☝️ Key Points
- The song is about a painful separation despite existing love, due to an unhealthy relationship structure and repeated cycles of separation.
- Adele expresses the desire to end her relationship once and for all to avoid a constant pattern of separation and reconciliation.
- The singer describes the feeling of growing distance and frustration in her relationship and suggests that she already feels defeated.
- Adele emphasizes that she can no longer ignore the truth about the state of her relationship and cannot pretend that everything is fine.
- She expresses the desire to live beyond mere survival and shows that this is not possible in her current relationship.
Interpretation
The song 'Love in the Dark' by
Adele is about an emotional and painful breakup. Adele expresses her feelings by telling how she has to separate from her partner even though she still loves him. However, she feels too distant and cannot love him 'in the dark', which means she cannot continue her love in an unhealthy or insecure relationship.
The lyrics 'Take your eyes off of me so I can leave. I'm too ashamed to do this with you watching. This never-ending, we've been here before' suggest a repeated separation and reconciliation. However, this time she wants to leave for good as she feels she no longer loves him.
In the lines 'I can't love you in the dark. It feels like we're oceans apart. There's so much space between us. Maybe we're already defeated' Adele shows her frustration and resignation. She feels they have already lost and the relationship is no longer salvageable.
The lines 'You've given me something I can't live without. Don't underestimate it when you're in doubt. But I don't want to keep pretending that everything's fine. The longer we ignore it, the more we'll fight' show that she can no longer ignore the truth. She doesn't want to keep pretending that everything's fine and keep fighting.
The final lines 'I wanna live and not just survive. That's why I can't love you in the dark' show her desire for a better life. She doesn't want to just survive, but fully live, which is not possible in her current relationship.