it was a love song that described my relationship perfectly (in the sweet side) ...
0 likesthat relationship recently ended and as it turns out it was highly dependent to the point were neither of us had actual close friends and (at least for me) all of the future plans I made were depending on the assumption that we stayed together (while constantly pushing out what ifs about my goals and dreams that I pushed aside because of that relationship) and now I'm scrambling up new plans and trying to get back on track to accomplish those "forgotten" dreams (my life's kind of a mess right now which is why I haven't posted a video in a while)
...that being said this song still represents that relationship perfectly !
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Ps: sorry for the long comment... and I love your ep specially life lesson (but I think I've already commented this in another video :P)
0 likesI have to admit, this is not one of the songs that got me from the beginning, but rather something that I started to get into cause it got stuck into my head one day. So I had to listen to it. You know how it happens.
0 likesI always got a...30's (??) kind of feeling from this song. Like it could be in an old movie, romantic but slightly distorted, and maybe a bit dark. Twisted. Not necessarily linked to mental health issues, mostly associated with feelings of despair, anxiety, uncertainty. But in the 30's. If that makes sense. :D
I felt, as I'm sure many did, weird about the 'gory'/creepy scenes in the video, but overall I liked the contrast between the blood and the flames, and the Barbie world. Interesting twist. :)
hooooly shite i'm early
19 likesi have nothing to say except that you look really cute
Replies (2)
Kate McCune yes. yes
2 likesclap
0 likesThis video was really interesting, but i thought it was about a relationship crumbling or slowly ending. I love the music video as well btw, it's very Melanie Martinez style.
0 likesIt's been a few days since I watched this and after thinking it for a while I figured this would be a great song for BoJack Horseman, I watched it because of you and I became obsessed with it but think about it, he needs his friends to tell him he's not that bad or otherwise he goes insane and has breakdowns but that's why all of his friends and partners go away, he just makes the realtionship toxic
0 likesDodie, you are amazingly 🤓 intelligent. That is all
0 likes"you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" kind of suggested to me that around him, her smiles weren't genuine anymore, so her genuine happiness became rare because of him, and her genuine feelings were rarely shown to him, as confirmed by "laugh away the fear", which sounds like she's pretending not to be afraid when she is
0 likesi thought that the isolated words had a sense of incompleteness, like maybe the person was confused about what was happening?
4 likesReplies (1)
ahhh yeah definitely!
1 likeDodie you are an absolute treasure. I couldn't figure out what is was about specifically, because I am 'numb..., fine' myself. But oh god. Oh god. This is exactly how I feel. You are seriously the first one to have put it into words. I am truely grateful.
0 likesPlease carry on making videos and songs and whatelse.
Thank yooouuuuu
I interpreted it as a pretty good relationship between the boy and girl doll, where they're both in love and want to make it work, but the girl doll has a mental illness. She's well aware that the symptoms of her illness, which include self harm and possibly hallucinations, would have a very negative impact on her boyfriend, so she's trying to suppress them. That's where the title comes from— because when two strands are intertwined, if you cut one then both are severed, which is a metaphor for how being in a relationship means sharing your pain with another person.
0 likesIt seems to be working and the relationship is going well, but the girl is still having these thoughts and feels that she can't keep up suppressing them for much longer. She's terrified that, one day, she'll self harm again and it will really hurt her boyfriend and destroy the relationship— "I've pinned every hope on you... I hope you won't bleed with me"— but she's trying to just enjoy the relationship now, without thinking about the future.
I sing “when” as a happy song. Like a hated being 16 specifically. And being surrounded by “greener times” could be a good thing. 99% of your life is before or after where you are. It would be great the 99% of your life is great. Not to say the song it wrong. It’s great. It’s just really different to me.
0 likesalso i think my interpretation of it was really similar? like i struggle with anxiety so it kind of makes me see what i'd be like in a relationship, like i'd probably try to make the person my safe and happy place, but it wouldn't end up helping so it could just cause more problems because i'd be paranoid and sad a lot of the time anyway.
1 likebut on the other end, it could potentially paint a healthy relationship, depending on how you see it.
Please tell me you just taught me the magic of words with a wand.........????
7 likesReplies (4)
Nope, fuck it.
1 likeThat's a pencil.
Disappointedly disappointed about he disappointment of no wand involvement.
actually it was a chopstick
18 likesi love the brutal honesty here
0 likesdoddleoddle of course it was, why wouldn't it be.
0 likesI've been educated in the very similar sounds of a chop stick vs a pencil being sassily chucked.
This is... interesting. I've always seen the connection to mental health issues in this song, mostly because of the lyrics "I am afraid of the things in my brain", as well as "because I can't stand them [the thoughts]". Also the word "fine" following "numb" always seemed odd to me, because it was so opposite but similar at the same time, but didn't seem normal in the style of listing connected words, as which the single-words-at-the-beginning-of-verse-thing always appeared to me. But pretty much like all the other naive fans, I still always thought of this song as something rather bittersweet, sad and happy and more in the context of a person struggling with mental health issues receiving help and support from their loved one. I always saw the sadness in it, which is also the reason that it is one of my less favourite dodie songs to listen to (don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful piece of art, incredibly interesting and so thought out, it just pulls me down too much most of the time, which is why I don't like to listen to it very often, but I still like the song), but I just never saw or just plainly overlooked the part with the toxic relationships, at least consciously. I think also part of the reason that I don't like listening to it very often is that my subconscious brain realises these small hints and it makes me uncomfortable (this just proves even more what an amazing piece of art this is, if it reaches my subconscious before my conscious brain!). Anyway, I have to say that I did find the video a little disturbing/creepy on the first look, especially when the red liquid (blood? thoughts?) started pouring down in the background I was like what the hell, what is this?? But it fits the song perfectly well, awesome job. I think I will have to watch it many times to actually understand and come to a conclusion about everything.
0 likesThe line "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" always confused/bothered me because up until and during this line the singer seems affectionate despite saying that their unhappiness is caused by the person they're singing to. The juxtaposition of the tone and the words very much confused me and still does especially considering that now I 100% know that dodie knows what she was implying there.
0 likesI JUST KEEP LAUGHING AT THE FACT THAT DODIE KEEPS LOOKING IN A FAR OFF STARE FROM THE CAMERA
0 likesSHE IS SO ADORABLE
but i did she her point tho. bravo dodie! you have yet again astonished us with your wit and your mind. luv ya.
Hey, Dodie! Would you be able to turn on community contributions for closed captioning on your videos? That way, your viewers can caption your videos for you and make them more accessible for deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers, and they can also translate them into other languages for viewers in other countries who don't speak English. I, personally, would love to contribute!
0 likesMany thanks! ^_^
Is that a chopstick
53 likesReplies (3)
Rin Matsuoka Where?
0 likesJoby & Moby! What shes using to point out on the chalkboard
1 likeRin Matsuoka I think it's a cheap baton, like one you use to contuct orchestras.
4 likesHow I interpret it:
0 likesI think it's about 2 lovers, one with serious mental health (whenever I watch the mv I always imagine a physco because of the constant cuts of ken being tortured and stuff) that is not stable. They think they can manage but it gets worse and worse until it gets so bad they go mad - this could mean all the cuts of the torture are real? Holy shit that's well cool, anyway.
Also when it's "laugh away the fear" I always imagine hysterics and crying and laughing idk.
Thanks for reading this lol I love this song and i just wanted to share it lol
I didn't really ever feel the more unsettling tone of your song, even after watching this, until just recently when I was laying in the dark, trying to sleep, and it started playing from my music playlist. Instantly I felt nervous and anxious, as if the darkness and lack of distractions let my mind focus on the words and let the meaning sink in. It was so odd for me at the time, as immediately before a comedy song was playing and the mood shifted rather suddenly. Overall, though, it's a good experience to look back on and it helps give me a better appreciation of the song.
0 likesOK OK DODIE I HAVE AN IDEA FOR YOU:
0 likesCan you please react to the interpretation of "sick of losing soulmates" on genius.com? I think that would be really cool and to just see how accurate it is :)
Can you talk more about the sickly sweet stereotype of women? You know if you want to. Loved this so much btw i pretty much interpreted it the same way you explained it.
0 likesWrite forever and ever, please.
3 likesthis song has two very different meanings to me:
0 likessimply listening to the song, I imagine a sickly sweet afternoon in which two (happy) lovers sit, in the quiet, simply enjoying each other's company that provides a safe haven from their own mental issues (from the line- Can you drink all my thoughts, cause i can't stand them)
HOWEVER
after watching the video, it becomes a twisted, sickly sweet, toxic relationship. It conveys that the female (me/you, the writer) has serious mental issues but strives to obtain a "normal" or "healthy" style of relationship. this causes multiple breakdowns, making the male (any gender of prospective suitor) seek other comfort for themselves and their own mental problems.
As a generalisation, the song can either be sickly sweet or twisted and scary, based on the experiences of the listener/viewer. This song helped me understand how toxic a previous relationship was(a long time in the past, not even from the past two years) and so i cut them off as a friend, which had still been just as toxic. It has also helped me understand that asking myself to immediately reach a sense of stability or normality for the comfort of another person is torture, and unrealistic to ask of myself in the first place.
sorry this was so long, thank you for reading though❤️
there's this assignment in my school's ap english 4 class, which i'm taking next year, where you have to write an essay analyzing a song like dodie did in this video! i think i'm gonna do one of dodie's songs - probably not this one bc now that i've seen this video i'd probably say the same things she said and that would be plagiarism lol - but i think i might do "human"
0 likesBEAUTIFUL THIS MADE ME HAPPY
0 likesI find this interesting, although I prefer to see it more as a conversation between partners with each comforting each other when they need it so stuff like "oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" being followed by "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" the second person speaking is saying they will stay with them, comforting them and making them laugh until they forget what they were even scared of. And the intertwined, free bit is saying they have all the thoughts knitted together in their head but they talk it out with their partner and become free of them. I think one partner has all these thoughts and fears and things where they spill out everything and the other one is more "numb, fine" where they try to bottle their feelings and pretend they don't exist but being with their partner makes them feel more and acknowledge more of their feelings because they know no matter how much time and effort they require their partner will be there for them, because they understand
0 likesi remember u said it wasn't about u and now im confused
133 likesReplies (6)
Dil Howlter you should be looking after dab and Tabitha wyd here
8 likesyuss
1 likecorrect elena!
139 likes@doddleoddle OHMYGOD DODIE HI I LOVE YOU
3 likesdoddleoddle NOTICE ME
3 likesdoddleoddle teacher dodie strikes again
0 likesThis was wonderfully deep.
0 likesas a music and english lit student, this is feeding my soul
0 likesthis was pretty much how i took the song, and it really spoke to me personally because of those reasons.
0 likesi thought of it as two lovers, one of them being very mentally unstable and being dependant of thier lover to feel safe and comforting, but it was damaging for them to do so as it is quite a heavy burdon for the other partner. but the first lover DOES know that, shown in the line "i hope that you dont bleed with me" and i just very personally connect to that and i love the song and cried alot thank u dodie ily
THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE VIDEOS EVER.
0 likesYES AN EXPLANATIONTIONTION
6 likesReplies (1)
Well damn
4 likesLove you, love the song, love the video
0 likesBrilliant and fascinating. Thank you! [Didn't like the video, though. I felt the burning dolls theme was already overdone, such as in Kimbra's "I wanna Settle Down"] Love the song itself, though.
0 likesOh dodie I LOVE this video <333
0 likesMy girlfriend have anxiety and depression and I've already suffered a bit with those issues before... Your meaning to this song matches really well with how she sometimes feels about being kind of a "burden" to me, but my interpretation leads much more to a sweet side of one helping each other, it's really an amazing song and it's actually one of our songs... Thank you for being this amazing human being and sorry for any mistakes in grammar...
0 likesWhat does dodie whisper at 4:05?????????
59 likesReplies (22)
Charis Wang dude I have no clue I tried but i really dont know
1 likeCharis Wang "definitely"
31 likesCharis Wang definitely
2 likesMozedella i think she said definitely
2 likesShe says "definitely". She's trying to stay neutral in her analysis by saying "perhaps more likely" directly before that, but as the writer and with a humorous tone, she's not-so-subtly implying that there really isn't another way to interpret this part in her opinion.
11 likesMaybe "definitely"? It sounds like it cuts off at the very end of the word so that doesn't help.
2 likesoh good so it wasn't just me haha
3 likes+Caroline Harvey I mean, it just makes sense because she said the "Innocent bed scene BUT perhaps more likely..." There's a but which contrasts "innocent" which makes the thing she whispered not-so-innocent.
2 likesCharis Wang definitely
2 likesshe says " they're fucking", hence i see how others heard it as 'definitely' due to the accent, resemblance in lipsing, and the audibility of the phrase...
8 likesShe said it the same way later on and the second time you can hear it clearly. "Definitely"
4 likesCharis Wang definitely fits the best to me, they're fucking just doesn't fit in that specific statement, "more likely they're fucking" ?? I think what she was going for "more likely (definitely)" kindof like worded parentheses if ya know what I mean
2 likesLOL. inocent of u guys.. ofcours she said ther'e fucking. also , it fits the content of the bed situation !
1 likesimple me not in that statement, you know there is a thing called grammar lmao
0 likesCharis Wang "definitely"
29 likesWell ooops
0 likeswhatisgoingonwithdodieandjontellmethanks whatisgoingonwithdodieandjontellmethanks OK soz i take my words. it sounds more like definitely
0 likesahhhh okay ..now you've told me i can hear it now heh.. thanks everyone !
2 likes!!!! do you pronounce it with a silent 'h'?
0 likesCharis K so cool!!!!! Nice to meet someone who encounters the struggle of new teachers saying charis with a ch rather than a k
0 likesomd hahah once a teacher called me that as well 😂 but yeah every time a supply teacher gets it right first time my friends and i are like whoOAA 😂
0 likes.
0 likesDODIE. You're skins looking really clear! I'm jealous :3
0 likesSaw the doll vid first, then this breakdown, so I can't really offer a completely untainted outside 'first impression' of the song in general . We all see with our own colors overlayed, and so this is mine even after being instructed by the artist. I see a clinging desperation to find safety from the shit of the world in the comfort of another person. I'll protect you, you protect me. I actually thought the lyric was "love" away the fear. The whole thing, though sounding sweet seems very sexual, and the sex playing a very strong role in the comfort sought. Perhaps this is the only true moment when the safety from the world, and escape from the fearful thoughts is found, and the recognition of the burden this places on the other is acknowledged. It's a really beautiful song, and I love that you've given insight. Thank you. <3
0 likesI live for this kind of analysis😫😍👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
0 likesI've never been so impressed while listening to anyone talk
0 likesHey dodie! I'm not sure whether your mental health issues were present before your bad relationship (the one you made a video on) but have you ever heard of c-ptsd? It stands for complex ptsd and it can form from long on going trauma, usually in childhood but A LOT of people develop it from adult relationships. It can cause depression, dissociation, and a bundle of other things! Sorry if this seems very forward, I'm not trying to diagnose you with anything but not a lot of people know about it so I thought I would tell you, as I could possibly be something you struggle with! Much love
44 likesI took this song much lighter and happier than it was meant. The "drink all my thoughts" part was taken to me as two partners being able to depend on eachother for a shoulder to lean on when their mental health gets too out of hand. "Laugh away the fear" meant to me that when the two people are near eachother, they're distracted from maybe their depression, or their derealization (the two being my case). The constant switching between a light, happy tone to a dark, gory tone meant to me that there's always going to be that dark mentality, though you can be distracted from it when your with someone who's special enough to do so. Even when you're enjoying each other's company, there's going to be a dark undertone, because whether you like it or not, when they're gone, you're back in that submerged, soundproof room where all you can hear are the unsettling thoughts running through your head. The lovely "oh"s at the end of the song left me feeling sweet, as if someone special had just tried humming me to sleep.
0 likesyou should do a karaoke for this song! its honestly so good ah
0 likesMy interpretation, which is pretty close to Dodie's:
0 likesThe first bit, "Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet, oh you. And I," is reflecting on how lovely the intimate moments are. It's just you and your partner, on this island of love and closeness. It's paradise, like an island.
The line "Safe from the world" implies that there are things that reside elsewhere off the island that are scary and big. But it's okay, because we're here, small and close.
"Though the world may try" implies a struggle against those big scary things, pushing and fighting against them.
And of course, "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" shows that those big scary things aren't actually far away off the island, but rather right there in bed with you, inside your head. It's not the world you're afraid of, but the way your brain sees the world.
"But we can stay here, and laugh away the fear" hints at denial. After admitting we're afraid, we deny that anything's really wrong. We comfort ourselves with the fact that our partner is there to distract away from the big scary things in our head. We can still be happy despite the poison threatening to seep in.
"Numb, fine" is yet more denial. I feel awful, but I'm okay.
"You create a rarity of my genuine smile" equates to "you are my island of happiness surrounded by a sea of darkness."
"So breeaaaathe," is like a relieved sigh the way it's sung, trying to reassure the partner that everything is okay. I am dependent on you, and I know it can be suffocating and unhealthy, but breathe and you'll be fine. We'll be fine.
"Breathe with me." I'm having trouble breathing myself, I feel suffocated too, but if we cling to one another and focus on breathing, we can make it through. I promise.
"Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand theeeemmmmm, ohhhhh" I go from comforting my partner and saying we'll be okay, to once again being dependent. Help me. I can't stand being this way anymore. The drawn out "themmmm" implies that the thoughts are ongoing, and the "ohhhhh" is like an exclamation of pain.
"Intertwined, free" We are brought back to the image of love after reaching the crescendo of suffering. More denial, reassurance, and comforting thoughts.
"I've pinned each and every hope on you," All of my happy visions for the future come true through you, I have so many dreams for my life, all because of you.
"I hope that you don't bleed with me" Those dreams and the pressure of my expectations can and will hurt you, but I hope they won't. Though I want us to breathe together, I hope we don't bleed together.
"I am afraid" again, I'm scared of those big scary thoughts.
"Laugh away the fear." Concluding with reassurance and denial. We're still surrounded by the big scary things, but we'll still be okay. This is what I want to believe.
The "Hmmmm's" like humming a lullaby to someone to help them sleep. Leads back to the idea of being intertwined in bed and sleeping.
Woof! Thanks for taking the time to read this if you did!
When I listened to the song, I interpreted it as someone with mental health issues and their struggle in a relationship. How you love this person and relationship so much and it makes you feel so wonderful, but you can't help but feel "numb" due to your illness. And you have to learn to not rely on the person and relationship to fix problems that only you can fix. And learn how to not just lie and tell your lover you're "fine" when you're not. I personally adore this song. This is one of my favorite songs of all time. The chords and the lyrics and the harmony, it just melts my heart and it speaks to me so much. If you read this comment dodie, I just love you and you inspire me immensely. It takes a true artist to be able to write something like this, and not even be in a relationship. You're so creative you have literally been able to capture the thoughts and feelings of how thousands of people feel, without you even feeling it yourself. It's art at its finest. Truly.
0 likesLast time I was this early mcr was still together
41 likesReplies (3)
Ellie Charles Too soon.
1 likenO
2 likesyikes cries
1 likewithout doing a major analysis kinda thing, the line "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" kinda hinted more towards abusive than codependent to me, I read it as the other person taking away their happiness (like they make the smile only appear rarely)
0 likesinstead of a codependency, i interpreted the relationship to be more toxic/abusive, leading to the mental health issues displayed in the song. other than that yeah pretty much :)
0 likesthis is so clever so can you please do a baritone ukulele tutorial so I can sing it to
0 likesmy interpretation of the song is that the author is struggling with a long-lasting situation (maybe mental diseases) but when the author is with someone special (a friend or a lover i couldn't decide precisely) it's almost like she's forgetting about everything bad that has happened to her, or at least trying to. She always go after this person when she needs help bc this person "drinks" all her thoughts and try to make her happy again, that person makes the author laugh away her fears. That felling of quick happiness and sadness from whatever situation the author is going through makes the author confused, this is why the song has words that are opposite all over the lyrics
0 likesThe music video terrified me...
13 likesdude this is my new favorite song by you now
0 likesi always saw it as a song about dating someone who isn't 'right' in society's point of you (for me in the sense of LGBTQ+) and being afraid the people they love in a platonic way won't be able to accept.
0 likesokay. so. dodie, i love your meaning of the song! i mean, you wrote it, so... anyway. i was kinda thinking maybe it might've been a nonfaithful relationship, possibly abusive, where the girl was so dependent on the guy that she went insane and yeah... uh. anyway. i don't know.
0 likesto me, the song still has a romatic theme. A lover's blind reassurance to their love, who has mental health issues. Issues that the lover doesn't quite understand, but will offer support for anyway. The lyrics reminded me of a person I know and this person is a very positive influence in my life, so I naturally applied a positive, cute, lazy Sunday morning vibe to this song (but with a hint of misunderstanding)
0 likesDEEP
6 likesI interpret it as a sort of model/description of a cliché relationship that is out of reach because you have too high of an expectation. (It's like a display of everything you want but cannot have) and when you see others that have what you want, it brings you pain, although a "perfect relationship" isn't "ideal" (and the people you think you want to be like, have their own problems that they're hiding beneath the surface)
0 likesthis is how my relationship ended. my mental health was too overwhelming for him.
0 likesI AM BEING FED WITH THIS LIKE YOU ARE FED WITH ARTISTIC DISCUSSION. I'm so happy I wasn't the only one who thought this song was as messed up as I'd hoped it would be <3
0 likesdodie i have been dealing with sever depression since i was 7 on top of that i kind of knew things my entire life and never could explain how or why i knew what i did (you kind of seen that first hand yourself if you can even remember a comment i left on i am pretty sure tessas video)
0 likesi just deal with it by calling it my power of knowing and just leave it at that and everybody has mental health issues at one point or another just because you dont go into details about your life it doesnt mean that you dont have sever depression or other mental health issues
i love you and keep up the great work dodie
kazooga1234
Can you please be my music and english teacher???
3 likesTHIS IS SO GREAT
0 likesTo me, I feel like the song is about a relationship and it's a story about the mental health of one of the people in the relationship getting worse and it begins to affect the other person. For example the lyric 'I hope you don't bleed with me' suggests that perhaps the person with mental health issues is afraid of opening up about it for fear of it affecting the other person negatively and making the relationship toxic. And, as the song goes on this person begins to tell their partner about all of this ('drink all my thoughts') and their partner is affected as was predicted. In the video it's like as the person opens up about their issues with mental health the blood and gore disrupts the peaceful setting similar to how something as serious as mental health can affect ones relationships with others and how it's something that's not dealt with very well by a lot of people. and as seen in the video the partner is affected greatly (all the pins stuck in the dolls head sort of like overthinking or being overwhelmed) but they both try cover up and say they're fine ('laugh away the fear') and eventually because they both try cover up and pretend they're fine it ends in the relationship crashing and burning (everything on fire in the video). Perhaps outlining how important it is to have communication in relationships and in how we should get rid of the stigma around mental health in general.
0 likesNow this is just my personal thoughts on the song and I could probably write an essay on it but I love this song and I find it quite relatable being mentally ill and afraid of how it will affect my partner and my relationship with them.
Please please do this for all your songs !
0 likesDAMMMN I LOVE THIS SONG!
0 likesLast time I was this early, Phillip Hamilton was still alive
70 likesReplies (16)
nO SToP
4 likesWhy u do that to me
3 likesnO
1 likeBritish Tea drinker I came as soon as I heard
1 likeI love that I'm finding Hamilton comments everywhere
2 likes' No! He wont shoot you! Just shoot to the sky!'
3 likesEveryone- Alex no.
Hamilton- Alex yes
and i'm crying
1 likeBritish Tea drinker why bring me pain like this
0 likesBritish Tea drinker too soon bro
1 likeWhy. Just Why??
1 likeToo soon bro
0 likesBritish Tea drinker NOooOoo Why would you do that? :(
0 likesDONT DO THIS TO ME
0 likesBritish Tea drinker when the time comes fire your Pepsi in the air, this will put an end to the whole affair.
0 likesIM HERE NOW.. SO Hamilton.... hehe
0 likesBritish Tea drinker nO
0 likesWhen I first listened to it, well, to be honest I don't think I paid too much attention, probably because I let myself be fooled by the first lines, that make you think it will be a sweet simple song about being in love. But when I watched the video, particularly the fire and the scene where there are parts of Barbie and Ken literally intertwined, I suddenly realized how well the lyrics and even the title by itself could be refering to a dependent relationship rather than just a new one describing romance.
0 likesThe only thing I thought apart from that was that maybe it could fit this kind of relationship, or moment in a relationship, when you are so united with your partner, you share so much, you grow to be afraid that if you split, the you that will remain will be one you can barely recognize, one that it's full of things that you thought belonged to the other but now are too intertwined with yourself. If that makes any sense. The dependecy interpretation it's still better.
I understand why it was done like this now and I do love it ,it's so creative and weird at the same time ,but at first ,I imagined the video would be sort of like very warm toned things with like a couple in a little apartment in like white duvet covers with only each other if that makes sense ,I imagined it to portray a simple love where they just ignored the world around them and that and yes they depend on eachother but it would be shown in a more subtle way like in a more ignorant sense idk does anyone get what I mean in the most unorganised way I've explained this ahaha ,I'd love to hear other people's views on this! X
0 likesI like the insight into your thought process regarding this song. The juxtaposition of light and dark balance beautifully and precariously. The only thing I thought differently in my interpretation was it seemed as thought the fear of these dark things happening is more prevalent than the actuality of them happening. The fear that the other person will only be hurt by the relationship is more overwhelming. My two cents anyway.
0 likesMy interpretation is a gruesome relationship that one would read in a horror book
0 likesSkin: referring to a lustfull tendency of a partner
Heat: the blush or euphoria they get from partern
Hair in your mouth: trying to escape a hateful relationship but you can't tell anyone without it coming back at you later
Feet touching feet: the attraction pulling at the victim that they belong to them
Oh you and I safe from the world though the world will try: the world will try to separate the two if the world knew what happens behind closed doors
Oh oh oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain: the abuser is thinking of what would happen if the victim escaped or left them
But we can stay here and laugh away the fear: the abuser is reassuring themselves that their partner would never leave and they can just laugh off the the thought of it together.
Numb: the feeling the abuser begins to feel when they realize their partner is afraid of them
Fine: trying to shrug away all thoughts of their abusive relationship
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles: the parter is the glue holding together themselves together
So breathe: the abuser becomes demanding of their partners everyday life
Breathe with me: you must only interact with me
Can you drink all my thoughts?: can you take away my constant worries and relieve me from my heartaches
Cause I can't stand them: the abuser is slowly slipping to the brink of insanity
Intertwined: the abuser loses control and kills the partner
Free: they are free from the worries of the partner ever leaving
I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me: after losing control of their actions the abuser is taking to self harm to escape the harsh reality that they killed their partner.
I'm afraid of the things in my brain: the lonely partner's thoughts begin to attack their brain to the point that they commit suicide
But we can stay here and laugh away the fear: their bodies lay together where nobody can judge them
The hums and harmonies: a calming melody that reassures the reader that all will be well in the world now they are gone.
I know I'm a twisted child, I'm sorry😕
Waves because I'm early.
32 likesReplies (3)
Tessa Kolva ell
0 likesTessa Kolva jeez i wanted to say HELLO
1 likeLol, I have those days... 😂
1 likeI also felt personally it was about a toxic relationship in which one of the people in the relationship purposes that they let the relationship die instead of ending it. Especially the laugh away the fear. I took it as they were aware of the problems, and choosing not to face them. But this is also really really cool, and now when I listen to the song it's completely different. I love stuff like this, and kinda hidden meaning behind songs is what I live for.
0 likesTo be honest I was always confused about this song. On one hand, simply listening to the melody makes it seem cute and innocent, but if you listen to the words everything gets a lot more confusing. I think the confusion, desperation and dependency shone through to me, but I was never quite sure about the over all meaning and theme of the song. I loved watching this video because I think the theme Dodie talked about in the video was the one I needed to hear, but never allowed myself to at the time. Idk, I just loved this analysis, getting serious English teacher vibes 😂
0 likesSo what I got from the song is someone who has been in an abusive relationship and is just now trying to love again after being hurt. The "things in their brain" are memories of the past of that abuse, which made them not easily put trust in other people.
2 likesI'm going out of order, but "safe from the world, though the world will try-" it's cut off, but I believe it could be "though the world will try to tell me that I'm making up my abuse." Now in what situation would abuse be denied? When the abuser is a woman and the abused is a man. The song is from the point of view of a boy.
As with some abuse, it can leave some PTS and triggers, but this other person is trying to calm him down during one of these episodes by telling him to "Breathe. Breathe with me."
(I'm jumping around a lot here, I apologize) Then he responds with "Can you drink all my thoughts?" He is afraid that if he tells his new lover the extent of his abuse and what it has done to his mind, they will not be able to deal with it and leave him. He's "pinning each and every hope" on them that they will stay with him.
Because of his past relationship, the line "I hope that you don't bleed with me." Could be interpreted as not wanting a relationship like the last, being hit so much that even if they were bleeding, so was their abuser by making her hands raw from blows.
The majority of the song takes place in a bed, with an intimate feel of either cuddling and/or sex with the lover trying to reassure the boy. He tells them he's afraid, and in turn, they tell him "But we can stay here and laugh away the fears." As in "I will protect you, I will make you smile again." Which he does in the line "You create a rarity of my genuine smile."
"Numb. Fine." Comes from beforehand with him telling people he was fine, even though he was numb with pain. "Free" also adds to this, free of his abuser.
The song is not a sequential story, making it difficult to understand if you don't mix things around. It's confusing, but this was the best thing I could come up with. I apologize for any misconceptions I have.
i always thought it was more about a depressed person who falls in love and connects to their soulmate
0 likesintertwined souls if you willand depressed person slowly gets betteralthough still struggles a bitbut everything is okay bc ☄the power of love☄Where's the notification squad at?!?!
14 likesReplies (1)
TylerJosephsCoffeMug IsDun Hello there
4 likesI really wish I could have watched the whole music video.... but my anxiety wouldn't have allowed that.
0 likesWhen you want your English teacher to go this in depth into other songs and poems because of this
0 likesI take it back. This was absolutely brilliant.
0 likesDodie... I wish there was a word to describe you!😭😂 Something like, "omigawd that's so Doddish!", Or "that's really Doddly!". Idk, is it just me?
0 likesthe dolls scared me. like you agree
18 likesdodie would make an amazing english lit teacher!
0 likesThe waltzy, slow-dancey beat combined with the instability in the lyrics reminds me of the ending of Sweeney Todd for some reason, when they're dancing and he just
0 likesthrows her into the fire
See this was really interesting...
0 likesThis was exactly what I thought the song was about but still the music video doesn't exactly feel like it fits
But I suppose that is just my opinion
It's a beautiful song nonetheless, well done dodie!
I love Dodie's reprentation of her eating up the comments!
0 likeswow
3 likesReplies (1)
yes, wow
2 likesI interpreted it in a similar way however, in a sense of the mentally stable (for lack of a better word) partner didn't find being the relief for their lover's mental illness overbearing or toxic. I mostly think that because in my cause, I've been having a super hard time with anxiety lately and met my now boyfriend, who ended up helping my anxiety calm down, to the point where my therapist didn't even recognize me and said he didn't think I needed to continue with therapy anymore. He also loves the fact that he can help me with my anxiety. I guess the way you interpret the lyrics depends on your own situation which is completely normal.
0 likesHonestly, the video was much darker than how I'd first seen the song, though the mental health issues were pretty obvious. I saw a moment in the early days of a relationship where one person was happy but scared and was trying to tell the other person while the other comforted them (hence the contrasts). In my head, the relationship can go either way but the video was very effective, good work by Sammy!
0 likesdodie looks really pretty in this video 😍
0 likesYO i just finished reading Gone Girl and if you listen to the song with that story in mind you can access a whole other level of creepiness with the song (not going to explain it all bc it's too good to be spoiled for those who haven't seen/watched it).
0 likesNOTIFICATION SQUAD
5 likesAYE
DODIE this is borderline twisted😂 Bloody amazing song though.
0 likesThis is going to seem incredibly strange, but when I heard this song for the first time, it sounded like a rose. OKAY THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE but for me, for some reason, songs can have a kind of sound that could remind me of an object, memory, color, smell, etc. For this song, it sounded like a rose (as i said). It at first looked/sounded beautiful and perfect and red, but as you get into the song/rose, you start to discover thorns, and what you think was a nice red turned out to be a sign of blood (woah gory i know). With the "intertwined; free" bit, it reminded me of something getting caught in the beauty of the rose and thorns and then breaking free from it, with a little bit of the blood and rose color making their hands red. idk it may sound weird but I tried to describe it the best I could. Did anyone else have kind of a synesthetic experience with this song too?
0 likesI wish I could write like you...
0 likesI am afraid of death and I suffer with constant anxiety and overthinking. I feel like this song deals with similar thoughts and portrays how it affects a relationship. Not being alone gets one's mind off of it, but at the same time makes them even more aware of how they can't shake their thoughts off. The person becomes self aware and in the end pours it all out in hope of feeling better. So to properly break it down:
0 likesThe first lines describe a peaceful, intimate and an imperfect moment between a couple. They feel maybe a bit too hot and her hair is in his mouth, but, as the second lines tell it, they both feel safe in this embrace.
"Safe from the world, though the world will try - oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" Then the storyteller begins to question what she feels safe from and the anxiety hits in, so she stops herself for going too deep into it. She assures herself that they "can stay here, and laugh away the fear". Laughing away the fear meaning that she can crack jokes about her worries and fears, and make it seem like a smaller problem, though in reality she isn't able to deal with them seriously.
The next verse states how she feels, "numb", but with a smile she reassures that all is "fine" and on a second thought she does feel fine, since she feels a certain happiness with him that she can not reach by herself "you create a rarity of genuinr smiles". Once in a while being with him makes her forget what causes her anxiety.
"So breathe, breathe with me, can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand (them)" she wants him to just be there so she isn't alone with her thoughts. But he can't change her anxiety so she pours her heart out to him and breaks down. I feel that Dodie sings the word "them" followed by the "oohs" separately from the rest of the sentence, which to me seems like the storyteller can not reason with herself why she feels so overwhelmed by her thoughts. She just does and she feels sad, and she acknowledges it.
"Intertwined, free". By telling him all that goes through her brain he has become aware of her situation. The burdon isn't just hers anymore, she feels free. "I pinned each and every thought on you, I hope you don't bleed with me" - she is afraid her thoughts will affect his thinking, and that he will also become as anxious about the world as she is.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear." All of this confirms what has just been said - she is afraid of what or how much she thinks about her fears. And now that he is maybe afflicted by them as well - maybe now they both can struggle to live their lifes happy.
I always thought of this song For friendship
0 likesFor me it was helping I have a best friend that when we laugh my hair is often in my eye so it gets in my mouth and Heat like when it was cold outside so we just sat down hugging each other and her fluffy jacket And Then I have Mental illnesses I always thought it was just she helps me laugh off all the pain and Awfulness of it all And make it all Sweet yet I'm always afraid she'll leave For Better more "normal" friends even thought I know she won't it's like she will and yet when I'm with her I feel like I'm free and Can laugh. With her my smile genuinely happends.
Of course I thought of it as a mental Health song but I thought of the partner being described was almost the one who saves her or him from drowning in fear and insecurities or just life in general. I just always had an image of someone being pulled out of the water with a big gasp of breath. Idk I like dodie's version better.
0 likesthis video satisfies my music soul and my english nerd soul. wow thank you :)
0 likesI bet so many students wish that the poet of the poem they are analyzing in class made a video like this
0 likes“Skin
0 likesHeat
Hair in your mouth
Feet touching feet”
We open up with an intimate scene between two lovers. This confirms that the song is about a romantic relationship.
“Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try”
There’s something or someone driving the couple apart, but when they’re together that doesn’t seem to matter. Perhaps this is a Romeo and Juliet-esq story?
“Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain”
The narrator suffers from a mental disorder that scares them.
“But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear”
Their partner is one of the few things that makes the narrator feel safe.
“Numb
Fine”
The lovers are having a fight. During it, the narrator is numb, and the fine is dismissive, yelling at the other partner.
“You create a rarity of my genuine smiles”
Because the narrator is so dependent upon their lover, they make up easily
“So breathe
Breathe with me”
The narrator is having an anxiety attack, and their partner is helping them.
“Can you drink all my thoughts
Cause I can't stand them”
The disorder is tormenting the narrator and they just want their lover to help them
Ooh, oh
O-oh, oh, oh
“Intertwined
Free”
The narrator is planning suicide, but their partner is holding them back. Being with them makes them not want to die.
“I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope you don't bleed with me”
The narrator is terrified their dependence on their lover will cause them so suffer the same way they do.
“I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
Hmm, hmm
Hmhmm”
Really loved this video xxx
0 likesYes dodie, you do sound like a teacher. ;) But just like for me in school, nothing you said was unexpected or unknown to me. The climax of the song is so intense and fills me up with I-don't-even-know-what everytime I hear it. It truely is a piece of art. I expected you to talk about it being a (happy-ish) waltz contrasting the dark theme but maybe that's just me. Lots of love anyway! You are stunning <3
0 likes4:33 I love the glimpe of harmonic dodie back to professor like dodie
0 likesIs it bad I've never thought about what it means, I've just enjoyed the lovely music haha.
0 likesokay, I think I kind of got it right the first time. Like, my interpretation was around the idea of the two people on the relationship kind of losing what they were, the two of them becoming dependant of the other in a bad way. Intertwined, because it's hot and hurting, but I don't have the parts that you now replace anymore, so if I want to stay complete, I need you, even if that makes me not complete at all. It was about the damage that the dependant relationship caused in both of them.
0 likesThe weirdest thing is as she was explaining it I was like what I missed all this and then when she got onto the "pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" I was like oh my Jesus I knew it all along HOW DID I KNOW AND NOT KNOW AT THE SAME TIME
0 likesI interpreted it as a masochistic person with mental issues trying to protect their partner from themselves, but hurting them in the process. There's a sweet person trying to control their emotions to keep their partner safe, but the partner wants to help.
0 likesall in all I relate, thank you for writing it dodie!
Ah! I'm late because I didnt have access to the internet when the video was published! First this has been one of my FAVORITE videos ever. I'm in love with this analysis. Second, my interpretation! I always believed this song was about romanticizing mental health (not as in dodie saying, oh look depression and anxiety are the best but as in the way the media portrays mental health as mysterious and alluring sometimes, especially when people with mental health issues are in relationships, instead of something terrible and scary)
0 likesWhat I mean here is I thought the whole song was from the point of view from someone with mental health issues trying to convince this person to love them. Of course the singer is desperate for someone in more of an obsession than love, and this is their almost plea for their obsession to be requited, most likely after a one night stand. With soft melodies contrasting the darker lyrics it can come across an almost lullaby but I see it as more of a haze.
Lyric Analysis:
"Skin
Heat
Hair in your mouth
Feet touching feet"
This is a romantic image, probably after the said one night stand, the singer is painting a romantic image to convince the other to stay
"Oh you and I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try"
The singer is saying: We could be together, you can protect me from myself, i'll be OK if you're here
"Oh, I'm afraid
Of the things in my brain"
I can't protect myself from my thoughts
"But we can stay here and laugh away the fear"
Safety
"Numb
Fine"
The other has left after said one night stand and the singer is dealing
"You create a rarity of my genuine smiles"
This person depends on the other so much and can only feel happy when with them
"So breathe, breathe with me"
Singer is talking to them self, they're drowning in their thoughts
"Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them."
I imagined drink all my thoughts as a plea like Dodie, but i cant stand them not as a scream but as this quiet whisper, a breaking point, the singer has gone over this edge in their mind because they've become obsessed with someone who clearly does not love them and they can't handle it
Then the ooos as this soothing noise, I imagined it as medication, something to calm/empty the vastness inside their head
"Intertwined, free"
The singer is intertwined with the other in this unhealthy knot like dodie said, but free represents the other (someone without mental health issues) walking away, free, able to live without their thoughts
"I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me"
The singer is very unhealthy, they've 'pinned' everything on someone who wants nothing to do with them
"Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear"
This ending gets a lot darker, if it were a music video it would fade to black here
the ooos would continue with a shot of the other in a suit looking at a photo of the singer next to a candle
(I'm not going to describe the whole music video idea I had in my head here, because this comment's really long)
Replies (1)
I'm going to describe how I would shoot the music video here though:
0 likesSo camera pans to a 'couple' in bed in the morning sleeping, once the lyrics start the singer is awake though, "you and I, safe from the world though the world will try" cuts to the couple dancing in a kitchen, quietly, you can see the bedroom they were sleeping in before in the background, this is to show they're in the same place (it opens this way because of the song, it's building up quiet and sleepy so so is the music video) "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" the singer, dodie, is laying on the bed alone, in blue lighting, everything before has been in warm lighting, "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" is her in the kitchen picking up stuff previously seen in the dancing scene, "numb, fine" the singer is seen taking a sip of something alcoholic, wine or something probably, "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" cuts back to warm light where they're dancing she is dipped and it's a close up of her smiling at him, "so breathe, breathe with me" blue light, she's in the bathroom staring in the mirror, holding the sink, a tear rolls down her face she quickly wipes it away, "can you drink all my thoughts" it cuts back to dancing where the other takes a sip of wine from a glass, close up of their face on drink, "cause i can't stand them" cuts back to cleaning where she picks up that glass and throws it at the wall, the ooos have us back in that bathroom where she takes some pill, then sinks down the wall, "intertwined" the first scene where they're sleeping, "free" the other slipping out the front door, "I've pinned each and every hope on you" the singer realizing that the other has left, "I hope that you don't bleed with me" then she's picking up the shattered wine glass and she cuts her hand, "I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" we see dodie in the bathroom closing her eyes and then it fades out to black, the ooos come and we see the other looking at a photo of the singer next to a candle, and laying down a rose, then the last shot is both of them at a coffee shop smiling and laughing (this is the first time we've left this apartment and the only time, this is the last scene because it's how she wants to be remembered) The video would jump a lot because so do her thoughts, that's it for my rEALLY long comments! Sorry! If you stuck around I applaud you!
I totally thought it was about a couple who was growing out of love or they just don't feel love like they used to. Boy was I wrong!
0 likesI always thought about the song in a romantic way - intertwined, two people in love that they become one unit and a team and the melodic waltz just pulled me in etc, but then as soon as I saw the video and dodie's interpretation I realised the dark undertones and why the song always felt a bit wrong? Like so beautiful and sweet but just some parts weren't quite right - skin' and 'the things in my brain'. It makes sense now - and for me anyway that realisation of a good thing, a happy healthy relationship but with bad undertones, fragility, dependency, the feeling of a wrong and something 'not quite right' (which I really felt with the off chords and the language choice) but pushed down and forgotten about really ties in with the theme of mental health and relationships - you can can swept away by the romance and the thought of everything being perfect and forget that both of you are human, and there will be problems as a couple and individually, and if you push them down and don't acknowledge those feeling and thoughts it will create problems.
0 likesAt a first glance without listening to the lyrics properly this song is beautiful and sweet, but further down its just a little too dark and it has problems - just like relationships and people - fine on the outside, not so fine on the inside. So i guess now I've thought about it my first interpretation and now my realisation really adds to the meaning of this to me and adds a whole other level of that dark creeping sinking feeling when you realise.
Just my thoughts! Really beautiful and heartbreaking song, and so talented dodie! Thank you x
I always related to this song because it accurately portrayed mental illness within intimacy with another person. It is a brilliant and gentle snapshot into the struggles of having a partner on top of anxiety. I scramble to manage my panic disorder in my day to day life. The lyric "breathe with me" reminded me of how my boyfriend wraps me in his arms and helps me breathe when I go through an attack. I understand Dodie's explanation of unhealthy dependence, but the verse "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" meant something precious and valuable to me. I get so caught up in work and being productive that I don't think of my own happiness or well being as often and I probably should. But he helps me focus on myself and my joy. Not that I am incapable of finding meaning in life without him, but I deeply appreciate his constant reminder that I often ignore. "Genuine smile" spoke loudly because I work as a hostess, so my smile is no different than a name tag or a resturant policy. Thus, the legitimacy of my smile is more intimate and rare than mymy forced grin at work. Additionally, "laugh away the fear" will always have a darker meaning. No one can ever "fix" one's mental disorder, but they can aid in shifting one's focus to positive energy, like lauging. its a temporary solution and the panic will return, but for that moment, I feel safe and free. So, finally, "intertwined; free" is a comforting lyric. Anxiety makes me feel like I am floating off the earth with worry. My feet can't touch the ground and I can not get anywhere. Thus, being intertwined with a loved one helps ground me. I am able to feel something tangible and kind. Thus, I feel free from worry or outside stress. :) Whether this song has a positive or negative tone to it, it definitely captures mental illness in moments of intimacy. You dont hear songs like this on the radio. It holds a lot of gravity for me because I will never have Hollywood love due to my anxiety. and I don't want that romantic, unrealistic kiss in the rain. I want the deep breathes and white knuckles as I calm down from an attack. it is raw and real and I relate to this song extraordinarily. Thank you, Dodie, for this warm and real song about love. 💖
0 likesI interpreted this song basically the way you wrote it, someone with a mental illness in a relationship and all the ups and lows there may be, even the dependency, I have been in that place, I got so emotionally attached to someone because of my depression that that someone ended up frustrated and left me, you can imagine how that affected me, but actually it happend around the time you uploaded the video about cutting ties and you can't imagine how much it helped me, then, when I heard this song It helped me realize that I'm not so okay and to work in my dependency problems. You and your songs have helped me trough the hardest times in my life and had made a better person (I think) and I can't tank you enough.
0 likesYou are way too clever and sophisticated for my brain... how can someone be so awesome and cool, yet so clever!
0 likesThe intertwined video makes me think of Melanie Martinez in her dollhouse video. I personally think both Dodie's and Melanie's videos describe a mask of perfection, where they know that the relationship is terrible and breaking apart but they fake it for others and eventually start faking for themselves. Idk thats what I thought of.
0 likesI LOVE THIS!!!! Yes yes yes!!
0 likesI adore this. I know you said that you don't like to explain your art and like to let each individual interpret, but, honestly, I love it. I love how the lyrics seem to have double meanings, which leads people to interpret the song differently. It is also thoroughly satisfying when not only the words but also the tune of the song changes to get the message/story across. I feel like so many songs today are superficial, with only repetitive lyrics and a catchy beat to propel them to the top of the charts. Not all songs are like this, but most are. They will be filled with vague lyrics about love and heartbreak, most of which we've heard before, none of which are very deep or meaningful. Anyway, I know this is a long comment, but I hope you might consitter doing something like this again for one of your songs that has similar layers and meaning 😊
0 likesI imagined “Intertwined” as a song about a couple who were quite distant and didn’t know much about the other and when serious events came up that brought along serious conversations, they sort of swept them aside until they slowly built up and became so many huge problems right in their faces until they realized that their relationship had become very toxic and unhealthy and just kept trying to push it until they absolutely couldn’t do it any longer.
0 likesThis video was beautiful and this song is beautiful and all the lyrics are beautiful and you are so beautiful and I love you.
0 likesI always thought the song said, "And love away the fear." RIP
0 likesI always thought it was kind of scary. A toxic feeling. I didn't know people thought the song was romantic.
0 likesHi Dodie! I completely agree with your interpretation of your own song that's exactly what I felt when I first heard it. Fear of how damaging a mental illness can be for yourself might negatively affect a romantic partner and your friends in the same way. BUT! the truth is that not everyone suffers from mental illness the same way that we do and not everyone is as negatively affected as we are . . in the past I had relationships that I would put forth all of the shit that mental illness carries thinking that it hurt then worrying that it hurt them and they confirmed it by turning it back around and using it to hurt me just so they would feel better. That is not OK . I'm learning that as I get older and meeting new people and having better relationships with people that there will be people in your life Dodie that can handle it better than you can. You can release all of your fears and all of your worries and cry and cry and cry and they will be there for you and you won't make them bleed and you won't hurt them. There have been hundreds of times that I am spaced out that I'm upset that I don't want to deal with simple things that everyone has to deal with bills and work and stupid things like that to get me so upset and my partner just listens and he knows exactly what to say to at least make me feel comforted that I'm not hurting him when I am struggling. You cannot assume how others feel about you. You'll find someone like that I promise you Dodie. You deserve that :3
0 likesalright i’ll do a few interpretations of what i think some of the lyrics mean. now i think of it completely different, but i used to think of it like this:
0 likesskin- spooning and cuddling, cuts to holding hands.
heat- hugging, cuts to a DIRTY SCENE which i won’t describe
hair in your mouth- kissing, more dirty stuff;-;
feet, touching feet- back to the innocent stuff. watching youtube or netflix together, our feet touching.
~skip~
oh i’m afraid
of the things in my brain
but we can stay here
and laugh away the fear-
both people in the relationship have mental health issues, but while they are with each other, those feelings and thoughts sometimes go away.
numb,
fine
you create a rarity
of my genuine smile- at first i read the lyrics wrong, and thought it meant the other person in the relationship made the other person genuinely smile. but now i see what it actually means. so now i interpret this as a cute relationship gone wrong. at first it was lovey dovey and what not, but then it became toxic. no more real smiles.
okay before I listen to her version, I see the song as someone's who's really insecure, sad, or maybe suffers from some mental problems... it's related to her mind. And it's about not wanting to face everything you have to, because you're (obviously) really scared of it, and you're finally having a moment of calmness with someone... you're afraid the moment everything rages you'll be alone again. The song is her wandering in those dark thoughts and at the same time trying to ignore them.
0 likesok but also god bless this entire song and how she wrote this
0 likesI’ve never seen someone discuss their own song like this. This is transcendent.
0 likesAlright, so my interpretation was slightly different. Some different things plus the mental health issues. I will explain all the lyrics by my interpretation.
0 likesHere we go!
"Skin
Heat
Hair in your mouth
Feet touching feet"
We're cuddling. Your skin is pressed against mine and I feel warm. We're in love.
"Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try"
Things are rough, but we're together, so we're okay. However...
However, the world is against us. People say that I'm not enough for you, that you deserve better. Everyone is trying their hardest to break us appart. I'm in love with you but I'm scared of this love.
"Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear"
I'm really, really scared of this love. I'm scared of myself. The things they say are getting to me, they are overwhelming my soul and eating my brain. It hurts.
But you tell me we're gonna be okay. You're here, you say you love me. Nothing's going to tear us appart. I love you, you love me.
You bring me joy. You send the fear and the anxiety away. You make me feel better, you make me ignore the bad things. I love you very much and I'm glad for having you. Maybe I'm enough for you and you're enough for me and everything will be okay.
"Numb
Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles"
I'm not okay. You make me feel okay but you can't be always by my side and people talk. People talk too much and I listen too much and I'm feeling so numb to everything. It seems like I can only feel bad feelings, so I just excluded myself from all the feelings. I tell you I'm fine because I don't want you to worry.
I'm still in love with you. You're the only one who makes me feel right now. You're trying so hard and I want to be okay for you, but it's hard for me too. You're the only one I try to smile for and it's not healthy, but still.
You're the only one that makes me want to feel alive.
"So breathe
Breathe with me
Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them"
I'm having a panic attack. I have been having a whole lot of them recently, but this is the first one I'm having while I'm by your side. You calm me down. You tell me that I can talk to you about anything and everything. You tell me you love me.
Can I talk to you? I don't think I can. I'm stupid and I'm undeserving of you. You deserve better, everyone is right. I'm not enough for you, I'm not enough for anyone. I can't stand myself, I can't look in the mirror. I'm sorry. I can't talk to you, I won't tell you anything. It's my fault, I can't dump it on you.
But I want to. God, I want to. And you want me to. But I can't. I won't. I'll keep everything to myself and I'll keep telling you I'm completely fine.
"Ooh, oh
O-oh, oh, oh"
I'm trying to distract myself from my own thoughts by singing mindlessly. Trying to distract myself from the fear. It's not working.
"Intertwined
Free
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me"
I used to feel free when we were intertwined. I don't feel like that anymore, and it's my fault. I put all my hopes and all my will to keep going on you, and now it's damaging you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you too. I was supposed to be the only one hurt. Please, forgive me. I'm sorry.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear"
It's eating me alive. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not enough. I love you. Do you love me?
You do. You still bring me joy. You still make me smile. You will help me. I'll be okay. We'll be okay. Together, we will laugh and smile until the fear leaves. We can do it. I love you and you love me and you send the fear and the anxiety away. You make me feel better, you make me ignore the bad things. I love you very much and I'm glad for having you. Maybe I'm enough for you and you're enough for me and everything will be okay. Everything will be okay because we are together.
"Hmm, hmm
Hmhmm"
It's the melody of a lullaby. We're going to sleep and, tomorrow, everything will be fine. Everything will be okay. We will get through this.
We will be okay.
(I suppose that that's my interpretation because I was feeling rather depressed and anxious the time I first listened to this song. I thought it was a really sad, but hopeful song. Maybe because I was sad, but wanted to have hope. And that's why, when I first saw the video, I hated it so much, because I saw "Intertwined" like a beautiful and hopeful song and the video was the complete opposite of that. Nowadays, I understand that a relationship in which one of the people have mental health issues would be really damaging and poisonous, but I still like to think that this song is about one exception. They took care of each other and they helped each other and now they're okay.)
That's it :)
I did not pick up on the use of gorey implications, but I had the rest basically the same as it meant to be. the 'Drink my thoughts' was especially plucking some of my heartstrings.
0 likesI interpreted it as a song about being in a relationship with someone you don't trust
0 likesthis song makes me feel so weird - i didn't realise just how messed up i am (especially within any relatioship) until i heard it, but seeing the video is the first time i realised how FUCKED UP all of this is
0 likesat the breathe breathe part id always kinda assumed that the writer had killed the lover and that the denial was denial born from guilt. this fit well with the whole 'i hope that you don't leave' though i've always been one to try and make things as dark as possible.
0 likesDODIE DODIE!!!!!! In love with a ghost wants to do something with you and your voice please try and get in contact with them you two are my favrote music artists
0 likeshey, id love to do my own video for this song with a cover, would u like it too? cause im a bit insecure and this video would also help me with my curriculum for application in some cinema universities
0 likesThis IS AMAZING
0 likesThis to me is love. I agree with you Dodie, but also think it’s not unhealthy to not always be alright. I think you are so cute and sweet, but of course there is always another side to everything. I know this probably won’t reach you by now, but here. I don’t believe the same as you for everything, but wow can I just watch you be you forever.
1 likeI saw the song as a look back into a bittersweet romantic relationship where both the writer and their partner are both struggling with mental health yet when they're together they actually help each other and relate to one another; but while they think they are helping each other they're both just falling deeper into each others mental health. Thus making everything worse in the end of the relationship(the dependency causing the relationship to end). So while they were in the relationship it was all happiness and smiles though it was all falling apart without them realizing. So it's as if it's two different songs one during the relationship and one after it just mushed into one song.
0 likesI hadn't really considered it before, but I did see this song as a sort of sweet love song with the presence of some sort of dependency and darkness lurking within the person singing. I always took it as being afraid of the monsters within, and finding someone that doesn't make them as scary anymore (or as strong). But, thinking about it, I realize the way in which I was thinking about it did assume a sort of unhealthy dependency on the other person to "deal", which might be more of a representation of my own unhealthy way of thinking at the time when I was first listening to your EP (which is amazing, by the way).
0 likesOh my God! Dodie!!.. You are much crazyier than I thought! or even insane!
0 likesI understand that this story is a fiction and just an image of your feelings. I also had many creepy things on my mind, but I always throw away them cause I know that they are bad or something... But you making a video with an image of killing each other, blowing everything away (even if it's a metaphore) and sing about it so calmly, so it makes this image even more maniac!.. I've really started to fear of you. as always - you just blowing my mind!..
It's a really nice song. without a video it seems so touching and cute. The story that I here is so common and simple, so realistic. But with video - ... I'm afraid of you! Like I've just seen a thriller! I'm shocked. For me it seems just too much for "just for fun".
Still love you and I hope you'll never do things in video in real life!
P.S. I've heard "love away the fear" at first - it ads an interesting meaning, I think ;)
I thought that it was a sweet song that was describing a couple who both have struggles but find comfort in each other.
