In any case, the good news about relationships like the one that Bareilles is sketching is they happen when you're 19 or 20 (she wrote it when she was 20 - what an amazing artist!) - and if you pay attention to your own life, you'll grow out of this vulnerability (or callousness, if you're the man in this story). It's a paradox, as is true of much great art. Yet the magic of the song is that, being sung from the woman's side of the relationship, she projects power by speaking so honestly about her powerlessness. There is sadness either way: it's painful to think of a young man so unfeeling that, sensing a woman's vulnerability, he exploits her rather than reaching out as a friend and it's sad to see a young woman unable to hold her own in a relationship, and fully aware of this weakness even while it's happening. She fears the young man's 'reign' over her, but senses that her own compulsions may be behind it. The song toys with victimhood without surrendering to it. Bareilles perfectly captures the self-doubt in her sense of powerlessness, not sure whether the 'gravity' emanates from him or from her, but knowing that it weakens her. I associate the feelings in this song with college love - relationships driven by curiosity, sexuality and self-discovery, but also shrouded in confusion and loneliness as only young love can be. I'm not surprised that so many are moved by this song - it pairs rich, revealing language with achingly beautifully music. She accepts him and herself for the way they both are and wants to bring him up in life and make him think only the best of himself. Anyone else that you exiled from your life because you thought they did that a little too harshly, that's hypocritical because you love your parents for doing that for you. Love can be painful sometimes, love can be a drug, love can make you feel weighed down but honestly people who has done that for you that you haven't loved? You can't name anyone because it's what your parents did and still do for you. This song is only about how true and how pure love can truly be. She is willing to put everything into something to try to make him see what he means to her. He keeps her from letting her thoughts run away with her. This song shows that all that matters in the end is that they are in love and their love is never ending and undying. There are moments it becomes hard but she reminds herself why he loves her and why she loves him. This song represents that he is like an addiction to her and some moments may be strained but that is with all relationships. To me this song is about thinking that you are bad for each other but in the end you know that you keep each other on a realistic ground level reality.

Sara bareilles gravity lyrics