What does Elastic Heart mean?

Sia: Elastic Heart Meaning

Album cover for Elastic Heart album cover

Song Released: 2013


Elastic Heart Lyrics

And another one bites the dust
Oh why can I not conquer love
And I might have thought that we were one
Wanted to fight this war without weapons

And I wanted it, I wanted it bad
But there were so many red flags
Now another one bites the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Jan 11th 2015 !⃝

    When Sia was young her and her father had a mental disorder. The cage represents the illness. Her father and her would fight and then sia escaped the illness leaving her father behind. She notices he has different side- crazy,mad,depressed... She tries to help him but ultimately he is left with the illness.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Jan 14th 2015 !⃝

    Okay, so THIS is the controversial video I heard about?! More like intense, interpretive, modern Shakespearean storytelling! The beauty of this - the art of it - is that everyone will understand the meaning of this piece so differently, depending on their own life experiences. Anyone who perceives "inappropriate sexuality" in this brilliant piece of artwork is likely projecting their own subconscious issues (placed there by the twisted society in which we live). Personally, I see a serious relationship, with ones self or another, a bipolar disorder of raw emotions, running the gamut from manic delight and playful energy, to violent anger and tragic hopelessness. The cage, and even the song's use of Mark Twain's "elastic heart of youth", there's so much symbolism throughout!!

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Apr 9th 2015 !⃝

    Peoples criticisms mean nothing to her.The cage represents her negative comments from other people.The man represents her emotions.The girl is herself.In the video she tries to pull him out but realizes he cant fit she goes back for him.aka she wanted he emotions to get over the negative things.

  4. anonymous
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    Oct 1st 2020 !⃝

    Did you all miss that Sis stated she knew people would associate the visual with paedophilia? All I'm saying is if she is aware of what the public will read into it, yet goes with it, does that not point to intention? If the song had zero to do with minor attracted adults, she would have said no to the pitch, as it would give the wrong impression.

  5. anonymous
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    Oct 25th 2019 !⃝

    I think it refers to bullying like

    You did not break me I'm still fighting for peace means she wants all this bullying to stop

    Another one bites the dust means another victim being hurt by bullies


    Sorry if this is not accurate but I just wanted to share my opinion

  6. anonymous
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    Aug 7th 2019 !⃝

    I love sis I think she is a great singer and song writer she is real and sings from the ❤️ even throw she had been threw a lot she still keeps going no matter what her songs have lots of meaning of what she has gone threw and I understand because I've been there almost what is m going threw

  7. Baby_Bear_Is_Bomb
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    Sep 18th 2017 !⃝

    This was about when Sia and her father would fight because of a mental problem he had and she finally escapes but tries to help him out and will stay strong, not break and get her father through this

  8. anonymous
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    Mar 25th 2017 !⃝

    For me it means constant forgiveness of someone I love who is always getting angry with me he'll take what I say the wrong way he'll rant and rave at me I feel like I'm the strong one as il never let it get me down il look for the positives in life u only have to look at nature the beauty all around you even the harshness of it can be beautiful ur mind can conquer anything u can be in the worst place on earth but ur mind can take you wherever you want u can feel totally unloved or very lonely but your mind can fix that with adoring ur own bones the one thing u can't do is fix someone you love this man has made me realise this through his at times hatred of me now I love myself more than him its weird though I still love him a very strange relationship I am out the cage but il go into it to see him he's unable to get out the cage perhaps due to very bad childhood physical violence he recieved from his own mother the person you are supposed to trust most he was close to going for counselling years ago he was going to talk about what happened as alcohol addiction nearly killed him but decided against it I adore this man we've grown apart I can see us letting each other go it's been a long unwinding experience I've given my all when nothing was left now we're unwinding perhaps that why I feel he feels hatred towards me but if I'm honest il realise this he just doesn't love me as much as l love him and my new love for myself is something he can't compete with because he either just doesn't love me enough or is unable to due to childhood difficulties or the fact I think he could have Asperger syndrome so sees things in a different way from me either way the relationship is fucked he knows it and I know it but still we end up together my excuse is it's Love il prop only be able to move on after he does for all sorts of reasons so this song reminds me of me I've got an elastic heart I'm very very forgiving of him I know this though all I've learned I take into my next relationship