0 likesThe start , with cuddling in bed, reminded me more of a time where they would be talking about deep things , leading to the lyrics “I’m afraid of the things in my brain” but , as both people can relate, they can laugh it away for a moment and finally feel better.
I thought the contrasts between the happy and sad lyrics definitely did show mental struggle and maybe a dip in the relationships trust (not opening up to the other etc), however once again, find an outlet in the other person despite what’s happening inside.
Dodie you’re so talented and your song was so thought out and lovely and I love it so so muchhhh
Now that I realize what the song means, I feel like it is better! :3
0 likesOkay. So mental health is hard. I've been in a relationship with a guy for about 7 months who struggles with Borderline Personality Disorder. Before we started, he encouraged me to research it so I could better handle his episodes when he had them. Literally every article, every informational video, every book told me RUN AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN. It's apparently not treatable, incurable, and they recommended therapy for the partner involved. But who is going to love them? If the only relationship available with the person you love is a toxic one, what are you supposed to do?
0 likesThat's amazing!
0 likesI don't know why, but for a music video, I always imagined like a couple on a date at like a boardwalk/beachy type place with S/O 1 getting texts every so often from a contact called "Brain" or something like that with all of the "mental illness thoughts" said person has. Eventually towards the end of the date, S/O 2 sees the texts while sitting on the beach and S/O 1 has a break down with S/O 2 comforting. After a bit, S/O 1 realizes the dependability going on, recognizes that it's not really healthy so S/O 1 gets up and walks into the water with S/O 2 closely attempting to understand but not getting it and in the end they both end up drowning.
0 likesActually the first time I saw the music video, some people realized that the video was supposed to match up with how you wrote the song BUT I did definitely see those comments saying it didn't match.
0 likesI lowkey thought the song as a bit differently.
0 likesI mean, I knew what it was supposed to be about, but I had a few theories the first time I heard Intertwined.
I saw a few of the lyrics and thought a few were coming from the point of view of the writer's partner.
It may just be my optimism, but a few of the lyrics sounded a bit like someone was trying to comfort someone else (the partner trying to comfort the writer.)
A few could also be seen as thoughts from both parties and some of the ending could possibly have been the partner's mental/emotional health being diminished by the writer's mental/emotional health as well as their dependency on the partner in question, possibly resulting in either a break up (one that leaves the writer trying to mask the feeling following said break up) or both parties now being codependent and unstable. Leaving them both ignoring the problems and pretending to be perfectly fine with what has happened.
(Sorry if there's any grammatical/spelling errors, or if it doesn't make much sense, it's kinda late and I haven't slept in a few days, so please bear with me.)
ok can we talk about how clever this lady is. she has come up with a song that is so dark but is portrayed so lightly and in the most beautiful way. dodie has so much talent. like i dont even know how to put it into words. this is one smart ass woman who deserves nothing but amazing and great things to happen in her life. i have so much respect for her as a songwriter and singer. i just cant put into words how proud i am of her. and also Sammy and the rest of the team who came up with the video, jesus, it is good!
0 likesI have a hard time focusing on lyrics of songs and sort of just listen to them for the sound. That's why I was so confused when I saw the video because it was so dark in contrast to the sweet sounding song. It made me pay attention to the lyrics, though and then it all made sense ... watching it at 1am probably wasn't the best idea, though.
0 likesCould be just hopeless romantic me, (which it definitely is because the author is very explicitly explaining the meaning) but I always found it to be a song about falling in love and the two people in that love dealing with their mental health together and growing to understand each other and beginning to depend on each other. Thank you Dodie for this song, it helped me through more than you know and explained to me a lot of my own personal relationship. beautiful song, beautiful girl.
0 likeswhen I saw the little "out now" underneath the word intertwined I swear I laughed so hard
0 likesI would love dodie to be my teacher
0 likesI imagined this song as an abusive relationship written from the perspective of the person in the relationship being abused
0 likesSkin
Heat
Hair in your mouth
Feet touching feet
-forced/manipulated into intercourse
Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try
-isolated, being told that friends/family are against them so they shouldn't make contact with them and are safe from them, though family/friends will try to reach them.
Cut short by their partner
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
-Afraid of the awful thoughts about their partner, as this could lead to more/worse "earned punishment". It's best to stay and laugh away the fear of their partner than run and possibly be caught (alternatively, they haven't recognised that what's happening is wrong and stay because they are told )
Numb
Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smile
-smiles rarely and their partner has made it this way, they rarely smile genuinely because they aren't happy, they pretend to be happy and fine because upset could lead to worse
So breathe
Breathe with me
Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them
-take the bad thoughts they are having about their partner because they can't stand the fact that they could ever think anything bad about them
Ooh, oh
O-oh, oh, oh
-screams of pain/terror
Intertwined
Free
-trapped in this relationship, but they are under the false impression that they are free
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me
-every hope that the pain will end is pinned on their partner. They are bleeding because of the abuse, they hope that the partner doesn't bleed too because not only are they oblivious but they don't wish their pain on anyone
I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
-still scared of the awful thoughts but has accepted them
Hmm, hmm
Hmhmm
-sobbing in pain/fear/hatred
I sit next to someone in English who, whilst analysing poems and books, always says "I mean the writer obviously didn't plan that." And I think this video debunks that. I've always seen 'intertwined' as speaking about someone who suffers from a mental health problem and the only solace they can find is with this other person they love. However, towards the end with the word 'pinned' it's showing how they are completely reliant on this person and is needing them to be absolutely fine mentally so they can support the dependant one as well as their self. Also, with the lines "I'm afraid of the things in my brain." Shows how this person is just completely trapped in their own mind, as they can't run from it. I could continue but I don't think I will have space 😂
0 likesWhile I didn't think too deeply about the lyrics of the song at first, I am glad to see this because I always thought that 'skin' was a jarring way/unfit way to start a sweet song, so hearing that was intentional is cool! I like the development of the lyrics because I feel that as the song progresses, the unhealthiness of the relationship becomes more clear, which is a parallel to what would have been happening in the relationship as it actually occured in real life (and is also what happened in the video). Very cool!
0 likesThese comments, this video, that girl, that song <33333
0 likesi love this song so much more now
0 likesI basically had a somewhat opposite interpretation in a way????? For me, instead of seeing this song as someone in a relationship sharing their fears and troubles with their significant other and it being a “burden” on them and damaging their relationship, I always saw it as someone helping their significant other overcome their struggles with mental health and making their overall relationship stronger than before because they were able to share and get help. I think the main reason I always think this way when hearing the song was mainly because of of when it said “intertwined, free” because even though it was intended to show denial I’m a way, I thought of it as being with that person made them feel free for even just a little and maybe even helping them forget while they were together, even if it was just for a little bit.
0 likesSo before i watch this video.
0 likesI have just for the the first time listened to this song on recommendation from my friend who told me the song isnt what it appears to be.
"Ive listened to the first minute and it started off soudning like a relationship but im getting the impression of anxiety/depression?
And she doesnt want to tell anyone else to put a burden on them
She thinks by spending time with the person the song is about, she can get rid of the feelings by herself without anyone knowing it"
Thats the exact messages i sent her throughout the song. I really like songs with really deeo meanings
A month ago I had to do a project where I analyzed the lyrics of a song for class. I chose Haze by the lovely Tessa Violet, but now I'm like oh! I could have just presented your video and skipped the talking. Or not. :P (Shout out for Haze giving me a great mark bcos now my teacher thinks I'm super artsy though) I love this song a lot, and I can really relate to the lyrics. I really like your way of analyzing it too, it'd be super cool if you could make more videos like this.
0 likesIf they remade Romeo and Juliet into a movie (again), I think this song would be beautiful for Act 5, Scene 1
0 likesDodie I neeeeeeeed a cover of Emma Blackery's new song. I think you'd sound gorgeous 😍😍🎶
0 likesI thought, when I first listened that song, it's kinda like questions of in the writer's mind(which is Dodie) killing her, she can't handle it. She thinks if she stays away from the people or 'the real world' itself, she can think less about these questions. As I have the panic attack too, breath part means in the middle, she remembers all the questions again from the beginning of the song, they make her uncomfortable about it. Actually, I think this song has a story behind it, but not between two people, just a person with two different voices in her brain. And as I see in the video that she hasn't got current relationship, she just imagine it as she said. But even if she were in a relationship, she thinks she can effect him with her mental issues and it makes her more uncomfortable. So, I guess, she loves the idea of having someone in her life but she also afraid of effecting him in a bad way.
0 likesfor me i envision the song as a person desperate for help, pleading for their significant other to pull them out of the whole their in, capturing the intimacy of their love, "skin" "breathe, breathe" but at the same time a plead for help "can you drink all my thoughts" "afraid of the things in my brain", i didnt see it as a toxic relationship but one that had elements of a love song but dealt with the desperation of help and security
0 likesI kind of perceived it the same way, but not using all of the lyrics. I kind of viewed it at someone with mental health issues who depended on their lover, but the lover seemed to help them, but when they're not together all these bad thoughts and feelings come flooding back. Xx
0 likesMy original interpretation:
0 likes/Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet/
/Oh, you, and I, safe from the world, though the world will try/
A cutesy little sleeping together type scene that's not portrayed as a hard, get down kinda thing, but just light with the concept still there, followed by the thought of being safe in that moment, with the world constantly trying to exploit that relationship (like the internet and ships, you know what I mean)
/Oh, I'm afraid, of the things in my brain/
(How relatable)
/But we can stay here, and laugh away the fear/
Again that idea of being where in that moment, you are safe and distracted from your mind
/Numb, fine,/
I saw this in two different ways: Saying to yourself "yeah, I'm feeling numb, but I'll put on a smile and go through life like any other day", or I saw it as a more angered tone, like "I'm feeling numb, fine brain, whatever the f you want to do. mumbles pisses me off..."
/You create a rarity of my genuine smile/
Again to that thought of being okay and distracted with that person
/So breathe, breathe with me/
Just a little cute thing again
/Can you drink all my thoughts? Cuz I can't stand them/
Can that person stay here and continue to take away those thoughts and still be the distraction you need
/Intertwined, free/
Again, the thought of distraction in that moment
/I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me/
Damn, this one hits me hard every time. Implying a very toxic relationship where you are so dependant on someone that it would seem it could be suffocating for the significant other, and then that next thought of not wanting to drag the other person down with you because of you being there and having all of that piled on top of them, creating them to bleed with you. (This is a fear of mine for if I'm ever in a relationship, oh geeze)
/I'm afraid of the things in my brain/
/But we can stay here, and laugh away the fear/
i always see the song as a couple with at least one person having mental health issues. this person is trusting their partner with this and sharing their problems, but is worried that it is negatively effecting their partner. it's sorta like they have found a safe place to share their worries and it's making it better for that person but there is always the worry that they are hurting the other. idk lol
0 likesMy interpretation of the song was slightly different..
0 likesWhen I first listened to it, I imagined a happy couple. But the female had these thoughts that were overwhelming to her, and scary. She needed to share them, but she was unsure if her partner would understand(Drink all my thoughts?). She ends up telling him, and it overwhelms him. It ends up messing him up pretty bad, and then the two pretend everything is fine, when in reality, nothing is.
EDIT: It doesn't nessecarily have to be a female and male, it's just what I thought of.
I thought it was more 'I'm fucked up, but you are my one good thing'. Like, love doesn't cure a mental illness but it can give support. As someone with mild anxiety and in a relationship I always found it to be true to my situation, but now knowing it's toxic idk anymore
0 likesLOVE THIS
0 likesSo I choreographed a dance to this song (it was contemporary) (and this song is beautiful) and every dance has a meaning behind it. Whether it is clear or not, it does. My meaning behind the song was that this girl was amazed or in love, if you will, with the thought of love and romance. She knew though that her mental health would get in the way of almost any relationship. But, she was so in love with the though of love, that she created a fictional relationship in her mind. It was perfect. She loved her 'lover' but, she quickly found out that this relationship was not real and was distraught. The dance ends with her calling out for her imaginary lover and looking for them, but she falls on the floor crying when she can't find them. It's a very deep dance and can really be taken many ways (like this song) and I love it. So thank you Dodie for giving me inspiration with your song and all of your music. I doubt you will see this but, whoever reads this, please give me feedback and tell me what you thought of my 'theory' of what the sog meant.
0 likesthis made my day 110%
0 likesI never really took this song as a steamy romance song as she had stated in the first video she posted of this song and explained what she said she thought the song would match with, but more of something like a morning with a sky painted in lovely shades of blues, a delicate light shining through a window, white sheets and curtains, and a couple (preferably females for some reason to me? i think it seems cute with two girls) cuddling, giggling, and just being happy while they lie in bed. Later on comes one of the two crying because of an overwhelming sense of emotions flooding into their mind, but the other lover hugging them and running their hand through the crying one's hair, telling them that they are safe and loved. This helps the overwhelmed one, and they can go back to being happy, and even though it seems like the two girls can't have a healthy relationship (the emotional breakdowns, homophobia, etc.) but the two cuties are strong enough to stay together because their love for each other stays the way it always had been. Kind of a pure thought of mine ♡
0 likeswow, i kinda want this to be me and my best friend. she has a boyfriend. i have no one. i have mental health issues and really don't want to hurt her emotionally with my constant mood swings and emotional instability. but she loves me somehow? like she said she loved me as more than a friend but she loved her boyfriend and wanted to stay with him. plus y'know, homophobic family members. the bisexual struggle is real. someone please help me ♡♡
Just watched this now... it is. Exactly. How I interpreted it.
0 likesomg I'm still not over the pour out your thoughts/drink my thoughts bit! omg actual genius
0 likesi saw it as more of a strange,sinking relationship. that start off quite nicely. they're each other's comfort zones, and have a strong,dependable bond. love is shared,happiness scattered alongside the dark world that tries to get them down.
0 likesthis is when person a realizes that person b has mental health issues,and so tries to help them with such. this comes alongside denial about the issues from b,which of course hurts a greatly. still,all throughout this,they maintain a decent status,until b notices that a has actually been experiencing similar things ever sense the relationship began.
soon after they separate in a bittersweet melody. failed love,foiled by inevitable pain.
After being in relationship with a girl who had severe mental health issues... depression and anxiety being most prevalent I can say that this is pretty spot on. It really sucks for both parties even though you both love each other more than anything in the world. She can't help it. It's not her fault and you don't know how to help but that's all you want to do. I couldn't do it I had to leave and I'll feel like shit about it for the rest of my life. So yeah this song hits me where it hurts.
0 likesthis song is literally me in a relationship lol
0 likesi saw it as romantic before but i like this version SO MUCH BETTER
0 likesI feel like Buzzfeed should have a quiz: 'What does your interpretation of Intertwined say about you?'
0 likesSee to me the way I took the song is that the writer has a mental illness/issues/life problems and their lover is their safe space and is understanding and they feel safe with them. I can totally see the theme of interdependence but it was not my first thought
0 likesHow did I not know these vlogs existed? That's it. Time to drop everything and have a doddle vloggle marathon-le?
0 likesI always thought the song was about abuse in a relationship and how you ended the relationship by killing him.
0 likesDark, I know lmao
Admiring this breakdown so much... beats 'the curtains are blue because-' any day!
0 likesOh my god I've been off the Internet for a month because of mental health and stuff (lols) and just AGHH it's so good lmao I actually had an idea it was about a toxic relationship but I thought it was about like being stuck and intertwined with someone becoming dependent because of maybe mental health or abuse that they had trouble leaving them because they were so attached still but that's probably me just projecting anyways hah!! I love this song so much and the music video was precious bless<3!! It's so funny cause I'm actually in school now and I also write songs and poetry and have to have them read and analyzed in class by my friends (it's only like ten or so people) and it's the best seeing how someone can interpret something in so many different ways I love this!!! Lyric analysis is so fun though I'd love to like idk see more like this just cause I love this kinda stuff it's fun
0 likesloving those SEA/PEE paragraphs like fully bringing me back to my GCSE days when school was easy 😂
0 likesSkin - fragile, vunerable
0 likesHeat - burning up, fire of love/fear
Hair in your mouth - (might just be me) after a panic attack
Feet touching feet - when you curl up into yourself
Oh you - you is the person the writer is on the good days
and I - the bad day person
Safe from the world - so separated and isollated
Though the world will try- - to save the writer from themselves
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain - afraid of the good day person, not sure who they are anymore
But we can stay here - in the comforting pain
And laugh away the fear - love the fear, the writer knows it so well
Numb - the simplicity of pain
Fine - liking the numbness
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles - the good day person can smile properly
So breathe - has to remind themselves
Breathe with me - inviting the good day person to come back
Can you drink all my thoughts? - can the good day person even remember the bad days?
Cause I can't stand them!
Intertwined - wrapped up in the good and the bad. trapped
Free - of normal mental constrictions since the writers is so abstract
I've pinned each and every hope on you - the good day person can do anything
I hope that you don't bleed with me - the good day person shouldn't feel sad
I'm afraid of the things in my brain - the confusion of good and bad
But we can stay here - somewhere in the middle
And laugh away the fear - forget the connotations of staying in the dark of depression/anxiety
this is my version, the you and i are actually the same person but in two opposing mental states
What's weird is when I first heard the song, I did NOT think of anythign dark or negative at all. Instead, I thought that the gory parts and "drink all my thoughts, because I can't stand them" was actually meaning the relationship WAS happy and that "rarity of genuine smile" meant the other partner was making the singer happy, free, and a warmer, nicer person to be around.
0 likesI
0 likesLIVE
FOR
THIS
YES DODIE
I came to a similar conclusion. The singer ishiding a lot of the mental health stuff by sort of digging into the relationship in a sort of unfair codependancy. (can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them) or at least is scared that's what they do in relationships.
0 likesmy interpretation:
0 likesthis song is about an alcoholic father and a daughter who suffers with mental illness. the world is trying to bring her down, and she has issues and feelings that cannot be shared and therefore helped. so she keeps drowning in her own thoughts. the person in contact, is her family. skin, because they are comfortable in their skin around each other and heat because of them being close to each other.
so she stays with her family plays the perfect "dollhouse" as depicted in the video and keeps sidelining the actual crisis.
she lies about being okay, and whenever she smiles, only her family can make her. when she's actually happy and not pretending. personally, i think it to be a father daughter relationship, the father having had alcoholism. so that's another thing that relates to the whole story causing the issues and everything. they want each other to know how they feel, though it's unspeakable.
and yet they continue to pretend and move on not noticing her and her fathers disease.
this part is sung by both the father and the daughter to each other.
intertwined.
they are one soul. whatever they do reflects on the other.
they hope that the other of them doesn't suffer and pins hopes on the other to not make them suffer. the daughter prays that the father doesn't drink and isn't affected by her illness. and the father prays that his daughter feels better and doesn't get affected by his own illness. and they want to explain themselves to each other but don't know how. and just wish that their family doesn't face consequences for their own doings.
I interpreted the song as a song about a relationship in which one of the people involved were having a hard time, whether it be mentally or just something going on in their lives at the moment, but one particular person brings then happiness and joy which would strike fear into the other person due to their situation and do not want them to feel the pain they do. Not sure if I made any sense, but that's just my interpretation. 😅
0 likesWhat I am thought: putting off your darker thoughts with the help of another until you are at least somewhat ready to face them, and the fear that this person's protection may affect them badly
0 likesthis is incredible
0 likesCan you upload a video o how to play this song? ❤️ thank you☺️ its so intense and goooood i love it
0 likesi had a similar if not the same interpretation.
0 likesi thought that the 'im afraid of the things in my brain ' was obviously to do with her mental health and that maybe she was having intrusive unhappy thoughts, or was stressed about the relationship and it was messing her up? because the 'you and I' bit suggested theyre a couple.
'safe from the world, though the world will try' suggested to me that the relationship wasn't popular? like maybe they were homosexual before it was more accepted as it is now, or maybe she had put so much into it and maybe left everything to go into this relationship, but others didn't like it? too many thoughts about that lyric
then the 'but we can stay here and laugh away the fear' made me think that when they spent time together they forgot about all the pressures and were happy and carefree, involved in the love that they had.
yeah. i thought more but my mind is too scrambled to write it all
it is very sweet how you analyse Tour own song dodie :)
0 likesi like the song anyway
if you want to, i would love you to listen to my song seaside and give me some critic (on the song not on my terrible voice)
I didn't necessarily see the relationship as "unhealthy" here. For sure there is dependency, but I felt more of a fear. Specifically I felt a fear of the other person leaving or not accepting the person because of the other person's mental health issues becoming overwhelming. Especially with anxiety, this fear could easily be an exaggeration. It feels as if the person is pouring out their anxieties and thoughts to the partner after letting it bubble inside. The "blood" scene in the music video could be the pouring out of those feelings. The fire of the house could be the imaging of the reaction of the person telling those feelings. How the partner reacts in unsure, but I think that's up for the listener to decide based on their own experience.
0 likesWatching the music video after this. It fucking broke my heart
0 likesMe: how did she get this analysis so accurate?? It all makes perfect sense wtf
0 likesMe:
Me:
Me: ooHHHH YEAAAHHHHHH
Dang, this is the one song of the EP that I had trouble connecting with, because for some reason I thought it was supposed to be happy and I just didn't feel it. But incidentally I also started listening to it on repeat a week before the music video came out, I was humming it all the time and still feeling unsettled about the song. When I saw the music video, it finally clicked, because the video showed what I was unconsciously thinking while listening but couldn't put my finger on. And this literal explanation is even stronger, thank you, I'm usually better than this at interpreting art my own way, I don't know why this one was so ellusive to me! But it was a great coincidence that the music video came out at the exact right time
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And now, not only do my ears enjoy listening to it but my brain and heart do too :)
0 likesi loved this here is my interpretation (Not much differed from urs)
0 likesi (a girl in a hopeless state of mind) have a crush (do i even call it a crush what the actual fuck do i call this??) on a guy (who is causing this love hate state of mind) take the first lyrics, skin, heat, hair in ur mouth feet touching feet" to be a quick shoutout/mention to my creepy yet totally understandable fantasy that is very rare for me to fantasise but its there also being a fantasy of us two cuddling in my dreams... which will never happen HAHA IM FINE more lyrics go to sa "oh you and i safe from the world through the world with try-" is about how somethings happened online that is underneath the surface and loads of people know about "safe from the world" implying the fact that somethings there but its something that if a stranger waled around a place with the people reference d in this they would notice somethings up but its deep enough that it is the opposite of obvious "the world will try" implies that people try to get to me with questions and painful reminders but "safe from the world" is what i am which means they aint getting no where "im afraid of the things in my brain" well im scared shitless that this boy has made me depressed when i found out he already fucked up my mind enough and now my mind is poisoned with horrible possibilities and things that actually have happened "we can stay here and laugh away the fear" basically, me and my friends made a joke out of the whole situation as he did with his friends and we never talk deep about any of it we never talk at all actually its glossed over with jokes and giggles but when really its a horrible thing killing my brain from the inside out unless i stop it (which is hard to do) "numb, fine" numb refers to the fact that im going completely numb with this and that anything and everything i do now has something to do with it, fine is how i act not in a "im sad but i lie that im fine to hide it" way but like ive learnt to live with it im fine but im not ok or im o but not fine (at alllllllll ayyyy where meh swifties at?) you create a rarity of my genuine smile" meaning just thinking of us talking and laughing together brings me joy that takes days to wear off then i realise whats real and whats not "so breathe breathe with me" i take as nothing sexual but when staring into eah others eyes creating a moment people start to notice and it gets kind depressingly intense like nothing sexual but like sad "can you drink all my thoughts? cuz i cant stand them" is the fact that i want us to talk about it everything. and its to the point that i cant stand it and yet every time we try and talk one of us (mostly me) chickens out lol "intertwined, free" meaning that theres something there like me and him arent strangers but we never dated so wtf are we? "free" meaning you know im not in a relationship but intertwined states that there is definitely something holding me back "ive pinned each and every thought on u i hope u dont bleed with me" meaning two things for me 1. ive told him how ive thought about this yet idk how he feels and im scared he will "bleed" With me but at the same time thats what i want 2. ive told every damn thought on this to a specific friend and im hoping they dont get hurt by me doing this.
now this situation that i listen to the song about is very complicated very obvious but not at the same time kinda intense and sad and very very very hard to explain so i dont blame u if ur hella fucking confused lol
I thought the whole song was mainly about codependency and mostly denial, denial of being so codependent, being in denial that however much you think you know the person, they are still just an expectation
0 likesi also thought it was a metaphor for mental health.
this video is perfect, also can we just appreciate dodies eyebrows
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like they normally look great but they look extra great in this video
0 likesYou are a lyrical genius
0 likesThis song was literally my relationship
0 likesI looked at it as someone suffering from either mental health issues or a toxic past relationship or something that haunts them but finding someone that drinks all these stories and fears up without judgement and helps the artist feel a bit better and surrounds them w a support system???
0 likesThis song always gave me an image in my mind of a warm fuzzy couple- that's the words I use to describe it, and they're snuggling for some reason and they're taking evening walks on the streets together holding hands on the sidewalk with the romantic eerie lighting of the street lamps, and they're happy, but one of them is sad at the same time and the other is comforting, almost protecting the other. They're each other's homes in a way, but not in a way where they're dependent on each other, just that they're safe with each other. However an antagonist comes into this song is society. Society is telling the couple things about their relationship and things about each other that are negatively affecting the relationship. I could go deeper into this part of the theory but I'd prolly be here for hours lol. -
0 likes-My theory for the music video tho was that in the music video, when dodie says she's afraid of the things in her brain and then it openly showed the doll'a brain in the video I pictured that as society being introduced kinda into the "story and that that's when society's opinions started to puncture and become acknowledged as thoughts that the doll was trying to get rid of and ignore and was trying not make into a thing or a big deal because she was scared of what it might cause, it was nothing she planned on talking about but it was just kinda in the back of her mind, as kind of foreshadowing. Then the "blood", or the red liquid that was poured onto the dolls I pictured as when the thing she was trying to not let become a thing becomes a thing and causes conflicts in the relationships, the blood symbolizing society and it being crashed on, or poured onto the relationship. This causes the relationship to change, to become difficult and I don't want to say toxic but almost toxicbut not that extreme- but also extreme at the same time IDEK im confused too. Society rips and gashes at them and causes the couple to think things and do things (no not kill each other that's not what I meant lol), harsh and hurtful things, but also attempts to break free from society's harshness. This leads up to the fires- the breaking point. ----------------A part of me wishes that it was a romantic song about dodie and jon bUT THATS BESIDES THE POINTImagine if English teachers chose things that have actual meaning rather then poems about nothing
0 likesOkay so I know Dodie definitely won’t see this comment cause I’m over a year late but I wanted to share like my journey with this song. When I first heard it I absolutely fell in love because I felt it was about how when you’re cuddling and intimate with someone you love that you feel safe and fine and you can laugh and the bad things don’t seem so bad and it was at this point in my life that I had just started a relationship and I felt that so when the video came out I like completely rejected the author’s intention of the piece (having just written an essay on Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author (my film studies lecturer would be so proud)). I have probably listened to this song at least once every couple of weeks for the duration of the year and as I grew and as the relationship broke down, this song just moulded into an entirely different meaning than what I originally connected to it with. I watched this video when it came out and said ‘nah I think it’s about spooning away your troubles’ and now I’m like damn dodie you fuckin caaaaaaaalled iiiittt
0 likeshey dodie, where the heck did you get the glasses you wear in this video. they are so cute and adorable and I would also like to have them, thx
0 likesI think I'm too late, but I listened to the song many times before watching the video.
1 likeSo, my interpretation was similar, but I had a different vision for the video.
1st verse....
I imagined the lover sitting and reading a book facing right and Dodie sitting besides but facing the front.
She is singing to her lover, but the lover is not paying any attention.
2nd verse....
From "Numb, Fine" onwards, Dodie is still facing the screen, but she is walking alone in a street in the cold and foggy wether and slight precipitation. Her lips are dry and a little blue. She is on the verge of crying.
3rd verse....
Intertwined- Back to first scene.
Free- Back to second scene.
Later the first scene continues.
Oh, I'm afraid..... brain- Dodie is crying and wiping away tears. When she wipes them away, she removes then and her cheeks get covered with blood.
But we can stay here.... Dodie starts smiling to give us a brief sense of hope.
And laugh away the fear.... Dodie's smile turns to frown after 'fear'. In the harmony part, the camera reveals that Dodie's lover is behind her, wounded and dead. Then the camera tuns back to her face and she ignites a matchstick or a lighter and throws it, this starting fire which would turn both Dodie and her lover's corpse to ashes.
Edit: I might be too late.
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wonderful! i love these ideas!
0 likeswhat is the fire showing in the music video? like how the relationship was going down in flames? and what was the blood and loss of hair for? overall loved it, just confused on those couple. love the song dodie!! 💛💛
0 likesBeautiful.
0 likesIt's the THING
0 likesit's like you saw inside my brain and oops here it is
like
GOSH ok
that is how it is exactly oh gosh
and the way a depressed person like myself feels like their burden is going to leak onto the people they have the courage and indiscretion to love and damage them and it's all- -there in the song
and you did it, there it is, I'm such a catastrophe oh god
but the first time I heard the song and had a mini brain explosion because it's all exactly how it feels and the words and WOW
When I first heard this song I envisioned two girls, caked in mud, running into a cave to get away from a rainstorm. one girl is bleeding from a head wound and the other slings off her pack take out a first aid kit and tend to the gash in her companions head. The scene flips to them sitting huddled in a blanket reading a book together while they wait for the storm to pass, then them laughing about a memory, then them talking about one's abusive family than the others mental illness. I see them going through so much and talking about a lot in this cave but without reselution.
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side note: in my mind they are lovers but sometimes I like looking at them, and the relationship in this song as friends to help see diffarent meanings
0 likesI interpreted it as kind of people helping each other through mental illness if that makes sense? It's kind of like when a friend and I both talk about anxiety, because then we kind of share the burden, and then afterward the anxiety can kind of be like going back and forth between being happy about having a good friend and being anxious about being alone again, and then wondering if you'll make it through. Again, this is just my interpretation, so yeah :) LOVE THE SONG!
0 likesI need another of this
0 likeshow i see the song (before watching this vid and the music vid): someone with mental health issues who finds someone who helps and is like the calm in the storm, and hoping the person doesnt leave them behind
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afterwards: god damn. this is. so deep. i feel like i relate to this song a little more now. i also feel like thats not a very good thing at all. still a damn amazing song though
0 likesto me, the song is about the one person who makes you feel safe. i do tend to see the positive in things, so maybe i'm just ignoring the negative things, but to me the entire song gives off an aura of calm and safety. my boyfriend and i both have mental health issues, and the idea of wanting to drink away the bad thoughts is one i can relate to on both sides, wanting to help but also needing help myself. idk, this didnt really make that much sense, but im not good at words.
0 likesDoes anyone know what program(s) she uses to edit her videos???
0 likesWow. Amazing!
0 likesthis is amazing...
0 likesI didn't really understand just the lyrics at first but what I got from the music video was about a first very happy couple doing well for themselves. But, as the story progresses the lady begins to think that she must be a perfect wife/fiance she eventually falls into a madness because of her anxiety not to mess up. In the end her insanity warps her perspective on him and she thinks it's all his fault, so she commits a murder suicide.
0 likesOh. My god. That is incredible
0 likesCan someone please tell me where I can find Dodie's glasses? What brand/style are they?
0 likesi wish i could write half as well as dodie
0 likesDodie can be my music teacher? I wouldn't mind
0 likeswhen you realize your mental health issues are going to ruin any relationship you have. I can just see it now. fuck.
0 likesAnother thing I don’t think you mentioned that I found really struck a chord (ha music pun) with me was the Ooohs sort of sounding like sobs or whimpers; the broken up and shaking intonation at points mimics the tired fragile sobbing after a panic attack or breakdown and having just followed a section where the subject is being asked to breathe and begging for someone to drink their thoughts really resonates and strengthens the feeling. Sorry for being super nerdy you probably knew it already but I’ve always felt a really strong emotional pull from that little bit and thought I’d give my two cents ^.^
0 likesI saw this song also as a toxic relationship but about the other partner trapping the narrating partner. Kind of about abuse but more about the partner wanting the narrator all to themselves. They want the narrator to think what the partner wants them to think and not stray out of the partners view. Like they have separation issues but in a controlling way.
0 likesI feel like the lyrics are not actually all the narrators thoughts, but are actually what they have been brainwashed and trained to think about their lover. It's sounds regretful that they ever fell in love in the first place, sarcastic about the other partners absurdness in how they trap the narrator, but also it sounds like the narrator is slowly staring to believe these things as well. That they should have no life without their partner, and that they belong to them and are "safe" with them.
The partner makes them believe they are "safe from the world", and to not let the world have them, to stay with the partner "though the world will try~", this line makes me think the narrator wants to see what is out in the world, without their partner, but the lyric cuts off in the middle of the sentence like the partner silencing the narrator not letting them have their opinion.
The word "numb" is the narrator telling us she feels numb in this relationship, like she can't have anything to herself or be her own person. "Fine" is another example of the partner controlling the narrator telling them they are fine and are not allowed to think that way.
"Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain", i think is the narrator saying they are afraid to let out any of their own thoughts and opinions and are afraid they will explode getting them in trouble with their partner. They want the partner to "drink" their thoughts so they won't be hurt by them. For the thoughts to disappear and make the narrator numb and under the partners control again.
Try listening to the song with this in mind, it's really terrifyingly interesting. Just my opinion on it 🙃.
I imagined this song as a person drowning in depression and depending on somebody elses grip to stay alive.
0 likesWelp that's better than anything I've written, i'm basing my next piece on this.
0 likesThis is k favourite song of dodies 🤧😊
0 likesWell isn't that intriguing? Anything that exhibits poetic juxtapostion in such a way so as to deliver such a deep meaning whilst also seeming rather innocent is what I love to experience. Not unlike how I approach naming things. (Be it a baby brother or just an RPG character.)
0 likesYooo you should actually do a music video that's a dance duet but also kind of twisted and weird !!!!!
0 likesOne small thing to remind people is how dodie says "can you drink all my thoughts" and how it is unhealthy to feel the need to have people almost ingest your problems to share/transfer them. In all relationships, not just romantic ones it is important to remember to help your friend/partner with their problems but not take them on yourself
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I say this because my friend moved school and she started becoming her friends confident, but the constant strain of helping her friend with mental health brought her own down and she started feeling poorly and doing worse in school. So yeah, um, relationships can be mildly toxic without meaning to be - but you can always talk to your friend and step back from their problems while still being a great friend to them
0 likesI felt most of the same as you, but I thought more of the female doll being purposeful in her drowning of the relationship (in blood, sadness, grief...). There's a suggestion of the male doll being the unfortunate and properly placed recipient of the female dolls spats of anguish. It didn't seem to me like this relationship was a give-and-take, co-dependent type of thing; neither were strong enough to survive this and that's why they both burned at the end. Pouring out your feelings to someone who will listen is a reassuring, yet exhausting feeling; but the female did not take into consideration how the constant barrage of negativity would affect her partner and her partner was not willing to be fully open to her (her head being cut symbolizing her depressive mind-dump and his face being cut off to show his skeletal face, or his "true" face). Anyways, that's what I thought about it. Love your songs, Dodie. <3
0 likesFuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk, I never thought I related to this song at all the way I was interpreting it before but holly heck I am like in shock at how much this is true to a situation I've been in. Like WOAH my mind is a little bit completely blown
0 likesI just noticed that ,as someone that has English as a second language, I know nothing about it. It feels weird now, but the music sounds good considering what i could understand hahaha
0 likesI thought "numb, fine" was a great lyrical choice, because if you mumble "numb fine" together it sounds like "I'm fine" or "Nah I'm fine" (...that might just be my accent).
0 likesAnyway for me it added to the theme of disguising your mental state... Idk someone else talk now.
You are just so fresh, and beautiful.
0 likesis there any way we can show this to dodie's english teachers???!
0 likesi clicked on this video intrigued by what the actual meaning is but had to stop because my own interpretation is special to me :)
0 likesthe first time i heard the song i thought awe this is cute but by the third time i heard it i was like oH sHe iS dEEp. so when the video came out i was like mhm exactly
0 likesi've kinda thought of the video as a girl that has a lot of mental health issues that she wishes that someone could help her but you can't really depend on someone else to help you and you kinda have to help yourself and it just goes downhill from there (idk if this is kinda how dodie described it but that's how i imagined it)
0 likesHow I wish this would have been subtituled. English is not my mother language and I can't understand everything she says (Dodie, you speak so fast!)
0 likesThe song had a very specific sound to it; not quite peaceful, but not outwardly negative. It felt like being under water. Still, calm, but always with a tiny underlying tone of desperation and lack of control; the feeling of drowning very slowly. The little unsettling words, as subtle as they may be, kept suggesting danger but never really allowing the song to shift tones. As if to cover this need to cross that uncanny valley into one tone or the other, sweet or scary, it kept getting a little louder, a little more urgent, a little more overwhelming. At the end, it drifts back into calm, sweet tones, as if going to sleep. But after the rest of the song, you can't exactly feel the tone as happy anymore. The problems aren't being settled or solved, just put to rest for another day, when they'll come back full force and the whole cycle will repeat again. It leaves the ending feeling foreboding and hopeless, despite the nice, pretty melodies. Gorgeous stuff.
0 likesI definitely did picture this song as a mutually destructive relationship, but the music video made me think the song was about being so obsessed with a person that you don't know what to do with your own troubles. That, or feeling as though you want nothing more than to become them, to crawl inside their skin, wear their face, feel what it's like to be in the body of someone that matters. Being afraid of that obsession and worried you'll hurt them, but also too enthralled to step away.
0 likesThis video was so amazing and interesting. It's so incredible to see your point of view on your own music, and I absolutely love it. You should do more of these, i'd LOVE to watch them.
0 likesLove you Dodie (if you ever see this probs not haha lol)
weird how you can listen to a song for years and not understand it properly until the words you're singing along to are relatable. I came here to see what the intended meaning was. to me though, this echos more being open with, confiding in, and comforting each other when there is no one else to. it sounds vulnerable, but meaning a lot to each other isn't inheritantly toxic? I like to think that this comes in a narrative before 'Ready Now', as then it would imply a reaction from the second person - ('can you drink all my thoughts?' to 'I will listen' etc), and a growth with the singer's relationship with the outside world - ('safe from the world, though the world will try' to 'and I told the world (and 'the world seemed to tell me') that I have a plan'). Not to say I don't love the darker implications, I literally have the poster from Sammy's website on my wall haha, but still, these songs have stuck with me personally today.
0 likesWe all have our own times our minds are blah. As difficult as it might be, I still hope you find love in life and can make happiness out of the troubles in life. ^_^
0 likesI taught the song was two lovers that shared everything together but the writer is afraid that being so close to the other person, she would share her insecurities and such to her lover. and then you have the lyrics that suggest that the other person is trying to calm the writer but is falling to calm him/her self 🙈 overall I quite like it even though I think it's a bit slow in the beat and lyrics, just not my style 😊
0 likesI love it
0 likesHi :), So this is kinda to everyone with diagnosed depression: If your doctor starts to talk to you about medication, then these are some of the things to take into consideration:
0 likes1: You might be EXTREMELY spaced out, And not really care about the issues of today, You'll lie around almost zombie like, However this doesn't happen to everyone and it really depends on the medication given.
2: Things get better before they get worse: You'll for WEEKS even MONTHS feel like the pills are doing FUCK ALL and might even be making your depression worse, however after a few weeks or months you'll hopefully start to feel a change ( it might be point number 1) however after that things do get better, and they even help you face up to your mental health, So you could one day, Get off anti- depressants and get better :)
Ik nobody's gonna read this but, thought I'd put it out there :) From one sufferer of depression/anxiety to another, ;)
Dodie, this may be a dumb question, but do you put this much analysis into the song while writing? Or do some of these things seem to pop out after it's already written and it just fits perfectly?
0 likesI really wanna do a dance duet to this song with my best friend josh because its my favorite song and i love it and you. if i did i will send it to you xxxxxxxxxx
0 likesI guess I'm a hopeless romantic because I didn't think of it this way at aLL (even though this analysis is beautiful and really well thought out and composed 10000/10 would recommend good job dodie).
0 likesI was sort of recently in a sort of relationship that went downhill fast because of my anxiety and I went about it all wrong and he did too. It just wasn't a good situation. I guess I looked at it as hope for me.
Most of the beginning shows the writer's struggle with mental health, and for me how they were afraid of it affecting their relationship to the breaking point. They have their moments of freedom, where everything is ok and it feels like everything will be alright between them, but the fear gets in the way.
The ending shifts back to a pleasant moment for me. I can remember having an absolute panic attack, my then boyfriend trying to calm me down, and helping me through it with laughter. He'd tell me to breathe and as I was winding down, he'd show me things to make me laugh.
With that being the ending, I saw it as working through the issues and finding peace in each other. My favorite part was "intertwined, free" because I saw it as being intertwined with the person that you love and being free from the fear of it. I guess that's pretty sappy but that's what it felt like for me.
I'm glad I enterprited the song right!
0 likesI know this isn't even close to what the song is about, but I always saw the song as a person speaking to themselves. Like being all alone and just imgaining that there was somebody could help them. Or wishing they had somebody to confide in.
0 likesThis is me exactly in a relationship...
0 likesI'm glad the original meaning isn't so far from mine. To me this is probably the best, most sweet song to represent comfort in a relationship. I see it as a representation of those moments where life has beat you up a bit(a lot) too strong and how good it feels to have someone to go to, cuddle and just enjoy the moment. I like it tho, that you wrote it as one of them or both having mental issues, but I would prefer to think they're comforting each other instead of just avoiding problem resolution. Either way, I'll never stop interpreting being in a safe, comfortable space with someone you love whenever I listen to this song. I guess each person's interpretation is based on what they're dealing with or looking for. I don't have any mental issues that I know of (except for maybe a bit of anxiety? [which could support "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" cause that's what an anxious mind does. It creates a series of inumerous scenereos, most of them not very happy] Having been diagnosed so) but I do feel like just being like on this song sometimes so that's probably why I interpreted it that way
0 likesPS: I strongly interpret "Intertwined. Free." As the fact that they're there together and safe is like freedom from a busy and worried mind and the problems of life. I won't be convinced of anything else.
i kinda had an 'us against the world' image going on, where one person in the couple is running from whatever issues they have in their life, and is taking their partner with them.
0 likesWhat I thought the song meaning was is the woman couldn't love the man enough and was afraid of leaving him as well. Although they have had intercourse so many times, she isn't able to love him enough. To make herself feel better, she intertwines them together, this way she will be stuck loving him. I had a totally different meaning than the one you implied with the woman being dependent and draining her toxic thoughts onto another person. I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics at first either, which might be why I jumped to this meaning. I also thought it sounded similar to the song "My Time" by Bo en. You should give it a listen! Love the song and love you dodie <3
0 likesYou are so Great!!
0 likesI feel and see a lot of what dodie is saying but to me also the theme that stands out is isolation and the need to be perfect by society's views. The video first starts off with a house, a pink one no less. This might not seem important but to me it shows how society forced the girly ness or need to be right in their eyes. Pink is often stereotypically catogarized as a girls Color and when a person other than girls like it, it is deemed not right, worthy of horrible judging. Also present on the house is flowers which further enhance the feeling of femininity.
0 likesThe song starts with words very abrupt, Skin. Heat. These words portrayed with the scenes show how people need to be close all the time. It seems to point out (quite subtly) how weird it is that we need to be so close even when we have been with others so long and that maybe it is unhealthy. Next feet touching feet pans to Barbie and ken both in bed intertwined their feet close together, hinting that they have had sex which also seems to point out the underlying impulses or need that society forces on us to have sex because apparently without much of it then it's not a 'right' relationship.
You.. and I, safe shows them in a tiny kitchen sitting like perfect couples are supposed to, it implies a sense that they are trying to be perfect and fit society's norms. She then adds on ..from the world which started to show a sense of isolation. The ideas seem to clash and yet even that shows s sense of society because (They want the best for you yet force unhealthy standards on you)
(Not done yet so.. also I wrote this the first I saw this on the day it came out I just forgot to post it..)
now this is what i should be studying for my music GCSE
0 likesmusic video says more than what your explanation does imo.
0 likesthe video seems to suggest more self harm, evasion, and manipulation than you describe. theses the scene with all the blood (harm) and the scissors (making a physical change to attempt to symbolize a change that actually hasn't been made), and Ken with pins in his head (perhaps showing he is taking the blame and responsibility for all this, wrongly or otherwise). having done all of these things while in relationships, perhaps I am a bit biased, but I think the song- video hit on somewhat larger issues than what you have just in your own experiences. takes a good artist to do that, so thank you.
the one little thing I have that bounces off your original meaning is that "with" that has a fancy, more complex twiddle assigned to it . it means two things to me - that person a (referred to as I) tries to dress up the relationship and make it look better than it really is to others , hence the use of the actual word with, and that the relationship of person a and person b (referred to as you) is complicated and fragile as the notes are fast, contrasting to the rest of the song, and short, perhaps mirroring short-temperedness with one another.
0 likesAhh I love it even more
0 likesI honestly thought that it was a toxic relationship. Like it's just benefiting one person. The other is slowly breaking down but won't tell due to an overwhelming love for the person.
0 likesi had a girlfriend with psychosis, ptsd, etc. and i have a few mental illnesses as well. we were both going through problems but we were always there to help each other out. but eventually we had to break up bc she felt she needed to focus on her mental health. and although that's good for her, my mental health has been declining a lot bc of it... i really connect with this song in many ways.
0 likesIf anyone knows where dodie got her glasses from in the thumbnail I’d be forever grateful if you let me know 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
0 likesI also tought the video was really smart to make cause it helps a lot to understand the song
0 likesI thought that the video matched the song really well as Barbie is generally viewed as perfect however fake. Perhaps how people with mental health issues tend to mask their thoughts and feelings. Trying to accomplish perfection and to everyone else they look fine. When her head was cut into and showed her brain it showed the struggle of those with a mental illness - how all the signs are there but you aren't getting the help you need; you feel people are ignoring you. Also Ken and Barbie are usually viewed as the perfect couple so when things started to go downhill in the video it juxtaposed this idea of perfection turning it into something fake and taboo. When she started to cut her hair it represented the instability of someone with a mental illness and the urge to do something drastic and hope that it'll change the way you think. Towards the end when Barbie and Ken where stitched together it showed how we pick up the mannerisms of our partner and how it can be hard to be away from them for a period of time. When the house was burning down it showed how easy it is to break down but it's ten times harder to build yourself back up. In the song when she says 'can you drink all my thoughts?' it represented the way she wanted to get rid of any feelings at all because they felt suffocating. The word 'drink' suggests she again wants to pass these thoughts on and be rid of them. 'intertwined' and 'free' show the author's confusion at her situation. She has her freedom given by her partner but she feels trapped by her thoughts that haunt her mind.
0 likesJust my interpretation. Idk, amazing video + song though! Xxxxx
Dodie should so be a music teacher or English teacher.
0 likesI interpreted the song a little differently, but I like Dodie's analysis just as much. The first verse of the song for me seemed to portray intimacy that was close, but quite strained and a little awkward. To me the feeling of "hair in your mouth" is quite uncomfortable, but "feet touching feet" suggests familiarity. Then, "Oh, you and I, safe from the world" gives a feeling of togetherness, but also underlying escapism in one another and a false sense of security to me. "Though the world will try" definitely implies that the writer has issues in their life and in their minds, an uncomfortable ending to a semi comfortable verse. It leads you right into "Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain" which is outright saying that the writer has mental health issues, while leading the listener into a series of high, distressed notes. It then goes down into "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" which for me just brings in an image of either bravery (laughing in the face of fear) or cowardice (laughing in the denial of fear). "Numb, fine" ince again plays into the theme of denial, as if the writer is simply pretending there is nothing wrong and she is fine. The next line, "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" can grammatically have two very different meanings based on what you want to hear, and I think that's the point. It can either mean that because of their partner, the writer smiles genuinely which is otherwise rare, but it could also (and more likely) mean that the writer's partner is the reason for the rarity of the aforementioned smile, like the writer has to act fakely. "So breathe, breathe with me" to me sounds a lot like the writer is trying to calm down after a fight or a panic attack, and lulling themselves and their partner into a (false) belief that everything is fine. "Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" sounds like firstly, a slightly out of the ordinary, desperate request and secondly a struggling scream for help. Then, it goes quiet again, like the previous lines are trying to be forgotten. "Intertwined, free" is a big contrast, but not that big if you look at it the right way. To me it just sounds like the couple want to be together and apart all at once, which I feel is a lot like reality. However, "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me." sounds a lot like a dangerous and desperate dependance on one another, like the writer is trying to say that they have put everything in someone at risk to that person and themselves which is unhealthy. Overall, the song sounds really confused to me. Not completely hopeless, because there are a lot of lines that suggest a real closeness between the writer and their partner, but confused, as if the writer doesn't know what to do with themselves and their partner is oblivious. But that's just my interpretation, I didn't write the song so I could be wrong
0 likesdid not expect to be thrown into one of my music GCSE lessons
0 likesThe summary of my theory is that the girl had a mental illness and she was afraid of how it would affect their relationship. All of this was happening in her head. She overthinks things and hopes her her partner won’t think she’s crazy.
0 likesOh man Dodie... that hit me hard.
0 likesThis is fabulous.
0 likesI kind of interpreted it in a, not exactly mental health, but more of a self doubt kind of way. Like, the narrator had been bullied/teased for one thing or another. Now they are protected and the bulling has stopped. But negative thoughts have been implemented into their brain, so that they do not think they are good enough/worthy. They don't want to doubt themselves, hence the lyrics, "can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" and, "I'm afraid of the thing in my brain." But that was just how I thought of it. I think the mental health side of it too.
0 likesI think of it as an abusive relationship and the narrator in her head knows it but still loves her abuser and so completely denies it to everyone, including herself. Some parts of the song are like she's trying to get people to notice the toxic relationship so they can help her but other parts are her stating that she is fine. Also the bit about drinking, from that I got alcohol, possibly the reason for the abuse or perhaps the victims only escape; To 'numb' herself.
0 likesMy problem with Doddie is besides the amazing amazing lyrics and though she put in her songs, she can't really transmit the feelings of the song in the instrumentation, at least for me. The song sounds like an happy lovely song if you ignore the lyrics, which made me think that was one, every song of her sounds a bit of the same to me, i like all of them, but I feel the real meaning are lost just with the guitar and sweat composition. Maybe she could differ a bit on the instruments and made them more powerful,more dark, maybe a bit more interesting to the hear. The lyrics are so complex and profound, I think she could made her music pair with them. Just my opinion, I don't understand anything about music, just a though.
0 likesClap clap, Dorothy. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🏆
0 likeswith the words like "numb" and "fine" or "intertwined" and "free", i always saw them as, at one part you are one of those, and at another you're the other. i saw this song as more of a romantically freeing one, or where in a relationship with someone you feel better especially with the lyrics "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" but i also felt that at "can you drink all my thoughts?" the relationship became too dependable or in ways toxic. also by "i've pinned each and every hope on you, i hope that you don't bleed with me", i sought it to be estranged once again, especially with more of whomever being dependent on the person for more as a pain and mental release rather than for affection and closeness. and with the lyrics from the beginning, it seemed as though the couple was very close and loving, and as the song progressed, it all became twisted and deranged and into something bad.
0 likesthis was a very interesting because my interpretation was way off. i viewed it of you saying that you’re afraid of your thoughts in your brain and the things you could do but since you have him that you wouldn’t believe/listen to the things going on your head. the title for me suggests that you are one with him, ex. you share everything but you hope he doesn’t bleed with you and that’s the only thing (thoughts in your head) you don’t and try not to share with him. almost like you’re protecting him. because in every verse you say something bad but reassure him by saying something to make him feel safe.
0 likesI. Love. This. So much
0 likesPlease can you make a music video for Pas De Deux ??? 💛💛💛
0 likesi love this omg
0 likesthis is brilliant.
0 likesThe video makes a lot more sense after this!
0 likesBest thing is when you lose the person that helped you...
0 likesI thought this song was about sex, and losing your virginity with someone you love. These lines are what make me thing that.
0 likes"Skin; heat. Hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" This portrays that things feel awkward and abnormal.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain. But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" She's extremely nervous and is making up all the things that could go wrong in her head, but she's also excited so they're giggling and trying to releave the nervous tension.
"Breathe, Breathe with me." Again, take away the nervous energy.
"Ooooh...Ohhhhh.". .......... ;) ;) ;)
SO YEH THATS WHAT I THOUGHT WAS HAPPENING.
I thought this song was about sex, and losing your virginity with someone you love. These lines are what make me thing that.
0 likes"Skin; heat. Hair in your mouth, feet touching feet" This portrays that things feel awkward and abnormal.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain. But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" She's extremely nervous and is making up all the things that could go wrong in her head, but she's also excited so they're giggling and trying to releave the nervous tension.
"Breathe, Breathe with me." Again, take away the nervous energy.
"Ooooh...Ohhhhh.". .......... ;) ;) ;)
SO YEH THATS WHAT I THOUGHT WAS HAPPENING.
Does anyone else think that some people's views that the song doesn't appear to fit the video is because love songs in a lot of media portrays toxic relationships as normal? I'd be open to hear other people's thoughts about it as even without the video it seemed like a pretty unhealthy relationship to me
0 likesI love this
0 likesAlright, so this is coming in late MOSTLY because I was lazy and put off watching this for a few days. However! My analysis of this is rather close to your own, but more focused on the relationship itself, less on the persons within it. I saw it as more of a break up song, in the sense that the two people tried there hardest to work things out, but they just couldn't. So they split apart and are no longer intertwined, but free. Hope that makes sense, I have a habit of rambling. If you see this, LOVE your music. Hope to see you live one day. Much love from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. ❤✌
0 likesshe started the genius trend before it was a trend
0 likesokay so im not very good at english so, like many people, i heard the musical part and thought of it as a nice love between two people that sort of intertwines (ehe) the physical and emotional aspects of it. ( i dont have a big attention span when it comes to deeper meanings)
0 likesHowever, now that you have explained what you meant whilst writing it i understand where your thoughts came from for it (and i mean omg well done you have to be so proud) AND i get where the video comes from and i now think it fits perfectly
In short, so proud of you for such a brilliantly written song and even though i thought the video was just a bit weird initially, i now love it as much as everything else you do! xxx
so powerful xx
oh my god i love this
0 likesI pictured this as a couple that's slowly growing apart BUT they stay together because they want what they had before.
0 likes"Skin. Heat. Feet touching feet. Oh you. And I. Safe from the world." this part I felt like it's their relationship at the start. They are I love and that's all they care about.
"But the world will try." This is where they start to see where they are just not meant for each other and how the world (maybe friends/family) tries to show them they are just not meant to be.
"Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain" this is either the couple thinking how maybe they aren't meant to be and how they are afraid they won't have the feeling of being loved. I also pictured some mental health problems in here. Around here is where maybe one of them starts to think 'if he/she goes, who will love me?" So as in the next lyric, "But we can stay here. And laugh away the fear." Is them saying maybe if we just stay like this, our feelings for each other will come back. (I imagined the writer as a girl so ya)
"Numb. Fine." This is her feeling not okay. She's not great but she's not bad. She's just "fine."
"You crate a rarity of my genuine smile." I took this as she smiles at the fact that she's 'loved' by someone but isn't actually as happy with the person that 'loves' her.
"So breathe. Breathe with me." This is her saying to her partner "please stay with me. Breathe with me." I think this part, she is doubting the partner will stay with her. She knows she needs to trust her partner to be able to be in a healthy relationship so she doesn't like these thoughts which brings us to the next lyric.
"Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them." This is saying how she needs her partner to try and help me. He/she does this but it only makes things worse. Her partner starts to feel the same way. Because of this they won't let go of each other. I agree with Dodie on this being a toxic relationship. They are only together because they want to be in love and be loved. They convince them that they are happy.
I didn't know what to make out of the "ohhh"s so let's skip that, shall we?
"Intertwined. Free." This is kinda like them being together. They won't leave each other therefore, they are 'intertwined'. The free is them thinking that they are free. But the reality is they are chaining each other down. They are preventing them from being able to love and except love back. They can't except it because they believe they are all they need.
