Released: 2024
Delving into the heart of “These Walls” by Dua Lipa, the song unfolds like an elegy for a love that’s crumbling. The lyrics cut deep into a relationship hanging by a thread, where the silence between the couple echos louder than words.
In the opening lines, “Maybe we should switch careers / ‘Cause baby, you know no one beats our poker faces”, Lipa ironically hints at the facade the couple maintains. The term ‘poker faces’ refers to the expressionless guise players wear to conceal their hand in a poker game, a metaphor for the couple hiding their true feelings in this relationship.
The repetition of “if these walls could talk” throughout the song, personifies the unvoiced feelings of the couple. Like silent bystanders, the walls of their home have absorbed the pain and undercommunication that have burrowed deep within the relationship. The resulting dialogues would echo “Enough”, “Give Up”, “You’re Fucked”, ostensibly reflecting the unsaid sentiments hovering between them.
The lines “It’s not supposed to hurt this much” and “We call it love but hate it here” suggest an unbearable emotional struggle. It underscores the paradox of love turning sour, where the place they once called home is now a source of discomfort.
When Lipa sings “Did we really mean it when we said ‘forever'”, she is questioning the superficial promises of everlasting love that they made. The nature of this rhetorical question implies an innate understanding that maybe ‘forever’ was just an illusion.
As the song progresses, the refrain“They’d tell us to break up” grows more insistent, almost chanting like a mantra. Yet, Lipa also admits her hesitation to end the relationship, singing “You don’t wanna go / Don’t wanna stop / Heaven knows I / Don’t wanna be the one to cut it off”. Here, she keenly portrays the dichotomy of wanting to leave but also to stay – a common agony in deteriorating relationships.
Overall, “These Walls” is a poignant tale of a grim love story, cloaked in the silence that’s deafening and walls that speak volumes. In its raw narrative, the lyrics insightfully reflect the pain, conflict, and hesitations of a breaking heart, thus resonating deep within the listeners.