"I've pinned each and every hope on you." I took this as her saying I lost everything. I need you here. but in reality, all she needs to do is let go.
"I hope you don't bleed with me." Here, she is starting to realize that she needs to let go but...
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain. But we can laugh the fear away." She thinks that if she just masks these feelings, she will stay 'happy'.
They can just "laugh the fear away" and not pay attention to what they actually need.
All the humming for me shows the couple boxing them from everyone and living an 'okay' life together .
There! Sorry. That was long.
I thought this song was about one partner who has mental issues because I have anxiety myself. Their partner does not have these problems and tries to help them to their highest ability. Said partner would get tired, thinking that the problem is small and that they had solved it. I then believe the climax was a fight, where the partner with a mental illness would have a panic attack of some sort. Pleading for help and relief. The other partner would go along with this and the cycle would continue it's vicious cycle again and again.
0 likesI saw the song as being about a developing mental health problem. It's sweet and nice until you get to the 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain' and then the 'laugh away the fear' bit is the writer trying to convince themself that they are fine. Then the 'numb, fine' bit is the writer trying to cope with the developing problem and realising that they can't handle it alone and say 'can you drink all my thoughts'. The romance kicks back in with the 'intertwined' she pins 'each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me' is hoping that their significant other doesn't also develop any kind of problem because they know how awful it is and wouldn't want them to suffer in the same way.
0 likesYou sound like my English teacher I love this
0 likeshere's my theory:
0 likestwo people (ill name them oliva and alison) are in a relationship. it's stable, they both know they have mental health problems, but they're melanchony. ("laugh away the fear") alison ends the affair because oliva is becoming dependent and alison - who already faces her own problems - can't handle it. ("im afraid of the things in my brain") oliva can't let go and is "intertwined" in her memories of alison. she doesn't have anyone to ("drink up her thoughts") in the end, olivas mental health takes over and she basically is numb and emotionless, and alison feels pain from this. they both fall into extreme pits of sadness (alison is regretful and oliva is attached) and they both go up in flames. (literally)
ok that's it!!!
(Late feedback wOOPS I don't expect this to be read but I would still like to share my thoughts ^-^)
0 likesI had a feeling that these problems were shared between lovers who masked them for the sake of each other but it destroyed them both at the same time, if that makes sense. It seemed that the lyrics were from only one point of view, and the contrasting lyrics represented what one assumed of the other (this plays most strongly in "numb, fine" as if whoever is thinking this feels numb, assuming the other is fine, though that may not be the case). The more positive side of things seemed to be that these lovers felt being together was their only sanctuary, as in their own happiness separated from the world and whatever it might try. But as the song progressed, it seemed to reveal itself as more fake, as if they were pretending to be happy to keep themselves sane, and, more importantly, to keep their lover sane. Assuming they both had this type of mental state but were unaware that the other had it, it began to destroy the relationship because of the dependency on the lover that was falling with them.
you are a beautiful genius
0 likesi love this
0 likesThat is actually quite similar to how I interpreted it.
0 likesi like to think of the song like how a mother would sing it to her baby. so "feet touching feet" would mean tiny feet touching the mother's. In addition, the kid's father has left so the mother is afraid of how she'll raise the child to have a great future without a stable income or another loving parent but she laughs it off and focuses more on the baby as her child is her main source of love and happiness
0 likesi want dodie to be my english teacher
0 likesDodie - Intertwined
0 likesYour song: Hair in your mouth
You're meaning: Pubes in your mouth
My english level is not that good to undertand songs perfectly the first time i listen to them but this is what it meant to me:
0 likesFor me it was a relationship where the girl was afraid of what could happen (like a really bad anxiety) and she looked for help in her partner so he was like his good thing. Because if that she's scare of he going away because she hurting her with all her thoughts or "visions" that were (for me) all the things that happen in the video (her bad thoughts or what might happen)
So basically for me the songs is about being scared of loosing the people you love because of that fear.
i always did felt that the song was about an unhealthy relationship. It was more that the girl was afraid to break up with him. The man was unstable and he needed her but treated her poorly. It seemed like the couple always ended having sex and ignoring their problems. Like this girl was clinging to a man who she didn't actually love. He needed her body and she was afraid of what would happen if she didn't agree. In my mind the man was aggressive and she feared his anger if she ever brought up her true feelings, also how she would adapt without his, "abusive" (for lack of a better word) actions. You probably know how people become attached to their lovers even when they wrong them. I can see dodies real message now, makes sense! Maybe it's just me thinking this, or maybe it's odd. but that's my picture of the song.
0 likesI basically had the same idea but a little less deep because I never had the chance to get into it. "I've pinned each and every hope on you" shows someone putting everything; trust, love, hate, fear, etc into this one person (the lover). "I hope that you don't bleed with me" shows that regret you (myself actually) feel after spilling your thoughts and heart out to someone and hoping that it doesn't effect them the way it effects you.
0 likeswhat i got from the video was a relationship that was slowly falling apart but they're just ignoring that anything was happening and pretending everything is perfect because like the barbies
0 likesI fucking love dodie sm
0 likesI still kind of see it as romantic? Idk I think it's just the musical parts of it
0 likesok but dodies eyebrows look so good in this
0 likesThe music video is not what I expected but it does looks awesome. Every time I listen to a song and feel so deeply touched by the lyrics I tend to make a music video on my own head and I'll replay it on my head every time I listen to the song. For intertwined I imagined something like this: it starts with simple shots of a couple holding hands on their bed while sitting across each other. Then, it changes to another couple (a lesbian couple just because I can), they're cuddling in bed, one of the girls have her face on the other's hair and is happily sniffing it. Then it changes to a third couple (a gay one bc I want to) and they're cuddling with their feet touching (kind of like the shot on the actual music video). Then it changes back and forth to each couple. When the lyrics say "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" the girl from the lesbian couple turns around to her lover with a sad face and says something. Then in "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" the first couple starts (maniac) laughing while strongly holding hands like they desperately need each other. In "numb, fine" the gay couple stare at each other like they can't feel anything anymore, but when the lyrics say "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" they smile fondly (in my head that means that they both have depression but they're there for each other and they're still in love). In "breath, breath with me" the sad girl from the lesbian couple is crying having a panic attack and the other is calming her. The music video in my head is a sad, weird one but it shows love on its true imperfect side, so I won't describe the rest of it.
0 likesBasically, for me the song is about mental health issues and relationships. It's about the feeling of desperately needing someone and how depression can leave people numb to life and to the outside world. I adore this song in a kind of crazy way but aren't we all just a tiny little bit crazy.
when the artist explains their art, the art is dead.
0 likesi relate to this song. but not so much anymore. my mental health was deteriorating over the beginning of this year for 6 months. i became extremely dependent on my bf and nearly ruined our relationship. i’ve then learned how to not become so dependent, and i’m now mostly an independent woman. which has helped my bf and i’s relationship tremendously. <3
0 likesIs it really an issue your mental health? you are clearly articulate, aware of yourself.. you're not overly emotional, you don't look dejected, you are not too excited, nor are you distant.. could you not be as so called normal as so many other people? what is this mental health that we are so concerned about?
0 likesDoes it have to do with having a healthy mind? well then, it's best we learn how to keep a mind healthy without using drugs to balance it. We can start in the program but do we stay there? I was in it for over 8 years getting diagnosis after diagnosis with no clear understanding of what was actually happening inside me, so I ask (more than ten years since I was in a doctors office being assessed) how long will we be a patient dependent on drugs? will we realize there is more to a healthy mind than chemicals to balance? maybe some good nutrition particularly good for the brain, meditation, yoga etc.
Doddle you are awesome, gifted, your song has a great chord progression that intertwines with the lyrics so carefully constructed, you gave us a great analysis of it and in other words I think you interpreted your song beautifully, concisely and in no way did you appear to be unstable while you did so. I wonder what issues you have that are not shared by most of us on the planet...
Dodie you’re so freaking cute
0 likesI didn't think about dependency specifically but I thought it was about an abusive relationship
0 likesI interpreted it almost exactly like you said but the video still seemed disjoint to me. but maybe that's the entire point. mental health isnt clean and perfect and doesnt fit nicely into a box and it shocks and scares.
0 likesHey, greetings! I am not a writer at all but id like to express my opinion to you. After i heard the meaning you showed in this video (or at least the meaning you read in this song) i listened to the song for the first time but i couldnt feel? or hear any of these analyzed aspects. I think i find metaphors and meanings within sentences way easier to understand than the meaning of single words and their position within a line (beginning, end, etc). Thats all i wanted to tell from my perspective as a mere listener <: have a nice day!
0 likesSo much intelligence spilling out of Dodie's mouth I don't understand it but the music video really got what I thought the song was about so ya I think I got it. Ok bye
0 likesYou genuinly sound like my english teacher like 70% identical (its not 100% because shes scottishXD.) Love the song btw, ur my favourite artist
0 likesDear people who are reading this,
0 likesI've recently created a song that I'm happy with. I've gone over it so many times with my friends and they still can't understand what it's completely about. I've been debating in my own head whether I should make a youtube channel or not.
The song's about my relationship status and my friendship status. It's called 'So Wrong' and my friends are confused about the title. It's about me losing my 'soulmate' and my 'best friend'. They both turn into exes and end up getting together. I've told all of my friends and they're still struggling to understand why I'm so bothered being as I'm the one who ended it. Yes, I ended it but it was because I was confused. I knew my friend liked him but I didn't want to lose him. A line in the song indicates that I have given up ('Stab me in the back all you want because I don't care anymore'). I've analysed my song and sent it to my friends. They are understanding it better but they still don't understand why I still care. I ended it because someone messaged me from a private number saying I should end it and they knew the school I went to. I knew this was a threat in a way but I used to get so many pranks and I didn't want to risk wasting police time. Also, if it was one of my 'friends' I wouldn't have wanted to hand them in to the police and get them into trouble. I just have one question to anyone who is reading this. Should I share the songs I have written on YouTube and make a channel, or should I carry on writing songs for my own purpose because I like making music and singing?
P.S. Dodie, you're my inspiration, kinda like Christina Grimmie was yours.
Sincerely,
Ella-may
Holy shit I will never hear that song the same again after watching the music video. What. The. Fuck
0 likescould you do this for in the middle please?? i'm v conflicted on the meaning
0 likescan dodie be my english lit. teacher?
1 likeTHE VIDEO IS BLOODY INcreDible thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo😻😻😻😻😻😻😻💛💛💛💛💛
0 likesYou should sing sign of the times - not all of it it's very long-
0 likesPLEASE DO THIS FOR BURNT OUT OR SECRET FOR THE MAD
0 likesdodie sing-songing "CAAALLED IIIT" killed me
0 likesDODIE THIS IS COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO INTERTWINED (which I love a lot) BUT I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU USE FOR EDITING!!!!!!!!!?????
0 likesReplies (1)
pls reply so she can see or can someone else tell me??
0 likesI think that you should cover the song "the judge" by twenty one pilots If you haven't already!!
0 likesI find this extremely dark but a soft kind of dark
0 likesYour hair looks gorgeous here
0 likesWow. ❤️
0 likesThis is REALLY sad when you think about it because it means dodie WAS so sure she couldn't love someone requitedly without scarring them severely and the relationship being toxic that she made a song and music video about it, then made that song the central theme of her first album. Poor dodie :(
0 likesi saw the song like the writer is someone who is kind of a mess in their mind and it just rips them apart but this person in their life loves them and is there for them and makes them happy however this person says they do yet they don't understand their thoughts. so the writer has so many issues and like, spills it out to the other person and they just accept them and love them the way it makes them happy. but when i saw the video to go with this song it made me see it like the writer had a messed up mind and had a partner but it got to a point where they accidentally spilled all of their thoughts out and it made the other person leave them because they just saw them as a weird, mentally unstable person that they couldn't love
0 likeslol i just saw a couple in total denial of their obvious problems
0 likesbut your side is nice too, less detailed but nice 😂
"I'm done with this sickly sweet stereotype of a woman" but also likes women because they're "soft" and "smell nice"
0 likesok so i'm pretty sure that my meaning is pretty crap and short but i'm going to try anyway.
0 likesso at the beginning of the video, it shows a very clean and immaculate house. i took this as the two lovers' start of the relationship, because almost every relationship starts out with the two people hopelessly in love with each other. then as the lyrics start, it's obvious that it was the two lover's first time having sex (either their very first time or their first time with each other) then, when dodie sings "safe from the world, though the world will try" means that the couple are trying to stay together even though things are starting to not work out between them. then, the girl starts to be aware of these problems and starts making some scenarios in which the two will break up and fall out of love. the girl keeps this to herself and acts like everything is fine between the two. she disregards those thoughts and tries to stay with the boy because she's still in love with him. then, as dodie sings "you create a rarity of my genuine smile", the boy starts being distant and a little abusive. the girl loves the boy so much, that she acts like the abuse (mentally or physically) means nothing; he's just feeling sick and can't think straight. she tries to reach out to the boy to get him to be the guy she loved so much at the beginning. then, the abuse gets more and more severe and that's when the blood comes pouring down. the girl starts having these awful thoughts and becomes severely depressed in the relationship. then the boy goes out somewhere and leaves the girl alone. the girl has some thoughts while by herself and remembers when their relationship was amazing and full of love. she wants to break out of the relationship, but can't pull herself away from him. she blames herself for him not loving her anymore, and just wants him to love her again. then, when the chorus is sang again, it shows the girl face down on the floor covered in blood. this leads me to believe that she killed herself. the boy realizes that he lost her and decides to kill himself and the house they lived in was set on fire. he stayed in the house as he slowly burns himself to death.
god this is a great song with so many interpretable meanings oml
That is exactly how I interpretated it.
0 likesI kinda thought that it was a bitter sweet romance that was coming to an end
0 likesDODIE YOU ARE SO SMART
0 likesI was just watching the the music video for square Hammer by Ghost and at 1:02 there's a person that looks like you I just wanted to confirm if it was you or not please reply back to me👏 I love your and your videos so much😁😁❤
0 likesI wish you were my English teacher. I'd pay so much more attention.
0 likesCAN YOU DO A SPRING LOOKBOOK PLEWAAAAS
0 likesokay HOW THE EFF DID I MISS ALL THIS
0 likesholy smokes. You are brilliant. BE MY FRIEND!?!?!
0 likesI thought the video was the female partner(barbie) is suicidal and ken was the person that she tries to pour out those feelings but sees that is poisonousto the relationship. and the part about pinning him down I thought it was like her not trying to see if it makes him think of the relationship as something bad for him
0 likesLooove this video 💕. Can you pleaase be my literature/language teacher?
0 likesI thought the song was about a man who cheats on his wife while his wife is mentally unstable. She finds out and slowly becomes insane trying to pretend everything is fine when is is intertwined with another women. She is afraid and try's to laugh at the catastrophe that is her life . Ending in a break down of feelings and betrayal. - I don't know it's just what I thought ... but hey , art is up to interpretation
0 likesthere goes my wedding song
0 likesi stan teacher dodie
0 likesI like the theme of a dark dance duet
0 likesOh my god you're so cute. Id love alevel English so much more if you were my teacher
1 like5:03 Look at the word intertwined
0 likes(out now) 10/10
watching this video just reminds me of that one chloelmao vine with "i think this story is just about a guy fishing?" "who are you?" "the author"
0 likesIdk I kind of pictured a couple leaning on one another after the loss of/ while losing a child. That the only time they feel somewhat understood and comfortable, even with the pain they're going through, is when they're with each other because the other has/will lost/loose the same as them. Does that make sense? I can imagine the video I'd put too the song but I can't seem to describe it correctly.
0 likesshe says “fine” as if she’s angry (like she’s pretending nothing’s wrong while suffering) and I saw it as trying to keep the relationship fakely happy while both were suffering silently
0 likessee now here's the thing.... singer/songwriter like dodie put SO MUCH EFFORT INTO SONGS LIKE THESE, and in english we analyse books and our teacher says "why did the author write this" and I Google and interview and the author just like the sound if it so she put it in, But in our class, it was a "description of the character mental heath, and the mood of the character, and representing a paradise" and it was all bull
0 likesand 8/10 time I bet you that if I show an English teacher this actual masterpiece, then they would just say "oh it's a nice song" AND I'M LIKE NOO LOOK THE DESCRIPTION (ps sorry if there are any mistakes) 🌻
I mean, I'm watching this completely drunk, idk if I can take it or even assimilate it. I'll get back at you once I've sobered up! (and yes, there is no spelling mistakes in this comment, because my mother was a teacher, so I was raised with a constant reminding of every spelling mistake, which brainwashed me into correcting them immediately after I see them. Even when I'm absolutely wasted. That is all. Goodnight)
0 likesReplies (1)
Although, I'd have to say, in my more-than-usual honest state of mind, that the fact that your lyrics are so well thought is part of why I like you and your songs so much! Hope I'll get to meet you one day and give you a biiiiig hug (I like hugs, they are the solution to every world conflict #HugsForWorldPeace)
0 likesI honestly wish dodie was my english teacher my english lit teacher is unclear and jokes about suicide calling it funny🙄
0 likes1. I feel like the way people perceived this song is a lot like the theme. Where people think it’s a nice love song but it’s actually a toxic relationship. And they’re confused when they get a closer look. Sometimes like others perceive others relationships in real life. 2. I didn’t get a lot of time to think about the song before I clicked this one, but I thought it was about someone who depended too much on someone else regarding their problems. The other couldn’t bear the burden and then became more disconnected and their relationship was lost in a way.
0 likesYou could be a great teacher lol
0 likesokay can dodie just teach my english class pls
0 likesit's the only way i think i'll find lord of the flies interesting
ilu <3
This means the world to me
0 likesomh i LIVE for this
0 likesIM IN LOVE
0 likesi honestly just couldn't keep up she sounds like an english teacher
0 likesThree years late(jeez-) but here’s my interpretation because- yes...
0 likesHeads up to those who would like to read this(unlikely), I’ll explain all the lyrics because alskdjkfkskxkdj:
*insert lyrics of first verse*:
A person(imma just call this person M) who fell in love with their bestfriend(Let’s call em N) imagining life if they were a couple.
*”I’m afraid of the things in my brain”*:
M is thinking of the negative things that may happen if they would become a couple and/or about if their personal issues might be dragged into the relationship.
*”But we can stay here and laugh away the fear”*:
M never told N they liked them so M just acts like they want them to be best friends, nothing more, nothing less. They joke around and laughing while M’s hoping N won’t figure out they like them.
*”Numb, fine, you create a rarity of my genuine smile”*:
M’s having their personal problems while N asks if M’s ok. M responds with “I’m fine!” or something mostly but they’re hurting alot inside. N is one of the main reason’s of M’s true smile.
*”So breathe, breathe with me”*:
Now N’s POV. M can’t handle everything going on and (rope+ceiling+neck=) themselves. N cut down the rope and hoped M’s still alive and breathing, hence the “Breathe”-
*”Can you drink all my thoughts? ‘Cause I can’t stand them!”*:
((Ok this is a tad bit too complicated for my brain to fully turn into words so I tried my best)):
N finds a note in M’s locker(classic) about M talking about their problems and it mentioned they liked N but don’t know how to tell them and N had a breakdown.
*pause*:
It’s all a dream....
*”Intertwined, free”*:
M told N they liked them in the fear of the “dream problem”. They feel kind of free now that they told N.
*”I’ve pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don’t bleed with me”*:
One of M’s source of positive emotions is N. M hopes N doesn’t do the negative stuff to themselves M does(that includes blood. Like cutting).
*”I’m afraid of the things in my brain”*:
M’s scared N’s gonna reject them, but kind of saw it comming either way.
*”But we can stay here and laugh away the fear”*:
M changes the topic before N answers
*Ohhhhhhhh- part thing*:
Insert N trying to tell M they kinda like em too and ends up hugging them
end...The Ohhhhh part thing was a dare by M’s sibling to N. Sad M
I'm strangely in love
0 likesI need to know where are her glasses from, PLEASE
0 likesdodie.......... the vevo music video for this song scared me more than the first chapter of fran bow. which is much more gory and heavy.
0 likesnow when i listen to intertwined i get sad.
0 likeslet dodie be my english teacher
0 likesI only watched it literally 50 times
0 likesNot gonna lie, she spoke a little too quickly for me. I’m a first language, fluent English speaker, but I got a little lost here and there. 😅
0 likesIf you were my English teacher I would love English class
0 likesif this isn't me in a relationship woooow jeez...
0 likesI just love you more now <3 <3 <3
0 likesI was all for the love but I suppose I was never any good at English :)
0 likesdodie can you please do my literature homework?
0 likesDodie ur so kyoot I just ugh ur adorable wow
0 likeswhy is not intertwined in an English lit love and relationships poem anthology tho
0 likesThat thumbnail is golden
0 likesomg Shes speaking so fast
0 likesWow, just, wow 😮 #deep
0 likesCan she just be my teacher
0 likesi....need to listen to the song again
0 likesI thought of two ppl in a relationship and one is sad and the other is trying to help and it's in the POV of the one that's sad
0 likes1:40 "Caaaalled iiiit" Is my life
0 likesI projected the music video of just a footage cuddling in a bed on a cold morning
0 likesI suppose my interpretation is bittersweet, but not really... nefarious. That's a reason why I don't like the music video personally (no offense intended). In the video, Barbie destroys everything in the sickest way possible, and though it seems like she's the singer in the song, I can't really... match that up in my head. She seems malevolent and self-absorbed, whereas the singer to me seems to be someone who is scared, and is crying for help and understanding. Barbie in the video just seems bent on destroying herself, destroying Ken, destroying her home, and diving off the deep end with conviction--no doubt at all.
0 likesIn my mind, the singer of this song is someone who is dependent, though not necessarily completely codependent. I imagine this singer to be someone who silently suffers with a lot of pain, trauma, and poor mental health. I feel that this song describes a point where the singer had previously not confided as much as they should with someone they sincerely love, and that they have decided to come forward with it all, though fear that doing so may hurt their lover. It feels to me like this song is just saying "I feel peaceful, happy, and comfortable when I'm with you. But now, I am chancing coming forward with my struggle, because I can't bear it alone anymore, and I really hope this doesn't just make you hurt too."
i didn't think this song related so much to mental health issues but i like it more now that i know what it's actually inspired by. in the beginning it felt like it was referring to the awkwardness of being intimate for the first time. how uncomfortable the the little things are.
0 likeswhen the lyrics go "'Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear' its like being so self conscious about yourself but you have this person with you trying to prove to you that you shouldn't worry.
later when she sings "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" its like you're both laughing at the situation and becoming more comfortable together.
"So breathe breathe with me" i my absolute favorite part in the song, idk why but i love singing it
"Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" some more stuff about being nervous about da sex
"Intertwined, Free" being tangled up under the covers and being free from the negativity in your mind
"I've pinned each and every hope on you" saying that they've convinced you that you're being a bit too harsh on yourself and you're starting to understand how they perceive you
"I hope that you don't bleed with me" a way of saying that you hope the don't give in and become unsure of how they feel about you, so some anxiety comes back and yeah :)
so yeah that's my interpretation of you song. this song really is so beautiful and think (if you're reading this dodie) that you should do these for your other songs that mean a lot to you, like explaining you thought process and such
Please can you do a meaning on you and human
0 likesI'm currently co-choreographing a group dance to this song! Everyone starts on their own (sitting in a large circle facing away from each other) and slowly they break off into pairs until eventually the small groups of two become groups of four. The whole group isn't connected until the word intertwined and from then on everyone stays very close to each other. I wanted the beginning to feel very alone and slowly build up to everyone needing/feeding off of each other. It's the first thing I've ever choreographed so I'm not sure how well it'll go, but I'm excited!
0 likesReplies (1)
I forgot about this comment, but the dance is now on my channel if anyone is interested!
0 likesI always thought it was a métaphore for domestic abuse
0 likesDang that's deep
0 likesWhy did you end on such a harsh note...She's right though.
0 likes(before watching) i think this song is a bout a girl in a relationship with her soulmate but she has a mental illness and this is her telling him asking him to make her feel better but when he leaves or dies she breaks down without him
0 likesReplies (1)
(after) i was so wrong
0 likesYou should make a video of how to make a uke song
0 likesIf I made the music video for it I wouldn’t have used dolls because they are so plasticy and stiff... and also because it was scary af.
0 likesDODIE,PLEASE, MARRY ME.
0 likes(I'm italian I can cook pasta and pizza for u)😏💘💍
Omg are they intertwined with their own thoughts??
0 likesi thought it was about a woman going through pregnancy for the first time lmao
0 likesI'm watching this instead of doing my English homework
0 likesEnglish teacher is that you? 👀
0 likesI love it i love yu btw
What style are her glasses e.e i want them
0 likesWhen you're a foreigner who speaks proper english but you have no idea what she's talking about ( ik she talks fast which obviously influences it)
0 likeshey guys does anybody know how to caption (...or transcribe? idk) a video? I just think it's very helpful for some people and I have a LOT of free time
0 likesanyone know how I can get a letter to dodie
1 likeDudeEeEEEEEEEe I HAVE muCH TEARs RUNNIng froM MY EyES
0 likesSorry, but you actually remind me of my english teacher x)
0 likesguys my friend says dodie can't sing, what should i say back in response
0 likesYOURE SO SMART YESS
0 likesThis song just got 50 bajillion times better
0 likes4:31 caught me off guard
0 likesmay i just say u look smashing like holy fuck wow
1 likeNoticed that you used the PEE structure. First you make your Point (e.g. the writer does __ to show __), then the Example (e.g. this is shown in the quote __) and then you Explain what you have just said (e.g. this implies/ this shows/ meaning that). Teachers have been drilling that into our heads for the past 4 years now. And theres also PEEE, PEELEE, PEEZ...etc...etc. Did you learn that in school too?
0 likesooh never thought of it like that! kinda scary but i think I'll adjust c':
0 likeshi, would it be okay if i did a cover of intertwined on my channel?
0 likesI thought of the song as sweet but like cold? like it makes me think of someone singing in the rain during a storm to their partner and they're having relationship issues and they're both depressed and they love being around each other and make each other smile but they're not really good/right together? Kinda like they both have hella problems but they're both avoiding them and just cuddling and crying into each other even tho they depressed as heck and should be getting help????¿?¿¿?
0 likesDodie please be my english teacher
0 likesbest song ever
0 likescan you be my teacher 😂😂
0 likesfelt like a Mr Bruff video lesson (appreciation to those who know what im talking about)
0 likeslove the song but I couldn't understand anything you said here lol. I have a freind that I ask what emotions mean in songs which is weird cuz I'm emotional writing songs. I don't get it haha
0 likesI relate
0 likesWhatthefuckkkkkwhatthefuckk this song is so much darker and jesus lord you are so talented, that harmonic "oHH" KILLED ME
0 likesI just screamed Oxymoron at one point in the video
0 likesmy girlfriend has mental health issues (she has to go to therapy and take pills n stuff) so I have to listen to all of her problems which makes me really sad and at one point I even told her to stop saying this stuff to me (which was a dick move. I dont say stuff like that anymore) its really hard sometimes. I still stay by her side and listen to everything she has to say tho. I truly do love her. what do I do
0 likesShe is so cute I cannot
0 likesThe music video did not match up to what I thought was being said. Obviously because I personalized it. I found that the "dark lyrics" were being sang by the singer in their own head. And that the "nice lyrics" were her outward portrayals towards her partner. The "Can you drink all my thoughts?" I thought meant something like "can you read my mind"? as to say like when you walk into a room and someone at once notices your mood without you saying anything and asks you how you are or can just read that you're not "ok".
0 likesThe music video did not match up to what I thought was being said. Obviously because I personalized it. I found that the "dark lyrics" were being sang by the singer in their own head. And that the "nice lyrics" were her outward portrayals towards her partner. The "Can you drink all my thoughts?" I thought meant something like "can you read my mind"? as to say like when you walk into a room and someone at once notices your mood without you saying anything and asks you how you are or can just read that you're not "ok".
0 likesCan you do more asmr?
0 likesplease don't assume you would be toxic in a relationship and scare yourself off from even trying though; I mean, I've been on the receiving end of that toxic co-dependency thing and I don't think my ex is destined to always have that result, not by any means. The fact that you are aware that it could be a problem means that you can take conscious steps to keep it from being that way (without obsessing over it too much that you make that a problem of its own though).
0 likesI definitely got the creepy mental vibe from the song though. Thanks for explaining it in-depth. This made me less concerned about people taking my poems about self-discovery as being about battling depression when I did not write them about that at all.
the comments here makes such a good prompts bless the fanfics thats based on this
0 likesPLEASE BE MY ENGLISH TEACHER
0 likesOkay long comment because I saw this as something completely else which is kind of disturbing to me, as I usually apply your songs to my own life, so here is Intertwined as seen in my life:
0 likesEverything from "Skin...." to "Though the world will try" is a sex scene for me
"Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear"
How im afraid all the time, but with him I relax and laugh
"Numb
Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles"
Of course im still ill (which is numb) and sometimes I feel guilty about feeling sad because I should be happy, but my smiles are definitely genuine with him
"So breathe
Breathe with me"
Panic attack
"Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them"
Him helping me with all my horrible thoughts, (yes me pouring my thoughts to him)
"Intertwined
Free"
Freedom from my brain when he is intertwined with me
"I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me"
How I hope my horrible thoughts from earlier isn't going to affect him as much as they affect me
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear"
To be fair, I always heard "and love away the fear" so slight change in my perspective, but still about how my anxiety will always be there, but with him I can keep it away for a bit.
Okay... sorry, I just had to put this out there, as the music video didn't match my interpretation at all, so here's my thoughts. Though, taking the chord changes into perspective, I totally see now where you are going with it and it makes total sense, so thank you for uploading this and thank you to whoever read this for reading <3
Jokes on you the song is about me :D
0 likessicklY SWEET
0 likesi think the context of dependency can easily be applied to addiction and abusive relationships as well, like "safe from the world though the world will try" = rejecting peoples efforts to try to help... i love this so so much ah
1 likeThis is cute , I'm happy you explained it to me - love you so much ♥️
1 likeI interpreted this slightly differently, I saw it as a young mother needing help or support from her loved one, be this either whilst she is still pregnant or just after birth, especially with the use of intertwined and free, with how mothers and children are both connected and separate at the same time and the intimacy of the song could be interpreted with the fresh new intimacy between a mother and her child. The gory imagery used could symbolize that whilst a new child might look like a beautiful thing to the rest of the world, there was a lot of pain and suffering to get to this point and at birth, obviously isn't a pretty thing therefore showing the darker aspect of having a child. Though I did think that this interpretation might be wrong, due to dodie not having children of her own, but that is just how the lyrics unfolded themselves to me
2 likesWhen I heard the first verse I thought, this is so sweet and cute. Then it sounded insecure and needy and desperate, like the singer is clawing at her lover for more than they are able to give. Then it's sweet and sad. I love this song so much, Dodie!
1 likeI love the new meaning introduced to me by this incredible song! It's beautifully written and thought out ohmygod. I did not imagine it was like how dodie interpted it but it's AMAZING
0 likesThis really reminds me of exactly what I was thinking when going through a toxic relationship because of my mental health and how it was so badly effected afterwards, nailed it dodie :D
0 likesLoved this, so wonderful to hear your explanation, and to have someone making sure that people don't gloss over mental health issues the way they so often do.
0 likesas a songwriter this is like actual brain food my brain is HAPPY
2 likesLOVE IT!! it's great to hear your interpretation/ what you thought while writing it and oh wow, there's way more behind this song that I could have imagined, well done Dodie!!! xx
0 likesTotally matched up to my interpretations ABSOLUTELY beautiful song!
0 likesI feel like we are in a poetry lesson where we are analysing it! This song is amazing and the underlying meaning is so deep and I just love it
0 likesI love Innertwined so much! The style and the lyrics resonate with me. You go girl! Awesome.
0 likesWhoa! More artists need to do videos like these. Extremely insightful, thank you for sharing :)
0 likesYou know its good lyrics when there are multiple interpretations
2 likesAhhh this interpretation makes me a little sad, honestly. That's the neat thing about art though, I suppose - that you can interpret it in so many ways! I suffer from depression and possibly mild anxiety too, and this song was comforting to me when I first heard it. To me, my fiancée is very much someone who keeps me safe from the world when it gets to be a bit too much for me, and he can make me genuinely smile when nothing else can. He makes me laugh and helps me feel better when I'm upset, stressed, etc. Heh so when seeing my relationship in this song and then seeing other people deconstruct it as unhealthy, codependent etc was a little upsetting, though I can absolutely see how the song could be interpreted that way, too, now that it's been pointed out!
1 likeI've always listened to this song as a happy one. Sure, the entanglement and the looming danger of codependency are scary, but they're part of every relationship I've ever been in, and... for me breathing with someone, matching their rhytm, is about falling asleep in each other's arms, comforted, loved.
1 like(we both have more issues than vogue, when it comes to mental health, but we're each other's safe space)
but it was SO COOL to realize that you meant something completely different with it! i love the videos in which you explain your songs. love 'em love 'em love 'em. I wish every songwriter posted them.
Wonderful video on your meaning, made me tear, haha :')
0 likesLovely song and love how the video fits! :D And being it Barbie dolls make it a bit lighter on the heart :)
when she said she felt like a teacher i was like "i wish dodie was my teacher." seriously i could listen to her voice talk about anything all day and not get bored 💛
0 likesit was ùtterly incredible watching this, I was one of the ones who saw it as a love song but got a few of the subtle contexts. but this. this blew my mind!!! Dodie you are just incredible!
0 likesI absolutely loved this video. its made me appreciate and adore the song so much more. and the music video and this gave me a whole new perspective on the song that I actually like the concept of way more than my initial interpretation. anyway so proud of you it's a beautiful song
0 likesI love the song so much! The music video is amazing too! They describe so well the situations people with their own securities or mental issues may be facing. I connect to the song on a spiritual level and it explains a lot of emotions that I cannot describe. You're an incredible song writer and singer!
0 likesthis video just revived my love for literature as a subject ♥︎ thanks for the valuable lesson, Ms. Clark! (´∇｀) if this is tested on my a levels paper, I'd probably get an A
0 likesAh I can't you're so perfect ❤ such an amazing song and concept ☺
0 likesi love love love love love that you've made this video. it shows how clever your songwriting is, and that you're not just some pop princess writing about love. you're incredibly talented and i really really love the song, especially because it kinda describes my previous relationship (if we're going off your analysis, which i am 😊)
0 likesI love your interpretation of the song. The music video really helped me pay more attention to the lyrics and it helped me really listen to the song in a way that I hadn't before. I've found myself really relating to the song because I'm in a relationship and I have anxiety and depression so it explains how I feel exactly and I love it. Great song Dodie love you and your beautiful songs ❤️
0 likesI am so impressed with how you put SO much thought into the stuff you do!! 😱
0 likesI didn't think you didn't put thought into it of course, but I didn't think that each word and even melody and chord changes had this much meaning. It's so cool and just proves how clever of an artist you are! ♥️
this is such a good video. dodie this sort of video and analysis is my SHIT and you've explained your thoughts so well :) I never thought of the song that particular way but now I completely get the Vevo video and its amazing x.
3 likesMy interpretation of the song is more of a 'naked' sort of love, and a vulnerable one, with words like 'skin', 'brain' 'numb' making me think of being stripped down to a bare minimum, which only gets worse with the singer's mental health problems. More of being in a relationship and crying out for help, but also latching on to someone. being fake and pretending to be 'fine' but really needing someone to 'drink all your thoughts'. reliance in a relationship because you're so exposed and bare; intertwining because theres no other choice, being safe from the world to hide.
I love talking about what all of this stuff means argh xx its such a good song
Love it Dodes! You are such a good artist.
0 likesLove it Dodes! You are such a good artist.
0 likesI would looooove to see more of your own interpretations for your original songs (old or new)
0 likesWoah I never thought this much about the meaning of this song but now that I've watched this video I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Great job putting so much work in to the lyrics and the contrast of the music behind them. I love it, keep doing what you're doing cause you're doing it very amazingly 💕💕
0 likesI love your meaning behind the song, I can totally see how it fits.
0 likesMy own idea of the song the first time I listened to it was two people who are very attached to each other to the point they almost couldn't function without each other. Depended on their partner way too much.
My friend plays the guitar and she sometimes plays this song and she once told me "it's just so calming and sweet"
1 likeHey Dodie. I absolutely love your music and I've been really interested reading the controversy your video has caused. I myself am blind and was just wondering if you could tell me what is actually in the video… I know it involves a dolls house and it's pretty fucked up but that's all I know. Thank you
0 likesAlso, as a lit student myself this was fascinating x
I just can't even, SHE DOES ITS AGAIN - FRICKING AMAZING DODIE
1 likevideos like these make me love dodie even more (though i never thought it possible)
0 likesjust when I thought I couldn't love this song anymore, dodie strikes me again wOw
0 likesI love understanding the meaning behind any writers work. I never changes how my mind perceived it, but it lets me further understand and opens my eyes. Please keep this up?¿ 😘
0 likesi love, love, love this!! I wish artists would explain their art more bc i'm sososo super curious on their take and thoughts and i never feel like it takes away from how i personally experienced a song/piece of art. It's soo amazing and rad to see you break it down i could listen to this for hours for every song, i love analysis sharing and comparing! <3
0 likesI've honestly always had this meaning of the song in the back of my head because i relate to it as an also mentally ill person in a long term relationship so i've sort of felt this darker meaning of the lyrics but i've never thought about it in such depth and it was really interesting and great and thank you for making this! xxx
(as a side note: healthy and good love is very much possible despite the bumps that mental illness causes if you're with the right person and work together!)
Omg please do more of these. It was so interesting I love it.
0 likesDodie, you are impossibly thoughtful, clever and beautiful. This song is incredible
0 likesI like this so much
0 likesWhen I first heard the song, I thought it was sweet and hopefull
I listened to it again when I felt bad and had to cry because the darf parts got to me
The music video opened my eyes and I felt like I had not listened well enough, lulled by the sweet words of the song. The music video is SO GOOD
And I'm glad I got what you were trying to say now
so crazy how far she's come!! I literally live for dodies music
0 likesI've fallen in love with your EP. 😍❤️
1 likeThat was amazing. I applaud you dodie.
0 likesSooooo good to see you happy in a vid yaay! Brightened up my day <3
1 likeThis is exactly what I got from it! The whole concept of the song and video are absolutely amazing. I will say that, I always interpreted use of 'breathe, breathe (with me)' to be ambiguous, because breathe and bleed sound quite similar, so it added another layer of grotesque to it, like 'skin' and 'brain'. That's what I always got from it for some reason!
0 likesWhen i first heard the song i straight away thought it to be about dependancy on others. As someone with social anxiety leading to me feeling lonely it made a lot of sense. I love how songs are different to everyone!!
0 likesthis video. This gave me so much life. THIS IS EVERYTHING IVE EVER WANTED. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS 6 MINUTES OF AMAZINGNESS. THE SONG IS BRILLIANT.
0 likesclap clap clap I absolutely loooove this song, and honestly I got very mixed vibes from the lyrics alone, and the video confused me even more, but this explanation made the song even better!! Thank you so much for making it!!!
0 likesi listened to this song all night till the next morning last night and im so happy that this video came out, i love it too much 💕
0 likesThis is really cool. I'm a songwriter too and my writing process is completely different. I think artists can learn a lot from one another just by sharing how they got from point A to point B on their work. 💜
0 likesdodie's lyrics analysis; the only class i'll ever want to take
2 likesOh my god please do more of these types of videos, its an amazing insight
0 likesTHANK YOU FOR YOUR VULNERABILITY ALWAYS THIS IS AN AMAZING THING TO SHARE AND IT RESONATES SO MUCHHHH XXXXXXXXX
0 likesI take English & I love you & your music & oh my gosh this made my soul v happy. I feel like I can appreciate the song even more now that I understand the original meaning of the song
0 likesBloody hell dodie. You amaze me. Brilliant song and I love your perspective on it. It makes so much sense. I can relate to this because I am trans and can experience terrible dysphoria. I think the pain of that could easily turn my relationship with someone toxic and I feel like your interpretation of the song sums up perfectly how I feel I would be in a relationship. Thank you.
0 likesSee, I kind of saw this song as a sweeter love song - how one person can feel all this darkness related to a mental illness, but having someone who might understand and comfort them (be it a friend or lover) is deeply reassuring. Love is a shelter from the storm of mental illness. But maybe that's just too romantic a view lol.
0 likesI've always thought this was a love song, all pretty and perfect. But once I watched the music video a few times (I was first like "what the actual fuck dodie") the meaning of the song completely changed to me. I saw it instead as the way mental health can affect a once loving, healthy relationship and make it toxic. The music video also supports the idea of a psychotic break (Barbie cutting all her hair off, the Ken doll covered in pins, the way the video gets more and more twisted as the song progresses) so perhaps it could be the POV of a person as they break down psychotically and what affect this has on their partner and relationship.
0 likesI loved the video to the song because it really did fit my own interpretation of the song. The dependency on someone else that can slowly lead to the relationship falling apart or 'burning'
0 likesI imagined that at the start (a.k.a the first scene) its the two people on a hill, laughing, hugging, bare foot and the main person's hair flying in the wind. It was happy to me. Then after the lyrics "laugh away the fear" it changes into a more depressed setting. They would be at home, at night. The main character on the floor in a corner, crying and having one of the moments I have because of my depression, when you feel SO numb. Their lover would press their forehead against the main person, trying to help them. And when in the song it says "drink all my thoughts" it would show how the lover is having a hard time, it would show them drinking alchohol. Finally, when the lyrics "numb" come I wasn't really sure. I had a few ideas actually. I came to the idea that the main person commits suicide (I know this is quite a serious matter, don't give me hate please). That's how I saw this music in my head.
2 likesMental health is a serious matter and in no way am I trying to upset people. Thanks xx
Go Dodie! That was some fine literary analysis there :D it really demonstrates the quality of your song writing ^_^ i like the layers and depth of meaning you have given the song - i suppose personal circumstances influence the way you hear the song, because when i heard it, it sent me back to the first time i fell asleep next to the person i love - i was completely enthralled - except he wasnt in love with me, because we are good friends and i think that is how he will always feel about us - but your words for Intertwined described exactly how delicate it felt to have somehow found myself lyjng next to him listening to him breathe - the lyrics capture the thoughts i had and still have now and then - "Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet" - "Numb, fine" - "I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" - "Breathe, breathe with me, i've pinned each and every hope on you i hope that you don't bleed with me..."
0 likes... keep writing Dodie, we love you :) xox
i always interpreted this song as a sweet love song, where the partner singing has bad mental health issues and the partner sang about helps get them through it when no one else supports them. ('can you drink all my thoughts cus i cant stand them' & 'you create a rarity of my genuine smiles' being some examples)however, the partner singing is afraid to share their thoughts sometimes, because they don't want to hurt the partner they're singing about('i hope that you dont bleed with me' being an example). i always pictured this song as the song for my otp. the music video gave very melanie martinez vibes and i loved it, seeing as how i had never thought of the song this way before.
0 likeswhen I listened to intertwined the first time my first though was omg I love it its so beautiful!! and I always thought it was about someone with some sort if mental health issue (thinking maybe anxiety? thats what I pictured especially with the "I'm afraid of the things in my brain") and then they were seeking comfort in the other person ("I can't stand them" about the thoughts) but I didn't really notice how it could be harming the other person in the process and omg its way more twisted than I thought but I love it so much more now!!!
0 likesyes !! I loved this video and everything you said was exactly what I thought the song and video were all about. At first when you first released the song I believed that it was just a love song like any other and didn't properly take in what the lyrics were saying. I was obviously very surprised when i watched the video but then learned to fall in love with it and I then understood how you were saying that being in a relationship will make you happier because your partner will take away all the bad stuff and you will be much happier but that can then cause a toxic relationship with both people being affected badly. I love this so much, you're an amazing fucking writer dodie !! ++ I very much enjoyed how this felt like I was in my english class
0 likesi found this really interesting! because when i first heard the song last year, i thought it was about someone who had lots of ghosts in their past and had insecurities was admitting that she felt secure with this person. i knew there was an underlying theme but had no idea this was it! this is awesome! i totally get the music video now especially the whole 'can you drink my thoughts' bit with the red blood like stuff pouring into the dollhouse. well done dodie i love this!
0 likesYou've just made many english teachers proud, good job Dodie!
0 likesThis is exactly what i thought about the song!! Omg you did a great job dear, and i do think that the video matched the song PERFECTLY!
1 likeps, you need to make an explanation for the non love song too (yep still not moving on from that)
damn.. this is deep. I always thought it was just a lovesong sang from the point of view of someone struggling with a mental illness. I could relate to it a lot and is my favorite song. But now that you've explained it, it all seems to make sense (especially explains the music video) and dark. But I love it. Love is always portrayed like this innocent and amazing thing and it may seem that way, but clearly it's not. It can be dark and terrible.
0 likesThis song still literally describes my love life and how I deal with love.... D:
0 likesI have very similar thoughts to dodie on this; I saw it as a tale of a twisted love story with one person who felt out of control and perhaps manipulated. I also see the chorus 'oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain' as the climax of this, as it is in a different key and much higher to the verses around it and it seems almost like a cry for help or a wail
0 likesi kind of thought as it as support at first, but then i just listened to the lyrics more and cried instead of thinking about it whoops
1 like(your songs always give me so much emotion?? i cant sing When without my voice wobbling)
aah thank you for the vid dodie, my inner literature nerd is feeling all sorts of wonderful! the dark lyrics didn't click in my head until seeing the video clip, but once the vid was over i got it straight away. i think because i'm a visual learner seeing the juxtaposition of the sweet and innocent doll house, and the gory blood, fire, and dolls cut up really helped me to understand the song lyrics better. i know you said you don't like to explain lyrics but i loved your insight and would love a vid like this for a non love song xx
0 likesI loved the music video, it was so contrasting to what I thought the song was about. That makes it even more interesting I think, because I see it as someone pretending to be fine and sweet and lovely, but actually the words they say are more darker and more painful than they seem at first. (Which often occurs in mental health issues, like you said: pretending to be fine, but actually feeling numb.) Also, I will definitely look back on this music video as one of my favourites and get inspiration from it for my own short films, because this is really what I want to create with my own art and I hope that one day I will be able to make something that works as well as this. Well done (:
0 likesoooookay, i'll try.
0 likeswhen i saw the video for the first time, i was confused because i never imagined this while listening to the song. but then i realised that this meaning is yours, and all this time i was imagining how it would be from my perspective -- that is why i felt bewildered.
your meaning is totally awesome, i love it, and i think everything in the song is beautiful. even though when i sing it, i'm telling a different story. partly it's similar to yours, partly it's innocent and sweet (but i keep in mind your meaning, don't worry).
past few years have been rough, but now i feel like i've finally found my place. for me, the first verse is about trust. it's like i'm lying next to someone, really close, and i'm feeling safe and nice. yeah, there's hair in someone's mouth, but we just laugh about it. we're comfortable anyway. the world might try to separate us, but we will make it.
chorus... yeah, it's about mental illness. sometimes i feel anxious or something like that and i need other people to remind me everything's okay. we talk and laugh, and i feel a lot better. the fear goes away.
beginning of the second verse (“numb, fine”): sometimes i shut down completely, and then i can be quiet for quite a long time, but if someone asks me, i will answer that i'm fine. (they don't believe me, but that's fine either.) the next quote, “you create a rarity of my genuine smiles” is my favourite, actually, because i smile and laugh a lot, but only one person can make me smile by just being next to me and in these moments i feel myself truly happy. like, that ”happy” when you feel lots of warmth, affection, and love inside of you.
the next verse is about talking and discussing things. sometimes it's just anxiety (“breathe, breathe with me”), sometimes we talk about something else, literally anything, because i think a lot about different stuff and i have a lot on my mind that i need to discuss with someone else.
the last verse is describing how tangled we are. this codependency might seem unhealthy to someone who doesn't know us, but we're okay -- because we are free to be ourselves when we're together. yeah, i can be oversharing sometimes, even though i realise it's bad right after we talk, and i hope this person is going to be okay with that. “i hope that you don't bleed with me”... it's kind of an apologize. kind of. i'm showing i understand that me oversharing might affect this person in a bad way, and i'll try not to do it again.
anyway, for me everything ends good. i have someone i can be honest with, someone i truly trust. i'm fine (this time it's not a lie) and my partner is fine as well. i feel peaceful and serene.
i know that's not what you were trying to say while writing this song, but that's what i'm imagining while singing, so thanks for making me feel that way, Dodie. 💙
(also thank everyone who read it till the end!)
Dodie... wow, just wow!❤
0 likesFrom the first time I heard this song and reading to the lyrics I have always thought this song sort of came from a person who has some mental health issues and is in a relationship where the person is afraid of affecting the partner but at the same time asking to be understood. The person is feeling conflicted or confused(?) with his/her own feeling as suggested by the contrasting first two words in verses. IMO, The placement of gory words into the lyrics is simply to emphasise the intensity of the feeling in those lines.
0 likesWhen I close my eyes and listen to the song, I imagined watching two people dancing in waltz tempo thru some scenes of their relationship. Well i wrote long enough. No one gonna read it anyways haha.
I've only listened to it once, and will listen again now a second time because i find the songs meaning to be very significant now (plus it's your song and oh my god i'm a major Dodie head) but my first clueless listen had me thinking it was along the lines of a relationship that slowly got messier and plagued overtime
0 likesHi Dodie :) I loved this analysis and can now see how the music video reflected your intentions for the song. In a creepy sort of way I guess it made it feel more intimate? My initial interpretation was probabl on the opposite end of the spectrum (Good old art eh?). Upon hearing Intertwined my brain immediately conjured up images of reassurance and being able to find security , or a "home", in the form of another person. I too suffer with my mental health and so I guess my subconscious wanted to use your art as a source of comfort. So, thank you, it helps a lot xxx
0 likesI honestly just love everything about the song. The lyrics do make an impact of people in certain ways. The video captured this explanation beautifully, so I don't really understand why people are hating on it. Like, of course you're entitled to your own opinion, but I at least don't think the video ruined the song at all. Think of the lyrics and not the song because i think dodie is trying to make everyone realize that people do struggle with mental health, and that could lead into some relationship problems. Its life. Anyways, everything is lovely and I really love the video!!!
0 likesi actually interpreted the song in a very similar way. i guess it's because a situation that this song described (the unhealthy relationship) happened to my friends
0 likesI've always seen this song as being about someone with mental health putting their entire wellbeing in the person they're in love with and it being super toxic and negative. Just from both the lyrics and the way Dodie sang it, it's never seemed like a cute love song to me
1 likeI choreographed a dance to this when i first head it and interpreted the lyrics in a similar way, Its cool that you originally thought the music video would be a dance :)
0 likesi think for me, something i love about this song is that on different days it means different things. On bad days, i interpret it exactly how you explained, as a toxic codependent relationship plagued with mental illnesses. On good days, to me, it shows a raw intimacy shown between two lovers. The beginning skin bit Isn’t gory for me on those good days, but rather shows an intimate tone of showing yourself, all of yourself, to your lover. The harmonic Oh's aren't overwhelming thoughts on good days, well in a sense they are, but instead of overwhelming thoughts you simply have, its thoughts of the future that you both share, and due to sharing it, the future seems less jarring for each lover. I have no idea if my explanation made sense but this is how it is for me. Its a song i can cry too but its also a song that makes me warm and happy. To me thats the beauty of this completely amazing song, is that its able to bring out a new reaction from me each time.
1 likewell when I was watching the vid and listening to the song I was thinking how the writer was in love with someone and was happy that she is finally someone who understands the thoughts in her brain .. but later finds out that relationships are sometimes one sided and that people don't understand what's happening so her feelings for that someone slowly fade and are drowning in her thoughts
0 likesThe song made me beautifully uncomfortable when i first heard it... and when i watched the music video it perfectly matched the feeling that something just wasn't quite right. You could almost taste the song - the bitterness of something wrong masked by the artificial sweetness of "love". The writer isn't loving passionately, but desperately. Maybe she doesn't even really love him, but loves for the sake of being in love and being loved. She needs "love" to distract her from herself. But she isn't oblivious to this fact, she knows all too well that she's dragging him down with her, but she also can't bear to be by herself. And so she ignores it, denies it, rejects it, buries this fear that she is damaging him under outward displays of love, even though they, along with her, are empty. She's trying hard not to, but she is hurting him.
0 likesTOO. DAMN. RELATABLE. Love this song, thanks Dodie <3
Im so happy that this is exactly how the song came across to me when i first heard it last sumer.
0 likesthis my actually be my favourite video you've ever done (is that because I'm a english lit nerd?), I love seeing how the mechanics of the song. It's fascinating, especially as I'm in a relationship with mental health issues and this doesn't sound toooo unfamiliar (although hopefully not as toxic and unhealthy as depicted relationship!).
0 likesI think my interpretation was kind of more away of the contradictions going on within someone experiencing depression and mental health. Whereas there's definitely negative images within the song, it's the contrast with the positive and romantic harmonies and words that mirror the confusion people with mental health experience: is the negativity real, and actual manifest in our relationship, or is this something my depression/poor mental health is projecting? I loved the conflict portrayed in the song, but instead of it being a depiction of a certainly unhealthy relationship, I saw it more as the conflict within the person with mental health. You become unable to evaluate your own relationships clearly, marred with the crippling negativity of mental health. Not that I'm talking from experience....
I remember thinking, when I first heard this song, that the lyrics "can you drink all my thoughts" referred to an alcohol problem, or at least that alcohol had been consumed by the writer and that's why they were talking and exposing their feelings. Plus, the next bit of the song is "cause I can't stand", and there's a small pause before "them", so I literally heard that they couldn't stand straight - again, because they had drunk too much.
0 likesI absolutely adore and appreciate intertwined so much more because of this video. When I first listened to it, I thought it was just a good old love story and a song about love. But then I began listening to it more and more. The meaning I got from the song was the need to rely on others through tough times. The first line "skin, heat" represented the physical need for human interactions. Human beings are extremely social creatures and most enjoy physical reassurances (for lack of a better term). The chorus "I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here..." Represented the emotional dependency that we have on one another. As someone suffering from mental illness, that person I depend on can be my therapist or close friends. It's not healthy to keep thoughts bottled up, and to open up to someone is difficult but ultimately worthwhile. The next verse "numb, fine" gave me the impression of a disagreement between two people. But the next line "you create...my genuine smiles" is the writer reassuring themselves that even though this person may not be who they thought they were, they still love them. This represented the unhealthiness of toxic/abusive relationships. The end of the song gave me a sort of suspicious feel, like the writer decided to in the end stay with this person because of unstated reasons. I love this song just so so much and how it can be interpreted in so many different ways
0 likesit COMPLETELY matched my own interpretation as I'd associated it with my own (now ex) relationship, where I was pretty much exactly the person you described in the song.
0 likesI was unhealthily dependant on him through my (continuing) mental health shit and as a result, really damaged him in the process.
So yeah, loved the song and music video was FAB, and you don't need your english teachers to be proud (although they must be, look at you!!) cause we all are! :DD
I thought exactly like you about the song dodie. It never seemed like a sweet and cute love song to me. I always thought that it describes a breaking relationship because of mental issues. (I'm kind of proud of myself now)
0 likesYour songs always give me lots of emotions and I love them so much aaarggGHHH (and you of course oh sweet Jesus I love you so muuuccHH)
I live for this stuff! I really related to this song but felt I couldn't connect fully as I've never been in love, but you say the same in 'When', and it's comforting to know now that this song also came from that place :) I'm sorry you did have a relationship something like this, I hope things get better <3 But in the meantime thank you so incredibly much for voicing these thoughts and making so many of us feel less alone. It's rare to hear lyrics as honest as this, reminds me of Marina and the Diamonds <3
0 likesI definitely thought of mental illness while listening to the song. It kinda describes my anxious thoughts... but I love the song ( and video) :)
0 likesThe way I have viewed this song has changed since I first listened to it, I think, because of my own changing mental state. When I first heard it I was in a budding relationship and I remember relating to you, dodie, feeling like it was a first time lover who was over thinking the act of simply laying in bed (not even sleeping, but maybe having the other human occupied with another thing). This was because I, myself, had done this with a first time boyfriend. You know, trying to act casual and comfortable and feeling a love for this person, but also having a fear of your own abilities racing behind your smile. Later, when I had matured a bit, but was still with the same person, I think I came closest to the way you wrote it. Being in high school, relationships are messy and one already has so many underlying issues that it can feel like your only escape. Personally, I had fallen into a toxic relationship because I thought that was normal. You simply dump all your problems on someone else and vice versa until, boom, they're fixed, right? The song, to me, was what a relationship should be: a soothing balm over all the hurt coming from outside of it. Currently I am a single pringle who, much like you explain doing yourself, looks into the past for hope and calm, as that seemingly better version of myself is gone. Through your words, I felt the hard bash of a breakup move into the numbness that follows, but, again, like me, you skipped to the past as soon as you could wake up in the morning so as to be... fine. In the end, this song, even if it was misinterpreted or not, has helped me understand myself whenever I hear it, and wherever I may be in life when I do. I also find it fascinating and oddly pleasing to hear, so thank you dodie! Maybe it's done this for others without them realizing it. Art. :)
0 likesI loved this song and my interpretation was that it was an abusive relationship and that the man hurts the woman but then they are intimate and the woman forgives him as her anxiety makes her feel like she deserves it and she cannot speak out about it.
0 likesI thought that it was also o do with self harm and that she is "suffering in silence" (quote dodie) and the high "can't" was like her screaming because she doesn't know how to escape
Love you dodie xxxxxxx
I want a series on you analysing song lyrics (not necessarily your own).
1 likeI love this, I loved how everyone had their own meanings and I loved seeing in the debates in the comment section as I love understanding what people think and why. As at first I didn't understand how anyone could have seen it as a romantic/happy song as the lyrics (for me) seemed to say the opposite but I came around a bit reading people's comments, and then people convinced me it was about mental health. :3 I'm just loving all the debating and discussion that was going on. I thought it was about toxic relationships and the person realizing that it wasn't a loving/happy relationship and it was co-dependent and toxic and ugly. "You make a rarity of my genuine smile." This at first sounds quite happy but the lyrics seem to mean 'you make me smile less' which isn't something positive and wouldn't be something you'd want out of a relationship.
0 likesReplies (1)
And wow I'm blown away a) Can you please just be my English teacher as this is basically essay worthy and b) I love the explanation. And this makes me wanna do my music essay on this song. And it's really interesting to see how much thought you put into the lyrics.
0 likesMy interpretation of the song sits roundabout where yours does (I think you communicated it superbly, and it's an extraordinary song) but the thing I like the most about it is that the lyrics have such grit and pathos, but you sing it almost like they're just a stream of thoughts circling your brain before bed. It FEELS like depression, intense but disconnected. It's beautiful, Dodie. Honest to God a work of art.
0 likesI LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS I LOVE THIS EVEN MORE THAN BEFORE
0 likesI kind of combined the themes you explained. Two lovers, but with one having the support of the other. I saw the dark themes within the mental health issues, but hadn't tied it to a possibly unhealthy, toxic, relationship. However, I had noticed that the pinning of every hope on the partner could be toxic for both, and the worry for harming the partner is something people with mental health problems realy worry about and rightly so, as it can happen.
0 likesAnyways, the song got me thinking, as did this video, so thank you! 😊
Jesus this is complicated aha. My thoughts on the song are a lot more simple, but still really help me. Thank you Dodie for being so deep and creating such a beautiful song Xo
0 likesI always had a general understanding of this song from just listening to it but hearing you explain it like this has given me not quite more of an understanding but just good ole appreciation for this song. Intertwined closely followed by Sick of Losing Soulmates are my favorite songs not only on the EP but in general and dealing with the same type of mental illnesses myself you make me feel very understood which that in its self is enough to bring a girl to tears. I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to explain this song (something which is known to be difficult for some people) and I just want you to know that it really has helped some people with the same kind of fuckery going on in their brains. Thank you so much.
0 likesWhen I first heard the song I thought it was more of a tribute to another lover! Like almost a vow!! So there basically saying how broken they are but they always come back to each other because that's where you feel most "safe". Hence you stay together away from "the world". And then the song takes a darker turn because your starting to freak out because you feel your moving to quickly in the relationship and your becoming anxious and unhappy and you "can't stand" your thoughts anymore. But you stay in the relationship because in all of this mess you feel "free" and without it you can't function. And your not sure how the partner even feels anymore because it's not the same because you feel you have "pinned" all of your self onto them. And your so afraid they'll leave because you have done this. And all of this has you so messed up and your just scared but you don't want them to go because you need the mess. You need the person to make it look better than things actually are. And that's my interpretation but when I saw the video it made so much sense and i really loved it a lot. Great job!!!
0 likesI love that song!! 😍😊
0 likesMe: puts A Level English Lit Lang hat on ready!
My idea of the song did match up to your interpretation, however that may be because I watched the music videos before I'd heard just the audio. I interpreted it an a mentally ill person in a relationship, but it being a toxic codependent relationship, meaning that it was doomed to fail and both individuals got lost as one broken shell.
I have to say, This was INCREDIBLY interesting. I definitely sensed the darker undertones of the song, however, I didn't exactly see Mental Health as a theme when I first heard it. I originally thought that the song was about a relationship that was unstable or simply not going well. They way I heard it I thought that the relationship was then made better. I got that from "intertwined, free" as in both parties are now one, and feel more free, since the heavy burden of their problems were weighing on their shoulders. But I like the way you originally wrote the song much more! The contrast of the gorey words mixed with the pleasant but somewhat off-putting chord:lyrics ratio. Wonderful work, and wonderful symbolism. Props to yoU!
0 likesThe way you made this video and analysed your own lyrics makes me feel like the song was written by a past version of dodie in a very different headspace and that present dodie has stepped out of that headspace to look at her work from a different perspective, more objectively even. It's probably not true idk but either way, I really like how you aren't afraid of dissecting a song that's rather personal because before this, everything was only implied and now we know for sure. If anything, I think that makes the listening experience more special, so I really appreciate it.
0 likesSo here goes my interpretation:
0 likesNot having mental health issues myself, that was not the first thing I thought about when listening to the song. To me, it appeared to be very melancholic - about a relationship that used to be happy but now kind of became boring and distant (I can't think of better words right now)
"skin, heat...feet touching feet" represented physical intimacy to me. Following up with "You and I" instead of "Us" seemed to imply emotional distance - so over time, the emotional connection broke, whereas the physical one still exists.
"safe from the world, though the world will try" thus meant to me that the relationship can only work ifit doesn't engage with the world around, because if it did, the lack of emotional connection would become a problem. So as long as the persons keep themselves "safe from the world" they have a chance (and they want to stay in this relationship), but the world always finds a way in, making the relationship more and more fragile.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain" to me seems like the lyrical me (do you say that in english?) is afraid of the doubts she has about the relationship, because she doesn't want to take action, as in, break up.
So instead of reflecting on herself, she prefers to "stay here" (in the relationship, safe from the world) and "laugh away the fear" (make fun of her own thoughts, because if they are invalid, she doesn't need to act on them)
"numb, fine" to me sounded like "I'm numb, but it's fine", as in accepting the emotional distance and unhappiness in the relationship.
"You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" to me was more like genuine smiles had become rare in the relationship, but everytime it happens, she looses her doubts for a while, which is why she doesn't want to break up - she is afraid that in that case, she would never genuinly smile again.
"so breathe, breathe with me" would mean "please reconnect with me emotionally", because breath feeds both the body and the mind, so she wants to connect on both levels with her partner.
"can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them" would be again "please take my doubts away, because I'm afraid of having to decide wether or not I want to stay with you.
"Intertwined, free" would be the two paths the lyrical me could choose now - either she stays intertwined with the other person, but also tied up. Or she frees herself, but it is a very existential definition of freedom, as Sartre says, she would be "condemned to be free", which is rather scary.
"I pinned each and every hope on you, and I hope that you don't bleed with me" would be "I wanted this relationship to be perfect, but now it isn't, and I hpe that at least you are really happy and don't notice how uncertain I am, because in that case the whole thing wouldn't make sense anymore, and I desperatly want it to make sense"
On that note, I hope my interpretation makes sense to anyone - I'm not quite sure wether I was able to express my thoughts properly. I used "she" for the lyrical me/protagonist because dodie is female, but the gender doesn't matter here. ALs o I think it's very beautiful how this song makes sense even if interpreted in two rather different ways.
I really connected with Intertwined and even sent it to my boyfriend, he immediately connected with it too. I have emotionally unstable personality disorder & generalised anxiety disorder & it really effects our relationship at times. I can push him away when really I just want to be with him. We do argue sometimes when I'm depressed and anxious and don't want to talk to him (I sound like a terrible girlfriend, I promise I'm not always like it!) But he's really learnt how to take care of me when my mental health gets bad and knows when to give me space. He's such a comfort to me when I'm starting to improve and get back to myself again. <3 I listen to Intertwined most days, it's a really beautiful song with a meaningful message.
0 likesi never took eng lit so none of this made sense but i still felt a sense of amazement watching dodie talk about her song so passionately lmao
0 likesThis song is so beautiful
0 likesWhat mainly confused me about the music video was that, although I understood the mental health element in the lyrics and I know the song was about how this affected each participant in the relationship, I interpenetrated it as a sort of "with you I feel better", rather than "my mental health is slowly turning our relationship toxic". I really liked the video on it's own, and I thought it was really eerie and thought provoking, but it really wasn't compatible with my earlier impression of the song. As explained in this video, there was a lot of contrast between the good ad the bad, but I saw it more as a resolution at the end of a bad period, with "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" coming after "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" and though obviously no problems were solved entirely, it seemed like they were made a whole lot better just with the other person's presence. For me this song ended on a much more positive note, and that's why I really didn't understand how the video got progressively worse and ended in a house (which presumably symbolised the safe place the couple had created in their relationship) burning down. From what I perceived, the impact of mental health seemed a much more constant issue, reaching no particular climax in the song but being carefully managed and helped through the love of two people.
0 likesthis was sort of 'the song' to the relationship I was in recently and at the time we saw it as a sweet loving song and your real reason for the song is the exact reason that the relationship ended. It's amost a bit like fate
0 likesTbh I relate to this song so much because I'm the mentally ill one in my relationship and I know I'm damaging him. I chose to interpret this as a person being anxious and ill and their partner choosing to be supportive and sharing their problems so they can overcome them together because despite all my problems I'm an optimist at heart, but I feel a bit silly for it. I think that's just what I wanted it to mean to assuage my own guilt about hurting my partner and my family with my illness. That's kind of shattered around me now in a storm of glass and disappointment so I better cover my eyes and tend to the wounds.
0 likesThank you for sharing anyway Dodie. I love your music so much!
I LIVE FOR THIS ANALYSIS SO MUCH OMGGGG
0 likesI am proud of you.
0 likesI used to interpret it how you wrote it but then I got into a relationship and the meaning changed for me. It painted a picture of a couple coming to terms that one of them is mentally ill. It reminds me of my boyfriend and how he assures me that I'm not a burden and that he doesn't love my anxiety but he loves me. How he has learned to calm me down. How he chooses to drink my thoughts but doesn't try to make them sweet. Even though I see my illness as a poison he sees it as a medicine. It is something he has to deal with in order to be happy with me in his life. He makes me feel sick and not broken.
0 likesI completely interpreted the song as related to alcoholism, so in a sense still mental health, but more focused on how an addiction to alcohol affects a relationship. I mostly got this from the line "Can you drink all my thoughts?", as to me, the word drink particularly stuck out. Also, I felt that the use of the word "Numb" in the verse before linked to the idea that many people drink in order to numb their feelings, and the following "fine" being the persons inability to accept that they have a problem. I absolutely love this song, and I think the best thing about it is how differently it can be interpreted, but I always saw it as a song about relationships, alcohol and mental health :)
0 likesholy shit, this is not the way i interpreted the song, but this makes so much sense. it's not that i missed the fact that mental health was discussed, but i just didn't think about it that deeply. now this song is such a perfect description of a relationship i was in oh my gosh 😳
0 likesIf the youtube thing doesnt work out, dodie should become an english teacher. More specifically mine because WOW that was /so/ good 😊😊😊😊 love ya doddle x
0 likesMy interpretation was a lustful and messed up relationship wherein the couple rely on each other and struggle through life together... idk :/ this was a very insightful video tho
0 likeswelcome to lessons with Dodie! (ba-da-na) (please do more of these please i like them...)
0 likesHoly crap, I am totally blown away by this!!!!!
0 likesthis is incredible wow
0 likesMY SKIN IS CLEAR MY CROPS ARE FLOURISHING MY GRADES ARE UP THE SUN IS SHINING
2 likesI thought that it was about a person who entered a relationship with a mental illness, possibly schizophrenia but I'll explain later. They went into the relationship with their mental health being rocky but they've convinced themselves that this will be good for them because they won't be alone ("oh you and I, safe from the world") This is where their mental health begins to worsen, and the main reason I thought of schizophrenia is from the contractions in the lyrics, as if there is more than one voice commenting ("numb, fine" "laugh away the fear" "intertwined, free") which can be supported by the cry for help "can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" followed by the calming "oohs" which could be an example of the voices in the person's head or the lover trying to calm them down. The song ends with the end of the relationship where they decide that they don't want to drain their lover's mental health or drag them down with them and they both go their separate ways.
0 likesThis makes me miss literature class SO MUCH
0 likesI adore this so muchThrow back to English lit haha you'd be a great English teacherI love the song so much and the video- I thought it was amazing- I was speechless
0 likesI thought the song was about a relationship the singer/ writer is in and through a tough time the writer is in, mainly because of a mental health issue. The start of the song was sweet and loving, and sounded like two people holding each other close... almost like one was going to leave and it would be their (or seem like one of their) last embarrass together.
0 likesThe person singing the song, seems to be in despair and is calling for help but not exactly telling the other person whats going on but isn't helping themselves by saying that they are fine and covering it up with a smile ('Numb, Fine') The singer/writer finally told their significant other and that is why they are holding them so tightly. The significant other is afraid of losing the singer/writer and therefore is holding them like it is the last time they will be this close to one another.
I imagine two people hugging and crying in each others arms, trying to seek comfort in one another ('intertwined'). I then imagine the two trying to find strategies to help with the mental illness, and one of the big ones people use is breathing. The significant other is taking deep breaths with the writer/ singer as a way to help he/she calm down and relax ('so breathe, breathe with me').
'I've pinned each and every hope on you' can indicate that the singer is telling the significant other all the thoughts racing in their head, and all the things they might want to do to themselves. 'I hope that you don't bleed with me" Also, might mean that because the singer/writer has told them all of these things that she/he doesn't want them to blame themselves. As that might cause them to go down the say path they have. But the word 'Free' is also used in that verse which confuses people as this song doesn't seem like the person is happy and feeling like they can do anything (which is what most people think when they think of the word free), but instead more trapped in their own thoughts. But to me the use of the word 'free' in this verse could mean that they finally feel better that they have told somebody about what is going on, and also they feel overwhelmed that they have listened and are actually helping. Also, 'free' the fact it is used in this manner and how it can confuse people might also be a metaphor. It could make people confused which is how a lot of people feel about mental illnesses. People who do not suffer from one are usually confused about them. How they are triggered, why people with a great life can have them ect.
"I'm afraid of the things in my brain' is referring back to the beginning of the song, and indicating to us that they are not yet better. ' but we can stay here and laugh away the fear.' Also tells us that once again the singer/ writer of this song has someone that they can confine in when they are feeling overly anxious, depressed ect.
So in conclusion, the song is about a couple that is struggling as one of them is suffering from a mental illness. It is about the two trying to find a way in which they can help the person with the mental illness, and hopefully overcome it. The song is about hope, love and determination. Hope, in finding a way to find a way to help the singer/writer through this illness. Love, being there for one another and holding each other close and not wanting to let go. Determination, they won't stop trying to find a solution until it is resolved.
IM LIVING FOR ENGLISH TEACHER DODIE YES GIRL WOOOOO TEACH EM
0 likesi know this is a really deep video but
0 likesi really like your handwriting
slowly walks up to you
2 likessoftly holds your shoulders
shakes you, screaming
'YES YES YES YES'
This is 100% how a viewed the song. Never thought of it as a sappy song rather a song where one of the two parties has things in there head that end up hurting the other half
0 likesI definitely saw the song the same way. Just to add to what dodie was saying about the "numb, fine" lyric; the word "fine" is syncopated (on an up beat), so it feels like the word is just being thrown out there and insincere. I interpreted it as being dismissive and more of an after thought. Musically this song is fantastic and the addition of those chromatic chords make the song that much more effective. Love it!
0 likesi would Dodie be my teacher anyday
0 likesIf I was to direct a music video for this I would have a colourful centre point possibly two people performing a classical ballet piece but with darkness surrounding them and becoming more and more powerful such as their being dancers surrounding them trying to 'attack' them. I would end with the darkness being eliminated and one of the dancers continuing the same dance with the other showing signs of uncertainty that the darkness is truly gone.
0 likesI personally thought that Intertwined was a song about commitment issues and the fear of what a relationship means. The narrator speaking of her current situation, (Skin, numb, intertwined) vs her desires (heat, fine, and free).
0 likesIn terms of already being in a relationship, fear of commitment doesn't just mean "I don't want to be tied down," it could also be fear of what commitment would mean, what is expected from them, and/or what damage could be done to either party. A good example would be survivors of an abusive relationship. Their experiences define relationships much differently than people who haven't gone through anything at all.
It doesn't contradict Dodie's personal meaning to the song, as mental health issues are often involved with relationships and commitment, but I thought it relevant enough to comment on.
I felt about the this song exactly the way you describe your attachment to it Dodie. I loved the chords and how it me it sounded like a relationship gone wrong- like there was a bump in the road that turned things sours (much like how mine did losing the best thing ever) I love this song it's my favourite along with WHEN and YOU'RE JUST A DREAMS because I get so emotionally attached to words it feels as though I'm welcomed and am safe before your chords and beautiful voice. I praise you everyday (not like shrine that's creepy) for your sings because of how much I understand them and feel as if there is someone who cares about me (even though we have never met) I love these sickly songs to help understand what my emotions are - Thank you so much dodie !!! Also congrats on hitting one million - p.S what ukulele did you use for this song??
0 likesYou look so cute <3 Also damn I'll never listen to this song the same way ever again
0 likesi kind of saw it as a relationship that kind of fails after the honeymoon phase? like after the initial shock of passion, they're both just kind of left with nothing; but they stay together in hopes that the spark will come back
0 likesTo me, for this song to be about anything other than mental health would be weird, but I can see how some people missed the underlying meaning because the song is so beautifully written and sweet sounding that it masks the brutality of how mental health issues can make a person feel. I always saw the song like you've found someone that makes you feel safe but there's a constant fear that the toxic thoughts that are in your brain will poison the relationship if you say them out loud. Also the video is brilliant - internal thoughts made physical, crashing down on the relationship. It fits so perfectly with the narrative of the song asdfghjkl I love it I love you.
0 likesOh my god I love this video so much
0 likesThese teachers need to be found and shown the music video. Maybe they're still at the school? HEDY GET ON THIS
0 likesdodie, you teach better than my teacher
0 likesi always kinda saw intertwined as a 'story'(/progression) of a domestic violence and (mental health related) emotionally manipulative relationship?! hmmmmm x
0 likesi kinda realised that everyone has interpreted the song in a different way varying on their current mindset (mainly not everyone) so my interpretation was more along the lines of a nice healthy seeming relationship that seems calm and beautiful and 'perfect' to everyone else, but in reality it's quite messy and the protagonist of the song/ writer was calling out for help because they find it difficult to express how the genuinely feel within this relationship and that they turn to anything that makes them feel better; with the lyrics "can you drink all my thoughts" implies that drinking was one of the things that made them feel better. As well as this, the repetition of the word "breath" could reference anxiety and panic attacks and the inability to breathe when everything on your mind is so heavy and overwhelming and therefore scary. With the "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" I believed that was as if saying 'I thought you'd be the one to help me, please don't let my ill mental state lead you to do the same as I have with mutilating my own body and skin'. So yeah that was my interpretation
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and i just realised I'm probably going to fail the analysis part of my exams
0 likesdefiantly agree with what you said, it all makes sense now that it's been laid out. I do have to say though the songs a bit ruined for me as i do enjoy being ignorant in love (in some cases not all of course) and sometimes i enjoy just a song about being intertwined with someone. Again i agree with all of your dissections of the song but the video also ruined it a little as dolls terrify me 😵
0 likesWish I could do my gcse English on this song think I'd ace it
0 likesShe kind of does sound like a teacher.
1 likeA very interesting rundown of the song BY THE ARTIST HERSELF, so stop saying you don't think it's that way just because it doesn't match up to your lovey dovey idea of Dodie and mental health issues. All in all, its a beautiful song that soothes as much as it quietly unsettles people. I say unsettles because, frankly, disturb would not be the right term here. I admire how well you slipped in all these meanings Dodie, several of which I never noticed, and I'm looking forward to you quietly telling the world with your music a story no one wants to hear said out loud.
0 likesWhen it says 'intertwined. Free', after all the 'oohs' and such.
0 likesI had thought that it was finally alluding to a happy ending. Where singer is finally freed by 'numbness' and finally feels all this weight off their shoulders after talking to their loved one. Where the; "But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" bit referred to the beginning lyrics. Showing that she can get back to the beginning of the song where she is 'safe' with him. (HUGE dependability on him but.. happy(?))
Also maybe just me but the melody sounds like a lullaby?
So as she sings louder (in parts like; can you drink all my thoughts?, cause i can't stand them) she is becoming more aware of her fear/is awake. So when the 'oohs' play, she pours out her thoughts to her partner which act as a lullaby rocking her to sleep, deeper into the relationship. THUS, she is 'intertwined' with him BUT 'free' from her own fear.
(Also the 'falling in sleep/dependability of him is confirmed in the end where she is just humming until the song finishes)
It involves losing her sense of self, but she is no longer 'afraid of the things in [her] brain'.
Yay?
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Oh and Dodie, LOVED you analyzing your song!
0 likesGets me analyzing for fun and not for my next English assignment... Which I probably should be doing now. XD
I kinda interpret it like there's this person scared of society. Of how she fits in it and what people think of her. So she's like can we stay here? So we don't have to face our issues. Which they do but it's slowly eating them from the inside.
0 likesI feel weird aboit the fact that she looks like my old art teacher in this video....
0 likescries I wish I could study this in school
0 likesI really like it
0 likesDo more shit with hedy!
1 likeThis video actually helped with my English analysis lol thx
1 likeHELLO NEW RELATED TEXT FOR ANYTIME I HAVE TO DO ANYTHING thanks dodie, luv u <3
0 likesthat warrants full marks for a literature exam in my school.
0 likesOk please do not take this as hate I absolutely love the song and I think the video was super creative but to me intertwined is just a love song about someone with possible mental health issues or trust issues or something. This deep analysis seems too much. But you are the author so if that's what you meant then that's the meaning of the song. I just would never come up with the meaning after listening to it. Like I said I loved it and all your songs and I love you! ❤️
0 likesMY (not so) INNER LIT NERD IS IN HEAVEN WITH THIS VIDEO
0 likesohmygod if i could just take my English GCSE that would b great
0 likesHow to write an English lit essay w Dodie
2 likesthat was so interesting !!!
0 likesI think the song is clever as not only does it reflect people's thoughts in a relationship who suffer with mental health issues, but also shows how everyone, as insecure human beings, can feel in a relationship, being in love is one of the most scary things in the world as well as the most amazing, you feel so happy when you are with them that there is a constant fear something might go wrong, you also fear you may become too dependant on that happiness, also you fear that they can't handle how you feel or think, it's just bloody terrifying but also amazing because when everything is good it's like you have a safe bubble to escape, even just for a second, the difficulties in your brain...that's what I see the song as anyway and the video shows it so poignantly ☺️
0 likeswhen she claps and snaps, is it some sort of language she created of smth?
0 likesLove being back in lit class
0 likesi just gobbled this like the true english lit student i am. pls be my tutor/lecturer HAHA
0 likesI basically just got any to clap 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
0 likesdoes this count as English revision ? :)
1 likeOK here's my analysis its sort of rough and a mess but yeah
0 likesskin, heat, hair in your mouth
feet touching feet:
a couple lying together, probably after sex since they are tangled together (intertwined), if u go off of the idea that the relationship is toxic perhaps there is some sort of dependence on this sex and this touching more than actually talking through problems.
oh you I safe from the world
though the world will try:
they need to be together to be safe, it sounds romantic but merely creates an atmosphere of dependence, perhaps a very one sided dependence like the singer is locking their lover inside. the world may try suggests the idea of an outside parting saying that this relationship is toxic and it needs to stop and perhaps that is why the singer locks their lover away, because they can't accept the truth and depend on having someone there even if it is unhealthy.
oh I'm afraid of the thing in my brain:
this suggest that the singer has mental health issues and is afraid of the them to the point that they may be in denial.
but we can laugh away the fear:
again denying their scary though and pretending every thing is OK, using their lover to pretend they mental illness isn't their and laughing it all off instead of as previously stated just talking everything through.
numb, fine
again denial of the mental illness. often times when someone is depressed they feel numb but they deny it and tell the people around them that they are okay and fine.
you create a rarity of my genuine smile:
at this point the relationship is unhealthy for the singer as well, we start to see that perhaps they aren't completely manipulative and that want of their lover to be with them and be like them is to calm their lover down to make them both happy so that the singer can genuinely smile.
so breathe, breathe with me:
for me this further pushes the dependence, the need for the singers lover to be with them all the time and be like them, perhaps to reassure them that they are normal and again this idea of denial, if they have someone with them like them they are okay and have no reason to be afraid.
can you drink my thoughts away? cuz I can't stand them:
for me it feels like a reference to your drinking, the idea that the singer needs to drink alcohol to have a good time and to run away from their fears and again they need their lover to do the same because of this toxic dependence.
intertwined, free:
for me this juxtaposition almost suggests that the lover is forced into this and have been tangled into the mess of a toxic relationship the singer however is convinced that they are both free.
I've pinned each and every hope on you:
theyve put their hoped and problems alike in their partner and again instead of talking they just put it all on their partner and act as I'd it'll work. moreover they hope the, though unhealthy and toxic, relationship will fix them.
I hope you don't bleed with me:
they've acknowledged that their problems are too Mich for them and that it isn't fair for them to 'pin' them onto their lover, yet instead of being brave they dwell in their fears and simply hope that this doesn't hurt their lover too much.
I'm afraid of the things in my brain but we can stay here and laugh away the fear:
ending with the words fear just pish the ides that the singer is scared and doesn't know how to deal with it and that this isn't a beautiful romantic relationship, though it may seem like it.
where did you get your glasses? (^^)
0 likesThis comment might be a jumbled mess because I am exhausted so I will try and make this make as much sense as possible.
0 likesMy Interpretation: this is about a relationship where one of the people involved suffer from Anxiety, and depression, or any other mental issues, example "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" reminded me of how I get when I have intense bursts of depression, I'll be on the floor crying thinking my family hates me and I will be unable to move because the things in my brain are telling me "this is where you deserve to be, don't try getting up cause I will knock you down again" this song to me was about two lovers where one person uses the other as a comfort/coping mechanism, creating a toxic relationship of co-dependency until eventually they are both the same level of fucked up and it starts becoming self destructive, they both feel like the relationship is safe, but they're creating a toxic environment for the relationship, and in the end the relationship can only go one way up in flames.
Revision with dodie! Xx
0 likesI wish you were my English teacher 😝
0 likesomg SHIVERS through watching this
0 likesCan you please just be my English teacher? Please 🙏🏼
0 likesPLZ MAKE MORE OF THESE VID TYPES AND CORRECT MY GRAMMAR
0 likesjfc where do you come up with this??? pls teach me ur ways
0 likescoughs ahem. I don't exactly know how to analyze music or lyrics "properly" but I'll do my best. The first thing I noticed was not even about the lyrics. It was how the ukulele in the beginning sounds, at first, very steady, like a the initial happiness and joyful anticipation of falling in love. Then, to a two note descend into a more sinister sounding vibe momentarily breaks the stream of good thoughts, giving the listener an insight to an uncertainty or hesitancy that the writer feels entering the relationship. but, the plucking pattern is maintained, perhaps suggesting a relief, but darker set to their vision on being happy with someone. At 1:03, the lyric "numb" corresponds with the woman in a dark room, a shadow obscuring most of her face, which could be interpreted as her uncertainty growing, and her mental health starting to affect her, as the doubt begins to consume her. "fine" is shown with her holding scissors, a possible hint that she is wanting to cut ties with this person, but saying that she is fine with him. Or, it could be, like Dodie said, an obvious and unsettling contradiction of "fine" and the sharp object, leading to believe that she is so very far from fine, and doesn't want her partner to feel like they're being burdened. And so she has the scissor to break the bond with him. 1:19, her hair is cut, probably due to the scissor, maybe meaning that she didn't have the courage to break away from him, and instead took it out on herself. 1:35. the red liquid correlates with the "drink all my thoughts" lyric. my interpretation of this was that the woman's thoughts were overwhelming her, so much that they all came down, drowning her partner in a sea of worry. 1:50. You can see, if you look closely, that the man's arm is attached to her, representing how she is taking apart the person in order to keep herself alive, intertwining them through 'pain?'. the "pinned each and every hope on you" with the persons head obscured, is obviously saying how she is relying on him to bring her up, and doesn't want him to suffer because of her. quite sad when you think of it. But the different colors might be a way of showing how her problems aren't monotone, and the fact the pins are covering up his eyes, could mean that all he can see are her worries. (no hate on dodie, i'm just interpreting lol) 2:28. clearly, some dark shit is goin' down. the girl is holding a lighter, and when the chorus of "hmms" come in, the man, along with his surrounding go up in flames. Again, this makes sense with Dodie explain how it's supposed to be a little over powering/over whelming. In the end, the man is surrounded by fire, confirming how her mental health issues played a part in the undoing of the relationship, causing much of it to obliterate, and the man bleeding with her. woah. that was long.
0 likesdodie can you be my english teacher?? maybe then i will like english.. :o
0 likesRead mine and Katie's, Dodie! We all know nothing, together!
0 likesdodie u fucking genius
0 likesso cute...
0 likesI want more dodie English lessons!
2 likesi have the same interpretation
0 likesIt was always a dark song
0 likesplease God do a cover of banana pancakes
0 likes1:43 JODIE JODIE IS THIS A CONFESSION
0 likeswant to never hear the song the same again? try this on for size. Stockholm syndrome.
0 likesWhen she said vevo i just went
0 likesVideo every.... every....
January, march, april, may... ect.
There is no month beginning with v
OOHH VEVO
I think this is the first time I have enjoyed English Lit?
0 likesdamn doddie
0 likesGosh, you're so smart.
0 likesand cute.
Wow reading meta on songs is the beat
0 likesthe original genius analysis
0 likesI would probably have made a more (dance?) ballet-like depiction (not going into too much detail as I plan to use it in the future), but the girl singing starts in a white dress, (looking down for the word skin and more jarring words near the start). As I identify as aromantic and haven't exactly experience romantic attraction before (not even sure if I will), but I saw it as a friendship, falling apart. As the video progresses the girls dress slowly starts to tear, and change into a darker colour (like black) to signify her depression taking over. As she leans on her friend as a form of support (later in the song), the back of the dress sinks onto her and starts to drown them both. In the end they are both covered in the darkness, and the original girls head is close to the top. The darkness consuming her. And after the last hum, it does.
0 likesReplies (1)
Also throughout as her depression in coming from her anxiety (which unfortunately I can relate to), the fear is there to (maybe they run from something in the dark). Thats all, sorry it's not as skilled or elaborate as the other interpretations as I am still in high school and have not had as many experiences (neither good nor bad), but thank you everyone who reads this and or helped inspire this.
0 likesDid not see Ravenclaw Dodie coming
0 likesI thought it was that the Barbie was being pushed and the Ken was forcing the thought that it's okay so she gets fed up and just all these thoughts that hurt her so she kills him due to the pins in the Ken's head at the end.
0 likesI'm crying...
0 likesYou know it's gonna be good when dodie busts out her glasses and chalkboard. Incredible look into the meaning behind the lyrics and the melody. It made the song that much more enjoyable! :)
2 likesIt's funny how life can change your perspective on things, when I first heard this song I listened to it with my boyfriend at the time in an intimate moment close to the one described in the beginning of the song and while I did pick up on the mental health issues and the meaning behind "breath with me" I felt it was reassuring both me and my boyfriend at the time struggle with mental health issues and I took the song as a sad but still loving melody about finding someone who can make you feel human and keep you up when all you feel is down and breath with you when you need it but now that boyfriend and I have broken up and listening to the song again I see the real struggle and Strain on the relationship as I have experienced. The dependency on each other is a real hard ship and the dependency I put on him really affected me after we broke up and I see how toxic it can be to rely on someone and I relate and love this song so much more and in an entirely different way. Intimate moments and genuine smiles are nice but you can't expect someone to drink up all your thoughts
2 likesYou should really make more of these types of videos on your other songs, they're really good
1 likeI already loved this song and this made me admire it even more. The music video is one of the best I've ever seen and although I initially thought it was a more romantic song, I think the video suited it almost perfectly. This is some amazing songwriting and I love all the little things you slipped in that you might not notice at a glance, like the "drink all my thoughts" line. I hope someday with a lot of practice I'll be this great of a songwriter. Now excuse me while I listen to it for 3 hours straight.
1 likehonestly I loved the journey I went though in first listening to the song, and then seeing the music video. I initially interpreted it as finding refuge in a relationship to help with mental health problems, and it generally had a positive meaning. Then the music video dropped and I saw the deeper, more insidious sides of having a relationship with mental health issues, and it made me re-evaluate and appreciate the song all over again. That re-evaluation actually felt like the all contrasts you put in all the lines, where on the surface it all seems fine, but upon further introspection the relationship is ultimately damaging. I don't know if that's what you had planned but I feel like that was a more fulfilling way for the meaning to be conveyed cause wow it hit me like a tonne of bricks.
1 likethis actually blew my mind on how much work and thought goes into lyrics
1 likeUgh I LOVE literary analysis and dodie ur so SMART this makes me happy and impressed and like kind of in love with you
1 likeWhen I first heard this song it really hit me. It is one of my favorites and I think it's so beautiful in a twisted way and I relate to it. Thank you for such a beautiful song that helps me when I feel like I'm sinking and everything in my head is too loud. Also I really liked this video and you dissecting the lyrics it was very interesting. Thank you so much Dodie, you are amazing 😊💚😊
0 likeswow this video! I really love seeing the meaning behind the songs. Honestly when i think of intertwined it seems like a love song but it gives me this feeling of sadness. Maybe its the chords chosen and how softly its played, but I've cried to this song a lot. Its not that the lyrics are sad its the why its been played. I don't know it helps me get out my emotions. Anyone agree? or is it just me cx
1 likeI don't know if it's because I have the same fears/apprehensions about being in a relationship but I had understood it the way it is explained here and not the way everyone was describing it in the comments on the vevo channel. I really couldn't understand why people were expecting a happy video for such a sad song. I'm glad it was explained the way I thought it was, I was starting to question how dark my brain really is tbh
2 likesWhen I was explaining the music video to my mom, I told her that I thought the fires and various missing flesh was the manifestation of the fears in her brain, and that the dolls represented the fake nature of the relationship, and the seemingly fine smiling couple that where really in pain. I thought the song was truly about an unhealthy relationship within which 2 people where pretending they where in a healthy one, and that the fears they had were being covered up by their unrealistic problematic "love".
1 likeI love this, you should explain your songs like this more :))))
0 likesWhen I first heard the song, I cried a lot. I honestly could go line by line as you did explaining how I felt, but I'll try to be brief. I was in a long distance relationship and I pictured those few times I got when I was "Intertwined" with him, both physically like kissing and touching, but also simply in the same room together, emotionally connecting in a way that was not usual for us, because as you can imagine, its hard to connect like that over a simple screen. the line, "you create a rarity of my genuine smile," I thought it more like I only truly smile when he was around, which was rare. The contrasting words like "Intertwined; free" to me showed that although we were together, we were our own person, and in a way the relationship made us free. This song painted a picture in my mind of us laying on the couch, when things were really tough in my life, and the only escape i got was when i was next to him, holding him in my arms, cuddling. Basically, to me it was a song about true love and its pureness. The video took a complete spin on what I thought of it to be, but as you said, art is all about perspective, and I love seeing how different people interpret it. Sorry it's a little long but I hope you get to read this :)
1 likeThis is a quick explanation, but I always interpreted it as two people in love who both have mental health issues relying on one another to help the other, be there to talk it out, to create a love strong enough to numb the pain of mental health issues, for at least a while <3
1 likeI've pictured the lyrics as talking about an unhealthy relationship as well, in which the ones involved don't see that they are not good for one another. This changes on the "Intertwined, free [...] I hope that you don't bleed with me" part, when one of them does something drastic (suicide, maybe, 'cause there's blood involved) but they are still worried telling the other not to follow the same path, reassuring the codependency.
2 likesI've always wanted a song writer to do this!! This is like a beautiful flower and I'm the bee!!! Lapping it up and loving it! Really appreciate and admire the themes to this song. Thanks for talking about mental health issues Dodie and bringing them to the forefront of the conversation, so we can learn to be more open about it. Much love. <3 <3
0 likesBefore watching video and just listening to the song when the video came out, I thought the song as desperate, passionate, and sickly sweet. In a way the two lovers are hanging on and grasping for each other. The strength of the softness in your voice and the way you recorded the original video of "Intertwined" (bright lights, light colored clothing) gave me this impression. After watching the music video, I was.. shocked.. the best word i can find. Not in a bad way, and not in a "oh my god i was so wrong about the impression of this song way" more in a way that furthered my analysis of what this song means. I thought the same thing as before but pondered: maybe its a lot more creepier and complicated than that. I thought the passion and the desperation was coming from how, for the lovers, the only thing they had to hold on to was each other in this dark, twisted world, and that if they were to reveal themselves, their darkness to one another that they would lose each other. And in the video, I figured that exactly what happened. After watching THIS^^^ video however I definitely saw it differently, my thoughts still stand, and after hearing what you were really trying to say in this song, it made it a hell of a lot easier to analyze. In conclusion, amazing work on this, definitely on of my favorite songs on your album. Thank for giving this gift of music to the world
1 likeMiss Clark you are quite the lovely teacher, and what a perfect imperfection we're all happy to see you make 😊
0 likesI love this. This is how I pictured the song too, and I loved the way you described it
0 likesI fucking LOVE this video ugh. It's so interesting to see the entire ACTUAL thought process that went into the writing and making of this song instead of reading other people's speculation. You are an amazing songwriter Dodie! xx
0 likesSoooo I already knew this, but my golly you're incredibly smart. I love, love, LOVE analyzing pieces of art--songs included!--and this was just brilliant. Your lyrics are so . . . I can't even think of the best way to word it, but let's say thought out, intricate, and amazing. You. Are. So. Cool #understatement <3
0 likesTo me, the song was about two people in love you both had issues with their mental health, but eventually were able to help each other and "laugh away the fear" in a healthy way
1 likeHOLY FUCK. This is why I love this song, your description here is exactly what I excepted, and how I read into the song, AND why I loved the music video. But man... you explained your writing process SO WELL, you should do just a few more of these, not a ton, just a few... cause this was great!
1 likeThis is fantastic I'm such a music nerd I live for this kind of stuff.
0 likesdodie, this song really was amazing. I loved it! your interpretation was amazing and I agree completely, although at first I was thinking of a couple falling blindly in love for each others charm without taking into account one anothers problems, which later on causes problems and they clash together with love but no understanding of each other. they feel stuck yet free all at once causing confusion. and yeah I would love to go on about this with you sometimes that would be an honor. thank you for explaining this piece of art with me.
0 likesi always thought the line "laugh away the fear" was "love away the fear"(your accent is beautiful, but very confusing to a lil american like me 😂), and that kind of summed up how i interpretted the song. the point of view it is sung from is scared and in an unhealthy state of mind, while their lover is a bit of a pillar for them, and they see almost absolute comfort in them, yet they're still scared that even what they have will fall apart. thats what i've always thought and it always made me very emotional- but even the instrumentals and your beautiful voice are enough to put me to tears.
1 likeWhen you thought you'd seen all there was to love about Dodie...then she makes this video and you're falling too hard. <3
0 likesI'm so glad that, despite what seemed to be loads of people attacking your art, you took the opportunity to see their criticism in a positive light. Love the song, love the explanation 💜
0 likeswow i thought something completely different! i always thought this was a more light-hearted, innocent, and romantic song but i guess i didn't really look too much into the lyrics! i really love how this song can be interpreted so differently! oh and thank you for sort of explaining it all i really did not understand how this song could be so dark but you did a wonderful job explaining it!
0 likesi interpreted it as more of a "i can't live without you so i will overtake you" i loved the video so so much it was perfect if you ask me i just love your songs in general
0 likesI loved this video, and being able to hear what you were thinking about when writing it. I found this so interesting
0 likesI LITTERALLY LOVE UNDERSTANDING SONGS I LOVE HOW U EXPLAINED IT SOO GOOD PLS DO MORE
0 likesI never quite came up with some kind of theory for what I thought the song was about (which is weird because I normally over analyze things) but I thought that it was a kind of chaotic peace like in a movie where they play a really peaceful song over a bunch of explosions. I don't know if you know what I mean but it makes perfect sense to me. I think the video fit perfectly with my meaning
1 likeThe little dark spot inside even the sweetest of people is a scary and beautiful place, and once it is set free it can create some amazing art.
1 likeI LOVE THIS SO MUCH. You have no idea how much I love analysis, watching this video was so satisfying. Now that I have listened to you explain it I have no idea how I managed not to pick up all the darkness before! I love this song even more now aaaahhhh
0 likesDodie I absolutely loved this song and here's why. I keep listening and listening and listening to it and its just so beautifully tragic and realistic for so many people. I feel like your interpretation goes perfectly with the music video. I love the lyrics "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" because it's expressing that you're so scared of the mental illness(es) that you have and how they effect you and others, including your loved one(s). I also relate with the lyrics "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me". It's so sad, because, in my interpretation, it's like you're pinning every hope of getting rid of the awful things onto your partner and it completely overtakes them, but yet they just pretend they're fine just like you (as amazingly portrayed in the music video with the partner with head made of pins laying in bed). It's so sad, but you make such a realistic tragic relationship into a beautifully written piece of music and it's so jarring and wonderful to hear music like this today. I love you so much Dodie, keep being creative and beautiful and talented and dedicated and all around wonderful.
1 likeI honestly interpret this song as how it feels when I cuddle like I'm safe and protected and I'm loved and appreciated and that even with all of my negative thoughts my s.o. still loves me idk I also call it the cuddle song ( cuddling to me is just being in each other's arms and company)
0 likesDodie....this is....just....too....brilliant. I'm proud of you.
0 likesI love you so much.
So.
Much.
So the first time that I'd heard the song was when I watched the music video, and I think that my perception of the song was different from those who had just heard it without the vid. It was interesting because you had to really think about the lyrics to get them to fit the dark theme of the video, but once you did, it made perfect sense, and it was a really beautiful way to portray the song.
0 likesThis video was immensely enjoyable to watch. You do very well as a teacher in this setting!!
0 likesAnd wow, what a different take than what I previously imagined--all this time, it made me think of someone depressed finding comfort in another person, but that was a more sweet version...this is such a dark take on that! Thank you for explaining in such explicit detail. :)
This is exactly how I saw the song and I loved the video so so much because it takes this beautifully written and angelic, lovey sounding song and purely displays what the lyrics are trying to say. It exposes the hurt that the melodies and chords are covering up and I think it's so beautiful. Sam is an artistic genius and I love him.
0 likesDodie I love this so much, all the contrast throughout the song gave it just the right vibe. Honestly, intertwined wasn't originally my favorite song on the album, but this analysis made me realize that I definitely underrated this track, I love it so much. I hadn't even thought of the dark themes that hid within. Thank you very much for sharing your ideas with us!
0 likesWhen i first heard this song (when you first uploaded it) i thought it was justa sweet love song as i didnt really spend much time analyzing the lyrics.
0 likesWhen the music video came out and it started out with barbie dolls i was like "oh i feel like somethings going to happen" and "i think i interpreted it wrong before"
i was on the edge of my seat waiting for things to start twisting and it did!
through out the music video i started realizing the darker story behind the seemingly sweet song and i fricken loved it.
i rewatched the music vid many more times starting to appreciate the song for the genius it really was and what it really meant
Good job i bloody love it dodie.
Artists should do this more. #theartistisalive
2 likesBeautiful song and video. Also your hair looks so cute and soft <3
0 likesAAAAAHHHH i love this song so much. i love this song so. much. i love that it can have thousands of different interpretations. and i fukin love your meaning behind it. thank you so much for creating this beautiful work of art.
0 likesthis is my interpretation: (before watching this vid)
I think this song is about how when you are so "intertwined" with someone, and the relationship eventually falls apart, everything becomes strange and different. I think the video is a representation of how loving sometimes changes you (barbie cutting her hair). the first time i heard this song i thought it was about being afraid of your problems becoming someone else's. i think that's what the video is about. they had too many problems, but they were so intertwined that when they finished their relationship, they weren't the same person as they were before.
I fukin love music man
Short little input, the video matched up perfectly with what I felt from the song. I love it!
0 likesI saw the song as someone finding peace and solace through a lover. I also saw it as a representation of how when the rest of the world goes to hell, your loved ones can help keep you sane throughout the madness - whether the madness is formed from a mental illness or as an exterior problem. The lyrics "You create a rarity of my genuine smiles" makes me further believe that the person forms their happiness from the other person. I would love to see what the situation would be like from the other lover's point of view. Either way, I love this song and truly think that it is so beautiful and meaning full!
0 likesWhen I first heard the song, I definitely related it to how my anxiety and depression plays out in a relationship. I expect the other to be strong, assuming they have enough mental strength to make me happy, and can help me through my issues, benefiting me and allowing them to have someone to perhaps "take care" of? The music video that played out in my head was a stereotypical cinematic love story. Cuddles, crying accompanied by support of the stronger partner, overblown laughter, etc. I do like the twisted music video, though. Sheds light on the possible fragility of someone who's expected to be dependable.
0 likesI loved that you made this video I loved it :)
1 likeI honestly loved how you arranged the song it's so unique arghhh
0 likesThis so interesting!!
0 likesI saw it as the other person makes her happy, they can ignore the fear together, but she's also afraid her thoughts will affect the other person and cause them to suffer too
I have no words.
2 likesExcept for these!
YOU'RE BRILIIANT.
I though intertwined was about a loving couple who were having problems connecting. This seemed to be due to one of them having trouble letting their walls down and "laughing away the fear". That fear being getting hurt in the end. So in the end when you sing "intertwined, free". I took that to mean that they let their walls down and let the other person in, letting them be together. Love your whole EP btw!❤
1 likeI thought the video lined up excellently with the song! I don't actually watch your videos for your music (gasps) but I appreciated this song a lot because the theme of mental health came across quite clearly!
0 likeswhen i heard intertwined i was thinking these two people were combined at heart. they helped each other through trials and tribulation, the music video wasn't exactly what i interpreted but it was truly amazing and touched my heart. i guess my theory of the song is sorta like yours except the "toxic relationship" part but i love this song and i love the video. it is a work of art💕
0 likesYOURE SO INTELLIGENT AND TALENTED, IM SO BLOWN AWAY BY YOUR MUSIC DODES💛
0 likesI thought that, yes, it was this position of two lovers, one (or both) of which had mental health issues, but (seeing as this song came out very soon after the beginning of my current relationship) I thought it was about one of them who had hid their own issues for a long time and suffered in silence so as to not break the other, but finally came clean, explaining the line, "I hope that you don't bleed with me". They were finally letting go of this part, this terrible part they'd been struggling with for so long, go, and just let themselves be intertwined with this partner emotionally after finally confiding in them.
1 likeI love the song so much. I also love the video. Although I didn't interpret the song like the video did, I loved them both. My original theory was: a couple in bed together giggling. The speaker(or writer) feels alone and afraid on their own but when around this person they are happy. I felt like the speaker had mental health problems and also suffered from terrible nightmares, and the other person was trying to make the speaker feel better.
0 likesI interpreted the lyrics almost the same as you, except I used to look at it as sort of a comforting song. It seemed to me before (or maybe for some odd reason I just automatically assumed) that the partner was taking it willingly; the writer could trust the partner with anything and know it would be kept safe.
0 likesI interpreted the lyrics almost the same as you, except I used to look at it as sort of a comforting song. It seemed to me before (or maybe for some odd reason I just automatically assumed) that the partner was taking it willingly; the writer could trust the partner with anything and know it would be kept safe.
0 likesThis was really interesting, you should make teacher Dodie in to a thing :D
3 likesi always interpreted this as a pair of lovers, one with mental health instability, and the other helping the other with said issues with love and reassurance, and ultimately helping them heal. i've always interpreted the line "i've pinned each and every hope on you, i hope that you don't bleed with me" as the lover struggling with mental health having guilt about pouring out all of their anxieties and worries to the other person, and feeling like they might be dragging them down with them (coming back to the line "can you drink all my thoughts") because they feel like they cannot handle it on their own ( "cause i can't stand them") and that they are feeling as if they, as a person and all of the worries that come with it( "cause i can't stand them") are an inadequate lover to the person who is more well mentally because of their struggles. however i always saw it as resolved at the end with the final chorus "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" because i always heard that as each of the lovers saying to the other that they are both better because of the relationship, and that they will make it through; the one who doesn't have the illness says so because they love the other person, and the mentally ill one says so not just because they love the other, but because their love and partnership is ultimately helping their own anxieties through the joy that they bring them. that's just how i' ve always imagined it when i heard it. xo
0 likesI sort of saw the contrast between the darkness of the world and the comfort of being intertwined as a less unhealthy potentially toxic situation. Picture a raging thunderstorm, and you move through the window to see the couple together in front of a cozy fireplace, their little escape from the hectic chaos they face in their normal lives. Really like the writer's interpretation though :)
1 likeThe first time I heard intertwined I had instant goosebumps from the contrasting words and I knew it wasn't the rose glasses lovey song as it sounds on surface level. Also the music video is an absolute perfect fit, I especially like the juxtaposition of using barbie dolls for such real topic. Not only because of it being a toy versus reality but also because it's a childhood toy that many kids see as being the perfect person. Also Sammy did an incredible job capturing the underlying meaning of the song
0 likesThe music reminded me of a love story, like a Parisian one, but neither of them are really as happy as they seem, but they're trying to hold it together for each other. But I love the video!
1 likethe music video fit the lyrics perfectly, brava dodie!
0 likesAfter hearing the song over and over I realized how deeply this applies to me. How at times I feel that when I'm in a relationship it solves all of my problems. We are living in a world of thick chaos and in some way the love or the thought of someone else thinking of me seems to make everything else that truly matters, not to matter anymore.
0 likesDodie, I have to say your analysis is absolutely correct. :)
0 likesWhen listening to the song a few times, my interpretation was changing through each and every time i listened. But i came to a definite conclusion that you were trying to convey this relationship where the girl has many issues. Not just mental, but she is just a bundle of mess and she has thrown all of those issues and everything she deals with on her boyfriend. She is kinda bringing him down with her and i thought that in the scene where the blood looking liquid falls from the ceiling that was all of her problems just crashing down on him at once. But either way, absolutely lovedd the song and the album is justtt sooo good. You're an amazing singer and writer
0 likesI kept wondering whether the line "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" simply meant that the other person makes the speaker smile, which is a rare occurrence, or if it meant that the other person made the speaker's smile a rarity, which would signal the change in the song's tone away from the happier beginning.
0 likesI always thought of this song as a way of showing the way relationships appear vs what happens behind the smiles and polite laughs. Because each verse starts with what seems like a perfect love story and then transitions to deeper and sometimes negative emotions, it shows how raw and vulnerable a relationship can really be. I love this song because every time you listen to it you can dig deeper and deeper into the meaning and what at first listen appears to be a beautiful love song, after listening to it like 50 times (which I have) and taking time to absorb the lyrics, you see what was hidden behind the beauty, just like the relationship in the song. Idk, that's my interpretation, but you invited the little analyzers to have their fun so that was my piece. Either way, I am absolutely in love with the song and the music video.
0 likesi definitely never thought of it as a sweet song about a healthy relationship. When i first heard it i immediately related it to my own mental health problems. to me the song was about relying on someone to fix you and deal with your brain
0 likesthis is one of my favorite songs BUT OH MY GOD YOUR LIPSTICK IS GORGEOUS
1 likeI had to go watch the video again after this. It makes so much more sense now. Also, my mind is kind of blown. I'm really not good at analyzing art (on a side note, is there a way to get good at this? an online class or something lol?). So I had initially written Intertwined off as a basically happy love song (I still enjoyed obvs), and I usually can't relate or connect with them. I was admittedly a tad confused by the vid. But now I feel so much connection to the song because I also struggle with mental health, and this scenario of being in a relationship and how it wouldn't be fair for the other person is something I've thought about quite a bit. It's why when anyone brings up relationships or dating, I just stay quiet and it seems like such a distant thing. Thank you for opening my mind up, and giving me something to connect with. <3 <3 <3
1 likeAlso, I really like teacher Dodie. Can you do a video series where you analyze lyrics and/or literature, and teach us how? I would be very grateful, lol.
DODIE I WOULD WILLINGLY SIT THROUGH 1HR OF A LITERATURE CLASS WITH YOU AS A TEACHER!!!!
1 likeI always imagined the "can you drink all my thoughts" being that the singer turns to alcohol to repress their thoughts
1 likeMy favorite part in the video was "I've pinned each and every hope on you" and how the 'doll' had all this things pinned in his head, symbolizing how toxic is to idolize someone and all the things that someone had to handle, that someone trying not to let you down and 'you' giving them too much, not considering the fact they're just humans(I'm so sorry for my terrible English, horrible grammar and lack of vocabulary.)
0 likesI always knew this was about mental health issues, I guess I just viewed the whole situation of dependency a lot more positive. Like you're struggling with everything in your head, but you can put all that stuff on pause just to share this intimate moment with your lover, who grants you a short moment of peace and love. So in a way, I felt attacked by the video, like it was telling me that my idea of mental health in a relationship was too romanticized and that I should never rely on my lover to cure me. I really liked that slap in the face though.
0 likesFor me the meaning of this song had always been dependence on my partner for happiness and not being able to find it without him. It's a very unhealthy mental state where I can't function or find any type of comfort or happiness without him by my side.
0 likesI totally get your interpretation, but I also like to see it as a sos from a girl who cannot stand what her brain is doing. She knows she can't keep going alone, so she's looking for that one person who will make her life a little bit easier to live. Someone who's gonna make her smile a little, who'll make her laugh so that she'll forget how bad her brain is. She just don't wanna be alone. I'm the type of person who thinks that someone can't fix you, but help you get through this. And that's how I see that girl. She's just looking for the person who'll make it bearable. Maybe that is too romantic? I don't know, but I like it.
2 likesInstead of getting upset at the comments that people didn't understand, she decides to make a cute and informative video which I loved. I'm so proud of this little penguin 🐧💛 Dodie, you're amazing 🙈
1 likeDodie challenge weekend; make a video where you do your best to speak in a different accent. For example an american midwestern accent. It'd probably be super cute.
1 likeOkay so watching this video and thinking about the song is making me realize that I interpreted it in basically the same way. Someone who struggles with mental health issues finds somebody who makes it a little bit easier, sharing their burdens until eventually they feel as if they could never live without them.
0 likesWhat scares me though is that I never saw this as negative.
Like thinking critically about this now, I can see how unhealthy and toxic this relationship is, but when I first heard it I thought of it as almost romantic. Somebody saving her from herself, letting her hide away in them instead of trying to cope with her problems. I thought of that as sweet.
That's not sweet that's super unhealthy.
I think I need to examine my relationships.
I definitely felt when I first litsened to this song that it was dark but beautiful. The way it contrasted was genius and that's one of my favourite parts of the song! I always thought this song was about a toxic relationship. Where they were to dependable on each other to the point that it was impossible to be alone without anything bad happening. This unhealthy dependency and toxic vibes became so bad that it reached the point of separation and break down. But because of how much they depended on each other before the separation it was like losing half of who they were. The ending was always a strange way to end it for me because it doesn't give any "the end". I've always assumed that it would probably end up with some type of suicide/mental illness or maybe just no closure at all to match the mysterious alluring vibe of the song (:
0 likesThat was my opinion and thoughts what are yours???
if dodie becomes my teacher, i will be happier than ever and be looking forward in studying 😹
0 likesI got the mental health image but I never thought that the relationship was toxic untill you explained it.
0 likesThere should be another album dedicated to her duets with Jon Cozart.
1 likeI've always imagined this song was about an unhealthy relationship between lovers.
0 likesThe way I thought of this song was related to a verbally or emotionally abusive relationship.
0 likesI thought of the intimacy of the first lyrics to be related to the more abusive and controlling person.
I interpreted "numb, fine" as the other person being in denial about the state of the relationship.
"You create a rarity of my genuine smile," was the person being abused, trying to convince themselves that the relationship was still healthy and normal.
The music video only solidified my opinion.
The image of two dolls lying lifeless in bed made me connect so much more to the feeling of an abusive relationship.
I really liked your interpretation, and it matched up a lot with my own and put words to a lot of what I was feeling. The only thing I would really add would be that it seemed to tell more about the narrator of the song than the other person or the relationship itself. It was very much a self expression and the wording excluded what the partner thought and felt other than the hope that they "won't bleed with me" and the indication of a conversation in "numb, fine." It left an empty piece to the puzzle and didn't really close it up to a neat ending, which I think was very accurate. It's about a possibility after all, rather than a relationship that literally happened. Overall I loved song, and I thought both the music and lyrics were complex and rich with meaning.
0 likesSo it is meant to be dark and I got that. But I personally thought of it as someone worrying that they're burdening the other person with their mental illness but finding that that person can calm them down, help them, they're still worried but calmer and nice. Maybe my interpretation was a little off but I like the thought of it not being completely dark or completely nice lovey dovey but more of a mix to create a bittersweet song
2 likesYou put so much thought and effort into the words and metaphors you use in the song. It's what I try to do with my writing and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. This song is amazing and the meanings behind all the lyrics inspire me to put this much work into my own writing so thank you xx
0 likesI am so glad you made this video because I was 100% on board with the meaning you just cleared up for us and I wasn't sure if (as a person living with mental illness) I was just reading too far into things and projecting. I love how relatable those lyrics were! All of the lyrics were amazing but the lines you wrote: "you create the rarity of my genuine smiles", "can you drink my thoughts because I can't stand them", and ESPECIALLY "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" because that has always been my biggest fear when entering a serious relationship with my mental illness. Like there is that constant fear that I will pull this person I love down with me. It is such a beautiful song to describe such horrible feelings and I love every second of it!
0 likesI interpreted the song similarly but not as darkly. I pictured a relationship (similar to my own) starting with no strings attached then slowly moving into a more conventional, comforting relationship as the song gets more intense. I still always thought of a damaging relationship but something that is needed (like emotional and physical support) for this person.
0 likesAnother interpretation -- the vocals after the first verse/chorus are sung with a sense of anxious urgency, in the way that certain words are stretched (like smile and the first breathe, etc.) and crescendo while wavering a little, and this, along with how the last "we can stay here" sounds melancholy and a little hopeless, like the singer doesn't really believe it, gives me the impression that maybe the persona singing is getting the increasing sense that their partner is planning on leave them and is begging their partner not to.
0 likesThis wasn't my original interpretation, so when this thought occurred to me I gave it a few re-listens to see if any others snippets fit with this concept an here's what stuck with me:
The pauses between the words in the first verse despite despite describing great intimacy gives a sense of disconnect, like they're going through the motions but some spark is missing. This was particularly noticeable in the big pause between "you" and "and I," as though the singer feels too disconnected to say "you and I" in one breath, like they're one unit.
The chorus then sounds as though the singer is being overwhelmed by their mental health issues ("I'm afraid of the things in my brain") but is afraid that they are scaring their partner away, leading them to suppress it in hopes that they won't be abandoned ("laugh away the fears")
The beginning of the second verse sounds to me like the singer's internal dialogue while they think hypothetically about life after their partner leaves them, telling themself that they're numb to it and that they would be fine on their own until they realize like "oh god you're my only source of genuine happiness if you leave I will have nothing" and so they start begging their partner to take this burden off of them ( the "drink all my thoughts" bit)
This might be a bit of a stretch, but the "intertwined, free" bit could be the singer thinking about how they still feel intertwined with their partner and don't know how to detach while their partner either already has shirked these ties or has a longing to be free from them. The "I've pinned each and every hope on you" line could be the singer feeling like all their hopes will die out if this relationship ends so they "hope that you don't bleed" or hope that their partner is not as troubled by their mental health issues as they think since they see only a bleak and hopeless future in their partner's absence.
And again -- the last chorus sounds like the singer is begging their partner to stay and suppressing worries to make it seem like it'd be okay to stay in the relationship even though they don't even believe it themself anymore.
Even the little sigh at the end of the recording of the song kinda fits, as though the relationship ends as the music ends and the sigh is the reaction.
That was so fun to analyze like that! It's not how I saw the song originally and it's not how I primarily interpret it now either, but I find it so cool that one set of lyrics can fit perfectly to so many different unique interpretations :)
okay this is gonna be long but one thing that the lyric "can you drink all my thoughts?" reminded me of the first time I heard it and always has is a quote from Fahrenheit 451, "did it drink of the darkness? did it suck out all the poisons accumulated with the years?" if you haven't read it, the basic summary is that books are illegal and knowledge is "bad" because it makes people sad and technology is taking everything over. so for this quote, the main character's wife nearly died from an overdose on sleeping pills, since she would take one and then forget about it and take another. so, she's having her stomach pumped and he thinks to himself, "did it drink of the darkness?" that can literally mean the poison of the pills, but can be interpreted as "darkness" meaning knowledge or ideas. so I related this to "can you drink all my thoughts?" because in both cases, people would rather be ignorant for the sake of bliss. it's the idea that knowledge is a burden, and it seems as if it'd be better not to think at all if you could just be happy.
2 likesCan Dodie be my new teacher for everything?
1 likethis was so interesting omg i thought of the song a lot happier but still with the pressure of mental health on the relationship . the partner is trying their best to help them deal with it even though it's hard . the writer (dods) is relying on her partner hugely ("i've pinned each and every hope on you") and is using them as kind of a shield or a protection from feeling bad ("you and i safe from the world") but realizes that it's putting a lot of pressure on their partner and that there is every chance that the partner will succumb just like them ("i hope that you don't bleed with me") so they feel real bad about it and tries to keep it held within so they do not cause their partner any more pain or break down their only support , thus laughing away the fear like you would laugh off sometime serious so they do not have to think about it . also i feel like the chorus is repeated one because it's a chorus but also the first time it is sung it's kind of nonchalant and hoping like 'oh yeah my brains a bit bad but we can work through it' but the second time it's a lot more quiet and unsure like 'hey this is getting to me but i guess i'll be okay because i've got you ?' like the writer is a lot more iffy about them being okay . anyway that's just what i thought B- in english who ? don't know her .
0 likesPersonally, I interpreted the song as two lovers who needed each other for different reasons, the first person needing the strength of the second person, and the second person needing the first person to feel.
0 likesThe first person is struggling with their own thoughts 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain'.
The second person is shielding the first, has created a safe place for them 'safe from the world', 'but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear', though this might be hard for them, 'though the world will try'.
The second needs the first to feel anything, perhaps putting on a front to appear fine to the first person 'numb' (to themselves) 'fine' (to the first), and acknowledging how the first person helps them 'You create a rarity of my genuine smiles'.
'So breathe, breathe with me' (the second calming down the first, the 'me' maybe a sign of their desperate need for interaction) 'Can you drink all my thoughts? 'Cause I can't stand them' (the first to the second, looking for their strength and aid).
'Intertwined, Free' the two are stronger together, visualised I imagine this as two silhouettes coming together and creating a bird that takes off.
'I've pinned each and every hope on you' is the first talking to the second, expressing dependency
'I hope that you don't bleed with me' the second expressing that they don't want the first to feel any of the pain they deal with to look after the first.
And then it finishes on the summary of the couples interactions, 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain', the first one has not overcome these troubles, 'but we can stay here', the 'we' is important in showing how the second desires to be close to the first, 'can stay here, and laugh away the fear' the joy they get out of being together combats the hardships that they face, and they are stronger together.
I interpreted it pretty similar to the way u explained it but i also enjoyed seeing how many people thought it was nice and pretty and I really liked this video bc it was interesting to see how u wrote it and what u thought abt everything and how u matched up the chords and the melody to the message and it really made the song sound amazing and portray and interesting message and really tell a story. Ur songs and music are bloody amazing Dodie !!
0 likesI play this song when my girlfriend or I are having panic attacks and it makes me think of how we cling to each other for comfort during those times. We both suffer from extreme mental health issues and deal with anxiety and depersonalization frequently, matching up with the numb and fine, since we deny everyone else. It's a perfect song for us, that's just how I thought of it in the context of my own life.
0 likesWow… that's how I feel in relationships. I'm always scared I put too much on to my partner and they can't take it. My current boyfriend is super supportive but I'm always a bit worried.
0 likesThe video was EXACTLY what I thought it would be!!
0 likesContrastingly, I thought the song was about someone helping their lover overcome their lover's anxieties/problems/etc rather. Dodie singing as the lover and singing about the special someone. The beginning is such an intimate moment making me think about security of this relationship and safety that is experienced between these two. "I'm afraid of the things in my brain But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" -- that even though the lover is mentally ill, the special someone makes them feel better in a sense. "Numb; Fine" meaning to me that the lover has felt numb and blown off their feelings and told others that they're "fine" but the special someone creates "A rarity of my genuine smiles" meaning that they're helping their lover find their happiness -- a feeling contrasting to numbness. "Can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" = I thought was a cry for help that the lover was scared their someone couldn't handle them and then moments later the words "intertwined" and "free" are sung meaning to me that the couple is together and the special someone has stepped up to the occasion and been there for the one they love. The lover is liberated from "the fear" after having "pinned each and every hope" on their special someone -- who has yet to "bleed." "But we can stay here And laugh away the fear" -- Stay here in this love.
0 likesI really love this song. If I sing it myself, I always get misty eyed or actually end up crying. It's beautifully written and I loved hearing your perspective of the text, Teacher Dodie <3
The music video caught me off guard to say the least. Intertwined is surprisingly one of your song I don't often binge repeat (though I definitely will now), so I hadn't heard it in a while. So all i really remembered was the nice sweet sort of love song melody. But after seeing the video a couple times, it makes perfect sense. The use of dolls adds to how unsettling it feels for me to watch it because I feel, especially with them being of the Barbie variety, they represent the need to be perfect and not make any mistakes.
1 likeThis is what's so cool about art. For me personally, this is my song with my boyfriend because it holds very special, romantic, passionate meaning between us. This song is so beautiful and reminds me so much of our unconditional love for each other, it brings be to happy tears. I never thought of it as dark, but it's rly cool to know the thoughts you had when you were writing it dodie, and how you intended it. Love you, keep up the incredible work. ❤️
0 likesHONESTLY THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I SAW IT AND IM IN LOVE. i just ok so like i want to be an english major music minor and i love annotating and analyzing music it's my favorite thing and i texted my friend who also loves you a long long long paragraph of my analyzing the song and music video as to why the music video fits the theme of a co-dependent, unhealthy mentally damaging, relationship. so yes i matched up and this video made me the happiest kid on earth
0 likesFor me, I have been very fortunate and have only been in healthy relationships. To me, it depicts a couple very much in love, but experiencing the raw reality of dealing with and supporting someone who is going through a mental health issue/crisis. We have all, to some degree, experienced both sides of this relationship. It's gritty, painful, scary, and going through it you realize the other person doesn't live on a pedestal. I find the end hopeful, though the singer is vulnerable and scared there is finally true honesty and they will work through this supporting each other. But, if I had had the relationship experience you did, that's just enough of a tweak so it all just twists a bit wrong instead of a bit right.
0 likesI love the song and the music video, and this video helped a lot but I'm still kinda confused, can someone explain his to me in a simpler more "dumb down" verson please?
1 likeI LOVE THIS SO MUCH WOO FOR DISCUSSION ABOUT ART
0 likesI heard LOVE away the fear when I first heard this so yea the song is a lot different than I thought it was.
0 likestruly a work of art
0 likesI took the song to be two lovers sharing the fear to the world's judgement.
0 likesYou look radiant in this video ♥️♥️
0 likesI always thought it was a love song (I'm a bit of a begrudgingly desperate romantic), but I was confused about the lyric saying "you make a rarity of my genuine smile", which suggested to me that they made it rare for them to actually smile. The rest of the song always sounded to me like a person with problems taking to someone who could and did help, like depending on your romantic partner in a positive way... idk
1 likeI have realized that if intertwined and sick of losing soulmates had a lovechild it would be my current relationship.... we aren't ok.
0 likesI always thought this song was about depression or in other words like you said a medical condition and how the lyrics "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" was like you were scared of your own thoughts like when your alone and you just start thinking and you start thinking of bad and scary things and how you want the person your with to help you to take away all these bad thoughts and you depend on them so much that you start to break them as well and now your both at a breaking point and how "numb, fine" was how you tried to trick yourself that everything was fine and nothing was wrong which I guess was how you kind of meant it to be and I guess that's why I Loved the song so much because it kind of in a way interpreted my thoughts and feelings as well
1 likeDuring my first listening of the song i thought it was about 2 people being in love but one is afraid of the world running their relationship so the person in the relationship who is afraid once to become one suggested by clips in the music video and the word intertwined and the afraid member wants to try and get rid of the feeling but laughing it away or drinking it down. (sorry from my bad grammar, how it was understandable) P.s love the song and video. :)
0 likesive listened to the song again and while it's clear that it is depicting the love life of a mentally ill person, i see another interpretation. i see a pair of lovers. they do love each other, but they have doubts. each of them have had irreparably damaging relationships in the past, leading them to constantly question their partners and ultimately cause the end of the relationships they feared would end. these two have found each other, but their love hangs by a thread.
0 likesI would love dodie to be my English teacher...I'd love to come to school everyday
0 likesI'll be honest, I was a bit confused at first because I had always interpreted "Intertwined" as a song where the writer is telling you that you are the anchor, you are what's keeping them together, and they are so so in love with the whole of you, your skin, your everything. So when I saw the music video, it didn't make much sense to me and while I appreciated the work and the carefully craft art put into it, I didn't understand what it had to do with this song, this song I had deemed as a sweet, happy, dream relationship song. But hearing your interpretation has cleared that up a lot and I like both interpretations greatly. Keep up the amazing work. I absolutely love your music.
0 likesI kept repeating the song yesterday and then you uploaded this? YEEEESSSSSS I NEEDED THIS
0 likesWait?! Dodie knows theory? She was one of the few musicians that I used to use to justify not knowing theory. fuck...
0 likesThe song feels to me like the couple is tiptoe-ing along the line between a genuinely supportive and sweet relationship and a darker, more troubled and toxic relationship -- so I don't feel the need to pick one of the double-meanings for each line that could kinda go either way, since there are multiple layers to the relationship. It raises the question of whether the toxicity comes from the particular pairing of people or if dating with mental health issues in general is difficult and double-edged. I've struggled with mental health affecting all the relationships I've had, but I'm pretty young and haven't had very many relationships so maybe I'm just unaware of how some relationships with mental health-affected people work better -- anyway, my point is, I am intrigued by the ambiguity this song presents regarding whether or not the relationship itself is really a bad thing or just a neutral/good thing that is struggling yet persevering through the doubts and dependencies of the darker corners of the partners' minds.
0 likesI took it as a less harmful relationship. For me a relationship needs to be a bond. You need to depend on each other to remain one together. The phrase "intertwined, free" was somewhat comforting for me cause I just image legs and feet and arms intertwined while cuddling with someone you love and despite being restricted you feel completely free. All of the out of place, and somewhat gruesome words made me think of the intimacy of a relationship. Your significant other see every part of you, the numb and the fine. The line "I've pinned each and every hope on you I hope that you don't bleed with me" was the concern of how you're affecting your partner. It's making sure that their okay even though you're venting through them. Then the chorus made me think of a past relationship where no matter how sad I was he could always find a way to make me smile. When I was feeling especially depressed or having an anxiety attack he made me feel safe enough and loved enough to laugh. I definitely took it as your love song but in a more realistic and wholesome way. It was based on sex or anything, but love. The good parts and the bad parts, but mistletoe the parts that make you feel safe.
0 likesAs I was watching the music video the song changed for me. I saw exactly what you've described in this video. I saw the codependency and as soon as it occurred to me I thought back to some past videos of yours where you talk about how codependent you are in relationships and it all makes sense. This song has been a favorite of mine since the day you released it and I sing it all the time. The music video is brilliant and I look up to you a lot. Thank you for your videos! You're amazing. Love you dodie❤️❤️❤️
I would love it if dodie teaches me English literature.
0 likesI suffer from anxiety and for me the song was something I could relate to in a really nice way. I read it as someone who's able to ease the pain of having anxiety through a loved one. Now I feel like I can never hear it the same way and I'm really sad and disappointed because it was one of the only songs out there I felt I could connect to, and one of the only songs that in turn helped with my anxiety as well.
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Emmy B that doesnt have to change though! if thats what you think the songs about then you have total liberty to think that! the best thing about art is that there is no "right way" to see/hear it :)
0 likesI think your interpretation makes a lot of sense, but that's not entirely how it struck me upon first listen. I thought of it as being from the point of view of someone who had been treated badly in the past and was scarred from that experience. It seemed like they were struggling in a new relationship to move on from their past trauma and to move past the toxic thinking they'd been conditioned into previously, hence the abrupt shift from dark imagery to lighter, cozier imagery (getting overwhelmed by chaotic, dark thoughts and suddenly pulling themselves back out of it when they remember that this new relationship is different). They struggle with the thoughts throughout the song, hence the back and forth with the imagery, and struggle with feelings of guilt as well for making their partner go through this with them (the whole section about pinning hopes and drinking thoughts), but in the end they are able, at least somewhat, to deal with these feelings and move forward with this relationship (which is why the song ends on a more positive note).
1 likeThe video didn't quite match my idea of the song, but I still really enjoyed it. The premise was mostly the same to my interpretation, but I didn't see a damaged relationship, I thought that was just the writer letting herself believe that she was hurting her partner.
0 likesI had noticed "numb" and some of the words you pointed out as gross or contrasting before, but had looked at the song as calming and cute, maybe even relatable.
0 likesI got in trouble for listening to this song during english class when i was supposed to be watching a video on persuasive writing and now i need to show my teacher this video to try and avoid punishment. Yay!
0 likesI also kinda was thinking about mental health stuff when I was analyzing this song, but I didn't really get an unhealthy relationship vibe from it??? I felt like it was more about like how it's nice to have a relationship to rely on for comfort and support when you're suffering from mental health issues. But honestly, I feel like it could go either way, healthy or unhealthy. Both are cool concepts.
0 likesDodie can you be my teacher. I love this so much.
0 likesThe way I interpreted this song was actually kinda the complete opposite. the song starts off with "skin", hearing this I automatically assumed it was an intimate moment between two lovers, this is followed by the word "heat", then "Hair in your mouth", and "feet touching feet". When I first heard this song I felt it was possibly the first time for this intimacy between the two, however it is possible that could be interpreted differently. the song goes on to say, "you and I safe from the world" this is almost as if to say that the subject feels safe with their partner, their body/ presence is a safe haven "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" I always thought of this as a fear of being close to someone, a fear of commitment and letting people get to close "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" This is a transition sort of saying "you are the exception, with you I can push away my fears of letting someone in, because you make it easy". "Numb, fine" For this I believed it to be a numbness of all things evil. with the certain person the song speaks about, the writer is unable to feel all the hurt in the world, that person can turn grey into white. This is followed with "fine" they feel fine now because their fears have been lowered, they feel calmer. "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles" they are one of the few people the subject can be comfortable with, almost as if to say they are able to let go and be themselves with this person. "breath with me", they are becoming connected, they have deepened their relationship. "Can you drink all my thoughts cuz I can't stand them" The writer is asking their partner to completely eradicate the feelings of fear they have, make them less afraid to be a part of something bigger. "intertwined, free" this is another reference to the intimate moment, when the writer is with their partner in this way they feel free of burden. "I've pinned each and every hope on you" the writer is counting on their partner to pull them from the dark, they want to be able to fall deep in love. "I hope that you don't bleed with me" the subject is afraid that their un-sureness is going to affect their partner, they don't want to cause them pain or confusion. the song then ends with a repeat of "we can stay here and laugh away the fear", the writer is finally ready to let go, they are not afraid of committing fully to the person they seem to love. I see this song as a dance, as an acceptance of love and all the frightful things that come along with giving one's self fully to another person. To me personally it is a reflection of commitment issues, being afraid to let someone see you at your most vulnerable.
0 likesi have a passage analysis essay for literature that's due in a week and i might have watched this instead of writing that but it was definitely me studying close language analysis done by the writer themselves, i swear
0 likesI actually interpreted it they way you do!!
0 likes(hope that didn't sound like bragging)
At the time this song was made and put on you tube I had a very close friendship with someone and I related some of the more intimate lyrics to the person and I. Later on this friendship began to struggle due to my issues with it (some doubt fear and anxiety) which makes this song even more relatable, which to me now is very interesting. My struggles were a burden and our friendship isn't close anyone (we're algood now though).
Thank you for such a lovely and expressive song Dodie! xxx
I truly enjoyed the song and breakdown and video. I think Dodie is paralleled only by Stromae in portraying amazingly complex issues in beatiful digestible pop. I was in a romantic engagement with my best friend and we were both mentally unstable and we went down in a ball of flames, its nice to see I am not necessarily alone in my experience or expectation of a relationship turning toxic because of depersonalization, anxiety and depression.
2 likesHeeeeeeey Dodie, you should totally make a video/video series on lyric writing and overall song creation, because I love music and am a musician, and I have so many things to say. However, I'm really bad with words (especially lyrics and poetry) and I can't get the feelings and images in my head onto the page. Also please leave makeup details in the description because your makeup today is sO GOOD.
0 likesTeacher dodie has stolen my heart
0 likesI LOVE THIS VIDEO I LOVE LEARNING YOU INVENTED KNOWLEDGE BE MY TEACHER
1 likei have one thing to say
0 likesAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
I LOVE THIS !!!!!
Ok, SO. I too, have a few pretty severe mental illnesses that got steadily worse from November to January. The peak of my mental breakdown was in December. I heard this song for the first time a week or so ago and I'm immediately started crying. It reminded me so much of a relationship that I had had with someone before my breakdown and how much I had loved them and how they had protected me from my growing anxiety. That person who I loved so much and who had presumably loved me back made promises they chose not to keep and basically disappeared on me. When my issues reached their peak that person wasn't there for me, and during some of my really bad times I would will them to be there, sometimes calling out their name somehow convinced that one day they would care for me again and that they were the only thing that could get me through. But they never appeared at my door to save me so I saved myself. Afterwards, I realized that what I went through had nothing to do with the absence of their love for me and that the only person who could put my broken pieces back together was... Me. People helped me, but ultimately I had to make the effort and I had to pull myself out of the dark. Anyway, when I heard Intertwined my first thought was the love and protection from "the things in my brain" that this person had given me so long ago. And all of the many other times I've listened to it and sang it since then, I've always thought of them in a loving and thankful way. To me the song was a medley of protection, safety, nostalgia, sadness, and love. But now that I've heard the interpretation of it from you, Dodie, I've realized the deeper darker meaning to it. You can't rely on someone to save you from yourself, especially when that person has let you down so many times before. To have a relationship that's essentially a safe place sheltering you from your insecurities and mental instability is unhealthy and damaging. I only saw the lighter side to your song, just like I still choose to see the lighter side of the toxic relationship I had with an untrustworthy person. I know that I don't need that person to love and shelter me but sometimes I still forget. This song is so beautiful and relatable to me and your interpretation just makes me love it so much more. All of your songs make me feel so much because it's like you can see all of my thoughts and feelings and you're spinning them into gorgeous poetry. It's like...SOMEONE PUT IT INTO WORDS. Thank you so much, Dodie. ❤️❤️❤️☺️
0 likesI think the music videos for this song and for Sick of Losing Soulmates fit really well (especially with all this explaining!)
0 likesI also can't help but wonder: What if the videos for the songs were switched? So intertwined was depicting the sweet but solemn course of a relationship and SoLS showed the messy run of one. I wonder if that would match some people's visions more?
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oh my god this is genius. like it's so cool how a video can change people's minds about a song. but, i do think the videos fit perfectly with the songs they have now. sick of losing soulmates is like fighting to maintain a friendship, while intertwined is about a toxic relationship. still, art is different to everybody, and all interpretations are valid
0 likesSomething I find really interesting the idea of being sort of a pessimist about love. Maybe more specifically when talking about mental illness or emotional dependency and love, but either way. When I first listened to intertwined I did think it was this cute, romantic song but I like the explained message even better. I've been trying to understand love and my own mental state and its hard. We still don't really understand ourselves and our emotions enough to know the recipe to a perfect relationship. Or at least a lasting, loving, perfectly healthy one. After having just gone through a tough breakup I think I'm seeing how we're all fucked up. Kind of like the line in sick of losing soul mates. We don't see how the other person is just as flawed until later. And can we really find someone who is "the one" if we're all deeply flawed, lost, and mentally unstable? I just feel like people are like puzzle pieces. There's no missing half, that person only fits part of you. There are other parts others would fit into. And there pieces of we still don't, and parts that change. I don't know if I even believe love is the right thing for us as people. It's like a drug. And you can self medicate on people, which is like what you said in the video. Love, mental illness, and perception of self are things we still need to understand better. Idk man, I'm only 17 and this isn't necessarily a theory on the song but just some thoughts. You're cool Dodie. I really enjoy your song explanations. I also loved the music video. And I'm glad you're talking about things like this. You're such brilliant writer.
2 likesI need more of these.....teach me please
0 likesI interpreted this as fear of when you first fall in love
0 likesI didn’t actually identify the partner’s burden as a result of the writer’s mental turmoil, but here is my (rather inaccurate) interpretation:
0 likesIt appears that the writer has found an oasis of tranquility in her partner. The sensual intimacy and trust distracts her from both the chaos of the world and the chaos in her “brain”, and she desperately wishes to simply “stay here and laugh away the fear”. However, it is clear that despite the genuineness of their love, the partner only offers a temporary resolution to the writer. The subtext is that she is unable to sustain any romantic relationships, as she is far too consumed and burdened by her own psychological troubles. The tragedy of the writer’s situation is particularly striking when she pleads for her partner to “drink” her thoughts; she hopes (and pretends) that her lover is her salvation, yet even she knows all he can provide is fleeting bliss. Although she loves him, she is aware that the love affair was doomed from the outset.
Thank you for the magical song dodie <3
I do feel like it did fit in well with the video. What I would have done is make all these happy moments with the dolls or even some stop motion doodles for when they are just doing cutesy couple things. Then have arguments, anxiety attacks and more negative aspects of the relationship with two real people. This would show that all the happiness in the doodles or stop motion dolls was a 'perfect' version of the relationship that isn't quite real but more of what they want/pretend it is. Thoughts?
2 likesIs it just me or does Dodie remind you of Charlieissocoollike because they are honestly so similar
1 likeI LOVE THIS
0 likesyoure a lyrical genius.
0 likesi think the fact that a majority believes the song is sweet is kind of shows how relationships and mental illness and be easily concealed with sentimental words, smiles and false facades
0 likesI saw the darker moments of the song, but to me (at least until the video came out lol) I always viewed the mentally well party helping the mentally ill one and everything turning out well. Like the middle verse "Numb. Fine." In my experience has been me in the point in a relationship where I like someone, but don't feel I can trust them with my feelings and angrily tell them I'm fine and grow distant. But the next line creating smiles to me implies the speaker triumphed over that feel of connection and learned to let her lover make her smile.
1 likeYou point out the overwhelming OHHHHS at the climax, but they're then patted down to quieter oh oh ohohoh's suggesting to me the the thoughts have all been drunk and what once the speaker "couldnt stand" is now bearable. The line "Intertwined. Free." To me doesn't show an unhealthy relationship or any kind of contrast at all. In the best relationships you are intertwined and unified but you should also feel free. Also within the songs context, perhaps free of some of the mental strain.
I give you an A+ for the lit analysis.
0 likesI feel like the reason a lot of people imagined the video to be so different is because there really isn't a lot of songs like this around. I can't think of another song which switches between love and romance and mental illness like this. The mood in this song is always changing. Though the listeners are faced with gory language, they exclude those words and focus on the romantic ones because this is the social norm. We have been conditioned to think that certain things can only have one definite meaning - a love song is only a love song, a "horrible" song is only a "horrible" song. Therefore people think the video should be romantic as some of the words included fit the social normality and definition of 'love'. This song breaks those norms and 'intertwines', if you will, those two concepts. This song doesn't shy away from the truth which is why there is so much controversy. Many people aren't use to this amount of honesty about society and it's flaws. Thank you for creating this song! (Sorry if this makes 0 sense I literally typed it at 4:30am lol)
0 likesIf only Dodie was my teacher.... she good at teaching. Maybe Music Teacher. ILY DODIEE
0 likesGenius. Pure genius. Wow.
0 likesi ! LOVED THIS!
0 likesOmg, I love this. YASS lit. analysis!!!
0 likesI thought the song was basically getting help, but I understand why it is about dependency, since Ive done that in the past
0 likesthis is amazing woweeeee
0 likesGirl, that DICTION
0 likesSEND IT TO UR OLD TEACHERS
thank u so much for this
0 likesi flippin love your hair
1 likei love teacher dodie
0 likeswatches the video for the fiftieth time woah this is different everytime I hear it
0 likesdoDIe so Oh Wonder has a nEw song called Ultralife & i think you would be great singinG it if ever you have the time to do it <3
0 likesyou're so adorable AAA
0 likesYES DODIE ILY
0 likesI LOVE UR HAND WRITTING
0 likesLove some good analysis
0 likesi found it so creepy how the dolls in the video would continue to smile throughout THE WHOLE THING like your head just got severed but ahh well
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also I LOVED the video. and the ep is so gorgeous and I am so in love with it! :)
0 likesOH MY GOD I LOVE YOU
0 likesThis sounded like too much like school so my brain turned off sorry dods
0 likescan dodie be my english teacher
0 likesAMAZING AHH
0 likesI. Fucking. Love. This. This. Is. FASCINATING.
0 likesI took the song as this; a same-sex couple trying to deal with a homophobic town/society that the two were living in. After watching this, although I still like my theory, it is absolutely fascinating how my interpretation, jared off from the original interpretation of the lyrics/ what they were "supposed" to mean. I say that in quotes, because I feel like with art there is no right, or wrong. It just, is.
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I'm just going to add onto what I was saying before about my theory. The couple lived in not only a homophobic place, but they were to figure out that some people were talking about them. This takes a dark turn from the relationship, forcing them to stay very closed off and over all, in a not very healthy state of mind. There home was the only place they could be safe, and soon enough they were even going against each other for being in a state of depression caused by the people around them. The relationship soon died down, ending in two unhappy people, in a place where they weren't safe. Yeah... that's what I got out of it.
0 likesYou are so cool I'm cold. :)
0 likestru english lit style - WHAT IS THE VIEWS AND VALUES OF THE CREATOR AND HOW DO THEY CONVEY IT
2 likesk she's definitely a ravenclaw then
3 likesomg Teacher Dodie is such a cute aesthetic
2 likesdaaaamn dodie
1 likeWhat what what what woah I never thought of it this way it’s cool
0 likesthrowback to english lit a-levels
0 likesIs it bad that I was just staring at her eyebrows the whole time?
0 likesIt wasn’t very dodie yet it was so dodie
0 likesSuch a ravenclaw😂
0 likesWhere are those glasses from?
0 likesDO MY ENGLISH GCSE PLS
0 likesi love you so much
0 likesHeadscarfs are empowering
0 likesOmg the English lit vibes yass
0 likesOK I might be the only one but I thought it was about sex 😂 But liek in a sweet way
0 likesDodie, plz replace my english teachr. Plz. We need more ukulele in our english lessons.
0 likesYou are so smart omg
0 likesI feel exposed.
0 likesi'm in love with u
0 likesyour hair is so cute
0 likesOH MY GOD give me your voice! I love every word she speaks! She makes anything sound good and just anything she sings sounds perfect 👌🏼
1 likeso this video made me almost cry. hearing this explanation of a seemingly sweet song that's actually pretty twisted, and how every single word and chord and EVERYTHING about this song was so meticulously chosen, ugh it's so overwhelming idk why. i think im going to cry every time i hear this song now thanks.
2 likesMy interpretation was very sappy and lovey dovey. I feel like this is a 21 Pilots song btw 😂 It has a happy tune but the lyrics are so so dark. Any who I felt as though two people were in a relationship, and the one needed the other so much that they just kind of intertwined and became one person. What a roller coaster. Love the song+music video Dodes! <3
2 likesHmm
2 likesI often listened to 'Intertwined' with my eyes closed and a cup of tea when my head was in a muddle. I didn't really think about why I did this, because my head felt an inability to grasp much haha. However, on reflecting on this impulse I've come to realise how powerful the lyrics of this song are. They have spoken to me so truly. As you mentioned, it is harmonically and melodically a sweet and gentle song with underlying bitter thoughts. These lyrics so appealed and felt as if they listened to my murky head. Yet at the same time, the soothing softness disguising the weight of the lyrics sent me into a state of calm.
Thank you Dodie :)
honestly this just brings this already gorgeous song and brand new meaning and it's just amazing how much different it was in my mind and i've never really been that great at picking up different themes (especially ones that are so well hidden) so this is truly eye opening. keep up the good work!
1 likeThis is great. I would love for you to do more. :)
1 likeWow, I'm amazed! This breakdown gave me chills and took my breath away a little bit. Only Dodie could make a song sound both beautiful and dark at the same time, this is why I love her❤️
0 likesOne of my most favorite things in life is hearing how someone who created some art form had felt or thought during the making of it and then comparing it to how I received it. and weirdly my intake on this was sorta similar to dodie's possibly due to also having depression and anxiety or not idk
1 likebut anyways when I originally heard the song I imagined it as a character who had mental illnesses (obviously) who was in a relationship of some sorts where they placed a lot of their self worth and abilities on the other persons ideas of them. The line "the world will try-" made me think that the characters friends and family were attempting to get them out of the toxic relationship. the bit where it says "free" made me think of the person having thoughts of leaving but then being followed by "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" and soft humming made me think of the person giving up and staying under false pretense of being happy and safe.
damn that was long and idk if I did my thoughts justice oh well ...
I remember when I first saw you on tour and your intro to this song was "I haven't been in a relationship in a long time and so I wrote a song as if I was in a relationship cause gosh I'm so lonely lol" or something along those lines, so I've always interpreted the song as a daydream. A hope of healing and happiness that a relationship could bring that seems lovely in a dream, but in reality would be completely unhealthy. Sort of like a desperate fantasy in the search for a cure for yourself.
1 likeBoom! Mic drop indeed. This was awesome Dodie. The whole EP is great, but this song in particular is the one I have stuck on repeat. Full of atmosphere and tones of conviction - two of my fav' things to have in songs.
1 likeReally great way of going through your interpretation of the song. Thank you for sharing :)
this is one of the most fascinating videos i've watched recently. i typically like to interpret songs on my own, but i suppose i didn't realize how interesting it is to hear them through the eyes of the creator themselves. i especially appreciate you talking about the chord progression and how they linked with the words. this song is truly a work of art. you must be so proud!
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i commented that at the halfway mark of watching this, but i just finished. i absolutely have to comment again about how much thought and effort went into every word and phrasing. i would never have seen this song or your writing style in such an intricate and genius way were it not for this video. thank you. this is incredible.
0 likesThis is almost exactly how I thought of it, I never really considered it a love song due to the words "numb" "I can't stand it" "drink all my thoughts" it always seemed so dark and the music video was so fitting, honestly loved it :)
0 likesDOODIE THIS IS SO GOOD AHH! I love this analysis and thank you so much for sharing your meaning behind the song! UGH it's SO GoOD
0 likesI. Love. This. Song. I've always seen it as a dark song masked by the cute melody and lovey phrases mixed in, but I didn't realize the full extent of genius of it until you pointed it out. You played with our emotions, so props to you. I love the way you contrasted the dark words with love, which I always saw as someone in a relationship trying to hint to their significant other that they a) aren't happy, or b) aren't okay, because they don't feel safe flat out saying it. I still kind of see it like that, but I also love the whole 'toxic relationship' theme. Because you can be in love and be happy even if you're draining each other's energy in the process. It's a sense of dependency, like you said, like 'you make me feel like I'm worthless but I'd be so much worse without you' which is a very real thing. The way you combed through every lyric (which is what it seems like judging by the depth of the song) is outstanding and it shows. WOOOOOT I LOVE THIS.
1 likeThis is exactly what I hear when I listen to this deep song.
0 likesI always look for the deeper meaning to match how I feel though so possibly it's just me 😂
I loved the video!
This was so amazing! I love how you described it, because in a much simpler way, my brain interpreted the song as a both beautiful and toxic relationship. I think I understood it so well because I deal with depression, anxiety, and co-dependency so that's why identified with it so much. I know you love it when we discuss how we viewed the songs, but I wish you would do videos like these more often!
0 likesi have such a hard time trying to interpret song lyrics, so when i originally heard the song, i thought it was about a dying relationship. now that i've seen this, i see the very dark meaning of the song and i LOVE it ah!
1 likeI interpreted this song as being desperate and lonely. It makes me feel kind of lost, like the world is shrouded in chaos, but like when they're with who they're with, the world fades away into nothingness, and to me that signifies a toxicity within the relationship. I thought the video was an extremely interesting piece of art but that maybe a different idea could have represented the intended interpretation better.
2 likesalso after watching this im so happy i always thought this was kind of a darkish song that talks about how you can still be in love with someone and have happy moments while at the same time its not healthy and you're not mentally stable. i still dont understand while people keep putting dodie in this box of super cute happy romantic acoustic songs when shes a lot more multidimensional than that and can write darker songs like this one. i mean seriously "you create a rarity of my smile" and "im afraid of the things in my brain" and "numb" this isnt just some perfect little love song
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damn right :)
0 likesI didn't interpret the song this way, as I imagined it to be a love song. But I am so glad that Dodie posted this and shared what she meant the song to be understood as
0 likesthat was so lovely! I loved hearing you explain it, actually. MY interpretation, however, was more of someone's expectations of how the relationship was going to be, and then having that collide with how it really turned out to be, and the entire time you never truly know what is real and was was imagined.
0 likesThank you for giving us your interpretation. Understanding the song more fully made me cry so much listening to the song again, because I'm going through what the song describes right now. Thank you for creating this beautiful gift of a song, for expressing one of the struggles that mentally unstable people go through. Love you sincerely dodie
0 likesTbh, my interpretation was that sometimes love and relationships can be dark and gory themselves, but in the end you can laugh away the fear because the love is stronger than the negative emotions. Sappy, I know
1 likeThis video is so amazing. I love wordplay and lyric analyzation. UGH :)
0 likesThis is like my favorite song of yours because it's so deep and you show who you really are-this afraid girl
0 likesThank you so much for this! I love analysis especially musical analysis and this was a great explanation. As for what this song means to me, when I first listened to Intertwined, I loved it, but I didn't get too much of the deeper meaning. I came back to the song later after a classmate of mine had committed suicide. The weekend afterward I was planned to hang out with old friends who didn't go to that school, one of them being a crush of mine. The whole affair was a mess, I didn't want to break any bad news around such a rare get together and I felt masked the whole night. I stayed up late taking to my crush as the others feel asleep, and Intertwined always related to that time for me. A mixed bag of feeling happy for the first time in a while while feeling guilty and nervous right under the surface. I listened to Intertwined a lot during that time, and I was really intrigued and relieved to see the darker side of the lyrics that I always listened for. That was quite a long and heavy comment but there's my spiel haha, thanks for reading :)
0 likesDODIE i can't even explain how much i love this video. i live for finding meaning and literary aspects in literature, and i especially love when songwriters put a deliberate purpose behind each lyric of their music like this. this was wonderful, thank you for sharing your meaning of this song with us 💖
1 likeI love the music video so much dodie 💕
1 likeI could hear you talk like this forever, you seem so passionate about it. I really enjoy the way you express your mind dodie💜 Lots of love from Argentina🌸
0 likesThe first time I listened to it, I thought of a relationship in which both partners had their own flaws and issues, but they tried their best to work past those and even embrace them.
0 likesI'm not the biggest fan of the music video, but I absolutely love hearing you break down the song! I love the theme of it. It's perfect.
0 likesI love this and the video make so much sense for it, it's really beautiful and really tragic and so much deeper than a casual sweet little love song and I think the video really works with that and highlights that
0 likesI don't know about anyone else but I could definitely watch more videos of you deconstructing art - English teacher style.
2 likesI interpreted the song as if it was from the pov of someone trying to hide their mental instability/ not understanding mental illnesses and feeling as if they're alone. Worried as they don't want to ruin their relationship because of these thoughts they're having they keep them quiet and undercover. But as the thoughts start getting stronger and more terrifying it feels as if they can't be contained. Then the mental instability begins to show, where is seen in the line "breathe, breathe" as I interpreted that as someone hyperventilating because of the weight of not being able to express all these thoughts. They then try to look for a way of coping so they turn to alcohol in hope that if they kept drinking the thoughts would go away which I saw in the line "Can you drink all my thoughts." All the while constantly worrying that these thoughts will ruin the relationship that they're in.
2 likesI'm not good at analyzing songs but the lyric "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" has always gotten to me like it's so dark compared to how it sounds
1 likeWhen I first heard the song, I FELL IN LOVE!!!!!! fav song on the ep, but I interpreted it as a song about mental health and, well, intimacy between lovers.
0 likesfirst off, i'd just like to say that this is a BEAUTIFUL song. it's my favorite out of every original song by dodie, with "i knew you once" in a close 2nd place.
0 likesi completely agree with you on most of the meaning, i definitely picked up on the contrast between the "pain" lyrics and the lyrics meant to mask the pain. it's my favorite part of the song.
the only bit you said that totally contrasted with what i was thinking was the "numb... fine..." part.
i interpreted the word "numb" to mean fuzzy or hazy, almost like the feeling when you're drunk or even tired when you let go of your thoughts and everything seems a little bit soft and crackly? it's hard to describe the feeling, but that's what i got out of the first word.
the word "fine" i interpreted not as meaning "okay" but as meaning "detailed" (as in "a fine tip sharpie"). i thought it contrasted with the word "numb" because obviously something very clear and detailed is the opposite of the hazy feeling i described in the previous paragraph.
i thought that those two words showed that in theory, the thoughts/feelings the relationships gave you were very clear ("fine"}, while in reality, they made you confused and it was hard to see all the details, just a feeling ("numb").
i'm sorry if this was completely illiterate but i hope to discuss this song with someone because i love it so much and i love dodie's minimalist beautiful songwriting and i WISH i can write songs like this in the future <3
I LOVE your analysis, Dodie, and I appreciate how it lets me understand the song better, as it is probably my favorite song of yours. I've also had fun reading the comments and seeing the other perspectives on your lyrics. I hadn't ever thought of this song as depicting a toxic relationship, though as you talked about it, it made perfect sense. I had always kind of imagined it as the two lovers finding solace in their relationship because they were dealing with a lot of shit from the rest of the world; like, they were only truly happy and comfortable and free when they were intertwined. At the end, I also thought the lyrics like "I hope that you don't bleed with me" was showing one lover genuinely caring about the other's well-being and outside life. I guess I took it as more of a healthy, beneficial relationship (building each other up because of, say, mental health issues) at first, but I love both sides.
0 likesThis was incredible to watch. Such a tragic, bittersweet story. Having you do this brings so much clarity to a beautiful and heart wrenching song. Thanks! I hope you do another one of these in the future :)
0 likesYou are so entirely and completely amazing.
1 likeGoing back and listening to the song and watching the video after this is so interesting !
0 likesGives it a whole other meaning to me personally.
Please do more of theses for your other songs I love lyric analysis
3 likesThankyou so much for this video! After the video came out I really hoped you would explain it and this is exactly what I was wishing for! I commented on the music video a couple days ago that I was disappointed with it because I didn't see its relation to the song and thought of it as trying to play into the popular creepy doll theme that I've seen in other videos. Now that I have heard your thoughts behind it I love the video! (My original distaste for it was probably not only for my natural distaste for anything I see as a trend but also because I get creeped out very easily) but anyway thanks for explaining your interpretation. This is not how I interpreted the song, (I saw it as about how wonderful it is to have someone to talk to about mental health problems with, someone who is on your side in life and gives you support in a relationship, but I didn't look very closely into the lyrics)
0 likesI definitely interpreted it as someone with a lot of fear and anxiety that maybe even makes things hard for awhile but that maybe even in the confusion there's moments of stillness almost like someone in a romantic relationship that has pibolar disorder where things can get messy but it's ultimately nice and their significant other is helping them work through stuff
1 likeomg dodie this video is just so amazing, I'm so glad that you made it.
0 likesI was so confused when the Intertwined video came out; tho I really loved it I didn't quite understand it ¿? because as you said everybody has its own interpretation on art ((and its awesome and my favorite thing about it)), but I love that now that you explained it has a whole new meaning than the cheesy romantic lyrics I used to hear; now it's even a more beautiful piece of art and I couldn't be more proud of you for proving yourself and us that you can make something beautiful and amazing and actually helpful of something so awful as a mental illness, and that those issues don't have to stop you from being happy and love yourself (even if it's hard sometimes).
Anyway, you keep surprising me everyday and I couldn't be more glad to have found your work here; you really are helping.
I hope you are happy and proud of yourself, ilysm <3
also happy super late birthday
I've always seen this song as more of a positive type of song, where someone is mentally ill but finds help in another person and begins to feel better because of it. I think your meaning is also amazing, just not necessarily how I saw it. It's quite interesting how multiple people have a different perspective of the same song.
0 likesI originally thought the song was about a relationship on the edge of falling apart. The people don't know whether or not to continue this relationship. They have these really nice moments where they are intimate (the first verse) and everything is ALMOST fine. And then everything falls apart. They go back and forth between being together and falling apart.
1 likethis video was so interesting and intelligent thank you so so so much for this dodie. it was fascinating to hear your interpretation and how you wrote this song and the theme you wanted behind it. i interpreted this song as the story of a healthy relationship. someone who is very broken, being able to lean on their partner, finding relief in the relationship. it is truly fascinating how differently art can be interpreted. again, thank you so much for this dodie.
0 likesthis was my exact interpretation of the song but i feel like the music video definitely referenced physical abuse rather than mental health issues which is why i think many people didnt think it fitted the song too well
0 likesWhat I would like to know is did Sammy come up with the music vid idea after just hearing the song? Or did you discuss it with him? Had he come to any conclusions about it?
1 likei never really analyzed the song until the music video. the video definitely put across your interpretation to me, it really fits and gives the perfect portrayal
2 likesI thought the song was definitely dark when i first heard it and then that idea was confirmed by the video. I believe there was an amazing message behind it and the way it was masked and created was beautiful. FINALLY SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS STUFF IN A SONG!!!!
0 likesmiss dodie in music analysis. very throught-provoking video!
1 likeAnd now I understand the video... thank you. (Also holy shit you are an amazing song writer. I had no idea this much thought went into it)
0 likesI really love hearing your explanation behind your lyrics. I couldn't give you a concise answer as to how I interpret the lyrics but I love hearing the artists reasoning behind their lyrics and it gives me a deeper understanding of the song when I'm performing it 😊😊 I'd love to hear your analysis of your other songs Dodie 😁😁 I think that even though each person interprets as song/ price of art differently, it's interesting to hear the though processes behind it. ALSO I think that when I perform/ practice a song, the image of the song in my head changes the tone of my voice and different accents in places and stuff so yeah, I'd love to see some other videos like this 😊
0 likesOkay so, my own idea when I heard this song was the underlying theme that you can't love away mental health issues. I know this because I've tried desperately to fix someone. But in the relationship I am thinking of, I witnessed a person try so so so hard to love away my mental problems. So when the line "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed" really rang true because soon she tired herself out trying to fix me so much that her mental health worsened. But in all honesty we were so madly in love that it almost didn't matter. The lyrics "intertwined, free" really hit it one the head for what would be a perfect relationship. So perfectly intertwined that it feels liberating. So when you sang "numb, fine" it took this sickenly sweet song and brought it back to reality. One were the two of us in this relationship we're pretending to be okay when we could feel nothing when we looked at each other. It honestly took my breath away when you mention the lyric "laugh away the fear" really meant we were just ignoring what we really felt and just talked over it. Because as the relationship with the girl began to end this was how we acted. We laughed over problems that in the end destroyed us. Thanks you for writing this amazing song, it really was gorgeous and the music video for this song captured the meaning in a surprisingly beautiful way.
1 likeDODIE I have been in love with this song since it came out. I would listen to it and daydream about love, but then the music video came out and it completely changed my perspective! I think your take on this was so fascinating and I loved it. I agree with you, debating about art is so incredibly interesting. How you changed my perspective on your song really opened up a lot of things, and helped me understand a lot. I am now only more in love with the song, and I love playing it on my ukulele as well :))
0 likesMy original interpretation of the song was of someone who was afraid to love, who maybe had a bad relationship in the past and is now hesitant with this new relationship.
0 likesplease post more in-depth analysis videos of your art like this!!!!! these give the songs even more of a deep meaning than they already have and i live for this kind of stuff
0 likesWhen I first listened to intertwined it made me think of the beginning of the relationship where it's more passionate and raw. I saw the word "Intertwined" as the literal physical sense of two bodies being intertwined, I also thought that the "skin" and "brain" part was the couple beginning to explore each other physically and mentally, it all felt to me like a new relationship. After watching this video it really opened my eyes and made me think and appreciate the people who have the sheer strength to get out and even realise that they are in an abusive/unhappy/negative relationship. LOVE YOU DODIE💖P.S I also love the discussion of art and it's different forms and meanings xx
1 likeYes yes exactly. At first I only thought this was a love song, very sweet and innocent. I watched the music video right when it came out and I UNDERSTOOD VEIW CHANGED MAD QUICK I watched it only twice and this is the explanation I came up with. I absolutely love this song and the music video (reminds me of a Stanley Kubrick plus west Anderson kinda thing <3) I really relate to the meaning and it does make me feel something knowing someone was able to make art capturing a similar phenomenon I and haven't been able to get a handle on. Love you and Sammy well done.
0 likesI absolutely loved the music video. I think the dolls made it creepier and fit the tone and message of the song! also I loved the analysis you're so cute :))))
0 likesBRILLIANT! i didn't ever think of the lyrics in this way by now that it's being explained it seems like the theme was right in front of me the whole time!! that's so cool dodie you did an amazing job as did sammy paul with the video.❤️
0 likesI definitely felt it was darker than the tune seemed to intend as I've listened to it. I interpreted it as a love song or story intertwined with the burden of mental health and have listened to it a lot while struggling with my own mental health issues, but i took it more as a possibly damaging relationship where one was putting a lot more than the other into the relationship and I definitely didn't see it quite as dark as it was intended to be. definitely love the song and the music video, though.
1 likeI always heard and understood the slightly less sweet undertone to the song, and when I saw the music video I literally screamed with happiness. It's absolutely perfect. It matches the song in the way it at first seems sickly sweet, two barbie dolls in a cutesy little dollhouse, but then becomes increasingly darker and more macabre. The song is an absolutely wonderful representation of a toxic relationship that is trying to be covered up by saying its 'fine'. I think the music video was perfect at portraying this. Wonderful job to dodie and the rest of the team that worked on it!
0 likesDodie, you should do a lyric analization on the other two songs in your EP!
0 likesdude, dodie, I've never been more assured of why I love you so much ! This fills my creative, English-lit loving brain with SO MUCH HAPPINESS !!!! With regards to the song, when I first heard it, I can clearly remember my first feelings being somewhat disturbed and I would completely agree with the things you said in this video about like the vivid imagery of 'skin' 'brain' etc.. I also remember feeling the jarring of 'numb... Fine' very distinctly and noticing the oxymorons in there. But then as I got used to the song I heard the romantic (tho it still seemed more intimate than romantic if you know what I mean) aspect of the song and just assumed that was how you and everyone else interpreted it which I personally think tells a lot about what I expect (due to society, socialisation, stereotypes and expectations) from women songwriters. Can't help but be annoyed at myself for just going with what I thought was intended rather than sticking to my own intuition and thoughts but I am SO grateful for this video. Goodness you are brilliant.
0 likesi didnt really have much of an analysis in my head about the song. i was just enjoying it for what i had assumed it was, i didnt think about it. i did notice something was unsettling about the lyrics though. i love the song a whole lot more now that the music video made me think about it more. my favourite thing about music is that its always a layer deeper than i think.
0 likesThis style of video is so lovely!
0 likesHi Dodie! I love your work and this is an awesome video cause I heard the song differently. Anyways, here's my interpretation lol. So starting with the "skin" thing, I didn't really find it jarring cause the soft beginning made me just imagine like, cuddling or something. Also, the contrast of words like "numb" and "fine" I just heard as the general ups and downs, and later with the "I hope that you don't bleed with me" I heard it like "I don't want to hurt you cause you're what's helping me" sorta thing. Overall (so this doesn't become a novel, lol), I heard the song more like a couple in love and one is just going through some pain of sorts, and their partner is trying to support them and help them through. So like, this is the song of the person going through the pain, scared of hurting the people/person that're trying to help as they themselves try to get better. Sorta a sad love song in my ears.
0 likesholy shit this is hands down my favorite video you've made- to see what went through your brain and what went into this song was seriously amazing. I listened to the song before the video and thought it was sweet, when I saw the music video I saw a totally different yet fitting interpretation and hearing you analyze each part with such heart behind each tiny decision is truly incredible. You are so very talented! I can't even express how I feel about this mental journey I've gone on with this song. Thank you dodie
0 likesI love your music, and I think you are brilliant. I've been watching you for a while now and I'm amazed by how much you've growth, But I'm not so happy with the way you've changed this past few months. You've placed a little too much entasis in the fact that you are not okay in your Dodie the singer/songwriter persona and that's fine but I think It's a little counter effective, you see; your music helped/helps thousands of people battling whatever life troughs at them daily and that's very noble and beautiful, but I also have conflicted fillings about it, It's becoming something predictable and almost forced like everything has to be about how not well you are (and hopefully I'm so very wrong)and that worries me a little.Its almost like you are brushing it off as "whatever its normal" and your fanbase have caught this attitude too, every day I see post from your fans talking about their mental problems with each other in the comments and Instagram and can't help to wonder how many of these post are genuine and which are just trying to fit in with this weird turnaround of people who've come to embrace mental health a little too much.
0 likesI say this as someone not only clinically diagnosed with depression but who has also lost far too many loved ones to mental illnesses (for underdiagnosis and overdiagnosis), just recently a close-ish friend who showed heavy signs of an anxiety disorder was diagnosed with schizophrenia and has lost himself in the drugs he is taking (He partook in this "unsafe" normalization of mental illnesses trough his blog and such)
I don't know if this is a little tone deaf or rude, art is art and it should be left to the artists to critic, but I just don't see this transformation to your brand as something helpful to our community.
And I would like to clarify that this is in no way denying that people who have mental illnesses shouldn't talk about it (I actually believe that you do a great favor to the youtube community by doing so, and in some instances the vid you make me have helped me in ways that ill forever grateful for; If it wasn't for your depersonalization video I would've never known how to explain to my counselor how I've felt for so long) but I also stand by the point that the repetition of this "quirky it's cool to be ill" mentality that has erupted all over the internet is doing a disservice to the diagnostician and treatment of real illnesses
Just to further my point of who its a little strange how you handled it I would like to point out that in 1:56 I just sounds wrong (IMO) and I get it, its supposed to be empowering but it just comes off cocky and dismissive.
I'll just finish by saying that in no way this is a callout, it's more of an invitation to re-evaluate how you are managing this topic. I wish you nothing but love and everything thats good.
- A concerned fan
Okay so first of all, I am completely and utterly in love with how you wrote this beautiful song, I'm not going to lie and say that I totally understood it because I don't think that is what you intended to do with how you wanted to song to be taken. I think you made it sound calm, loving and understandable to hide the fact of the true darkness of mental health and relationships. If I'm wrong about my hypothesis please tell me but overall I will never hate this song because it really touches my heart more than ever.
0 likes@doddlevloggle
I would love to see your english teachers respond to the analysis. I imagine they are extremely proud of you, just like your fans who have been watching for a while are.
0 likesI didn't even think it was a love song 😂 I thought it was about mental health issues but I still really enjoy it
1 likeI want Dodie as my music teacher
1 likeI'm so glad you made this. like many, I originally was a bit thrown off by the music video, but it gives so much deeper meaning than what I had assumed about the song. there are thousands of cuddly love songs, but very few ones like this, and it is very well written and thought out <3
0 likesI went "ohhhhhhhh" and "holy shit" a lot while watching this lol
0 likesThis was reaaally interesting holy shit I LOVE IT
Thanks Dodie this makes so much more sense now :)
thank u sm for making this i was so sad and confused that it didnt match up to my interpertation but now i feel better ;)
0 likesI always heard the song as being a story of fear, like an okay relationship going completely wrong (abusive). They (the person being abused) are trying to convince their brain everything is okay, hence the "laugh away the fear." They don't love their significant other anymore, but they stay, Intertwined in the horrible romance because of their dependence on their abuser and their need for stability.
0 likesJust my thoughts, love you dodie!
I love this song so much because it relates back to my own past relationship.
0 likesBut it wasn't me that started out as the unhealthy one. I mean, sure I had my moments, and I had unhealthy qualities, and other than my anxiety I never had any severe mental health issues. My partner however was diagnosed with depersonalisation and depression, and all chronic and due to his brain having a lack of chemicals and what not.
So our relationship start close, and loving (skin, heat) and mildly playful, your typical honeymoon stage of every relationship (hair in your mouth, feet touching feet). We had our own world, it was just the two of us together and it was peaceful and beautiful (safe from the world, though the world will try).
Then as our relationship grew deeper, I learned more about his mental illness. And I thought I could help him. I thought that maybe by some miracle I was the girl that was going to save him from himself so that he'd be okay again. I start to "drink his thoughts".. I myself started to blame myself for his illness. I started to feel like shit a lot and I even started to feel suicidal. I hated myself for not helping him. I hated him for making me feel this way. But I was so sad because I hated but I still loved him dearly. And then I broke up with him. I told what was happening in my head and I don't think he realised that being with brought out a different unhealthy side to me that I didn't know I had.
I love this song and When so much, because I can relate it back to my old relationship.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him for his illness, not anymore at least. And I love and miss him dearly. But being with him brought out something in me I didn't know I had. And now I need to work on healing that part of me, without him.
when I first heard the song I though of it as feeling the other person in the relationship was like their "protector" and that the world was their fears. How when the two people were together they were shielded from the bad things in the world (I was thinking in the context of an lgbt relationship and how people would disapprove). But the writer still had doubts of whether they could handle the outside criticism. I guess lol (SORRY FOR THE JUMBLED MESS 🙃)
0 likesI'm so glad you made this. Every time I hear the song I'm like, this is not a happy love song. Glad my analysis matches yours.
0 likesI interpreted the video somewhat similarly to your analysis. I related to the lyrics quite a lot because I have have my fair share of mental illnesses. Every relationship I've been in is a combination of telling myself I love them when I don't even know what love is (as a way to punishing myself which is quite dark I guess). I thought of the juxtaposition of the lyrics (numb and fine, for example) as the person trying to convince themselves that the relationship is perfect. The happier notes correspond with the person glorifying the small good moments in a relationship full of pain and sorrow. I personally love the music video, and I really appreciated this (much needed) analysis. My question:
0 likesI believe you said "called it" in the beginning of the video, which leads me to assume that you have been in love. Do you believe this in depth thought of how you would act in a relationship caused the pain to occur? Normally, when I talk about awful scenarios and the issues it would cause, it inevitably happens. If I think about how my brain will react, it tends to react that way. Did thinking about how your brain would react to a relationship affect the way it did react? Or were you never in love and I'm overthinking everything? If so, I apologize.
i DEFINITELY had similar thoughts when i started to actually learn the lyrics. i thought of the relationship as romantic but she needs the other person to be okay/feel good and strong about herself. i did also see it as like a "hey, i'm kinda fucked up and i have a lot of shit going on in my brain, i hope you still love me anyway". which is the hopeless romantic in me coming out. but what scares me is that even after watching the entire video, i still see this song as romantic, even though i totally get your explanation of the toxicity. does that make me a bad person? are my views on love fucked up? (these are things i genuinely wonder, as my views on love are solely learned through friends and fiction, and i've never actually been in love).
0 likesthe teacher in me absolutely LOVES the format of this video (even if i'm a math teacher, not english). if my english classes were like this, i'd probably like it more lol.
Interesting. Whenever I heard the song I imagined that a woman has had a panic attack and her s.o. was calming her down. So the breathe with me part I got right. The woman was investing so much on the fact that when she had an attack her partner would always be there to calm her down. (I've pinned each and every hope on you) Then the stress and anxiousness of always having to calm her down got to her parter, breaking them. They developed the same issues. (I hope that you don't bleed with me). I always thought you create a rarity of my genuine smile was that the s.o. was seeing her genuine smile, something that was rare. Nonetheless amazing job dodie, as always.
1 likePlease make this a series where you stand in front of a chalkboard and teach us things
0 likesHi Dodie, hope you get to read this. If I may, this is my analysis:The first stanza refers to a couple in bed, the raw, intimate nature displayed through the use of blunt words 'skin', 'heat' 'hair' and 'feet'. The lack of complexity may 1. Refer to the way the relationship does not need to be questioned and romanticized, because it is beauty is in its raw simplicity. or 2. The relationship's intimacy has become purely physical and detached from emotion.Stanza 2 begins with 'Oh you,' Immediately drawing attention to the partner in the relationship. However the 'And I' connects the two for the next to lines, applying it to both people in the relationship. The world is constructed as a danger, that one needs to stay 'safe' from though it will 'try'. These lines construct a feeling of security and safety in the relationship, connecting the bonds within the couple and the safety from outside threats imposed on them. The third stanza begins with the line 'im afraid of the things in my brain.' The relation of fear to 'things in my brain' allow the audience to see how the threats have invaded the persona's mind. However, as they are only 'things in her brain,' they can be regarded similarly to nightmares - bad dreams - as the next line contrasts with 'but we can stay here and laugh away the fear,' demonstrating the safety and joy felt within the relationship, 'here' being used instead of 'there' shows that the persona can easily escape from her troubles to 'laugh away the fear.' As the fear is created in her mind and is not of a physical threat. (NOTE: I AM NOT DEMEANING ANY MENTAL DISORDERS)Stanza three begins with the word numb, which can be linked to an aesthetic, which decreases pain. Fine is a word used to convey a level of contentment in the situation. Though the personas smiles are a rarity, the second person in the couple creates them, which, while showing dependency, may also symbolize the positive effects of the relationship on the mental state of the person, as the 'outside world' is hostile. Stanza four begins with repetition of the word breathe. Breathing is a connection to living and thriving- every living thing must breathe. It may link to the colloquial, catching your breath; Allow down time, relaxation and recuperation. 'Can you drink all my thoughts' signals the persona's need for help, as she verbally calls to her partner to assist in relieving her of her dark thoughts 'Cause [she] can't stand them,' meaning she would like to be free of them.The title of the song is used in the last stanza in contrast to the second line - Intertwined and Free, may be used in conjunction to express the persona's freedom from her thoughts that has occurred as a result of her connection with her partner. 'I've pinned each and every hope on you' symbolizes her guilt for handin over all her problems to her partner and that she feels dependent. 'I hope that you don't bleed with me' demonstrates the depth persona's problem as bleeding is associated with physical injury, connecting physical and mental into one. The persona is wishing the best to her partner as she wants to make him feel better, the way he makes her. Hope you like my analysis. I know that it's not the way you saw the song but that is how I would interpret the lyrics. Also, apologies for the use of Hetero pronouns, it was faster to type 😅
1 likeI love intertwined so much it's such an interesting song and video of guess 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😁😁😁
0 likesI saw this song very differently. My mind focused on different things. I saw this as one person in a relationship was very stressed by the rest of the world and their partner offered solace. Basically, I saw the verses as a constant cycle of the partner creating a sense of safety for the writer. The writer also wanted to protect their partner from the stress of the outside world (possibly being overprotective), example being, "I hope that you don't bleed with me." I guess overall, the writer's thoughts being spilled to the partner was a way of warning them that the rest of the world is cruel and they should only need each other (showing desired codependency and human attachment). There were layers of codependency, overprotection, while on top of good intentions that could be considered a bit selfish but still sweet. I don't know if my explanation was really stupid or not. I am good in my english class but I haven't gone above and beyond for text analyzation in my fifteen years on Earth. I hope this was interesting!
0 likesThe first time I listened to the song I interpreted it as cute and romantic because I pretty much washed over the lyrics and just listened to how it sounded.
0 likesbut once I actually listened to the words, it became darker and more haunting. now when I listen to it, I think of a relationship that kind of isn't working or isn't compleatly "safe" or "good" and is used to avoid dealing with feelings that are tearing the two people apart.
so yeah.
i think a cute, innocent video is what everyone would expect for that song, especially without analyzing the lyrics. however i think the video you all made fits absolutely perfect. i love it so much and it is one of my favorite music videos of all time. thank you for everything you do dodie. you are so helpful and inspirational. also, happy late birthday!! 💛💛
0 likesI thought it was a cutesy love song but one of the lovers was depressed or over thinks everything as they are 'afraid of the things in their brain' and they want to other person in the relationship to help make them happy again and I thought of intertwined as when you hold someones hand and intertwine you fingers or intertwining thoughts between the lovers but I loved the video and I now watch it completely differently knowing dodies meaning to it.
2 likesAs someone who originally and continually interprets this song as a lovey dovey, I interpreted the juxtaposed words and the last couple of verses quite differently. First, I thought that the "here" of the place mentioned by the speaker several times as some place quiet, comforting, and secluded, like a cozy bed in a bedroom.I interpreted "skin" as like the people skin is touching, which makes sense with the word "heat" to mean like their own "heat" like when people have sex or mess around with each other. I interpreted "numb" like when the person you like touches you and you feel really shaky and nervous but in a nice way and your skin it feels almost goes numb. I then interpreted fine as "I feel fine". I did interpret this as one person that has mental health issues (probs depression). However, I interpreted "can you drink all my thoughts cause I can't stand them" to mean that the partner is very understanding and listens to the rants of the writer. A person I know with depression talks to her gf the same way so I guess that's why it made sense to me. The last lyrics of "we can stay here and laugh away the fear" to me meant that the partner is helping the person through their mental health problems at least at the present time so the person feels happy (hence laughing) and content. The partner helps them get over that, hence connecting the "laugh away" lyric to the "you create a rarity of me genuine smiles." The speaker is still afraid of their mental health problem coming back again and again (hence afraid of their own brain), but they know their partner will always be there with them to "laugh away the fear," although not in the literal sense. Connecting that back to the lyric of "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles," the speaker now knows what works for them in terms of a successful relationship while still having mental health issues. The speaker is nervous in a sense that they are hurting their partner by them being in a relationship with someone who has mental health issues (which can scare some people in terms of emotional intimacy) and that their mental health is becoming the main focus of attention in their relationship, which makes them feel guilty. Thus the speaker doesn't want their partner to "bleed with me" because they do not want to cause any problems for their partner.
1 likeIntertwined is probably one of my many fave song you've written. Everything you've said about it matched up exactly to how I saw the song. It's nasty and raw and shows the reality of mental illness. The music video was so amazing and is even more raw and nasty but is beautiful. Also I LOVED THIS VIDEO. I live for art theory omg.
0 likeswhat i've always found interesting and clever about this song is that we are in a specific (mentally ill) person's mind throughout, so we don't get their partner's side or commentary on their relationship. They're clearly struggling, but I always interpreted it as mostly insecurity due to mental health; are their fears founded, or just projection and worry that they're not a good partner or a burden due to their mental health? Being in a relationship with someone who is mentally ill/struggling with mental health/neurodivergent IS going to be much different in a lot of ways from being in a normative relationship. The violent imagery and dark undertones are there, but I interpreted it more as their intrusive thoughts/panic/anxiety trying to ruin what is potentially a fine/healthy relationship. breathing with someone to calm them down/ground them is just something that you need to do sometimes, and especially in the case of someone with frequent panic attacks, asking for that help is not toxic and/or codependent. I always just read it as someone who is inexperienced in relationships maybe bc of their insecurity w/r/t their mental health, whose brain is trying to sabotage their newfound happiness bc mental illness sucks and is very good at making you feel unworthy of love and attention.
2 likesI genuinely think that if someone were to write this as an essay they'd get an A*
2 likesThis is great and is like me and my friends friendships and it made me feel better I guess
0 likesi understood the song more of a love i crave; something warm and intertwined. warm tea under blankets. i got that vibe from the chords, and the grain you added in the recording. the lyrics "im afraid of the things in my brain" i found i related to, as my sadness frightens me, and the love that is described in the song "laughed away" that fear.
0 likesmore on the chords... i imagined lovers playing them in front of a fire place, hence the grain, giving it a soothing feeling. the progression in the chorus was unsettling, reinforcing a sadder fear.
For several reasons I related to this song in several different ways that bear no relation to Dodie's stated intentions. I'm in a long term, long distance relationship, and the imagery of a couple Intertwined like this speaks to me deeply as an element I wish I could experience whenever I wanted. I relate to the darker lyrics not in a sense of struggling with mental illness (certainly nothing beyond mild anxiety), but more just through having lived through several lives and relationships already that have either stalled for different reasons or that should never have begun in the first place, and having to live now with the ghosts of my past selves, if that doesn't sound too incredibly pretentious. And while I know pinning your each and every hope on someone isn't the healthiest sounding course of action, what else are we doing when we present our hearts to another person when we fall in love with them? All we can hope for is that they treat it with the care and respect it/we deserve, and you find the right balance as a couple to make each other happy.
0 likesAnyway, I loved the song already, and I love it even more after hearing Dodie's own explanations of its intricacies, all of which made total sense hearing it from her point of view (definitely). Keep slaying Dodes, from a fellow Essex native!!!
OH I am so gonna analyze it how it spoke/read to me! I learned this song for an open mic thingy I participate in monthly. I love this song so much because you can read and relate to it in so many different ways.
0 likesSkin ( we are straight in the bedroom, This is clothes off, feeling each others skin, touching each other, maybe for the first time, or what feels like the first time.)
Heat(warmth, the feeling of love, lust.)
Hair in your mouth (just find this comically cuz OMG always!)
Feet touching feet (until the relationship i am in now, I hated someone feet touching mine so this part of the song sold me)
Altogether this whole first verse I feel like is the exciting new-ness of being with one another, how everything seems exciting and intimate.
Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try (the normal life struggles. Jobs or school taking you somewhere different. not getting along with each others friends or family, depression, stress, mood swings, disorders, difference in opinions, ideas, all the things that happens to anyone as a human.)
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain (this is about over analyzing, thinking way to far ahead in the future, being afraid of what your destiny is, whats to come, or whats in the past, whats going to come up, how broken you feel)
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear ( but with you I feel safe and happy and I can ignore the scary bits of being in a relationship and making my self soo vulnerable with you. Also, darker version. Avoid the world by hiding in bed, avoid the problems by getting frisky)
Numb
Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles (well this is sadness, depression, like you said. With a happy twist because this person makes you forget, tying back up to laughing away the fear)
So breathe
Breathe with me ( i felt, especially with the way it was sang, this was calming down breathing. taking a step back from how consumed you both are in each other)
Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them (a plea asking this person to help you, take away your fears or share in them with you.and also recognizing you are afraid and telling that person)
Intertwined
Free ( free because you feel the safety you want with this person and are free to feel way more confident in your own skin. the person helps you feel free.)
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me (the fear of giving your heart or love to someone. knowing how vulnerable that makes you and so hoping the person wont destroy you. ANd hoping you dot cause this person to hurt either)
I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
Now i want to be clear, not all of this "analysis" makes it a healthy relationship nor does it make it a bad one. Seeing things for what they are and recognizing your short comings, I think, is HUGE in a relationship. Overall I think this song is stunning and you are stunning, doodie. So glad you love how everyone interprets it differently! Also so happy for your success! I started following you at like130K and have now seen you play and met you. So proud of you!
I actually liked the video. I didn't get it, but now I do! I really loved the song. I thought it was beautiful
1 likeDODIE YOURE A GENIUS. I. LOVE. YOU.
0 likesi had to watch this video a few times to truly understand everything but i originally thought it was about someone in love who leaned on the other person a lot for comfort with their mental health, which i guess is how i would see myself in love. i'm still trying to fit the song to the video and this helped a lot.
0 likesI had a similar interpretation, but I thought of it more as being in denial of a mental illness. "Though the world will try- Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain" shows paranoia about the world, that people are out to get the writer, but going on to point out the things in their brain suggests that they know their fears are made up. "But we can stay here and laugh away the fear" made it sound like the writer is trying to ignore their worries and just laugh it off. "Numb, fine" suggests that the writer's first feeling is numbness, but they're trying to cover that up by saying they're fine. Overall, it seems to be an internal conflict within the writer. They're trying not to show their mental illness and enjoy a relationship, but the illness keeps finding ways to show through.
0 likesHERE IS HOW I IMAGINED THE SONG (i thought about my crush alot during this song and it still does even when they rejected me..god i miss her)
1 likeSkin
Heat
Hair in your mouth
Feet touching feet
imagining how it would be to be with the person you want to be with
Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try
still continues to explain how it would be to have them like you as well but you do things that make them feel weird and they dont understand the hints you try and give them
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
*they are afraid that they do not like them but they choose to ignore it and continue to love them as they normally did like
staring at them any chance they got but the crush finds it strange and soon figures out*
Numb
Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles
when you see them with someone else or when they are perfectly fine without you (unlike yourself where you die when you arnt around them) your numb but you choose to lie and say its fine and decide to ignore it since you arnt officially together (you like them but they dont know)
So breathe
Breathe with me
Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them
asking them to stop confusing them (like giving them hope things will be fine and they will like you aswell)
Ooh, oh
O-oh, oh, oh
Getting even more confused cause jealousy and denial starts to form
Intertwined
Free
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me
they still worry and imagine how it would be to be in love with them and ask them not to worry when they see you down and upset knowing it wont happen
I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
when you are with them you are dying on the inside because you find out they dont like you the same way you like them so you decide to try and hide it by pretending it never happened and try to continue the friendship but..
Hmm, hmm
Hmhmm
the relationship ends up failing and you drown and remember how it was to be with them when they didnt know that you liked them and regret everything you said or did
TBH i cried as writing this .. ive liked her the entire school year.. and i find out she doesnt like me the same way.
today she smiled looking at a girl which that look i could tell wasnt a friendly smile it was the kind you give to someone when you like them.. and i know she probably likes her since i was very close with her and i also can just tell by looking at her.. as i can with all my other friends
My idea of the song matched perfectly what you were trying to say think it's because there has never been a song written in the history of forever that's matched me so personally and accurately before 😞
0 likeswhen i first heard this song, it felt slightly out of place on the EP and almost... uncomfortable? i was reading things online about it being a love song but that title never sat right with me. the first time i listened to it i definitely felt that that was what you were going for but when i looked at the lyrics it all switched for me, like i was suddenly watching a relationship fall apart in front of me but if i took two steps back it felt whole and loving again. is that some type of metaphor for the true meaning of the song??? lmao probably.
0 likesI LOVE THIS!!!
0 likesI've found most people see this as a love song, but I always thought of it as a song about me, how I feel and my 'battle' with accepting myself and not brushing over anything bad (as I tend to do). The song sometimes implies there are two people, as you use the word "we", but I've always thought of it as two sides of myself, one side saying I should deal with problems, the other just saying it's nothing and that I'm overreacting. I don't know
0 likesactually my favorite thanK YOU SO MUCH FOR CREATING THIS
0 likesI originally interpreted this gorgeous song as relating to someone suffering with poor mental health drowning themselves in a relationship. Although i respect that the music video fits the meaning of the song, i personally prefer the original video of dodie singing Intertwined as it's a more stripped-back version, raw, with her voice full of emotion. however as dodie says, art is beautiful in that it is interpreted in an infinite number of ways
0 likes:)
I LOVE THE VIDEO ITS SO COOL ALSO MY VISION OF A MUSIC VIDEO FOR THIS SONG WAS MAYBE LIKE TWO PEEPS IN LOVE KINDA LIKE DANCING SLOWLY IN A WARM-LOOKING CANDLE LIT ROOM AND EACH TIME THE CORDS CHANGED TO A MINOR OR SAD SOUNDING TONE ITD START TO TURN A COOL COLOR IN THE ROOM AND LIKE TEARS WOULD BE SLOWLY BUILDING UP UNTIL THE END WHERE ONE OF THE PEOPLE IS CRYING BUT THE OTHER DUDE HUGS HIM/HER AND THE VIDEO ENDS WITH BOTH OF THEM CRYING BUT HUGGING AND HAPPY THEY HAVE EACH OTHER LMAO ANYWAY I LOVE YOU AND YOUR MUSIC AND THE VIDEO SO AHHH GREAT JOB
0 likesi always saw something a bit darker about intertwined and after watching this im not sure how i ever saw this as even a little "cuddly"
0 likesholy moly i love this so muCH YOU'VE COMPLETELY CHANGED THE WAY I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS SONG GAH
0 likesdodie this is such a good video. this is the best. can u please do this w like every song bc. it's so good
0 likesI personally think I was...definitely very aware of the themes of mental illness in the song, or at least that one partner had troubles in that area and they were depending on the other person in a, "Please help me. I love you and I hope you don't get hurt by all this but you might but please help me, " kind of way. I personally always pictured this moment as more of a conversation, possibly in bed, where one of them, the one with mental health problems, is talking to the other about everything they're dealing with. I also kind of got the impression that said fictional couple had been together for a while, or at least long enough for this not to have been the first time to topic of mental health to come up. The partner with mental health problems would be expressing her terrifying thoughts while the other was holding her in an attempt to comfort and listening to what she's saying.
0 likesThis scene (that I just described) obviously doesn't translate well into a music video. The one which was made of definitely more jarring and visually descriptive of what is going on in the singer's mind. Did I enjoy it, personally? Not really. Surrealism is just not really my thing. I did understand what was being communicated though.
I think the reason why I felt the song and the video didn't quite match up was not because of the meaning of the song. I felt it was more the music, more, like, the beginning music? It's like one of those things that does kind of match up but not quite completely, at least in my personal opinion. At the end, with those hummin harmonies which are a bit eerie, then yes. Still not quite 100% on the rest. But then again, I'm not a massive fan of surrealism due to a past experience, so that's quite possibly why I didn't enjoy the video as much. But, again, it did communicate very clearly what was going on in the brain of the singer. And it was very well made. Good job, Sammy.
i didn't "get" the song until i watched the video, and that's what i love so much about art and music videos and music and aaaaaaaa.
0 likesI actually read the song as being totally loving and completely and utterly in love, and very supportive, that even though the singer is saying that they are so scared and uncertain, their lover supports them and tries to get them to smile and breathe and listens to their thoughts and tries to help them even though it does sound like a bit much. It also seems to me like the singer loves the other person so much and sees how much they have become dependant on them for help and that she loves them for it but also hopes that because of the strain that they are putting on them, that they dont develop any problems of their own. So yeah, but overall I felt as if it was more love than problems and trying to overcome those problems and the love that comes out of that effort. Or maybe thats just what I want to hear because thats what I would like......
0 likesWow wow wow OK this is so interesting but DAMN that is not how I imagined this song. I definetely saw it as a sweet little love song, a relationship where the good tries to overcome the bad, a tale of two lovers in a bed, fighting against everything else (inside and outside threats together). The music video defo threw me off and to be honest I'm going to keep my own interpretation of the song because I'm a hopeless romantic. Night x
1 likeThe remarkable thing about this song is that the interpretation relies on the emotion and mindset of the person listening to it in that moment. For example, over a year ago I dealt with a toxic relationship where I was the only one putting anything into it and listening to this song afterwards would have broken my heart because it was relatable. I would have understood the darker elements of it and connected with that more. However I am currently in a healthy relationship and this song was released while we were together so I've always connected with it as a love song, one of hope of overcoming the struggles of relationships and thriving together.
0 likesPerhaps I will interpret it differently in another year's time. But the fact you have woven this song so intricately and poetically Dodie shows the strength and brilliance of your song writing and the depth to your art: especially that it can be interpreted in so many different ways.
I didn't listen to the lyrics much the first time I heard this song, but I heard it again during a kind of tough time a little while ago. I was simultaneously realizing my gradual infatuation with someone who I felt helped me deal with a lot of the problems I was facing by making them seem less crippling and showing the beauty of (at least the idea of) love when I felt surrounded by a horrible, ugly world. Consequently I associate the song with him and I see it as a really happy time, but I still love the video's darker interpretation. Looking back on that time in the context of the song I see more negative ways it fits as well that I ignored before. It's interesting how art can seem to so perfectly reflect a situation, especially when you don't realize how truly perfectly it does so.
0 likesWhen I first heard the song I thought it was about two lovers depending on each other. In my opinion it's about one lover who has issues that they're dealing with but mask the terrible feelings with their significant other. Idk that's just what I think:/
0 likesWhat you said was definitely what I thought the song was about, and I think that, if I were to explain this like it's a story, the narrator (dodie in this case I guess) is in love with this other person, but her mental issues are trying to overcome her love and its effecting them both, and though they want to laugh it off and continue to be 'intertwined,' they also want to be free of the numbness that is mentioned in the song. This could even apply to not a relationship, but having feelings for someone and not being able to tell them because of depression or anxiety holding you back. I think that specific interpretation is because at the time of writing this I have a lot of strong feelings towards a good friend of mine who is the same sex as me and I don't know if she's bi/gay. Anyway, texting her about a tv show I'm watching that's her favorite makes me nervous because of social anxiety, and I almost panicked in school today a few times because I felt slightly rejected just because she talked to our other friends when I tried to say something, but it was just my anxiety telling me something was wrong when nothing was.
0 likesAlso: you asked what we would do for our own music video for this song. I really like the way the barbies are a metaphor for perfection (as barbies almost always are). So I think that it would still have the barbies, but there would be a person controlling them, the way a little kid playing does. The person would be trying to make the barbies lives perfect, but something would always stop them.
i thought of the song the same way u did. more of a love song gone wrong, unwanted, couldn't escape the so called "love" that was spoken of. The mental health of the person wasnt safe and very dark like my mind any way that was my thought love u
0 likesyes!!!! this is my fav song of yours ever yessss!!!!
0 likesi sort of vaguely interpreted the song this way, but now analyzing the lyrics im finding So much meaning like i think the fact that it's a waltz is so #deep because the song is ultimately dancing around an unspoken toxicity - every time it feels like it's touching on the actual problem it's swept back into something pleasant and hazy again. Ultimately, the way i relate to this song (which you didnt mention specifically but might have been intentional because i know you suffer from depersonalization?) is as a dissociative state, because as someone who dissociates and tries to be productive through that im very familiar with this feeling of feeling something is deeply wrong, but not being able to focus enough on anything to fix it. Even as im panicing my conscious mind can't connect to the emotions and feels almost peaceful. This matches up with the surreal-ness of the music video. brilliant song dodieee!
0 likesmy interpretation of the song along with the music video was:
0 likesSo basically there is a couple (no duh but whatever.) but neither of the two actually love each other. The only reason why they are together is for the sake of a replacement because for both of the people the two in the couple actually love do not love them back, bringing them into an extremely unhealthy relationship. the lyrics "can you drink all my thoughts, because I cant stand them" referring that they don't want to love the person they are loving or that they'd like to forget the person they are actually with isn't the person they would like to be with. as for the "oh"s I had put these to symbolize them in distress knowing that neither of them wanted to stay in the relationship, nor the they want to leave, resulting in confusion. the only reason they continued the promise because, even if they didn't love each other if they were the one to break it off, theywould feel typically bad for their so called "significant other' along with the constant fear of always being alone because when anyone is in a relationship they think that they are more safe, even when the relationship is clearly toxic.
that was a long commet. whoop.
I doubt you'll answer this... but Dodie, if I make an animation to this and email it to you with my interpretation of the song will you read it?
0 likesfor me personally, I imagine it completely different to your original meaning. I feel like it is how mental illness is a burden to the narrator and how she feels a burden herself to her partner, with the imagery at the start video of a 'white picket fence' shows that her partner was her only feeling of safety from the things going on in her own mind, that she cannot escape from.
0 likesbut that's just me, I love your meaning though, Dodie! x
I don't think it's possible for me to have any bigger of a crush on you 💛💛💛
0 likesMy interpretation was somewhat similar but kind of not... I thought of it like people in a relationship who have a lot a crap they need to deal within that relationship and they don't want to. They just think that if they fake it an pretend to be a happy couple then the problems will fix themselves. That's just what I thought though :3
0 likesthis didn't really fit my version of how i took the song (lol not mad), but i really enjoyed hearing how she visions it :)
0 likeshonestly when i first heard this i thought it was about someone talking about how their Person (signif, friend, etc) helped their mental state and takes their mind off of things for a while BOY WAS I WRONG
0 likesIt's been 8 months since I've done English at GCSE haha!
0 likes(and this is me procrastinating from physics revision aargh!)
so thank you for this english lessons
(english lessons were fun weren't they!)
wow, love it
0 likesAs an aspiring english teacher my heart is happy love
0 likesDodie this is incredible
0 likesI recommend looking at the lyrics on genius.com there are some quite spot on and interesting theories
1 likeFor me personally, I saw the song as a couple trying to make through and make their relationship better, they have all the passion they could have, (as shown through the first few words, "skin" and "heat" are usually associated with sexual endeavors, although the only sexual endeavor is between the couple, which is what made me think of the passion bit,) but still think that they (possibly) are not good enough for the other person. (I'm going to add names to make my explanation easier) lets say Alex (one of the people in the relationship) has hopes and dreams for themselves and the relationship. The other person, Kasey also believes in those hopes and dreams,they just are not as outward about it, both people in the relationship think that their relation ship is "good" or "fine"(see what i did there? with the lyric of the next verse?) when in reality its a great relationship, its just that the people in the relationship think that they themselves could do better, now I'm not saying that Kasey thinks Alex can do better, and Alex thinks that Kasey can do better, I'm saying that Kasey thinks Kasey can do better, and Alex thinks that Alex can do better. Now with the lyric "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" what I think is that Alex rarely has a smile not because Kasey isn't a good s/o, but because Alex just doesn't smile much, and that Kasey is one of the few people who can make Alex smile, and because its rare to other people, it is precious and shown as a good thing of how Kasey can make Alex smile so easily. Kasey and Alex are also support systems (in the good way, not the unhealthy way) to each other, whenever they have a problem they can always come to each other, so that's where I thought that "Breathe, Breathe with me" came in, they were teaching the other to calm down because they knew how to calm the other person down, and in my opinion I saw "Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I cant stand them" as a way of "can I please just talk to and rant to you about what happened to me because you are the only person I can talk to you about this right now." (again, not in a bad way). and now we are at "intertwined" I saw intertwined as being in that passionate sexual scene again, a scene of love and hope and wishful thinking in the way that some people see relationships, I saw "intertwined" as two of them working together in the relationship and giving all they could to each other as a sign of love, and "free" in the literal sense of the word, free, they feel free in their relationship and not tied down and locked in a cage like how some abusive relationships can feel like (I know, because I was in an abusive relationship, I'm not saying that that's how everyone feels in an abusive relationship though) they felt free to be themselves with each other, even when stripped down to their own body (going back to that skin bit in the first song) and the line "I've pinned each and every hope on you" going back to Alex, the hopeful dreamer telling Kasey all of their hopes and dreams for the relationship, "I hope that you don't bleed" to me basically meaning "I hope that you don't leave me because of my hopes and dreams" and "oh I am afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" is sort of Alex literally saying "I'm afraid of all the problems I have in my brain, but despite that, you still make me feel better and you make me laugh away the fear and let me know that it'll all be alright." and to me the humming sort of reminded me of the intertwined bit, and I already explained that part, and the very end sort of made me think of "Alex" and "Kasey " realizing that no relationship is perfect, but also realizing that their relationship is still great nonetheless, but I don't know, that was my personal analysis, if I didn't explain anything clearly, or you got confused, just ask me and I'm sure I can explain it to you! But please do be civil!
0 likesDodie your hair is magical. (also I fully subscribe to your analysis but DUDE YOUR HAIR)
0 likesngl you're better than 90% of the people on my english lit degree
1 likeI TOTALLY thought this song was about a healthy relationship and how the writer was suffering from mental health issues and how their partner helped get through their mental health issues but the real meaning is so dark and mysterious and I'm astonished how off I was on my theory about this song!
0 likesReplies (1)
Heavy Dirty Soil no theory is a wrong theory! Your interpretation is just as accurate as anyone else's :)
0 likescan I have more teacher dodie pls? idc what its about. just. more.
1 likehonestly when you said "analyse the lyrics" I had to breathe for a sec because I went through at least 36 ugly poems for english today
0 likesI was definitely one of those people that said the video didn't match the ideas that I got from the song, but I most definitely didn't find it as some wishy washy love song. I very much appreciate these notes. I love that I get to learn about how the song was meant to be interpretation. I love the contrast between having a nice calm ukulele song and having sort of a violent destructive meaning. I actually had a group of friends the other night and I wanted to know their thoughts on it. They had never seen or heard of dodie before but I first showed them the original recording of the song with just dodie sitting against the wall, and then after, showed them the music video. I got so many mixed reactions and it was so great.
0 likesokay but if something goes wrong and you don't continue a career in music and youtube, you would make a brilliant teacher!
0 likesWell, I found the video seriously disturbing to watch. But, I thought it was actually the point of it. I mean, I understand that those mental states you talk about are disturbing to expirience, so i think the song and the video match amazingly.
0 likesI think the song plays to the truth that is mental health; someone can go about life through the world's typically "romanticized" lens, but the truth is that just below the surface lies uncertainty and anxiety. Loved your analysis of the song as well :)
0 likesok but i love you? And this was so good? I really love listening to you talk.
0 likesthe song for me is just a desperate plea for someone to touch you. hold you. to not be alone for a while and just be as two people intertwined
The first time I heard the song, I knew there was something a bit off about the lyric "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles". It didn't sound very romantic to me.
0 likesI want Dodie to become my English teacher
3 likesdamn dodie you actually sound like my english teacher
0 likesDodie. Intertwined caught me by surprise, not because it was from you, but because of how much it was similar to reality. To me, it's about our insecurities to allow others to love us for what we are.
0 likesWe are brought up with stereotypes not only for body image.. in relation to what success means, and what's right and wrong, and how should you accept to be treated... and all these rights and wrongs, and fantasies create (whether we want it or not) a fear of not being loved, and the masks starts to come.....
The beginning of the song, to me, it describes exactly that moment of allowing vulnerability, and when you cross that line - if you aren't healthy, or with someone whiling to walk the hard walk, and understand you - then it will all burn
God she is brilliant
0 likesI definitely understand the concept behind the lyrics and song, however I think Sammy's take, with the dolls, kind of takes away from the overall quality. When watching the video, I found myself fighting over whether to focus on the lyircs, or the scene. I think your idea of two people in a twisted dance, going back and forth between sweet love and agony, would have been a better, and clearer portrayal of the song. But that's just my opinion.
0 likesThis is my favourite song.
0 likesthis makes me so happy
0 likesSounds like you've annotated some poems in your day! Past GCSE/A-Level English student perhaps??
0 likesjesus dodie is so great
0 likesnow i feel the sudden urge to show this video to my english class
0 likesmy interpretation was someone who was in love, attached to someone, but they weren't together. One of the pair is screaming out for help, trying to get the other's attention, but they can't find the courage to come up to them and get help. However, they eventually quietly approach the other for help. They still feel attached to the person, they're close to them, but they're not close enough. It's a song of love, attachment, dissatisfaction, and crying out that seems obvious in a person's mind but isn't obvious in reality.
1 likeHowever, with your video, I liked the original, but a dance video would have been nice. If I were to make it, I'd make two settings, one with a house and one on a dance floor. A couple is dancing romantically, a ballet type dance mixed with a ballroom style. The same couple is lying in bed cuddling, one sleeping and one staring at the wall. The one who's staring gets up and goes into a kitchen, makes a cup of tea with the kettle whistling. The couple continues to...
ok my interpretation is a little far out but hear me out [this could be a lil long sorry im an english lit kid too lol]
1 likea summary if you don't really want to read my nerdy analysis is i view the speaker as someone who has created a world with a character in their mind as a form of escapism from either a mental disorder or a physical problem, and they slowly leave reality and become permanently "intertwined" with the character in their made up world.
i heard the narrator as someone with a mental disorder, and the opening lines of "skin heat hair in your mouth" etc are the intimate moment with a character they've created in their heads, and "safe from the world" suggests they take refuge in their made up world. "the world will try-" are therapy, friends, family trying to pull them out of their own minds and the dash shows them 'snapping out of it' if you will, with "oh i'm afraid of the things in my brain" showing their momentary return to sanity and terror at accepting that they are losing themselves to the world in their head. "but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" shows them slipping back into their safe haven, and the laughing is a very psychotic image showing what the outside world is seeing. "numb" to me perhaps shows the medication the narrator is placed on taking effect. "fine" suggests to me friends and family's concerns being brushed off in favour of remaining in their comfortable space in their minds. "rarity" shows that the speaker is rarely happy again hinting there is a rough situation in their life that they would be escaping from by creating this lover in their mind. "smiles" again show a very psychotic image reminding us of the slipping sanity of the narrator. "breathe" as dodie said is the idea of hyperventilating and panic however i see it as the direct speech of someone in the real world attempting to bring the narrator back to reality. the question shows that the speaker is directly interacting with the character they've created, which is a demonstration of them reaching the point of insanity. the high point on "can't" emulates a scream and helps us to see the desperation and helplessness of the narrator. "intertwined" shows them finally leaving reality and becoming tangled in their fictional world. "free" is the idea of them escaping whatever was going on in their mind or life to drive them to the point of insanity. "pinned each and every hope" i interpret as the movement of everything they had dreamed of achieving in their real life into their fictional world, "pinned"and "bleed"suggesting a painful and unnatural move as of course the fall into insanity is sure to be anything but graceful. the last verse being repetition of previous statements by the speaker to me highlight their lack of sanity. "i'm afraid of the things in my brain" to me seems like they could be mocking themselves and what they were like before they permanently left reality and "laugh away the fear" leaves us with the poignant striking image of an insane person reassuring themselves and laughing manically.
sorry this was a little long winded, hope you found it interesting to see another persons take on it (love the song btw) xx
proud ??? This is beautiful
0 likesI interpreted it as as a psychopathic person who had kidnapped their lover and the lyrics 'pinned' and 'but we can stay here' as more menacing and as if she is talking to the victim in a darker way. But also I still interpreted it as mental health with the things in my brain and those things being her psychopathic issues (not saying Dodie is a psycho bc imma psycho fan of her bc she is queen!!! 😍💛) So I thought the meaning of the song had a wayyyyyy darker meaning and was a lot more eerie and had a story to it. Here r some more examples of lyrics that relate to what I interpreted 😂 'pinned every single hope on u' - wants the person so much and is mad bc of them, 'I hope that u don't bleed with me' - the bleeding being maybe from torture and mocking that they r already bleeding (why am I so dark omg 😂😂) 'free' - obviously not free 😂 'rarity of my genuine smile' - mad, the lover makes her mad and the smile is a mad smile so yeh that's my interpretation of this killer epic song by the queen of lifeeeee! Hope u liked my darkness 😂😀💛
0 likesisnt it 'love away the fear'?? i always thought it said laugh but the lyrics say love.
2 likesReplies (2)
It's laugh, she wrote it
3 likesYou-Know-Who yes that's what I thought but in the itunes lyrics it says love so I was confused
0 likesmy emotions have sort of been gone for the past month so mental health stuff is both not at all and very relatable right now. Like me not feeling things isn't normal but like its almost a comfortable thing bc ew emotions?
0 likes#1 stan for teacher dodie
0 likesthis wasssssssss amazing ily!!!!!
0 likesI just thought it was a dreamy single girls song of their love life lol little did I know..
0 likesi always thought of a lgbt+ romance that is strong but hated by society.
0 likesYAY DODIE UPLOADED!!! HAPPY DAY
0 likesdodie be my English teacher!
2 likesFRICK YEAH thumbs up if you want dodie to teach all your classes
0 likesThis song speaks to me like no other has. I have this fear of people bleeding with me because of my mental illness. I'm afraid of ruining the person I will be with because of the scary things in my brain. I want someone who could help me "laugh away the fear" but I don't even know if that person exists in the world. Dodie, this is one of those songs that I wish I wrote bc this is me, in a song. Thank you dodie, you're awesome 💛
0 likesI feel like the dance with twisted themes fits the song better but the actual video tells the story better. When I listen to the song I see a dance (what else is new) between two people trying their best to look graceful while pretending they're not stumbling.
0 likesOOOOH THIS is so DEEP
0 likesTHIS IS WHAT I MEAN!!
1 likehonestly, I thought it was a lovey dovey song
1 likeWhere are your glasses from? And what is the model of them called?
0 likesi actually interpeerted it very much the same
0 likesThis is the best English lesson I've ever had
0 likesI thought it was about sharing yourself with someone else to an extent that you are becoming more like the other person so there losing them self like the words intertwined as in together free as in alown but dinal
0 likescan you do another 8ish hair styles video
0 likeswhere are ur glasses from dodie?? ily btw pls marry me
0 likesI just realized this was uploaded on Brendon Urie's birthday
0 likesI don't know how to feel.
1 likemind. blown.
0 likesI’m writing an essay on this song currently
0 likesReplies (1)
For English
0 likesgenius is typing...
0 likesi always thought you said it like vev-o not vee-vo shame
0 likesPlz do a marry on me and we can get a full spread of doggos and cattoz and do a big ol cuddle with them
0 likesHoney please slow down we love and want to hear everything you say but I can't digest as you're so fast!
0 likesHERMENEUTICS!
0 likesI love teacher dodge
0 likesCan you write my argument paper for english class please
1 likeThe music video is so amazingly disturbing.
0 likesMy English teacher is called Miss Trueman xD
0 likeseh, it's a B
0 likesjk, plz do my English GCSEs next year, this could even be A* (or 8/9 depending on the new system) plzzzzz
......"wowwwwwwwwww , i couldn't have said it better,Myselffffff" .......................
0 likeshahahah
I'm in love with this
1 likethis is exactly how I interpreted the song
and seeing you take it apart piece by piece to show how much thought you put into it is so wonderful!!!
I really enjoyed hearing your interpretation of the song, while I have listened to it so many times I have never noticed the contrasting lyrics. I personally listen more for chords as opposed to lyrics, but in looking into the words I see how differently I viewed this song. I did see it as co-dependence but I didn't realize how it was possibly toxic. I never thought about the highest note being a scream either. The amount of thought and effort put into the meaning of the song and video is incredible. When I saw the video I gasped when I saw the barbies brain, then realized the video would not be what I expected. It was jarring. Bravo 👏🏻 love you dodie! 😍😊
2 likesIntertwined has always been my favorite Dodie song, but this video of you explaining it piece by piece just makes me fall in love with it even more. Dodie is impeccably and utterly one of the most wonderful humans that has taken a breath on this earth. every song is like you're speaking out all the messed accumulations in my brain and putting them into words and songs. It's almost like you're inside my head as well. you take these thoughts that are mush to me and make them into something rare and definite, and beautiful. never stop creating :)
2 likesFirst, I'm in love with this video. I see a bit of both sides depending on my mood: When my anxiety is high I see the song as a conversation between my anxiety and I as my anxiety is "intertwined" with me. When I am feeling better or happier I enjoy picturing this song between two lovers because of the melody, etc.
1 likeI love this video! It is amazing to see how you put so much work into this amazing song and how you wrote it.
1 likeWhen I did watch the music video I was a bit taken back at first. But, after I watched it again and listened to the lyrics more I could see it. I understood that this wasn't a light love song: that it was much more.
When i first listened to the song, and up until the video came out, I saw the song as a love story. The voice/singer was in a relationship with someone they love dearly, but was going through problems mentally. They did not want to put this onto their love though, and while the affection and love from the lover made the voice feel better, they could not continue to hold it in any longer; and, told their lover everything (how they were not okay mentally). Then, the ending I imagined was the voice and lover sitting on the floor in a dark and empty house as the lover rubs the voice's back affectionately; and, the voice is curled up into them. The voice is crying and the lover is looking a bit sad as well, due to the fact that they had no idea that the voice was keeping all of this in. But, they will work through it together and they both know there is hope.
This is such a much more powerfully song then I could have ever thought for it to be. Great work Dodie <3
Holy moly, amazing to see the thought process behind such an amazing song 💜
0 likesI LOVED seeing your meaning behind the song!! I've always thought of it as a sweet, love song but then immediately looked further into it after the music video and began seeing implied darker themes in the song. I love love love it!
0 likesI loved the breakdown of the song 💞 it was really interesting and "stimulated" my brain as my English teacher says . I loved at least trying to see the song from your point of view 💫💕You should do MORE of these analysis' 💥
0 likesThis was really interesting!! I knew this song wasn't exactly a sweet love song just from the lyrics. They always seemed dark. My interpretation has been that the writer is feeling a lot of inner pain and conflict. It seemed on the surface they are happy and the relationship had the potential to be happy (thus the intimate moments still occurred). But at the same time the writer isn't happy with their self and so they almost expect their partner to be able to make up for this, to make the writer happy. But the other person in the relationship, whilst providing constant reassurance, wasn't and could never be enough because the writers brain was like a broken record that kept repeating the same thing over and over -- in this case, the poisonous thoughts.
1 likeThe version I had in my head was where the singer had gone through a traumatic experience be that a crash or something else and started to isolate themselves but either a partner or someone else came and spent a few days with them in like a fort/little safe haven they made, safe from the world
1 likeSo where they're protected from the trauma and anxiety that's faced by the singer
I never really looked deep enough into the song to find the unsettling bits in it, but it's quite interesting. Funnily enough, we're doing a poetry unit in school right now and we're analyzing some songs. My teacher said we might be able to suggest songs for the class to analyze, so I might suggest this one to see how my class interprets it!
1 likeI love the song and I think the music video really portrays what you were going for, but before I really understood the meaning, I would listen to the song to relieve anxiety and calm myself down, but now all I see is brain-exposed dolls and fire😂 Despite this fact, I greatly appreciate the creative courage you had in making this, as many would worry about being ridiculed for creepy style!
1 likeI'm in awe of you, I love the song, I love the video and I love how you explained everything about it! I always thought there was quite a dark tone to the song although it sounds sweet in parts, I also find it so interesting because I do mental health nursing ☺️
0 likesI love how I guess the whole meaning correctly<3 thank you so much for explaining this:))
0 likesMy interpretation was spot on with yours however I missed the word play in certain areas and I loved hearing how you wrote the song in a way that every word reflected the theme. So impressed by you and by Sammy <3
0 likesI think that the song goes perfectly with the video. My theory was that the song is about a relationship that is going well but she is scared that it might end because of the way she is feeling inside of her head. I like how you matched the scenes with the chords and the lyrics as well. Overall I ENJOYED it a ton and if I were you English teacher I would be so proud.
1 like"Can you drink all my thoughts?" I always saw as someone giving into their partners drinking problem and using the partners issues to take their own pain away, but I like your play on words too and every time I listen I will think now about both meanings. I would also like to point out that I love that you put "my meaning" it goes along with my truth of everyone can take a song differently bc of experiences and emotional states. You are a beautiful writer and I hope to be as lovely of an artist as you one day.
0 likesThank you Dodie for explaining all of this. When I first saw the video and it turned to a darker undertone it surprised me. It didn't put me off, I still love the song, it just wasn't what I imagined. I had a lot of feelings and images in my head from my own experiences. I guess I saw two lovers bracing themselves against the world, creating a safe place for themselves wrapped up in their own world, intertwined. No matter what it's a wonderful song and I think Sammy and the others did a wonderful job on the video. :)
1 likeDefinitely matched up, well done Dodie! Great Analysis😎
0 likesLove this song, in social media talk #relatable 😂
I absolutely love the music video so much keep up the amazing work Dodie!!!
0 likesYou'd make such a great teacher dodie this was so fascinating and fun to listen to :)
0 likesthis matched up pretty closely to my interpretation. also, watching dodie analyse her song stirred my passion to be a teacher just a little bit more. xx
0 likesI LOVED IT!!! I LOVE THE SONG I LOVE THE VIDEO THEY FIT TOGETHER PERFECTLY!!!!!!
0 likesthe song has always meant a lot to me and is, along with 'when', one of my favourite songs you've ever written. the lyrics always resinated with me because they reminded me of my relationship with my ex girlfriend, a relationship that was extremely damaging for the both of us and that ended in disaster. your talent and passion for music will always amaze and inspire me, i don't think i've ever loved an artist as much as i love you and your music. you are honestly a blessing and deserve all the love in the world
0 likesIt's so fascinating hearing your take on the meaning behind this song as the artist. Especially when I can easily see the point of view of both groups of people, the content consumer and the content creator, as both a listener and writer of music. This is why I love art so much because you can have so many different interpretations of it, and there's no right or wrong way to do it.
0 likesNow that I understand the song more, I understand the video, and I love how you explained and analyzed it as if you were a teacher XD
0 likesI really really love the theme for the song, however when I first heard it, I interpreted it as how messed up both parties in the relationship were, and how they both poured their hearts out to one another and helped each other through their mental illnesses and/or general poor mental state, thus creating a kind of co-dependant relationship, but one that is healthy as they are both equally dependent on each other and are willing to work to the best of their abilities to help the other out.
0 likesDodie- I think it’s wonderful that, as an artist, you’re encouraging and even initiating this type of discussion and analysis about your own work; I know it can be difficult to see interpretations that are “wrong” from your original ideas, so it’s really cool that you’re interested in these ideas.
1 likeHere are my thoughts, and I apologize to anyone reading for writing so much. I tried to make it concise but…anyway.
The first thing I noticed was not only the intimacy of the situation, but the mild discomfort or awkwardness; skin, “what do I do with my feet?” the image of hair in one’s mouth, describes a certain discomfort in a normally safe situation.
I noticed that there is not much information about the other person, rather, the protagonist discussing their unhealthy behaviors, namely those that fall under the umbrella of putting too many expectations into a relationship and pinning all their happiness in this person and relationship; (I have a good friend who is in a situation that made me think of this: she is in a happy relationship and adores her boyfriend, but relies on him completely for her happiness and is utterly lost without him)
I think there’s a lot of really jarring juxtaposition; between the warm safety of their relationship and the cold uncertain fears that lie beyond it, advancing and advancing, the main character knowing they cannot outrun them, but denying that just the same, treasuring the last moments of safety in the house (which the fire in the video really cements. There is something hypnotizing peaceful about fire, like an overstatement of warmth, too much warmth, something that cannot be avoided, something that is consuming, that is a very definite closing of something and/or beginning of something else; the warmth of the burning fire, the cold and silence and dark after it dies. Something that can both sustain and end life). The visual symbolism, as with any music video for a song with such deep meaning, does a good job of cementing the different meanings and sensory images that we see in the musicality and lyrics of the song.
As you said, I also interpreted laughing away the fear as a form of denial, a form that fights fear and worry, at least for a while.
And aside from the internal component, I think the song overall addresses this idea of trying to hide from something that knows exactly where you are, (ei; impending emotions and difficulties with mental health) and so you sort of realize you have no choice but to sit and wait for it to find and kill you. I got a feel for the tension, the juxtaposition between the happiness and comfort you can get from your waiting time and the dread and fear of an end you know is inevitably coming.
Just my thoughts.
wow it's amazing how a piece of art can mean so many things. i always thought this was a love song about how being together seemed to pause/help those mental health issues. especially the line "intertwined; free" i figured they were two related, not opposing terms. like being intertwined with your love was freeing because the dark cloud of mental illness would let up a little
1 likei love you, you're a fucking genius, and i'll never listen to the song the same again. thank you for giving us this amazing insight and thought into your lyrics.
0 likesThanks for the analysis Dodie! It was interesting seeing the meaning of a song from a different perspective. Like I stated in the music video, to me the song meant calm love, any type of love really; platonic or romantic. Hearing "intertwined, free" made me think of being so comfortable and so in love with a person that even being tied up with them makes you feel free. When I hear this song, I see two people lying down on the grass in the summer looking up at the clouds and smelling the scent of flowers. To me it sounded like calm wind and laughing with your soulmate. Even at the start of the song, when it said "skin, heat" all I could think about the was simplicity of skin and how it can be beautiful and meaningful to someone or how it could just be a part of you that is taken for granted. I don't know, the song just seemed peaceful to me and reminded me of being a kid and realizing what it was like to have to grow up.
0 likesTHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO! When I saw the music video, I was mildly terrified, because I never really analyzed the lyrics much. I just thought of it as a nice love song, and I was VERY confused about the video. Thank you very much for introducing to me a different perspective on the song, and it makes a lot of sense now. I now view the music video much differently, and I appreciate the meaning of the song a lot more. Thank you for being your lovely self <3
0 likesThis is why I love you, you're amazing ❤️
0 likesThis video is why i would marry you in seconds. God I love your work, how open you are to even taking apart your own songs, you are amazing. Never stop being you <3
0 likesPersonally, I absolutely LOVE the dark undertones of this song and after watching sammys video I can't hear it any other way. But, the first couple of hundred times I listened (prior to the video) I fell in love with this song for a whole other reason. The lyrics reminded me so much of my relationship and absolutely fit with my feelings towards my girlfriend and how I feel when I'm laying alone with her. The sense of her calming me down and breathing with me as I tell her my fears in that safe place where although there is so much fear and danger surrounding us and of course, in my head, we are safe and we protect each other. But there's always the voice telling me not to trust her because I'll hurt her (that she will bleed with me). It's like a small bit of fear that's managed to creep into our space which we thought to be secure. So I suppose I had a bit of darkness in my interpretation too but in a slightly different way.
0 likesAnyway I absolutely adore this song and you as an artist and I love that youve opened up this discussion xx
it's really interesting to hear a new perspective on the song! i always thought of it as someone being helped through a mental breakdown or panic attack while the song is building up, then the very end being them feeling reassured by their friend/girlfriend/boyfriend that they would be safe from "the things in their brain" when they are with that person. it could just be me venting out through my own experiences though as i have gone through what i have just described. It's still really cool to see such a difference in perception of the song! love your EP! <3
0 likesHow I personally interpreted this song. (Loved this video btw. I love how music means something slightly different to everyone based on our own thoughts and experiences aaaaaahhh it’s so much fun!)
1 like“Skin/heat/hair in your mouth/feet touching feet” I felt like this was a very down-to-earth way of expressing what it’s like to make love. Very physical, not candy coating. It’s bodies together; intimate. Every sense heightened. Noticing every little detail.
“Oh you/and I/safe from the world” again, just emphasizing the intimacy of the moment. Just two people in a moment, the world this incomprehensible thing that for now does not exist.
“Though the world will try” The world could mean so many things. The world could mean people, your family, friends who for whatever reason don’t approve of who you want to be with. It could mean an outside force you can’t control, like time or the timetables of our lives that tend to tear people apart. It could even mean God or death. In this song, I think the “the world” is just anything outside of the two of you that would come between your being together.
“Oh I’m afraid/of the things in my brain” For me, I think of my fear of commitment and emotional intimacy when I listen to this. It’s this thing that I can’t really rationalize that keeps me from being in a relationship. And I’m scared of it because I want marriage and children, but these things keep me from being with someone. And I hate it.
“but we can stay here/and love away the fear” I imagine that this is me, and that I’ve somehow been able to get close enough to someone to be in that moment. And although the fear is still there, right then I’m happy. And I’m hoping that if I force myself to
stay, I might change. I might be able to overcome this thing I’ve struggled with for so long. Love is stronger than anything, right? Right?
“Numb, fine” OH GOSH this line. This is me. This is what happens every time I get close to someone. For whatever reason, there’s this switch in my brain that flips. And I instantly don’t like someone anymore. And it’s the most horrible thing ever. I literally do a 180 in an instant. I go from walking into a room with them, being happy, to INSTANTLY being repulsed by their very presence. It’s horrific and I don’t know how to fix it. Fix me. Why can’t I love? I’m numb but I’m fine.
“You create a rarity/of my genuine smile/so breathe/breathe with me” this makes me think of being in sync with someone. When you click and they just know how to make you laugh. They know you so well that you can just look at each other in a crowded room and have an entire conversation. And breathing together, I think of that bliss when you’re lying on their chest, hearing their heartbeat, and it’s…serenity. Just the pure, unadulterated happiness of being with someone. Serenity.
“Can you drink all my thoughts/cuz I can’t stand them” When you know someone so well that you can spill all of your late night musings, your heart, your soul, your hopes, your regrets. I can’t stand them. Please take them from me. And I like the imagery
of drinking it, because you’re consuming it. It’s going away but it still exists somewhere. And that thing about relationships, where when you break up, it’s almost like you lose a chunk of yourself. Like everything you ever shared with them suddenly loses all meaning because they don’t care anymore.
“Intertwined/free/I pinned each and every hope on you” How when you’re with someone in that intimate moment, you hope that they’re the one. That this will become what you’ve always wanted. That they’ll stay. That this beautiful thing in this moment will
continue to be forever.
“I hope that you don’t bleed with me” I consider this into a phrase of everyone bleeding in their own way. Like the statement, “don’t judge me because I sin differently than you”. I don’t want my partner to have my problems. I don’t want them to see what I see and
feel what I feel when it comes to those things that scare me about myself. I want them to bleed on their own. I don’t want them to ever think “I can’t live without you”, it should be, “I COULD live without you, but I would never want to.” I don’t want them to depend on someone as damaged as I am.
“But we can stay here/and love away the fear” just going back to that moment. The intimacy. The beauty of a moment that can’t truly be captured in any way other than memory. And the hums and the fading, and the little “mhm” is just the moment fading, and
ending. It happened and it was beautiful, but now it’s over.
I love your music. Thank you.
Ugh dodie I thought of it how you just explained it which is awesome. It's so poignant and truthful and the film clip was perfect I loved it it's all brilliant agh.
0 likesSince I first heard the song I imagined "oh, so sweet!, so lovely, so cute, pure love, no restrictions, they are giving it all to each other". But a lot of things felt wrong, then I realized the only things those two lovers were sharing, or just the narrator with their lover were negative thoughts, desperation, fear. Sure it was love, but maybe just for the narrator, and that narrator was just trying to "love", to be "free" or just to heal and feel safe. They are hurt, they want to think they are in love, but they are desperate and just want to be safe, maybe they don't realize that they're slowly dragging their partner to a dark place, they just want to love. And maybe their partner is madly, deeply in love, or just wants to feel needed, or heroic. Maybe that's love, just a selfish thing. Or maybe that's the relationship that's portrayed in this song.
0 likesA true masterpiece by an amazing artist. dodie, you are so amazingly talented. I adore your content so much.
I definitely had the idea of "broken but together" in my head when I first heard the song. Kinda depending on the depression of someone else to keep you close.
0 likesthe song is unsettling and beautiful. i admire how much you really put into it
0 likeswoah this totally changed my entire view of the song. great job dodie!!
0 likesthis is the first time an english lesson has ever left me wanting more? and the first time a video has changed the way i interpreted a song so drastically
2 likeswhen i first heard the song, i thought it was nice and happy, but when i saw that video i realised it was a bit darker! i love it either way!
1 likeHonestly, your explanation was so much similar to my thoughts and how I saw the song. This is one of my favourite songs and I felt certain emotions aligned with the lyrics that you simply described in your explanation. [Which I'm super proud of myself for sort of understanding where you're coming from in the process of making this song]
0 likesAs for the video, it certainly was a bit more gory and different. Which falls into your description and vision of how you wanted the song but, I personally would have taken a similar yet different approach for the video. Of course that is just my own personal prefrence but, overall it was super cool and I'm super excited for you. This is great and I can't wait for more future videos!
your explanation behind the song really fits my experience of being in a toxic friendship while both of us were struggling with our mental health, I'm looking at the song in a whole new way now. wow, well done!!
0 likesloved the analysis! I like the dancing idea, maybe if the video started with two dancers moving elegantly and then over the course of the song, the girl's dance becomes more aggressive and begins to harm her partner? at the climax note she could push him to the ground? I could see a lot of beautiful dance moves associated with the lyrics though, "intertwined, free"
1 likeIt gave me a reassuring and safe feeling, that feeling When youre cuddling with someone all worries go away and you keep eachother safe. This song sits next to You've got a friend in me from Toy Story, it stands for my friends and family who will help me and keep me safe❤️
0 likesWhen I first heard the song, I thought it was meant to be a plea for acceptance and safety. I thought that it was asking the significant other to accept them despite their issues, and a plea for the person to be careful with their heart because it had been broken before. I think it's so amazing how my interpretation and what it's meant to be are complete polar opposites. It just shows the power of music :)
1 likeI honestly love this song and would never want you to change it! The way I interpreted it was similar to yours, though the partner of the person was strong enough to deal with their lover's fears and doubts. So I guess my mind always tries to lean towards happy endings :/ They're definitely intertwined. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT THANK YOU FOR CREATING THIS SONG! <3 <3 <3
0 likesI love your intertwined very much everything about it is amazing
0 likesI can't tell you how many times I've watched the video just to relive how it makes me feel
2 likesI always found it to be a more romantic song, although I absolutely adore the actual meaning you've explained. The video itself was very off-putting and uncomfortable to me, but it was cinematically very well done. (I personally find myself unsettled by the combination of childlike items and gore, which I place in my top three list of "Horror Nopes," or the tropes that make me the most uncomfortable)
0 likesI think it's wonderful to acknowledge that dependecy on a significant other can be toxic, and I'm incredibly impressed by the amount of thought that's gone into the song! Even though I'll likely not be able to listen to it as a gentle, casual song anymore.
I actually saw this song as a self discussion during a panic attack. You know, trying to calm themselves down with a million disjointed thoughts running through the person´s head. Like the verses begin with thinking about themselves, and then they transition to reaching out to a potential partner (or even themselves when they are mentally healthy). Idk, just a thought.
1 likeOkay, the light tone and delicate melody totally had me fooled and I thought it was about two people in bed, in love, hiding away from the big bad world. One shared rock willing away the blustering storm. But when you explain it, I realize how I could have ignored how the lyrics are dissonant (to borrow a word) from the melody/chords. Like how Wes Craven films often have scenes that are eerily sunny and bright.
1 likeTHIS MAKES ME LOVE THE SONG EVEN MORE ARGHHH
1 likeI feel like this is such a twenty one pilot esc method of having a really happy and comforting sounding song but the lyrics are actually dark and real. I love it so much :P
1 likeThis is actually how I always heard the song. It tends to leave me slightly unsettled, and as much as I love it, I tended to worry for the couple portrayed. The line that always catches me, is "I'm afraid of the things in my brain" as I can both relate and find that it conveys the underlying dark theme and meaning. This was such a good and satisfying video as I adore analyzing words that people use when they are writing, especially songs cause they often reveal so much about the author but also the listener. Thank you for always being so honest about your mental health as it makes me feel less crazy and alone. Love you lots
0 likesWow hearing this makes the meaning hit home ever harder
0 likesI thought the song was a little (a lot) more sweet because in my head the "intertwined, free" part meant that even though the lovers are intertwined with each other, they feel free within them so It was a great feeling. Yeah, i was WAAAY far from the original thought.
0 likesWOW
0 likesThis brings a whole new light to the song! Also, the music video makes a lot more sense in that light...
I'd interpreted the song as as story of two best friends and lovers who were creating a safe heaven between themselves to stay protected from "the world".
Actually, the mental image I have when listening to the song is the footage from Hazel's TOTM of september 2016, when she and Jack go to the little cabin, and there's this incredible feeling of peace, and calmness, and safety.
So for me, the song inspires safety more than this dark tone that you actually wrote...
ok ik ur probably never going to see this but wow i am so deeply shook by this song. your voice is so crisp and i love the brutal imagery wow its wow WOW ur amazing so cool!
0 likesMy interpretation heard the lyrics and related it to the beginning of a relationship with someone I loved.
0 likesWhat I found within the song is the connect I had with them, it was perfect, they made me happy without end and they became the base of my happiness [you create a rarity of my genuine smiles] and they were the only place of safety [safe from the world, though the world will try-]. I was afraid of being without them because when ever I was around them, everything I worried about faded away [laugh away the fear] But because of my mental illnesses [oh, im afraid of the things in my brain] I was doubting my worthiness of them and I felt I didn't deserve their love, but I kept pushing against all odds to be with with them and I hoped my illnesses wouldn't get in the way [ive pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me]
But with the true meaning, it hits home harder because it is accurate to how the relationship ended.
I love how this song is so gorgeously creepy but in such a subtle way. To someone listening to it on the radio or in a passing shop it would probably seem beautiful and like a heart throbbing love song, but when you really listen to the lyrics and chord progressions it becomes much more dimensional and so much more real. I found it actually kind of comforting that there was a song depicting mental health and how it affects relationships because I worry about it quite a lot and it will always be one of my favorites. Love you Dodes you never cease to impress.
0 likeshonestly i relate to everything you just described. being in a relationship with mental illness silently takes you to that place where you're both very close and very far from a person at the same time. listening to your lyrics was like living that situation all over again, being at the edge of love and fear.
0 likesThis helped me relate to the song so much THANK YOU FOR THIS. Also this might help me in English class, so thank you for that
0 likesI personally didn't know my own analysis of the song, I always saw it more of a song about like one night stands to feel better and I was always like oh okay I don't relate to the one night stand parts but I relate to the other parts. When the music video came out it honestly clicked in my head kinda how it was supposed to mean as I saw the words more and then this video definitely showed what it means to you and to some people and I now see how many ways it can be interpreted. Good job!
0 likesAs someone who was in an unhealthy/toxic relationship with someone who suffered from anxiety & depression for like 3 years - it definitely hit me over the head with the feeling of being depended on way more than is okay, although I never properly stopped and thought about how it could be a song about mental health & being in love. The line "I've pinned each and every hope on you" gave me that weird, unlikeable nostalgia when you remember a time in your life that wasn't particularly great, if you understand what I mean?? probably proof that your fancy English lit techniques worked (even if I didn't realise what the words were intended to mean)
1 likei've always viewed this song as a very positive, optimistic one. heres why;
0 likes"HAIR IN YOUR MOUTH"- this implies that the two are close enough that the author's partner doesnt mind her hair in their mouth- the whole image makes me smile.
"FEET TOUCHING FEET"- the close intimacy makes the relationship feel special. at no point during the song does it state that this relationship is romantic; it may be a strong platonic one? we will never know; it's up to the reader.
"I'M AFRAID OF THE THINGS IN MY BRAIN" - the author admits they are weak and vulnerable - describing her mental illness as "things" show that she is scared and does not know what is happening to her. admitting that you are weak takes a lot of courage, which means the two could have a strong positive platonic relationship!!
"NUMB" - every time i hear this i think of a face numb from smiling. thats just my opinion, but thats the image i get.
"YOU CREATE A RARITY OF MY GENUINE SMILES" - the author has admitted they are weak and scared, and so having a partner that create these "genuine smiles" while shes terrified about her brain makes them again seem to have a strong positive relationship
i don't know theres a couple of the reasons as to why i view this song as a happy positive one. i'm not good at being deep haha
I wish all musical artists would do this! When you go to an art gallery you usually get to read the artists statement to see what the intent of their work was but you rarely get that luxury with musicians, even in interviews they rarely address the lyrics so directly. Good on you Dodie, this was a super interesting vid!
0 likesAHHHH i loved hearing dodie's opinion on this because i knew that there was so many differing ones. anyway, after seeing this i kinda wanted to say what i thought and see if anyone else agreed???? so here's my analysis:
0 likesSkin
Heat
Hair in your mouth
Feet touching feet
—
i found this like the simple parts of the romance that the two lovers enjoy and maybe fall back to. this could also represent how things start simply but escalate over time.
Oh you
And I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try
—
this is where i saw dependence on a person stemming, especially since it started with the 'Oh, you' singled out. it's like the pair is facing the world hand in hand, and that the writer is reliant on that person to be there to fend off the bad.
Oh, I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
—
i saw denial here, like the writer is just shrugging off that their mind is filled with fear/negativity. the 'we can stay here' ties back to my view of the beginning, like being together/being close brought the writer that comfort. i imagined the 'we can stay here' this way because it puts an image in your head.
Numb
Fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smiles
—
this may have been the writers way of trying to please the others around them by faking it, making the 'rarity of genuine smiles' a lot more meaningful because the writer no longer has to put on a mask. they're clearly comforted by the lover.
So breathe
Breathe with me
—
i saw this as the lover attempting to keep the writer calm before/during a panic attack.
Can you drink all my thoughts?
'Cause I can't stand them
—
this is where the dependency and desperate nature comes back, because the writer is relying on the person to take the pain away like they usually do.
Ooh, oh
O-oh, oh, oh
—
this was the eeriest part for me, probably representing the horror of the mental illness truly getting at the writer and paring with the climax of the song in the last section. this may of been where the writer finally felt like they were alone and couldn't be saved by the other person.
Intertwined
Free
I've pinned each and every hope on you
I hope that you don't bleed with me
—
here i put the couple in my head right back where they were in the beginning, the form of this section being phrased/sang the same way. this may have been the aftermath of the panic in the climax. it also could've been the reality of the person aiding them coming back, snapping out of the fear/anxiety they felt, but the person being there in the end still aiding/comforting them.
I'm afraid of the things in my brain
But we can stay here
And laugh away the fear
—
i thought this was a light and simple way to end because it was restating words from earlier, maybe showing the calm before the storm. it was like the writer was saying that although their mental illness will weigh down on them, they will always be able to come back to their safe place and make it out of the terror alive and okay.
I had a similar theory, just not as in depth. I thought it was about a person (you) struggling with mental health, finding someone that helps them (lover/significant other), then the other person leaving the other the person that need help alone by themselves to fight. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful song with the world Dodie, it is truly appreciated. <3
0 likesdoing english gcse i often felt like we extrapolated so much meaning from where there was so little just to reach the A* bracket. your art is so subjective and has so many paths of interpretation, its lovely to listen and explore what it could mean. as much as it felt arduous picking apart poems at gcse i miss analysing art and finding hidden meaning, and i loved watching this and re-experiencing that without an the weight of an exam at the end! amazing song dodie xx
0 likesI've always seen it as a
0 likes"I love you, you're all I have, you are my hopes and dreams, I'm afraid of you leaving me. " sort of thing. I love you, but this is all I have, please don't leave and let me get worse.
Hey @doddleoddle plz can you do a tutorial on intertwined as i love it so much and no matter how much i watch the video i cant copy your chords or find a tutorial any where which matches up with the way you play it
0 likesi took the song to mean, like you said, a sweet tale of lovers one of whom is suffering with mental issues and the other person somewhat helps but not entirely, the "intertwined" and "breathe with me" added imagery of synchronising and how the lovers have melded together somehow and there is an element of condependecy
0 likesWhen I first listened to the song I though it was really sweet and then I realized that It was about a toxic relationship. I thought it was that neither one of the people wanted to leave the relationship but both knew it was bad
0 likesI love you so much for doing this. 💪🏻
0 likesThe first time I heard this song, I was reading The Parable of the Sower, which is a COMPLETELY different take on the song. It matches up really well, but it suggests a whole separate situation. (I highly recommend the book if you haven't read it already)
0 likesReplies (1)
Wowowowow I have completely fallen in love with this song again.
0 likessammy must have really really listened to the lyrics and thought about his idea for a LONG time, just to execute a very simple, yet intriguing and deep concept
0 likesIntertwined is a really important song to me! I listened to it while going through a difficult time, I opened up to my partner about my mental health issues which was of course a big step, I felt like when I was with them all the problems melted away. Once I was dumped it totally changed meaning to me, looking back I wasn't supported as much as I should've been, we distracted from my problems rather than discussing them. So in a weird way the song just reminds me of that point in my life and how my perspective on it has changed.
0 likesIntertwined
0 likesI've imagined this song in a music video. A birds eye view of a double bed for verse one. The girl (writer) remains constant throughout and the partner will change between verses.
The first verse, for me, is about a hook-up, one night stand type thing. 'Skin' and 'heat' are representing the main things that the people involved are thinking of and feeling (physically) the next lines go on to describe physical things 'feet' and 'hair'.
'Safe from the world' as the pair are alone and away from judgement and all other hurt it's just a physical encounter as emphasised by the focus on physical things in the first few lines.
As the chorus first plays, the fear of the 'things in my brain' has unique background vocals to the rest of the line. This implies here that the 'things' are emotional things rather than the physical previously mentioned. But the girl sings that they 'can stay here and laugh away the fear' as this bit of fun will help to cure (more like cover) the 'things in the brain'.
The shots for this verse and chorus in the video would show the girls side tables of an empty condom packet and Lacey/sexy clothes thrown around implying this causal encounter was planned.
The second verse, to me, describes a dying and empty relationship. 'Numb' interrupts the music followed by 'fine' as if to reference how the writer would describe the relationship to herself verses those around her. But she reminds herself that her partner can 'create the rarity of her genuine smile' implying the sadness she feels (possibly referencing the 'things in her brain'). 'Breathe, breathe with me' depicts the need for support from someone to do anything and everything including the basics and implies that the partner does that for her. 'Can you drink all my thoughts, cause I can't stand them' emphases the need for support and now highlights the want of the writer to unload her emotions onto her partner.
The chorus here for me shows that the writer is afraid to face her true feelings ('numb'/'things in my brain') because she needs the emotional support. This is so tragic when discovered that it's almost humorous 'laugh away the fear'.
This verse and chorus's video would consist of photos and books on the side tables and even slipped waiting at the bedside and a neat duvet covering the couple. They would face away from each other representing the 'numb' relationship but still be together in the same bed, providing that support.
The final verse is beautifully describing making love to the one you love. The couple are 'Intertwined' because that is the only way to describe how they are linked because they are tangled up together so close. 'Free' as the true feelings are released just as the adjective suggests. The pinning of 'each and every hope' is a reference to the risk of pouring out emotions to this one partner. This is followed by a 'hope that you won't bleed with me' this describes the fear of hurting the partner through the baggage and hurt that the writers carries.
The chorus that follows once again pins the fear on the 'things in (her) brain' and so shows that there is no escaping these emotions.
The video of the final verse and chorus would show a couple in the bed face to face. They will hold each other tight and intimately. The side tables will have photo frames turned over to show the girl has moved on or possibly implying cheating and there will be causal clothes everywhere to show the passion in the preparation for the sexual encounter but also the lack of care for the classic sexy look but the actual appeal of eachother was inside eachother and not the sexy underwear they were wearing.
💛💛💛 I really appreciate that you took the time to explain your meaning behind the song. Even though my initial interpretation doesn't match up, I always love to learn about the "true" meanings/writers meanings behind song lyrics.
0 likesI personally had a very emotional reaction to this song because of the mental illness theme, but didn't see the sort of dependence theme until you first mentioned it (on twitter maybe? I can't remember... it was before this video though.)
Although I reject the romanticized idea that a person or true love can "fix" mental illness, I also believe that having someone helps. I'll be absolutely devastated if my current relationship ends, and if it does i'm sure i'll look back on saying things like this and hate that I said it. But right now, I'm in a relationship and it helps me. I have bad times and good times, but having Josh there for me--ready to talk things out if I'm feeling off, or distract me if I need a break, or simply hold me when I need to cry--it helps. Sometimes I do worry that I'm too dependent though, so that's why I can never sing along to the line "I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me" without a few tears. Personally, I always saw this song as pointing out the fears and the problems in a relationship where one or both parties suffer from mental illness, but focusing on the hope, happiness, and the safety of it. I still do, actually. I'm not one of those people who's going to say that your interpretation has "ruined it" for me. To me, this song is always going to be about having that person to hold on to. Having someone who helps you let go of everything else sometimes.
Intertwined. Free.
Replies (1)
in summary, thank you dodie for a lovely song. it makes me cry a lot. the end
0 likeswow it's really interesting to see the difference between what I thought it was about and the reality of the song :)
0 likesi always interpreted 'intertwined' as a sweeter song. like a conversation between two partners, one struggling with feelings, and gushing thoughts and asking for help from the other. and recieving the help?
0 likesbut now i see. i think i still feel a connection on a personal level, with how i viewed the song, but i do understand more now.
thank you for all you put into yout music dodie. ily.
I sort of saw it to describe and close but limiting relationship. after watching the video I assumed it was about domestic abuse and how it can mess with your brain and make you feel trapped and doll like in a relationship if that makes sense. like "but we can stay here and laugh away the feel" I thought meant "this relationship is horrible but lets just ignore it as if nothing's wrong"
1 likeI guess I really interpreted the song as in she was more afraid of loving him or the other person or just love in general. As it says "I am afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear" implies that her Brian is afraid of loving (her fear) but she tries to forget and tells herself we are only laying (laying=not in love yet. Also going into how you lay before you go to sleep but are not completely asleep right now.). "Numb and fine" although they are contrasting also leads that numb is the numbness of their relationship because she can't fully commit to loving him. "Can you drink all my thoughts because I can't stand them" shows us that she wishes he could here what she has to say but she cannot speak it. For the lyrics "I've pinned each and every hope on youI hope that you don't bleed with me", this tells us that she has given him the hope of love but she is still working it out and doesn't want to see him suffer.
1 likeI hope this isn't too rambly and hard to understand. Idk it's just what I thought it represented. I love this song no matter what it means and I love you Dodie! Congrats on 1 mil too😁
There was one line that I interpreted a bit differently: "You create a rarity of my genuine smiles". To me that sounds as though the person who is "you" is also causing some of the pain the singer is feeling. As though it says "it's your fault my smiles are rare" or "you've made my smiles into a rarity."
0 likesI love you. And I love your song. If people are disturbed by it, they're supposed to be. It's a great concept. And people need to stop telling you how to be or who you are. "Oh this isn't Dodie!!! This is too scary/dark!!" Um no, it is Dodie, Dodie isn't some perfect being, she's human and she's allowed to express her emotions
1 likeThis is really interesting !!! Especially because when I listen to it I hear something similar but not quite the same. I hear it as though its all happening in a split second of thoughts and the speaker is panicking and fretting paranoid that their partner doesn't love them that much because of their desperation to "pin each and every hope" on them and to unload all of their shit on them. The partner in this situation is recklessly happy but confused by the speaker as they don't quite understand their thoughts. They are being strung along and are going along with it but not really taking any of the bad stuff. It truly is a beautiful song and is so incredible because of its deep deep meaning and the fact that everyone will interpret it in their own way and in a way that relates to them. Please keep making breathtaking music like this and I'm now going to have to listen to the whole EP again for the millionth time !!
0 likesI like this song a lot Dodie! I recentally went through (and am still kind of going through) a terrible thing. I had a very close friend and she was great to me for awhile. But a few months ago she changed. And she didn't even realize what she was doing to me (wich is not her fault bc i never told her(. She would sort of ignore the fact we were fighting a lot more and not as close. When i would try to explain this to her she would make me feel bad about it and somehow make everyone around us agree with her. She did other small things that would hurt too. I would stay up most nights for 2 months and cry ovee what was happening. It got to the point where i had (with her help) brainwashed myself to think that the only thing i was made for was her happiness (so everytime i did something and she didn't react positively i would mentaly and physically beat myself up about it later). It was a terrible cycle and i am starting to repair myself. I took up art and a few good books. I cut ties with her today (wich was way more dramatic on her end then what i wanted). And i just needed this song today. It was a nice outlet. Thank you ♡
0 likesA beautiful song that camouflages itself as a traditional love song, but when studied or considered deeper (more than most artificial pop love songs) it discusses the important and sometimes damaging part of mental health in relationships.
0 likes'Intertwined' is such a strong connection to my last relationship. I was suffering really badly from anxiety, and on some level depersonalisation, which removed me from the connection that I felt with this boy. I wanted so desperately to be a part of the love he gave to me, but my mind was running a million miles an hour and couldn't slow down to connect with him.
"Laugh away the fear" strikes such a cord in me because it perfectly describes the mask placed over the top of any doubt or worry within a relationship (for me at least) especially when mental health is involved. I so often pretended that all was fine, but I knew that it wasn't working because I was too overrun by my mental health and I couldn't bring myself to burden him with it. He knew that it was a struggle that I faced, but the artificial idea of love and connection was pushed onto us and that clogged a lot of the pathways between us.
Thank you so much, Dodie, for creating such a beautiful love song. Though it isn't the traditional love between a couple, it is realistic about the experience in relationships when mental health is involved.
Thank you for being real and sharing your struggle with us. I promise that even when you feel the most vulnerable and broken, you will move through it and you are simultaneously helping other people xxx
holy shit do writers really think about all the techniques and structure when writing? i'm shocked, i just supposed that we were always just overanalysing random unintended techniques in english lit class.. :))
1 likewell, dodie, before i just listened to your wonderful beautiful voice. but when i watched the video, it made more sence to me. Before looking in the comments of Intertwined, i knew it was mental illness. becuase i have mental illness too. i understood. now i want to go learn the song. Tha k you dodie!
0 likesi'm actually making a short film for my 2nd year of film school inspired by this song that explores the themes of intimacy and vulnerability. I saw it, literally speaking, as the idea of 'intertwining' yourself with someone else, and how intimate that can be - and how vulnerable it makes someone. the line ' you create a rarity of my genuine smile' is my favourite because i felt that it shows how comfortable you can become around someone you love, just some thoughts i had :D but i love the song so much, it really got me
0 likesIly so much Dodie!! Does anyone know what camera Dodie uses? Also, is it good for taking pictures? 😘❤
0 likesi figured that the song was about a relationship and depending on the other partner to be there to hold you up and help with problems when you need them, but i didn't realize it was written this way.
0 likesThe way I interpret songs is like a story. So in this "story" there are two people who love each each other but have a hard way of saying it. In other words they love each other but they're too scared to say what they really feel and have to fight these demons in their head that tell them they shouldn't love one another. I don't know if this makes sense but I REALLY love this song and your music dodie ✨💕 thank you😊💕
0 likesBeing a really not intellectual person, I never really thought of the background of the song. I just thought it was a nice DODIE song. But after this video, I listened to it again and, hell yeah, it's quite dark, and the way you wrote is super clever. Thank you for all of you music DODIE! Also, do more videos like this please! (Lmao DODIE autocorrects to capitols.... (Dodie*))
0 likesI love that this song can mean so many different things to different people. Personally, I saw it as a love song, where the two relied on each other. The person singing had maybe experienced trauma or had mental health issues but their partner helped them to overcome them and comfort them.
0 likesWow I mean we knew dodge knows her stuff but JEEZ does she know her stuff. And I know this was her own song so she knows it very well but I'd personally love a dodie analysis hour where she analyzes all kind of music! She definitely made her English teachers proud.
1 likeOh my gosh Dodie now I understand it so much better; the meaning seems so much deeper with the way that mental health/relationships are Intertwined. I won't look at it in the same way again, this makes it so interesting...
0 likesi actually blippin loved most of the music video, but i feel like some scenes took the lyrics too literally, with the timing of those still scenes matching up too similarly with the start and end of those lines (i guess it's prevalent in the first part) but other than that i am FLOORED
0 likesDodie talking music terminology to me gives me sweet sweet lyf.
0 likesit's so interesting how myself and other can think so differently about the same thing and seeing different interpretations when I first heard the song, I think I related it to how I was a that moment which was extremely anxious and forcing myself into a relationship that I thought would fix me and make everything better. I thought the contrasting words at the beginning were comparisons of reality and the idealism that was in my head. I thought "intertwined" was like the mess of my good and bad thoughts messed and knotted together, but it also represented being close to someone and having intertwined arms and legs, aka what I thought was ideal. interpretations are so cool man
0 likesI love you interpretation! However its definitely not what I felt when I listen to the song. I sort of went along with what you said when you first uploaded it about how it was for a slightly intimate scene ( maybe you were not ready to share this part of the song?). When I hear it I think of the morning after, when the sun is just rising and the sky is a dark blue silver, with the significant other asleep as you watch them . Its like a reflection of what the relationship has been since then and how you are like one person now, you are so in tune with your significant other and you are "intertwined". for me its like a dark room that the sun is turning red and you know that you can never let go of this person, like you have found them for the first time and everything is peaceful and quiet. Its shows how in tune you are and how maybe you are scared of that, you are scared of what other people will think of this and how close you are and try to take you apart, which would be like ripping yourself apart, but when you are around the one you love everything goes away all the anxiety and insecurities because they love you so much. Its ironic because its such a contrast to what you believe, which maybe shows what sort of person you are- I'm a very positive person on the outside (not so much inside) , so I can see the light first, but ik now whenever I listen I was always think of the other side, which I kind of don't want to??idk??? But thank you for this dodo sorry I'm rambling I just want to A N A L Y S E W O O k bye
0 likesI LOVE THIS SO MUCH
0 likesohh boy. Intertwined hit me too hard when it first came out.
0 likesLike some other people in the comment section, I interpreted it as a romantic partner being your escape from mental health problems. But rather than it becoming a toxic situation, it was a safe haven where you could work through some of the mental health things.
I may have interpreted it differently if events in my life had been different. About a week before the intertwined ep came out, the guy I had a MAJOR crush on told me. When the ep came out, I decided to listen to it with my eyes closed to try and fully envelop myself in the music. And I lost it. The song made me vividly remember spending time with him and telling him more about my mental health than I had told anyone else.
So thank you for explaining your reasoning behind the song. It's allowing me to fully enjoy this song again❤️
This video was so fascinating! Like I already got most of it but it's was super interesting! And also I totally see this happening to me in a relationship lmao soz future partner
0 likesFor me, the song was kind of about unrequited love combined with mental illness (if that makes sense). That might just be because of who I am right now and the situations I have been in in the past few months. The first verse ("Skin, heat..." to "world will try") reads to me more like a fantasy; I'm dreaming of a world where I love you and you love me and we're happy. The last line indicates reality seeping in, the dreamer acknowledging to themselves that this isn't real and it won't work. The chorus is about the dreamer trying to forget reality and convince themselves that the other person returns their feelings. The "Numb, fine," lyrics show the conflict of the persons emotions around their love interest-- they feel happy because they're around, but they know that he other person will never feel the same way about them. The genuine smiles line might be saying that the person can only feel happy when the person they love is around them. The "Breathe breathe" bit portrays trying to calm your nerves around your crush, reminding yourself to breathe and slow your heartbeat. "Drink all my thoughts" shows that the person is sick of their crush consuming their mind and wants to get rid of their feelings. The fact that they have "each and every hope on you" means that they are still desperately wanting their feelings returned, but they don't want the other person to be miserable because of their feelings toward them.
0 likesPerhaps not as coherent a narrative as your version, but I think it's quite good.
I imagine it as like you get into a relationship and it's amazing and then it slowly gets worse and worse because it's abusive relationship and it's an ongoing cycle of abuse which the person is stuck in it and can't escape
0 likeswhen i first head the song i thought it was about someone who was afraid of falling in love, to like give in to a person and trust them but after i saw the video i analyzed the lyrics again and i thought maybe it was a couple who were happy and than they relationship started to fall apart, but they were to afraid to end things and be miserable
0 likesthis video makes me so happy, I'm in ap lit right now and im so close to showing my whole class this
0 likesi absolutely love this wow
0 likesI definitely got the toxic dependency theme and how you were afraid of what that could mean but I did NOT realise all the other ways you emphasised that in the song absolute genius dodie absolute genius
0 likesFor me I guess this song was about acknowledging your mental illness and basically saying you can't fucking stand it - and basically saying please oh please help me change my brain. I guess the idea of love and romance never came into it, for me anyways. But i love this idea of you making videos analysing your songs, it really makes me love the ep even more xxx
0 likesTHANK YOU
1 likeIt makes so much more sense now!
woah i feel kind of dark having quotes from this song on my walls now, i always interpreted it as being a metaphor for how scary things can be in the world but how you can always feel safe with your lover and how they can help bring you back to reality and make you feel safe again :p
0 likesmy original interpretation of the song was that the singer (or dodie) was depending on her s/o to take all of the pain of her mental illness away from her so that they could share it and fight it together, which i guess is what dodie is saying here, but in my head it was a lot more melancholy and sad, like the couple are both desperately trying to hang on to one another and hoping that love alone will be enough to get them get through. The video has completely flipped my interpretation of the song into something a lot more toxic than I realised, which I think is clever because the melody is quite soothing, like it's lulling you into a false sense of security. that could kind of mirror the couple in the song shutting themselves away and feeling 'safe from the world' (the outside world being the thing they blame for their pain; they start denying that the cause is actually the relationship) and realising they only truly find their happiness in one another: 'you create a rarity of my genuine smile'. it creates a sense of safety within the relationship, but the lyrics start suggesting that they've fooled themselves into thinking that everything is fine and that they can share their burdens together. I also think the song starts off kind of sadly optimistic but gets darker as it goes along? as in the singer thinks that her s/o is stronger than her and that they can bear to help her carry her mental illnesses, but as the song goes on I get the feeling that she becomes hesitant and fearful as she realises that they struggle with mental illnesses too, and that they're only as strong as she is.. and she starts worrying that she's put too much of her pain on them, so she tries sharing their pain too and it just becomes a viscous cycle of dependence. I love the lyrics and the melody combined to make a beautifully sad song with really clever and subtle dark undertones - I just want to keep analysing it!
1 likethis matched up with my interpretation exactly
0 likesSo here's my theory:
0 likesThe perspective is of the person singing the song (dodie). She was going through a bad break up and was remembering the most significant parts of the relationship, hence the little details. The story is being sung to another person, perhaps a friend. The Oooh are separating memories and reality. So it starts with a memory:
Skin
Heat
Hair in your mouth
feet touching feet
Oh
You and I
Safe from the world
Though the world will try
(dodie feels safe with this friend and she felt comfortable as well with her ex so she is conflicted to feel this way again)
(This is being sung to her ex)
Oooh I'm afraid
of the things in my brain
But we can stay here and laugh away the fear
Numb fine
You create a rarity of my genuine smile so
breath breath with me
Can you drink all my thoughts cos I can't stand them
(I think dodie tried to explain this to her ex and scared her significant other)
Oooooooooh ohhhhh ohoh
Oh oh oh oh o
(I feel like this is when she might be having a panic attack going thoughts switching from reality and memories)
Intertwined
Free
I've pinned each and
every hope on u I hope that you don't bleed from me.
(She repeated the part she said to her ex)
I'm afraid from the
things in my brain
But we
Can stay here
And laugh away the fear
(She feels comfortable towards her friend but is going to keep her distance so she doesn't ruin the relationship like she did last time)
This probably doesn't make sense but it's how I heard it. Lol
DODIE YOU LOOK SO GOOD OML
0 likesthey way i interpreted the song was with two people, lovers or not. one understanding what the other is going through, and being a happy place for the other person to forget about whatever mental illnesses they may have (depression, anxiety etc). one is going through a rough time, but relying on seeing and being with the other person to relax and be happy around, more specifically to lay with and cuddle with to make their unhappiness go away, at least for a little bit, while they're together.
0 likesi personally would have made the music video a lot more romantic, or intimate with more happy undertones in the video. maybe a pair cuddling, laughing, smiling. and to show the mental illness side of it, have them coming to see the person or leaving them unhappy, but showing the sad person as happy while being around the other (since they make them happy and forget their fears)
I bet it's fun lecturing us the meaning when you have a stick in hand 😆🙂
0 likesthis is exactly what I thought but I didn't know the techniques in making a song, example: 3:53 so interesting
0 likesOmg I love this so much.
0 likesOkay so to me the song meant something completely different. In my head it was about two lovers who depended on each other in hard times and helped each other. Intertwined to me felt like they were made for each other and free felt like they feel free of their problems when with each other. Fine meant that at first one of the two lies about their inner torment and I say at first because this is in the first portion of the song. Skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet meant that they were very passionate lovers. So basically to me it felt like the song was about two lovers who could count on one another as a good support system. The video for the song confused me quite a bit as you can guess haha
0 likesHonestly Dodie, this just shows that you truly are a lyrical genius. I interpreted the song to have the same overarching dark, mysterious ( or better as you put it, Macabre) themes as well as themes of struggles going back and forth with mental health and codependency. Watching this in depth analysis just shone a light on some other aspects I hadn't noticed before, and now i have listened to the song countless more times and I am in awe. Thank you so much for writing this incredible song, happy late birthday!
0 likesi think that the video is very interesting because of the use of the dolls, it kind of creates a sense of childhood, and for me personally how when you are a child everything that you think will happen in the future is seemingly perfect. but in the video it shows issues with relationships and mental health and how it's very distorted compared to the child's view of things. i think for me it kind of represents the sadness of what you realise when you grow up and experience things such as relationships which is something that is so romantisied
1 likeAGHHH I FUCKING LOVE THIS
1 likeDODIE IT MATCHED MY INTERPRETATION
0 likesi don't normally comment on videos, but i just felt that i had to share this:
0 likesi listened to this song religiously as soon as i got it on spotify and soon became addicted to the gorgeous harmonies and waltz-like rhythm. like most people, i didn't notice the underlying twisted theme and heard it strictly as a purely beautiful love song and envisioned two lovers dancing together in a kitchen with it playing steadily and softly in the background. incidentally, those two lovers in my head were replaced with me and my boyfriend at the time, and as i fell in love with this song, i fell in love with him. unfortunately, almost a week ago, he ended our relationship and was (and still am) distraught and heartbroken like you wouldn't believe. the very next day, i saw a music video for this song had been posted and i couldn't help but click to watch it even though i knew it would feel like salt on an open wound. however, i was shocked when the music video started taking a dark turn. it was so strange; as i kept watching it and as it got darker and darker, the lyrics seemed to unwrap themselves before me to reveal the intended meaning i'd been blind to. it's an odd sort of feeling, like the worst type of satisfaction, seeing how perfectly everything came together, as if my relationship was destined to end the way it did. i saw my relationship as well as this song as perfect and pure and untainted in the beginning, and even 'intertwined' the two together, but at the end, they were both unraveled before me and i saw the truth of them; neither of them were innocent like i thought they were. intertwined is now my favorite song, and even though it hurt like a knife in my heart to watch the music video, i can't help but be amazed at how it came to me when it did. it's a sort of sick, beautiful irony. thank you, dodie, this is really a gorgeously twisted song.
I was about to audition this song for a school coffee house, I was just about to audition but the lady auditioning me left. Then I left the school crying.
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Julia Payne awh I hope you're okay! you'll have other opportunities, I promise ♡
0 likesno wonder i relate so hard 2 this song
0 likes10/10 would attend Professor Dodie's english lit class again.
0 likesI was confused and a little jarred by the video when I first saw it, like other people it didn't fit with my expectation. Later on though, I thought about it and what YOU the writer were trying to convey, and it made more sense reading over the lyrics. It's a fantastic song and now I am convinced that the video goes perfectly with it :)
My view: At first, I didn't like the video. I understood that was about a relationship between someone with mental issues (perhaps anxiety, like me, wich is why I could relate so much and enjoy so much and be mindblown by you like so many times) and a person that this someone depends on. But I kinda notice more the cute perspective of the other person helping the someone with anxiety, I didn't stop to think that this could be a bad relationship with the "dependency" (sorry for my english) and I didn't see that on the video at first. But now I understand more. Thanks for the analysis dodie
0 likesCAN DODIE BE MY ENGLISH TEACHER?!?!? 😫
0 likesI knew that the song wasn't a cute happy song because some of the things that dodie touched on in this video. I thought it was mainly about co-dependency.
0 likeswelp i just got out of a relationship like that now that i lnow this... i feel alot more calm
0 likeskids: ughhh why do we do this at school we're never gonna use this in life
2 likesdodes: lol ok
I loved this video
0 likesand i was just rewatching the meaning of sick of losing soulmates yesterday
0 likesIts odd because my take of the song was both the mental illness idea but also the romantic, more 'lovey' idea. I loved the video though, what a cool but creepy thing. Also i understood the 'can you drink all my thoughts' as an alcohol reference? Alcohol has been such a main subject on youtube recently so i felt like the use of it to avoid the real problems really fit in with whats happening in todays culture. It also references dependency because often those who're mentally ill grasp at everything and anything that will alleviate their suffering for just a little bit, whether it be other people, alcohol/drugs or something else.
0 likesah I really want to do an impression of you. would you mind?! u rock
0 likesAre you a huffle puff or a ravenclaw? I'm picking up strong vibes for both
2 likesReplies (1)
She's a Ravenclaw
0 likesI definitely thought of this song as a cute song about two people who make each other happy despite one of them's mental illness, but now i see the harmfulness in the relationship and it makes a whole lot more sense bc of the juxtaposition of the positive and negative words as you pointed out very eloquently. I also think I was just in another mindset the first time i heard the song, and now I completely understand bc of certain events that have happened, I've changed, my way of thinking has changed in such a short amount of time. I guess it just goes to show that stuff that happens to you, really makes a difference. (I loved the music video btw it helped me rethink my past connection to the song and this video cemented the new one)
0 likesI had to re-watch this a couple times before I understood. #notthebrightest 😂
0 likesI personally saw it as less of a dark song and a toxic relationship but more like... your partner is able to help you cope and find your way out of your mental health issues, and provide support. the writer is in pain and the partner can help alleviate that pain. "drink my thoughts" I saw more as being comfortable enough to share everything with your partner and pour your soul to them, "I hope you don't bleed with me" as I hope you don't have to feel my (the writer's) pain and go through the same mental health stuff? maybe I just saw it all with a more positive connotation because the music was generally pleasant-sounding and intimate
0 likesI actually never really liked Intertwined. For some reason the lyrics just didn't fit for me (possibly a side effect of being only 15). I wanted to like the song, but I just didn't understand it how the cute romance went with the dark themes.
0 likesHowever, I absolutely adore the music video and it provided me a way that I understood it. Now this song means so much to me, and I think it's very beautiful. Thank you Dodie for this video and thank you Sammy for the VEVO video.
BRILLIANT !!!!!
0 likesI kinda feel like it gives mental health a bad outlook to those who have never experienced it/dont know much about it. I have depression, anxiety, and depersonilization and my mom (although I have been diagnosed) thinks that I am not "mentally ill" because she has a bad view of what that means. I feel like the video pressed the idea further which upset me. It is a terrible thing to experience, I understand that completely, but I dont want people who dont know a lot about mental disorders to be scared of those whose who are. That is why the video upset me.
1 likein all honesty, I didn't quite like the music video. it scared me quite a lot but I actually sort of love it after watching this. I think if I had the chance to make the music video, I would have had two different parts of the story, but only two in all. I would have the girl and her lover wrapped up into bed and laughing and cuddling and having a wonderful time. but I would have also had just the girl, alone, screaming, and pulling her hair, or crying, something that I do quite often because of my sadness. the last scene would be her in a ball crying, maybe with something broken around her and she would look up and her lover would be there, smiling, and she would laugh
0 likesI got annoyed at people trying to say that this is simply a sweet song and then complaining about the video... I always related to it because it was a little disjointed and twisted.
0 likesomg i love this video
0 likesbro one day if music slows you could be the coolest fuckin english lit teacher
2 likesintertwined was Spoopy I love it
0 likesi interpreted it the same way!!
0 likesYER A WIZARD, DODIE !
1 likeDodie would make a fabby English teacher!
0 likeswhen I first listened to this song i didn't hear it as ' cause i can't stand them ' so I didn't get the 'dark vibe'
1 likeYou would be a lovely teacher
0 likesFeel like I just had an English lesson... but I enjoyed it and the teacher is cute
0 likesYay English Lit!!!! This video warms my English major heart <3
0 likeslove love love you fucking beautiful genius
1 likeOk my view Firstly the title suggests it is sex themed but it lyrics speak differently. Firstly the lyrics show the 2 are madly in love hence intertwined into eachothers lives but it is to tangled causing some friction but the melody is happy to happy suggesting that they hide the problem/s. Near the end when your voices overlay and reach the pinnacle in stress the bond causing the tangle is cut and you 2 are back to being madly in love but more mature
0 likesCan Dodie write my English assignments thank you.
0 likesThe way I interpreted it was that person A (singer or the perspective we see) is with person B. Person A is mentally ill, and person B takes care of them even though person A is having an extremely rough time. Person A has an illness that makes them afraid and maybe insecure, person B is concerned but isn't suffering because the relationship is taking a toll on them. However, person A is afraid that it is, this song is them saying they feel guilty for putting so much on person B. The relationship between the two is somewhat leaving person A dependent on person B, but not to the point that it's unhealthy. Person A isn't pretending to laugh while they're afraid, person B genuinely makes them feel safe. I don't know, I guess that's how I saw it, but I absolutely love your interpretation. You're like one of my favorite people in the world and you're so unbelievably talented, love you, Dodie! (You probably wont see this, because there's a ton of comments, but just in case.)
0 likesI see someone who wants to trust and love someone else but their own thoughts worry them. "She" wants love and all the things that come with it - hence the first part- but she gets so wrapped up in the way she feels that she does not feel. "Laugh" spoken in vain becuase she wants her own faory tale and she thinks the relationship is better than how she already felt. She is trying to make herself a false safehouse but the bunker metaphorically has no roof. In a way she is trapping herself in a relationship because she thinks she has to be there and she wants to be there but cannot help herself in that way. "Numb" referencing the way she feels as she tries to satisfy her partner because she thinks she has to and "fine" being how she shows herself outwardly. "You create a rarity of my genuine smile" you does not mean her partner but her inner thoughts and the manifestation of the relationship itself. She wants her partner to take away her grief and that's the only reason she is kept there in a loop of denial. "I've" refers to her now realising I have done this and she cannot stand to cause someone the grief that she has and she forces herself out of the loop realising she can't do this anymore. This all shows her partner was not the problem and didn't cause the pain, only she did because she forced herself to believe and the final verse is a sort of sardonic laugh, laughing at how stupid she thinks herself, laughing at how she could think it was going to work.
0 likesWhen melting plastic the toxic fumes come out. The plastic heads were melting like they were letting everything out little by little and whilst this was happening the fumes were killing anyone in the room... ???? I don't know that thought just crossed my mind. Probably doesn't even make sense
1 likeI got most of the meaning then by the looks of it
0 likesThis just proves that the best songs are written in obscurity and ambiguity. Examples being, Intertwined and A Team.
0 likesSO THAT'S WHY RUSTY MADE A COVER AHHGGGGG
0 likesI did not think of any of that when listening to the song. I kinda want to keep my brains version.
0 likesOMG THIS IS SO INTERESTING I LOVE ANALYZING LITERATURE AFDTDFDFSDDF
0 likesTHAT ONE STRAIGHT BIT OF HAIR
2 likesYou are way better than my English teacher
0 likeswowowoowowowow genius teacher dodie
0 likesTHIS IS SO FUCKIN COOL THANK U
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NO NO NO but I wrote that comment before I watched all of the analysis because I got too excited about the analysis but IT'S ACTUALLY EVEN COOLER LIKE I'VE NEVER SEEN AN ARTIST EXPLAIN ART PIECE BY PIECE it's so exciting can we have an art club yet omg YOU MADE THIS FROM YOUR BRAIN HOW COOL IS THAT
0 likesand now I have reached the end of the video and I am SHOOK BY ANALYSIS <3 I think the main surprise from the music video for me was it being portrayed by dolls. 'Skin. Heat.' is so NOT portrayed by these rigid dolls so it was quite jarring, but then it got freaky and I was like HOW ELSE COULD ALL THIS BE PORTRAYED?! So yeah it was cool to see those internal conflicts and fantasies of mental dependencies and struggles shown through two unfeeling 'things'. LOVE THIS TOO MUCH OKAY BYE.
0 likeshmm I thought the lyrics were suggesting a more freeing relationship, though I do understand the use of binary juxtapositions. Maybe suggesting the first is within the persons mind, and the second is true?
0 likesMY LITTLE ENGLISH LIT HEART IS EXCITED
0 likesThis counts as english revision right?
2 likesdodie why, I dont want to think about english lit right now, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
0 likescould you just not see until you put your glasses on? 😂
0 likesThis is unrelated, but are you using a Harry Potter wand as your stick thing?
2 likesTo me it was about two people who are really cosy, and while the world around them is tearing down and trying to take them down with them they resist- "safe from the world though the world will try". I also thought it dealt with mental health and that they get through it together. "Oh I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we" with but being the turning point towards something better. It's a beautiful song and can be so widely interpreted.
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So I completely misinterpreted it and that's why I probably shouldn't have picked advanced higher English for this year😂😂
0 likesdodie is such a hot teacher figure
0 likesI KNEW IT!!
0 likes,,genius
0 likesim sure sammy just wanted to kill dolls
0 likes4:32 harmonic " ~ohh~ "s
0 likesfeel like im in school
0 likesThis was so confusing I felt like I was in English I'm dumbb
0 likesI like english lit teacher dodie
2 likeshonestly called it omfg omfg
0 likesDodie, Is that a chopstick?
0 likesAahhhh I'M SO EXCITEEEEDDDD
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I CAN'T WAAAAIIITTT
0 likesomg dodie
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I never thought about the lyrics in that way :O woah
0 likesmindblown
0 likesI love your brain.
0 likesI. am. shOOK
0 likeshonestly im so proud of dodes, i've been with her since she released la vie en rose, and she's come such a long way in many aspects, and i couldn't be prouder of her she's such a precious angel
1 likeI love this interpretation much more than just seeing it as a sweet love song
1 likeOh my goodness you're amazing and I loved the song already but now I love it a billion times more. Really, really nice job.
1 likeThis video was a combination of two of my favourite things- Dodie and English Literature/poetry/analysis of text
0 likesDo you think you could make more of these for the other songs on the ep I find them really interesting?
Please do this for all your music, I LOVE THIS!
1 likeI love this. The song has grown on me since I first heard it, as each time I heard the lyrics I started to piece together a meaning very similar to what you explained. At first I thought of it as a lovey dovey, standard, romantic song, however as I paid more attention to the lyrics I realised it was more about a relationship where the people involved depend on each other possibly in a difficult time or just for their mental well-being in general. I love how much thought you put into Intertwined. It's probably one of my favourite songs, because even though I'm young and have never experienced this, I still feel like I can relate for some reason and it hits me right in the feels!
1 likeI think intertwined is an amazing song, which became even better after having listened to your analysis of your song :) I really liked the way you analyzed the song aswell
1 likewhen I heard this song for the first time, I did actually interpret it as a sickly sweet kind of love song, and I think I know why. I'm bad at like 'music talk' or whatever but the chords and the way you sing and the melodies all came together to really make me feel that warm and fuzzy feeling. But it's kind of strange because I usually don't see songs that way, even if they are meant to be sickly sweet. I'm always looking for a deeper meaning. But with this song I wasn't. I was completely content with a beautiful love song, which I saw (or heard) a girl who was maybe a bit broken, falling in love, and with the help of that person slowly mending herself back together. A really cool thing about art is a lot of the time we see what we need to see, and I think that's what happened. In the moment of listening to this, I needed something sickly sweet and beautiful and lovely and aH I love this song so much.
1 likeLoved this breakdown! I'm so happy that I had similar thoughts about what the song means as Dodie does!
0 likesYES YES YES YESSSSSS👏 When I listened to Intertwined I was like "Aw, that was a sweet love song about two broken people, probably after a intimate moment, finding comfort in each other" but then when I listened to it again and payed closer attention to the lyrics I felt slightly unsettled. Especially "I hope that you don't bleed with me" and the simple idea of being so thoroughly Intertwined with another person that you've "pinned each and every hope" on them and I realized oh shit, this song is about a sort of unhealthy relationship.
1 likeI really appreciate the way the tune sounds sweet and peaceful, but is hiding a darker theme. Similar to the way people suffering with mental illness will say "I'm fine" and appear as much on the surface, but are hiding a darker reality. Really really cool parallel and an amazing song.
I loved this song sooooo much ❤ I can't tell you how many times I've listened to it on replay 😫
0 likesI love this so much! This is so cool dodie, and your mental health and work process deserves an ENORMOUS amount of respect
0 likesi really love the song and i think the video was put together well with the actual meaning
1 likeDodie you should do this with more of your songs!! It's really interesting to see things from the artist's point of view
1 likeThank you for making this! I think sometimes when we hear music, we see it only as it exists at that moment, through our own biases. We see it without its history. We don't see any of the messy bits or the effort and thought that went into it. This video felt like lifting up the curtains and gave me a whole new appreciation for this song!
0 likesI love this. I always love analyzing songs and their lyrics and it's so interesting to hear your meaning. I also loved how you explained the chord and tonal changes it made my music theory heart flutter ❤
0 likesDodie, this is awesome! I love learning and understanding language and to hear it in the context of a song (joining the words with the chords) is really cool for someone who doesn't totally get music. I.e. This vid is sweet boi
0 likesthe way you analysed this is pretty much exactly how i thought of it, only i still don't see it as a 'toxic' relationship. I've always seen it as two broken people working together to fix themselves, and yes it will be difficult and yes each of them will be worried about the other, both that their burden will weigh them down, or just generally that they aren't okay. i feel like the imagery suggests that they cannot fix each other and there's the worry of them breaking each other (which I've experienced many a time). to me, the music video felt just too gory for how i personally view the song, as to me, like with many of your songs, it means so much. i freakin loved this video though, as a total english nerd i was squeeing a little, especially as I hadn't noticed the 'intertwined' juxtaposed with 'free before'! I'd freakin love to see sammy explain the vision behind the music video and how he sees it link to the song, or both of you explaining the story of the music video (personally- obviously)!
2 likesthis was such a thoughtful and interesting video and I loved it as much as I love the song, also I loved the music video so much I've been thinking about it 24/7 since I watched this and your explanation of it is so wonderful and heartfelt
0 likeswhen I first heard this song it really sounded like someone with mental health issues being in love and having a feeling of safety or like a reprieve from the thoughts in their head. It sounded like asking for help from someone they love and can trust to me and I just really love that but I really like why you wrote it too
1 likeclaps Dodie you did a phenomenal job at dissecting this!!! Love you!!! <3
0 likesTHIS IS A REALLY COOL VIDEO! I know from writing a heck ton of songs myself that this is /genuinely/ the sort of process that writers go through to construct lyrics! Thank you for sharing this with us and showing the complexities of writing songs, showing that there's no such thing as thinking 'too deep' about it :D
0 likesI always thought the song was just a happy song about love, then the music video was such a stark contrast to this which got me to think a little deeper and listen more closely. This is such an interesting video, I love this sort of discussion. ❤️❤️❤️
0 likesI'm in love with everything about this video, this is hilarious! How do you make something so serious so funny? (I love the part when you plug your own EP) The glasses and the stick really make your look complete.
0 likesI thought the song was about how the person singing the song was depending on their partner, and how their partner was there to support them. I saw the partner more as a shoulder to cry on. I wouldn't have suspected that the partner would be affected by the things the singer was telling them.
This just goes to show how you never know what is going on in someone else's life or relationship.
Dodie, I'm impressed. Thank you for this amazing piece of art! <3
Dodie! Oh my gosh I love this video. Please consider doing this with some of your other songs too please❤️
0 likesWatching the video i was definitively given a mental health problem vibe, so good on you and Sammy for making a masterpiece!
0 likeswow this is so interesting! i saw it more cutesy and romantic, like someone who helps you through the pain and all those dark phrases seemed more intimate than dark to me, like sharing these deep things that you wouldnt share with anyone else. i thought of the listener as hope essentially. but, i love this interpretation as well! i think both appeal to different situations. as someone who has both been in a relationship where my partner dragged me in a state of constant paranoia and left me with lasting depression because of her mental health issues AND a relationship where we were both in dark places but we dragged each other out with listening, understanding, and care; i fucking love this song. thanks for the awesome video dodie!!
1 likeThis is so interesting, because I had such a simple view on the song, as a sweet and almost pure song about someone who was a bit broken and found someone who they could be themselves around. I love reading everyone's different takes on it and what Dodie originally meant it to mean to her
0 likesthis low-key blew my mind; love the song even more now.
1 likewhen I first heard the song I was like oh it's a sweet love sing and when I saw the music video I was like wow this is different from what I thought and I loved the fact that I was wrong so I could experience the true meaning of the song and now that I know the true meaning/analysis of the song I feel I can relate to it I have anxiety and depression and I find that my relationships begin to become poisonous and toxic because I lay all of my problems on my partner. I have had few relationships because I'm pretty young but all the relationships I have had have started out amazing and I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders but it quickly turns sour and horrible because I lay all my thoughts on the other person. anyway I absolutely loved that you explained this dodie and I'm so happy you did because I feel I understand the song in a better way thanks dodie and continue to be an amazing person. xx
0 likesWow Dodie, I knew your songs are amazing, because you put a lot of thought and effort into it and you're immensely talented. But it's also really interesting to see the thought process behind it all. Thanks for sharing! <3
0 likesAnd just when you thought that she couldn't be more amazing, THIS DROPS. So THAT'S WHY the song is so good! The amount of thought that went behind it is (in the best of ways) almost overwhelming! I would love to watch more videos that peek behind the scenes of the creative process like this one. Thank you :)
0 likesdodie !! i loved the video so much because it made all this stand out more in the song- when i listened to it at first without the video it just seemed like that sickly sweet you described, but i feel like i get it now. i love u and everyhing u do .it's now one of my fav songs of urs :,)
0 likeswhen I first heard this song (the original video), I found it as a song that explains a relationship between two people that both have mental health issues and the way they cope is being together, and spending time with each other, but as they continue to do that, they depend on each other, & soon enough it turns into a mess of a relationship
0 likesI love how whenever it gets dark you try to lighten it up by messing with colour correction and turn the clip purple. oh dodie. <3
0 likesThis matches how I understood the song and it makes me even more heartbroken about. I've been in love with a person with mental health issues and it broke me. Yet I somehow feel attracted to people who are broken a bit and I had to learn to distance myself in order to not get hurt. Knowing a person you love does therapy definitly helps carry the weight. Oh what a bittersweet song.
0 likesPlease do more lyric breakdowns! This was so fascinating xxx
0 likesshiiiiiiiit, Dodie! I loveeeee this more than you can imagine, I was confused at first watching the video, but a part of me did get it, and now I totally get it and your explanation is perfect! Wow x
0 likesi personally loved the music video and the story behind it . it's amazing how we relate songs to our own experiences and everyone can take something different away from the artist's lyrics . for myself it reminded me of my own mental health problems , and putting all of your hopes of happiness into the other person of your relationship . after knowing just how as you put it 'toxic' that can be the song has always given me that bittersweet vibe . when i listen to music i always sort of picture a 'video' of how i would visually represent the song , for intertwined i thought of a couple who were happy in the sunlight of the morning lying in bed and dancing around the kitchen , but by night they would argue and the girl was upset desperate to stay together . sorry this is so long i just really related to these lyrics and think they are just beautiful . wishing you all the happiness dodie & congratulations on 1 million , so proud of you ! 💛
0 likesthis video has joyfully filled my english literature heart, dodie you impress and inspire me more and more every day
0 likesIm completely in love with the music video it's so artistic, in a way you rarely see in media today as it's to risky but I'm enthralled you took that risk.
0 likesI certainly interpreted the barbie aspect of the music video in several ways (so warning this may take a while to read). First of all the idea that you 'numb' your feelings to appear 'fine' and almost perfect much like a barbie does, but as the brain is the first 'odd' thing to happen in the music video the rest of it is her pouring out her thoughts to the point of destruction (the fire and the red liquid) due to her numbing her feelings for so long making her final acknowledgement of the 'things in her brain' to start to destroy her. This fits with the idea of her being 'afraid' of the things in her brain because she has suppressed them for so long she's scared of what she and the people around her will do when she finally confronts them and the fact that she isn't the perfect barbie image that she shows.
I thought also the idea of numbness is also represented in the fact that they are dolls, they don't don't feel anything maybe as a result of suppressing emotions.
And finally a really stupid one but the fact that they are toys, maybe they are toying with one another's emotions?
Sorry about the length but oh well
I'm going to go ahead and call this English revision! Love it so much. Ah screw it I'm hitting replay, I just love being able to like Dodie said feed on the discussion of art. Ah love love love ❤️️
0 likesI pretty much got it right! When i first listened to the song I imagined a couple, a very loving and happy couple, but one of them was suffering from some sort of mental issue that they eventuyally share with their partner. The partner however starts to see the World from the others perspective and ends up with a fair share of their own mental issues, and this results in a relationship that is so twisted and unhealthy, but at the same time, these people connect to each other, and they can relate to each other in a way that they can't with anybody else. To me, the song was about a very unstable couple that found stability in each other. Lmao that's kinda complicated but ayyy
1 like"You create a rarity if my genuine smiles." I really like this line.
0 likesPs your hair is cute 🙊🙊
YES DODIEEEE this was soooo satisfying. I secretly do this with all of your songs- I listen to it the first time to drink in the beauty and then a second or third time to pause it whenever i have thoughts on the verse or the way the sound molds or contrasts with it. (Signs of a future English Major lol) To be honest, I fell for the cutesy love song feel at first while I purposefully ignored the "hiding something beneath the surface" and "dependency" vibes you explained in your meaning. I really enjoyed the sound of it and I wanted it to remain a simple, calming song in my mind. I can respect that of myself, some things you don't have to analyze to appreciate, but after the music video came out, I realized that I appreciate the representation (of how mental health effects relationships) and the vividness of the representation (to the outside eye-no matter the obvious evidence of the story line) more than letting intertwined be this simple, warm love song. The fact that I let it be that for so long furthers the theme of there being something under the surface-so obvious and yet unreachable to the close-minded. sorry if this was utter nonsense lol. ahhhhh it's just so good. thank you thank you thank you Dodie, as well as Sammy. I love these kinds of videos btw-if you don't mind, i'd like to see more of these?? If you want to of course<3
1 likeThis is pretty unrelated to the video (amazing as usual btw) but I just wanted to say how extremely happy I am that they're finally letting you see some professionals for your depersonalization. It's so shit to be waiting and I've experienced that first hand, and I just hope it's everything you want it to be and more. Xx I just wanted to say that ❤️❤️
0 likesI saw it as romantic until the video. I got to understand the pain of not being able to fix somebody who is broken. I found it bittersweet and truthful
1 likeI always associated this very beautiful song with the relationship that I have with my best friend. I, like others, imagined two best friends cuddled up and supporting each other even though they are both struggling themselves. This is how me and my best friend are, some view it as destructive because its true that we do heavily depend on each other, "I've pinned each and every hope on you" but for now we're helping each other through our madness and that is very good "intertwined, free" yes we are both tangled and a bit fucked up but we are there for each other. There are sometimes downsides yes but I wouldn't have anyone else by my side helping me and that's part of why I love this song so much. I relate it so much to my struggles with relationships and my mental health, especially when I've been with someone and I've had a panic attack "breathe, breathe with me" this is often the phrase that helps me to slow down and I love how that is sung so slowly and reassuringly. Basically thanks Dodie, your awesome and I love your music soz for the long personal comment xxxxxx
0 likesNot gonna lie, I would L O V E to see a continuation of the story from Intertwined. I think it was perfect, and wouldn't change anything about it if I had the chance.
0 likesthis video is awesome!!! i feel like this is one of the songs you can interpret in so many different ways, and I guess everybody can agree looking at these comments. and that is one of the things that fascinates me A LOT about humans. the way we see things very, very differently, and that's so cool. i firstly heard this song and though that maybe, possibly, it was about mental issues, but having a relationship that can take your mind off it. it seemed angsty, but romantic. sometimes I felt slight horror-feelings, and thought that perhaps there was an undertone of uncomfortableness in the relationship, something toxic. then, I saw the music video, and my mind kinda blew up. of course, I though, this may be the undertones my brain had been hinting to me about. the song itself seemed romantic, but some romances doesn't go the way you'd like, and I think maybe that's it. you know, a pretty house, two Barbie dolls, who has in a long time meant 'perfect' in many heads. so maybe, the two lovers wanted a romantic, awesome relationship, but couldn't get it, but they were still reaching, and that made them both go kind of insane. reaching for something that most definitely weren't there. and then, the music video made me think of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, which made me think of all the theories about that. can you imagine as many theories about this music video/piece of music, as there are theories about dhmis. that really made me smile. cause this really is a piece of ART! and it deserves theories, speculation, criticism, everything that has to do with opinions. it's THAT brilliant. well done, everybody who worked on this music video- and also dodie, for writing amazingness.
0 likesI love how I always got the lyrics / dodie's meaning of the song and I wasn't surprised by the creepy/gory theme of the video , I think it's because I have mental health issues too ( anxiety /depression and such) and I depend a lot on other people, I love how this song captures the way it feels to be in a relationship having a mental illness so well.
0 likesI love you Dodie and all of the "dodie shades" that you've shown us and I loved how the video was made as well, hope you had a fantastic birthday! much love 🌼 - Nai xx
i always thought the song was about dependence and codependency and i think the video matches my interpretation and dodies (which are quiet similar) and i honestly love the song and video 😊
0 likesdodie, i just realized how brilliant that line about "drink my thoughts" is. i've heard the analogy of "pouring out your heart" to someone, but I've never heard anyone take the analogy further than that, involving another person and having them drink the thoughts. honestly, so brilliant
0 likeswoah, this analysis of the song was really interesting with respect to how it was made lyrically. as for the connection to the video clip, i had really enjoyed Sammys portrayal (though it did surprise me at how eye opening it was when it began) and it did seem to match a few theories that i had previously had.
2 likes1) similar to dodies interpretation (on her own song lol) lyrically i believed it to be about an unhealthy relationship- however i was more so thinking towards a more evident abusive relationship rather than mental health. i thought of this from the strangely agressive/ gory vocab used intertwined (#spon #available out now) with the light and fluffy lyrics perceived about love and romance. to me it symbolised how when one someone can easily deceive when hiding their true intentions amongst a flowery shield of lovely words. the video clip also supported this theory of mine when the first third consisted of doll poses of the "perfect couple", y'know its Barbie and Ken. but as the story continues and they drastically alter their appearence, it seemed like they were revealing themselves - the violent truths. by the end of the video where the house is burning with the destroyed dolls inside, to me it kind of represented how all the troubles and abuse- their secrets of it as most cases of domestic abuse arent known- is burnt away and the evidence is no longer there.
then again, this is only my theory :)
dodie did write the song and explained it in a lovely manner 💛
I find your song dodie beautiful and amazing!
0 likesto me this song has always been kind of about what you talked about but a bit less dark. This song to me is Even and Isak from skam, dealing with mental health and social pressures and breaking down and depending on each other for happiness and dealing with their problems together.
1 likeWhen I first heard this song I assumed it was intended to be romantic so I listened to it that way but it was very unsettling and I couldn't pinpoint why. Seeing the music video have a darker twist helped me understand some of the intention behind it and I feel listening to it as if it was telling a darker story than just two people in love made a lot more sense.
0 likesThis was everything it was so interesting seeing the writer analyse there own work out of interest when you analyzed it did you see/hear/feel things in the lyrics that you'd subconsciously put in a didn't realize how it effected the overarching meaning of the song
0 likesLow-key wishing I had dodie as my English teacher lol
1 likeI always thought the song to be a nice, love song but now that you've explained it I definitely understand the video and I think I love the song even more now which I didn't think possible. Good job !
this song has taken on such a different meaning to me now and hits a lot harder and I don't know if I should say thank you or not
0 likesI love this song such an incredible amount, I think I interpreted the song quite similar to how you intended it and I've always loved the intimacy intertwined (out now) with the macabre and damaged, toxic atmosphere of it all. I think Intertwined is such a strong song, fascinating lyrics accompanied by a beautiful, heartbreaking melody. We won't even talk about the climax and the "oh's". I love it so much❤️
0 likesI loved it so much Dodes! I think that the way you put it was very brilliant, and I do feel like many people over analyze many things, which isn't always bad.. but can lead to the wrong impression of what the writer truly means. although reading other peoples ideas of what the songs real meaning is, is really really interesting and good to read, because it's from a different prescriptive. I loved it loads xx
0 likesI liked reading the lyrics as you explained your 'interpretation' of the song! It was fun :) I read/hear it, yes as a love song, but a love song about being in love and mentally ill. The dark tones and express and direct darkness in the lyrics do an incredible job of pointing out how hard it is to be happy and in love but also still depressed and ill. Dark thoughts and sadness doesn't go away because you're in a relationship or you're happy like we're so often told. They're reoccurring and always hanging over you - intertwined (out now) in your life, even the happy times.
0 likesto be completely honest I think intertwined is my favorite of dodie's. most definitely.
0 likesvery cool! This more or less matched up with what I thought. Perhaps I didn't realize the relationship in the song was so "poisonous" and I kind of thought "Oh how nice, the person in this song found someone to make them feel not so crazy."
0 likesthis video just reassured my love for this song. Even when my perspective was completely different from what it is now that I've seen the VEVO video and this one, Intertwined has been my favorite song from the EP (and possibly out of all of dodie's songs). My love for it has definitely grown and it now means so much more to me than it used to. Dodie, you're a genius. This song is so well crafted and it blows my mind how even the tone of the harmonies carry a single meaning with them. I honestly admire you so so much for your music, and will make sure to pay close attention to your music from now on. Love you :)
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Also I've always noticed the contrast between "numb, fine" and "intertwined, free". I've thought for the longest time that it had been, as you said, kind of an internal conversation/fight between a rational part of consciousness and the other part that's "blinded by love". Kind of how the person sees the partner as the "savior" or the "doctor", since it says "i'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear", implying that the other person is a distraction from the mental issues and therefore the person thinks it is helping them. My perspective has always been kind of similar to what dodie actually intends it to be, but it has always been a lot less dark and, ironically, "blinded" by how romantic it sounds. I think now it is a lot darker, and a lot more real, which (as said before) just makes me love it even more.
0 likesI always thought of Intertwined as being a take on a twisted relationship, the combination of what we usually would see as being romantic, and what we most fear will come out of our relationships. I listened to the song and during the first words i was pushed into the loving memory of my relationship with my first girlfriend, but then as the song and the plot evolved, my mind was being held hostage in the memory of the last 2 months of that same relationship, i was taken back to the feeling of being depressed and feeling like i was nothing, i was so spaced out, and i wanted her to 'drink' my thoughts and feelings so she could get a taste of the pain that i was feeling because she just did not treat me right.
0 likesThis song means so much to me, because i literally have never felt the power of a song cut in to my heart, whilst gluing the pieces that have been crushed back together.
Thank you.
when I first heard the lyrics 'can you drink all my thoughts' it came across as a relationship where the woman is dealing with mental health issues and the man suffers with alcoholism. with the blood in the video it kinda paired with this with the theme of like liquids taking over, the numb the man feels when he drinks from having to suffer along with his partner also. the genuine smile part plays along too as it shows parts of the relationship that are still funny and new but there's always the dark undertones of the problems both parties are facing. I love this song very much and I especially love how brilliantly it can be interpreted. another way is how me and my mum use the song to symbolise our relationships (ridding of the intimacy obviously) and how she copes with my mental issues. a beautiful piece, I love it
1 likei thought the video was perfect for the song and also kinda understood the meaning of the song. I think it's easier to understand for those who live with mental illness (like me lol) LOVED the video, it was perfect for this song ♡
0 likesThis is my favourite song of yours ughh it's all so clever, but the beginning just...ugh this is my favourite song of yours
0 likesThe thousand times I listened to it, I thought "skin" with a few empty bars after it was a bit jarring to start with but I passed it off because I thought it was unintentional.
BUT NOW I KNOW YOU WROTE IT ON PURPOSE IM SO BLOWN AWAY AND ATTACHED TO THIS SONG AAA<33
I have to say I loved the music video. Sammy, as always, managed to show something that made me think in a completely different way then I noramlly do (dude is mad genius tbh). It gave me images and memories of how a couple can be so sfae and secure with each other in bed, hiding away from the world, perfectly at peace.. but underneath that the problems of a person who is somehow broken inside can just eat away at the person they are closest to. It's almost like the times when you are not lost in each other you are just lost.
0 likesWhen I heard to song it felt to me about a person who struggles with their mental health and life in general, but for a moment tries to embrace the bittersweet comfort of being intertwined with someone else. It's that simple, sad tinged feeling of just being in someone's arms and being too drained to try and deal with it all in your own. Just maybe a moment in time where two people lay down, not saying anything, and choosing to try and forget the problems for a moment of peace.
1 likeI actually pictured "Can you drink all my thoughts?" as sitting in a bar, alone, drinking to forget your problems. Considering your recent "problem" with alcohol, I thought of it as fitting (in a drowning your sorrows kind of way)
0 likesi think itd be interesting to hear a song from the other point of view as well, a song about what its like to be in a relationship where someone puts all their issues on you and you feel responsible for them and stuff idk
0 likesHello so my interpretation
0 likesThe first verse always feels calming like your so in love it's the start of a relationship which has been hard for the writer as they just came out of a difficult relationship which I thought was implied with "though the world will try" this verse to me represents love that could also mean "sex"
You are in love and rely on each other.
With the second verse you start to remember what it's like to be in a relationship where your not happy and your scared it might happen to this relationship that you "rely on". So as it starts to get louder and having more of an impact it symbolises the fear coming up in your brain but you don't say anything as you don't want to ruin this relationship. So you keep on laughing and falling deeper in love but the fear is still there so you laugh it away and pretend it's okay.
The third verse.
You are trying to numbed your self of fear and emotion and say your fine. But with this mental problem happening it minimises it's self by your love and makes you happy and you are happy and nothing seems to matters in thoughts moments because your in love. This is when you tell your partner about your thoughts and you become one in that moment as they know your brain he is absorbing your thoughts "can you drink all my thoughts". You have talked and you feel free you are able to scream and move on because that fear is gone "the ohhhhs".
Once you are less scared you are back to being intertwined in love free of fear. Than a thought of him being scared of your thoughts and him being dragged into your negativity appears "I hope that you don't bleed with me ". But you think back to having those fears and scary thought and remember what it felt like and Your happy again that your not like that and you are still in love. You can laugh the fear away because the thought of those thoughts are funny because you could never think like that anymore.
That is my interpretation.
Your interpretation of your own song is how I understood it, not in as much detail as you have gone in to but I basically understood it as themes of mental health and a relationship
0 likesWow, Dodie. This is so great.
0 likesThat awkward moment when you underestimate the gravity of the mental health (I noticed it but didn't realise how dark it was), so you put it on a mixtape for your anniversary, then split up two months later for many reasons that kind of relate to dependency but definitely to mental health and anxiety.......
0 likesJust based on my personal experience with mental health, I definitely interpreted it as a more hopeful song than it was. I absolutely saw the dependency, but I didn't really catch the bits about how the relationship was damaging to the other partner until you explained it. I saw it as more steadying and how the other person provided hope minus how it could hurt both parties involved. Maybe it was just my brain trying to find what I wanted to see out of the song and apply it to my situation.
0 likesEither way, it's a genius song! When you explained it I definitely saw what you were going for!
Personally, when I saw the video I was so uncomfortable, not because I can't handle gore, but because this hopeful song had turned into that and it was a little shocking. However, I definitely see the appeal and even though the experience probably won't be the same anymore, it's expertly made and a terrific song and concept! I also thoroughly enjoyed the EP
This is going to be pretty short but my interpretation was more on the side of close/best friends. The lyrics painted an image of two friends sat on a sofa with blankets and tea talking about there problems. I love the song and I think the music video is amazing!!!
0 likesI'm one of the people that interpreted it as a (loosely) happy love song. You said that you based it on how you think you would be in love, and I think that's where the biggest difference in interpretations is. I am currently in love, living with my boyfriend of 2 years. I struggle with many of the same things as you, and being with my boyfriend has changed so much of my outlook on life. Every relationship before him had felt toxic - I felt as though I was "too crazy" for the people I tried to be with, that I wasn't good for them.
0 likesSo I took this song as an ode to someone that finally, you know, got it. That you were admitting that you were not well, admitting that your smiles often stemmed from them, that you needed them a lot more than you were comfortable with. I picked up on the codependency and mental health issues, but I saw them directed at someone that understood.
The music video was prefect and so creative. I love the idea . I thought it was very cinematic and told a true story of love. I personally got a lot of Romeo and Juliet vibes as when i first heard the song, to me it was about how the world was trying to tear them apart, however they stayed because it was common to them, they felt safe and secure. The use of oxymoron suggest that they didn't have a set plan and that they both wanted different things but we're both on the same path suggesting the title "intertwined". I loved in the video the director picked up the word such as heat, skin and mind and applied it to the video scenes of fire and open brain. The video is one of the best pieces of work I've ever seen. Well done to everyone who was apart of making this happen.
0 likesI freaking love this!
0 likesDamnit Dodie, I wanted to write an essay about this at some point but now you've done all the work for me! (Just kidding, I still might analyse the video. And this was SUPER interesting and SUPER impressive wow GOOD JOB!)
0 likesJodie, it called an oxymoron when two contrasting things are put next to each other, for instance sickly sweet and laugh away the fear. Also Feather of lead and cold fire, both Shakespeare! Have good day. xx
2 likesOh wow. Wow.
0 likeshug
Every creator should tell what's the meaning behind their work _ It's so useful and heartshaking and exciting!
I actually feel like im in a literary analysis class in the best way. This makes me want to break down all my own songs like this now. I think it is natural to always wonder what the writer meant and was thinking when they were writing. And I think this shows just how much goes into writing. You are doing so much more than just finding two words that rhyme. Inspiring. Love Love Love. MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS PLEASE <3
0 likesI was really glad to hear your explanation of the song, because it perfectly matched my feelings towards it. I am married now and my husband is incredible, but I know I depend upon him to "drink" my thoughts and wrap me up in a duvet when I can't deal with life. It is such a beautiful thing to be "intertwined", however, it can also leave you feeling unable to stand upon your own two feet.... but hey, that is the joy of anxiety. You did an incredible job of portraying how anxiety doesn't only strike when something bad happens, it can creep up on you even when you "should" be happy, like when you are wrapped up in bed with the one you love <3
0 likesI need more of this smart professor side of dodie
2 likesDodie,
0 likesI really enjoyed hearing the breakdown from your POV. So many artists hide away from pinning down a specific meaning because of the reasons you mention; art has different meanings to different people. That does make it wonderful, but I wish more artists joined in the discussion in this way. Not saying "this is what it means and that is all. End of" but just saying what it means /to them/ and welcoming varying interpretations.
Personally I got a very similar meaning from it because I have also suffered from mental health issues and one of my biggest fears surrounding my mental health is how it might affect a romantic relationship in the future.
I've only recently found friends that understand and accept that I will push them away sometimes but will always pull them back in. How am I ever going to find a romantic partner that will be that patient? Not to mention one that doesn't care that I'm asexual 😅
Anyway, thank you dodie ❤️
When I first heard the song, pictured it quite romantic(and it is, to me, still very romantic) BUT, the theme of the music video suggested a different point of view. It wasn't until I saw the video, that I actually read more into the lyrics and realized that the video was, indeed, about mental illness and how it can have and effect on relationships. Love the song a lot and I look forwards to hearing more songs by you, in the future.
0 likesLove You, Dodie! (and I know already said this on a different video's comments, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLY!!!) ❤️❤️❤️
if u can be my english lit teacher then that'd be swell! but really thank u for sharing your interpretation of the song with us!
0 likesi always saw the song as a sad, romantic or platonic story, sung by two people! some parts are sung by the person with the mental illness (person a), and some parts by the person who's trying to help them (person b). the first set of lines, "skin. heat. hair, in your mouth. feet, touching feet." it could go either way for whomever is singing it. i'd like to think its person a, and it's a sign of comfort. how they find an amount of peace with person b. so, these lyrics are just innocent, loving. the next set of lines, "oh you, and i. safe, from the world. though the world will try-" i'd think person b is singing those lines. they're trying to reassure person a that everything is fine, that they'll keep them close and help them no matter what. the last line, where they're cut off, that's when person a sings, "im afraid, of the things in my brain. but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear." the first part of that, about the brain, i think is sung by again, person a. they suffer from their mental illness and are scared to approach it, scared to try and get help. the next lines after that are sung by person a TO person b, trying to convince person b that they're fine and there's nothing to worry about. but person b knows this isn't true. the next set of lines, "numb. fine. you create a rarity of my genuine smiles." it's person a singing, saying that the times when they're "numb" (disassociated) are hellish to them, but they'd still say they're fine. "you create a rarity of my genuine smiles." this is my favorite line. it's person a saying to person b that they're the only one who can make person a genuinely happy. a form of happy, one that isn't suffocated by their disassociation. the next set of lines, "so breathe, breathe with me." this is sung by person b, trying to calm person a, who breaks and screams, "can you drink, all my thoughts? cause i can't stand them." this is person a finally admitting that they need help. they're telling person b about their mental illness and how much they "can't stand them" (their thoughts) anymore. the next line, "intertwined," is sung by person b, saying that even though it feels like they're miles away from person a bc of their disassociation/mental illness, they still feel like they're close, together. the next line, "free," is sung by person a, saying that every thought they bottled up is out now, and they can truly get help. they can really confront their illness and have a form of hope. but that's what person a wants to believe. following after, though, is "i've pinned each and every hope on you. i hope that you don't bleed with me." this is person a singing to person b, realizing that they feel awful for pouring out on them about everything, and hoping that they don't hurt person b, just like they way they're hurting. the next few lines, "oh, im afraid of the things in my brain. but we can stay here, and laugh away the fear," is person a singing to person b, emphasizing that they're still afraid, but for a slightly different reason; person a doesn't tell person b that. the following lines suggest that person a now afraid of hurting person b, thus going back and telling person b that they (both) will "laugh away" person a's fear of their mental illness, just like how they said the first time they sung it. because now, person a's new fear, is hurting person b.
but hey, this is just my two cents. i've read a couple different interpretations and it seems like mine turns out to be much sadder than the others, lol. but again, thank u for sharing this with us! it's super interesting to hear about how you compose and write songs. keep making beautiful works of art like this one bab. <333 :)
oh my god im going into AP English next year is this what they're going to expect me to do????? oh god im going to die in that class.
0 likesthis was such a beautiful analysis and i am amazed. love you lots dodie!!!!!
This is beautiful, staggeringly real and beautiful
0 likesFrom what I saw it seemed to be a relationship that started well and sweet, then going to dependability further down the line, just to the style sang rather then the lyrics. As well as the contrasting imagery from the happy beginning to the sad end/
0 likesWhatever the interpretation, it's still a great song and that's the beauty of it. If you read it as a straight love song it works. If you read between the lines and see the sadness, it still works. That's what's so clever about it. It's a song that works both for the lovestruck optimists and the cynical pessimists. You masterfully weaved the sadness both into the lyrics and the music so even if you're not lyrically minded, you can still feel the emotions through the song and vice versa. The "dual meaning" reminded me of When I Grow Up from Matilda. When kids hear it they think "yeahhh! I'm going to climb trees every day when I'm old and I'll be strong enough to climb even taller ones" and adults think "whoaa... where did that childlike attitude go? When did I become so OLD?". To a child the lyrics are hopeful and exciting but to an adult, they're bittersweet and melancholy.
0 likes(also, being the flowery actor I am, I think you should write a musical because you manage to imbue such character into your songs.)
I love this video, the music video confused me so much because I didn't think it matched up with the description that you gave at the beginning of intertwined but I think it was just because of how extreme the video was. I always saw it as a little of a twisted love song and depending on someone else for happiness but nowhere near to the extremes that the video took. I appreciate it much more now although I still find it a bit strange but each to their own, i'm not always going to love everything someone makes.
0 likesi've always really loved the song intertwined (although i think sick of losing soulmate is my fav on the ep oops don't kill me please) and i never really knew how to interpret it. sometimes i'd listen to it and think "hmm nice song about a lovely couple la dee da dee da" and other times i'd be like "THE WORLD IS ENDING AHHHH". i ALWAYS try to analyse the lyrics in a song whether it be katy perry or bmth. as a song writer myself (a really bad one, might i add), i LOVED this. i think you are truly a genius when it comes to lyrics.
0 likesI really enjoy this style of video, it's nice.
0 likesI feel like I'm in a class that I actually enjoy 😂
0 likesI always thought that intertwined was about a couple who had fallen out of love with each other and everything went a bit violent and they were like trapped in the relationship but saying that things were all ok etc. I think the music video for the song is incredible, when I first saw it I was unsure about it all, but then I watched it again and fell in love! Well done dodie for creating such an incredible peace of art work x
0 likesI had always interpreted the song in a sweeter, less dark way with the theme of mental health as sort of an underlying issue, as if the "I"/the writer of the song was trying to say: 'Yeah, I have mental health issues, but I can still be in love and enjoy the moment, let the "fear of the things in my brain" fade away every once in a while, because of "you".' Which is why I was surprised with how "disturbing" the music video was.
0 likesI think I understand the music video much better after this explanation and it makes me like it more. The way I interpreted it at first can be sort of a 'surface interpretation/image', while the things you explained can be a deeper, darker, underlying meaning. It seems as if, or the couple in the song tries to pretend that, the problems can be taken away (even if only for a while) with laughs and sweet moments, but in reality they are just ignoring the real problems and the relationship is unhealthy because of the dependency.
Thanks for explaining your interpretation, it's very interesting to know how much thought went into writing this song!
DANG DODIE
0 likesIt's like I endlessly doubt how much art will mean to the artist and how much thought and time they actually put into their art, but if I could just speak to them about it, I would understand. ILOVEUNDERSTANDINGARTYOUDONTEVENKNOW
This song screams Evak to me. Both the dark and the romantic themes fit so well for their relationship and I'm just cryin about it all the time
0 likesThe lyrics "Numb, fine" in the song kinds sound like "I'm, fine" and idk why but I love that so muchas 💛
0 likesi had always interpreted the song in this exact way, but people would always talk about it as a cutesy love song so i thought i was wrong and tried to change my interpretation. now that i know this is the initial meaning of the song it makes it hit a little harder i guess because its exactly how i am when im in love, i guess we're the same there dodie
0 likesI thought the music video was perfect! The only thing I would change would be slight flickers to black and white during the darker words in the song . This would help create emphasis on the instability of the relationship the song portrays.
0 likesHoly crap i didn't realize my interpretation was so similar. Like i got the parts where the one singing the song was struggling with mental health but i didn't think it was too severe and that the relationship was kinda keeping the singer afloat but the other one in the relationship wasn't doing too hot. I think the video was a tad more extreme than what went with my interpretation but it fit for sure. I would've had a video with two actual people showing them being happy together one possibly having a breakdown and then the other trying to help but ultimately getting frustrated. But like the song, flash back and forth between the highs and lows of the relationship. I like seeing facial expressions to help convey feeling but the use of the dolls were fantastic.
0 likesThis is so interesting! I got this theme from the song, but not in as much depth as you described it/wrote it. Mostly I thought it was a love song about somebody making your troubles lighter and "laughing away the fear" in the first way you described it, as being happy together so it takes the fear away. But I still got the hint of maybe-this-isn't-so-good. The lyric that was the most jarring for me was "you create a rarity of my genuine smile" because that contrasts so much against my interpretation of "laugh away the fear." My favorite line is "I pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me". I like the connection between pins and bleeding. So basically my interpretation is the same as how you wrote it, except I hadn't realized how much thought you really put into it! You're amazing.
0 likesBefore watching the video, I thought it represented a relationship, that the world didn't approve of. These thoughts then took over your brain making you think that the relationship isn't right, but in denial you continue in your relationship. You then begin being abused but feel as if it is all in your head, because of what other people say. You feel that you can't reach out to anyone because it is all in your head, and you defended this Person and you have nobody to trust enough to pout out your thoughts to. This should be someone you should trust, the person you are in a relationship with but you believe that you have trust issues and you are stuck in a three way relationship with you, your partner and your
1 likemental health.
this is one of the first times my interpretation of a song has been nearly correct whoot!! when i first heard the song, i thought of it as a person looking back on times they had with the one they loved. the thoughts are sweet, depicting a couple in love and safely keeping each other warm and safe. as the song continues, the thoughts become sour, as though their love interest didn't try hard enough and let the person down, maybe alluding to the reasons the person and their love interest are no longer together. then, when i saw the video, it became clearer to me that mental illness came into play with the message of the song. (the following explanation is one that i sent to my friend who was asking about my interpretation of the meaning of the video) two people fall in love, and everything is nice. they provide a home within each other, a safe haven. however, especially for those with mental illnesses, a safe place away from the world will not suffice, because it is their mind that is actually out to get them. at the most unexpected times chaos will erupt within one's head, creating a chaos of its own for the people around this person, which could harm/affect not only the person with the disorder, but also those that love said person... of course, i didn't include the unhealthy dependency and toxic relationship, but overall almost the same message. beautifully painful song, by the way. thanks :) - m
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i didn't mean to write a whole hecking essay for that, but i forgot to add that my favorite part of the video was when the blood was rushing in, and you were hitting the high note in "'cause i can't stand them." its a very emotional moment, and the nonchalance of the chaos is almost heartbreaking
0 likesI had an image of two people in love, but the world slowly poisons their relationship until they're just pretending, but they just "laugh away the fear."
0 likesHonestly I got most of this from the song originally except for the whole unhealthy thing. This is one of those songs that is an "our song." It the song chosen to represent one of the relationships in my life at the moment. The more dark elements surrounded by an almost pure light couldn't be more perfect. Both me and the other person in the relationship are pretty mentally unhealthy and aren't very happy people. The way I always saw it was that as we drink away each other's fears they turned into the light. The darkness we hold becomes joy when we're together. We soften each other's ripping and sharp depression and panic. I love this song because you can feel the violence coming from within but also the gentle warmth enveloping the pair, the two. I never saw the relationship as unhealthy, I only ever saw the people that way. The gore becomes light when the two touch
0 likesI have listened to this song on repeat since dodie released it online yet never looked deep into the lyrics. based on the sweet and mellower vibe of the melody and harmonies and ukulele, My instant interpretation was a very sweat and calm love song where everything was perfect. Since the video has been released I've been questioning that view of it. at first i was confused cus it didn't fit what i would have viewed it as in any way. Then I fell soooooo in love. It blew my mind how something that seemed so innocent was so twisted and dark and i never thought to look at it that way! I just think the video and song is just such a beautiful piece of artwork
0 likesi thought it was about experiences in a same sex relationship in which their relationship is frowned upon by others ('the world will try') but that when they are together, they can shut themselves away and forget about the negativity towards them and 'laugh away the fears' of being judged constantly. this interpretation obviously follows the idea of being 'intertwined' and intimate with someone else and being in love with someone.
0 likeslol i feel dumb. When I first watched the Intertwined video I was a bit taken back as it was so different from what I originally felt the vibe of the song was. The Intertwined video also presents some creepy and gory themes that were not used to seeing in association with Dodie. But as I read through comments and thought about it more, I began to understand what meaning the video was trying to portray. Now that I've watched this video, I cant believe how obvious the true meaning of Intertwined is.
0 likesMy interpretation was isolation. The couple believes that as long as they have each other, they can not be harmed by the outside world, but that thought is proven to be naive when their downfall comes from inside the safety of their home (ie. relationship)
1 likeInitially this song wasn't one that stood out to me on the EP- It just wasn't really one that I really listened to because I didn't feel anything for it... That's definitely different now. This song now means so much more to me, and I don't know how to coherently say it- but I relate so much. It's incredible and the lyrics mean so much more to me now and the harmonic analysis is too perfect- I could write an essay on this haha!
0 likesI get that art isn't about having it explained to you, it's your initial interpretations, but I thank you so much for explaining this one because I think I really missed out by glossing over the lyrics when I first listened.
PS- The music video fits so much with the chaos in my mind when I'm symptomatic- thank you to Sammy for coming up with this concept <3
I like how the only thing I didn't like about the music video was the fact that they were demolishing barbies, which I consider a very dear part of my childhood, but I LOVE the dark twist!
0 likesI heard the song in a more romantic tone, where the writer struggles with mental health (in my mind it's anxiety bc, well, hashtag relatable) but they are content in the moment they share with their lover.
0 likesThe lyric 'skin, heat, hair in your mouth, feet touching feet. You and I, save from the world, though the world will try' for me it describes an imperfectly lovely situation between two people who are just content to be in each others presence and won't let the world ruin their little moment.
With the lyric 'I've pinned each and every hope on you, I hope that you don't bleed with me' it portrayed to me the vulnerability that comes with love and caring for a person in that way. When a person can make you that happy, there's with the risk of that happiness being taken away again.
The lyric 'I'm afraid of the things in my brain, but we can stay here and laugh away the fear' describes to me that even though the writer had their own mental struggles, their lover makes them feel safe and forget their worries for a while.
'Can you drink all my thoughts? Because I can't stand them' sounds like, even though the lover makes them feel better, they cannot 'fix' the writer's mental problems permanently, though they (arguably selfishly) wish they could.
I know my view isn't the 'correct' one, but I personally prefer the easy breazy, love dovey interpretation. But I love the song either way.
2:45 -- tonally, that's really more of a flat 6 than a sharp 5; it's what you call a chromatic mediant (Google-able).
0 likesIt's not such an unusual chord (while sharp 5 = wat). You're right that it is technically outside the scale, but it's actually borrowed from the minor version of the same scale - the song's in G, so the 6th is E minor, BUT in G minor, the 6th would be Eb major (which is what you go to there). Spelling it like a D# major chord is a lot more head-scratchy, not least because it functions like a 6 chord rather than like a 5 chord in the progression.
Music theory. It's everywhere. :D
(Love the song btw)
tbh I never thought of the song like this but instead thought of it like a one sided conversation between one person who struggles with mental illness talking to and another who is mentally healthy and loves the person speaking and wants to help them. I think this way about the lyrics but the contrast between the lyrics (which are about a mentally unstable person) and the melody/instrumental is what particularly catch my attention because yes the lyrics talk about mental instability but the way the instruments are played and vocals are used a calming and cozy mood is produced. also, the video fits perfectly for this interpretation but with mine i was expecting more of a short film that takes place in a bed where the relationship between two lovers is shown (it also shows how mentally unstable the lover speaking is and how the mentally stable lover helps but struggles to help the mentally unstable one). ya feel me?
0 likesIf Dodie was my English lit prof I'd never skip a class
0 likesI always thought of it as being about a toxic relationship. But what I took out of it was that it was two people that love each other and really want to be together, but they know that they can't be truly happy like that. So they spend time together, trying to forget the bad things and laughing away the fear of how their relationship will end. Their friends and family are trying to end it for the good of the two lovers (the world will try), but no matter how fucked up it gets, they're in love.
0 likesI thought of the whole mental illness thing as a factor, and why it says "can you drink all my thoughts" , but their partner can't handle supporting them like that. The relationship is only hurting them.
I never analysed the song in much depth but after seeing the video and hearing a more in depth explanation of it I definitely agree with you. I never really thought of it as a "love song" a) because of the contrasting lyrics (or all the lyrics) and b) because it was you're song. Dodie writing a totally platonic "love song" with no underlying meaning never even crossed my mind. It is such a beautiful song which is sung equally as beautiful but if you listen to the lyrics it has so much more to say beneath them. Which is why I Dodie is such an amazing person! :))
0 likesI think I interpreted the song pretty much the same as you wrote it, but what I took away from it was more the relief a partner or relationship can give someone and how so much of relationships is just the two people caring for and looking after each other. It didn't feel like an unhealthy sort of dependence to me, but probably because I'm thinking from my own experience :)
0 likesThis was the only acoustic guitar song besides Hey There Delilah that I've ever liked because your lyrics are so beautiful and as a literary sort of person I really appreciate that
(keep in mind that english is my second language, so my vision can be strange)
0 likesI misunderstood song lyrics when I was listening this song for a first time and i thought that it says "love away the fear". Funny how one word changed the whole point, cause it doesn't sounds like a song about toxic relationship in this case. It sounds more like a song about two sad people trying to find a way to help each other.
as an a level english lit student I am in love with this video
2 likeseverything. makes. so. much. sense. to. me. now. omg. and that oohs killed me 💖
1 likeIs Sick of Losing Soulmates only about romantic love or you or does it also refer to the way friend groups grow apart and break away from each other as you grow into adulthood? It always really resonated with me and my experiences with my closest friends from when I was younger who now can't even be in the same room as each other because of bad breakups or drama or whatever.
0 likesI saw it at first as conversation between two people in a relationship. The writer of the song almost replaying the happy and comforting moments in their relationship as they talk. Then as the conversation moves into an argument about their commitment. They realise what this person does to them and how it affects the way they think and feel. The writer then ends the song feeling lost and scared
0 likesI think it's important to add that there isn't a wrong way to consume a song. For anyone who's feeling a bit inadequate, that your interpretation doesn't aline with Dodie's or maybe you didn't interpret at all bc it's just a nice song to have on repeat - that's completely fine! While art is meant to be deciphered and analysed, above all it is meant to be appreciated! There is no wrong way to listen to great music <3
1 likehonestly while i hadn't thought all that much about what i thought it meant, i definitely had vague notions, and your analysis made sense to all of them. the only think that caught me off guard was "so breathe, breathe with me" 'cause i had like, panic attack in my head. so literally breathe with me, help calm me, drink my thoughts 'cause i cant stand them. so when you said "more likely they're fucking" i went WAIT WHAT
0 likesASEXUAL ME STRIKES AGAIN
To me it's always been kind of a song from a sick hopeless romantic who one day dreams of some one to love but there are a few like "glitches" in her romantic fantasies where her sadness and sickness reveal themselves
0 likesReplies (1)
Also this song depicts me perfectly as I am a hopelessly romantic daydreamer with social anxiety
0 likesthis has so much depth holy crap
1 likeLYRIC ANALYSIS I LIVE FOR IT
2 likesI LOVE THIS SO MUUCH
0 likespersonally i view the song as what a relationship would look like with someone who has mental illnesses and the other person does not and how they both try to understand what each other are thinking and how it can be frustrating and masking the problem of not communicating thoroughly and just leaving the conversation short. i honestly think the music video for sick of losing soulmates fits this song well too! it was cool concept for the music video intertwined, but i think it would have gone better with a different song personally <3
1 likeI always imagined two people underneath the stars and one of them is trying to reach towards the other person (like speaking to them) but the other person is telling them to leave it and enjoy right here and now. But the other person can't enjoy the beautiful night and stars because they feel numb and are reaching out to the other person but are being let down. The other person is enjoy the night but feels pinned down to the weight of the other persons thoughts. It's just what I imagined when I first listen to the song and I imagined to ending as the person trying to reach out turning to the side and trying to laugh away the fear which is slowly taking over them. lol I know it's dark but it's just my thought love you Dodie 💞
0 likesI loved it and died when I watched it.
0 likesthis video just makes me realize (once again) that I'm just too stupid to write songs. I'm just not smart enough.
0 likeswhoa, this is probably just me cause english isnt my first language but i always thought "can you drink all my thoughts" meant get drunk with me until i literally pass out so i dont have any thoughts anymore. lol !
1 likeDodie, I love intertwined and I really want to understand what your thoughts were behind it, but I don't understand what you mean because of the way you say it :( if you or anyone for that matter please explain it in a simpler English?love you!
0 likesi always thought the song was about a love between two people but one has a mental illness and doesn't want to hurt the other. the "numb, fine" is a conversation between the two. the mentally ill one describing how they feel with "numb" and their lover saying it's "fine" and they'll still love them. the "i pinned each and every hope on you i hope that you don't bleed with me" is the ill one saying that they don't want to ruin their lover's life with the burden of their love. then states again that they're afraid. the lover responds with "but we can stay here and laugh away the fears" saying that they can laugh away the problems and just live in their love
0 likesi think the way i interpreted it was kind of a mix between how you wrote and and the sweet romantic way a lot of people interpreted it as. like you, i thought of the song being written from the point of view of someone with a mental illness like depression or anxiety but they're maybe a bit more hopeful? like its about those moments when you're laying down just cuddling with someone you care about and you know that your brain is a bit fucked and you also know that just being with that person isnt going to fix it because thats not how mental illness works but still it's comforting knowing that you're not alone and that someone cares about you. so yeah for me the song is basically "my brain isn't doing great and there's nothing you can do about it but i appreciate you being here nonetheless" (thats just from my personal experience of being in a relationship and having anxiety) (pls i love you and i love this song <3)
0 likes"can you drink all my thoughts" made me think the other person in the relationship had a thing with alcohol to try and deal with their partner's issues but that sounds so dumb now hahah
0 likesAlso, you look hecka gorgeous today!
0 likesIf i were tomato a music video, I would have it start off with this person that is make out of paper, they are black and white and everyone else is in colour, i would then throughout the song make they person they are singing to turn into black and white version. At the point of drink all my thoughts both, and their house, would be in black and white with a very colourful world outside; the are locked out by a big lock on all of the doors. I really needed to write this it has lifted a weight off my shoulders
1 likeI personally interpreted the song as the writer was going through a rough patch with their mental health and they're taking their mind off it all by becoming involved with another person who is taking In their thoughts but maybe starts applying these thoughts of the writer to themselves? I don't know how to explain it but for example if the writer thought she needed to lose weight and went on some crazy diet and lived off water for weeks, then the other person, who might've never had an issue with their weight before, suddenly believe that they too must loose weight. I also think that the writer would then become dependant on the other person and see them as an outlet whilst the other person just comforts them and reminds them it'll all get better and stuff, whilst getting dragged more and more into this pit of mental health issues. That's why I think the song contrasts so much because this other person has two faces, the kind comforting face the writer sees and the down face that the other person is turning more and more into mainly because the writer is feeding them with these negative thoughts an feelings whilst this makes them feel a bit better its making the other person feel alot worse. I'm not too sure how well this theory or whatever fits with the song and music video but I also think this because of things that have happened to me in the past but I always thought of it a bit like this aha
0 likesI always took it as someone with a mental illness and when they're with their SO they feel relief like they haven't before kind of??? Idk if that makes sense
0 likesYou. Are. Incredible.
0 likesHoly fucking shit dude I am gonna swear a lot in this comment. dodie is so fucking talented like I've always seen her lyrics as absolutely beautifully written and so touching but this analysis has just blown me away to a whole other extinct. I've seen it as what I wanted. Thats how I have analyzed it. I gotta like a lot of mental health issues and what I am dreaming of is somebody who will just hold my hand and tell me encouraging words till I get to the other side. I used to want someone to save me but now I want somebody to just hold me through this shit. But this analysis makes so much sense and I've kind of thought about the fact that if I was to find that someone to hold my hand I would become so independent on them and they could in a second break me more than I already am so a toxic relationship as described in the song. dodie keeps impressing me and with this amount of talent I don't understand how she don't have a fan base of millions. Like that lyric is the same amount of clever as the poems I've analyzed in school. It wouldn't surprise me if dodie become famous like those poems are now. She definitely deserves it and I'm honestly just so touched about how precise this lyric is to me and just how amazing the lyric is that I might actually have a breakdown.
0 likesSorry for the rambling apparently I got no stop button.
songwriter of the year award goes to .... DODIE
0 likesThis is fucking amazing
0 likesAS AN ENGLISH MAJOR I AM LIVING RIGHT NOW DODIE
1 likei love you so much ❤❤❤ i hope you had a great birthday!!! (same bday as my mum)
0 likesI kinda hit in the middle of Dodie's original thoughts and the commonly seen lovey dovey concept. At first I listened I saw all love and romance, but the more I listened the more I saw the dark undertones. I always interpreted the song to be about two lovers, but one is mentally ill and the other is not. The mentally ill lover feels like they are drowning and is so stuck in their own head and filled with all of these ugly dark feelings that make them feel both overwhelmed and numb at the same time. But the other lover, acts as their lighthouse, in a way. They are the lantern in the darkness, and they help guide the struggling lover back home to safety and love. Their unconditional high regard, physical reassurance, and acceptance of day's good and bad help keep them both afloat. As the song nears its end, both lovers have accepted that they want to be there for the other person, no matter what kind of day it is. So, with fear being the last word sung, it reminds the listener that love doesn't fix mental illness. That fear, those problems, will not just go away. But the fact that the lovers have each other makes it a bit more bearable.
0 likesBut something to keep in mind is that I am in the exact situation I've just described, so my own life situation impacts the way I perceive this song. I'm a mentally ill person in a relationship with someone who's not mentally ill. And he's kinda my lantern.
this is actually really interesting, dodie please help with my english gcse!!!
0 likesI kinda thought the same, but less "unstable" and more juxtaposition. The lyrics (to me) shows someone frantically trying to cover up a mental condition from a lover, occasionally slipping up, shown in the more gory and contrasting words.
0 likesThe music video then fits that idea with the main object or noun, so to speak, being barbie dolls, which usually correlates to youth, innocence and, to some, happiness. However, the foreground (noun, barbie) is trying to cover up the background, or the verbs- what the barbies are doing. The gruesome and mentally ill things the barbie's doing constantly contrasts with the fact that they're just a barbie doll. This shows that like the lyrics, the writer is trying to hide/cover up a mental illness.
I would write another paragraph about the chords but I should finish this essay and start the one I'm actually supposed to be doing so have a conclusion:
To conclude, I believe that the overall song "Intertwined" is less unbalanced and more a story of how the writer is trying to cover up a mental illness, whilst simultaneously crying for help, which is shown in the fact that the song was written in the first place. This is a vicious cycle and can make the audience conflicted and possibly confused, but the more intelligent members of the audience would notice the underlying message and leave with sympathy for the writer.
Miss Nelson I hope you're proud
I see it as not just one person's point of view but the shared views of both people in the relationship. For me this relationship is new and exciting but both people have fears that something will go wrong because of their own individual problems.
0 likes{short version}
Overall I see people that have their own problems coming into a happy (but not necessarily healthy) relationship and trying to make it work without it crumbling around them. The song to me is a snapshot of a perfect moment where the fears are beginning to creep back.
{vv long version soz}
(• = each verse)
• 'Skin, heat...' - maybe it's just my dirty mind but I though this was the moment after sex. They are lying in bed and feeling as if time has stopped just feeling how they are in the moment. The physicality of the relationship. Everything being very literal in this verse which is very different to some other parts of the song.
• 'Oh you...' - Again time is stopped and in this moment when they are together nothing can get to them. They are safe but there is still the lingering problems (mental health, problems in the relationship itself etc.). They are in this moment and time is stopped because they do love how they feel in the moment but are both scared of what will happen once it is over because they know their problems will be hard to over come hence 'the world will try'. They are brushing this inevitability off to try and prolong the good feeling.
• 'Oh, I'm afraid...' - Continues the idea that they are scared that their own problems will negatively impact the relationship once time starts again but if they can stay in that moment forever then the relationship will be prefect. The fear comes from the fact that they know they cannot stay in that moment forever. They are also willing to try and really want to make it work - 'we can stay here'
• 'Numb, fine ...' - The mental aspects of the people and the relationship, this time not physical. Mirroring the beginning, this phrase is telling us about feelings in the relationship, but this time they relate to the mental issues that mean that even in the perfect moment their mind is still numb and fine. However, even with this, the other person can still make them smile and laugh while they feel numb. The word 'genuine' indicates the pretence of other smiles I.e. The person is hiding their numbness from the rest of the world and pretending like everything is okay when it is not. In this moment they are happy because their smile is real but they are scared for the time to end and the fake okay to come back.
• 'So breath...' - this again is them trying to prolong the good feeling before the magic wares off and times begins again. I think this is also an invitation to each other to know and understand everything about the other person all the way to their breathing pattern. The question 'can you drink all my thoughts?' to me is more of a rhetorical one. They are asking each other if they can tell them all their troubles but only asking to be polite. They know that there is trust within the relationship, even though it is a new relationship, as the two are so similar that they just understand each other. I don't think the question is 'can you drink all my thoughts?' But will you survive my thoughts? I think this because of the next line. Neither one can stand their own thoughts so they know deep down that eventually the others thoughts will crush them in the same way their own do. They share their thoughts anyway because it is a quick fix of support that will eventually fail. At this point I think time is beginning to start again but then...
• 'Intertwined (#plug), free (#absolutelynotrecordingisexpensive)' - ...but then either time slows again or they remember the feelings when time had stopped. Then they are kind of terrified that they have opened up too soon or in the wrong way or too much. It's kind of an I've told you please don't tell moment. As well as this it's the idea that they know deep down they cannot 'fix' each other but they really want to 'fix' each other and they really want to be 'fixed'.
• 'I'm afraid...' - mirroring the earlier sentiments but this time they are maybe saying it out loud to each other. They know they have problems but they hope that they can at least try to get through them. Here I feel hope that this relationship could try to support each other but also that fact that this is unlikely as they are basing it on a very fragile feeling, physically - the moment after sex - and mentally - emotional vulnerability.
+doddlevloggle I always pictured a person with extreme Anxiety (and possibly other mental health issues) being in a relationship with someone, (or how they perceive them to be) without mental issues. Although they are in love with this person and feel better alround them, they're scared to put all their problems on their partner and be a burden. They seek a safe haven in this relationship, by avoiding their problems (which can lead to unhealthy thoughts and feelings).They want to share, but are scared to. Ultimately they're afraid of the world, their problems, and causing problems for others, which leads to denying the fact that they have any problems when asked (The first Numb is internalized, and the Fine is what is vocalized and expressed to others)
1 likeI think this is similar to your theory, which i really love and can picture as well <3
Replies (1)
This is my personal favorite song of yours because I think you can find so much meaning behind it :)
0 likesso lovely
0 likesdodie should be my teacher
0 likesHoly fuck I love this video
1 likethis is some lin-manuel level writing
2 likesDoes this count as English revision? ( also I love this)
0 likesthis analysis fucked me up oh my god dodie ur a genius
0 likesOk, Dodie, do you need a hug?
1 likeHOLY YOURE SO SMART
0 likes(Also there is an English teacher at my school named ms.trueman 😂)
This is soooo good oml. I shall make an analysis!
0 likesomG on the thumbnaiil you look especially, extremely pretty 😍
0 likesI apologize if someone already pointed this out already, but I feel like the fact that people who initially listen to the song and then think that it's really romantic and nice go to see the music video and get confused as to why it's so filled with gore and violence may kind of capture the point of view of the person who is in this relationship. Like how they think everything is happy and alright but they don't actually realize the reality of it all???
0 likesYeah sorry for any grammatical errors I made lol
i've watched the music video like 10101929392930033 times
1 likeCan you teach me english lit please i could listen to your lessons all day
1 likei wish you were my teacher
1 likethat video literally ruined the song and scarred me for life. I wanted to curl into a ball and bleach my brain....You can probably tell I have a fear of dolls
0 likesI found this very interesting
0 likeswow. just wow.
0 likesI sort if thought it was about falling out of love
0 likeswhy in the world weren't you my english teacher!!!!
0 likesFuckkkk u look flawlesss
0 likesBecause of this analysis I'm gonna get an a* cause I know how to fucking donit
0 likesif my teacher is sick can you be a substitute or smthn
1 likeTeach me Dodie
0 likesone question though, the little mmhm at the end is that a giggle or you confirming something? idk it always confused me..
0 likesMy English teacher would love you.
0 likesholy shit. dats good
0 likesi was eating crisps while watching this, so have to watch again :(
0 likesThis counts as English revision,right?
1 likefor.some.fucking reason
0 likesi thought that it was "hand in ur mouth" instead of hair
and always thought what the fuckck
do a ted talk
0 likesWill you replace my English teacher?
0 likes+doddleoddle Please can you help me? I think I have Anxiety and Depression. I am 13. And that is the issue because my GP won't do anything until I have a diagnosis from a phycologist but the phycologist won't do anything until I get a diagnosis from the GP. How do I break this cycle? My panic attacks and depression are only getting worse. What do I do?
0 likesShe is Jess from new girl in real life
0 likesHey dodie are you interested in being a teacher
0 likesPLEAS EBE MY TEACHER
very interesting
0 likesand why cant i learn this for english instead of stupid shakespeare
1 likedang that lighting tho
0 likesIdk why but I thought it was about a girl with schizophrenia and her boyfriend and though out the song a video she gets madder and sicker.... yeah I can get pretty creative
1 likeWHEN WOULD YOUR FAVE EVER
0 likes