  9. anonymous
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    Sep 12th 2016 !⃝

    These emotions are killing me from within. I can’t escape you/ you’re welcoming, I want to invite you in but im too tough, ive learned now, i’m not letting you hurt me. Im getting out haha. Im coming back to yow; have you not changed? lets leave.. Come with me..come one…lets go. (he quits, he gives up) she tries her everything to pull him out of this. Its impossible, because he gave up.

  10. singerstargirl
    click a star to vote
    Aug 25th 2016 !⃝

    I think this song is about showing your true feelings. "I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard". This sentence is very powerful. People will hurt you again and again and you can always laugh it off... Until all of a sudden you can't and you snap.

  11. anonymous
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    Feb 22nd 2015 !⃝

    First off I'll just be listing my interpretation of the video. Hardest thing about interpretative dance is I'm never sure if I correctly interpreted hidden messages or not. It seems that everyone really does take their own life experiences to relate to the dance. I can relate to my interpretation, but my life circumstances were not the same.

    My perspective of the song was that the cage represented poverty, and inside which a father and daughter are constantly fighting each other. The father has to be stronger and more compassionate than his daughter to combat her constant change and desire to escape from current circumstances; grasping her throat to get her voice out. Near the end of the video she escapes, and when she realizes her father cannot follow she goes back in to save him. She changes him, and tries to lead him out of the trap; but for some reason he cannot escape like her no matter how hard she tries to pull him out.

  12. lauramilou
    click a star to vote
    Dec 31st 2014 !⃝

    Sia is talking about maltreatment in this song. There are many phrases that proof that.

    "I've got a thick skin and an elastic heart" means that all the insults and blows she receives don't affect her. Her thick skin makes them to "rebound" instead of affecting her. But this isn't true, because they actually hurt her, but she doesn't show her pain to anyone.

    And when she's saying that she's got an elastic heart, means that she has to "adapt" to love and to her lovers. Her heart is a metaphore of her love. And her love is elastic, meaning that she also has to be the one who forgives to the other one, and the one who gets hurt.

    "I'm still fighting for peace" means that she makes all the possible she can do for not fighting. She doesn't like fights, she wants to live in peace.

    "I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard" means that by the moment she's holding on. She's like a rubber band because she changes of appearance. The inults hurt her, but she has to pretend like she's strong, when actually she isn't. She's forgiving to the others. When the others "pull too hard" it will be the moment that they run down Sia's patience, and it will be the moment that she will "exploit" and do some insanity.

    "Oh why can I not conquer love". Sia explains that when she loves someone, she's so sure that their love is true. But it isn't, because at the end all her lovers hurt her. She wants to "conquer love", because she wants a complete real love, with peace and without fights.

    "But you won't see me fall apart", means that even though the insults hurt her, she will never show her pain to the others. She saves her pain for herself. By saying "falling apart", Sia refers to cry.

    "And I might have thought that we were one". She refers that she thought that their love (of her and her lover) was true. But it wasn't, because her lover hurted her.

    "Wanted to fight this war without weapons". The weapons are a metaphore of the insults and blows she receives. SHe explains that, even though she receives them, she doesn't want to do that, because she's not like this. She's a peaceful person.

    "And I wanted it, I wanted it so bad, but there were so many red flags": what she wanted so bad was to have a real love. The red flags are a metaphore of the scars left on her body because of the blows she receives, and the scars left on her self-esteem because of the insults she receives.

    "And another one bites the dust" refers to the moments when she's hitted and she falls in the floor. She's "biting the dust when she falls in the floor.

    "Yeah let's be clear I trust no one" refers that she's been hurted so many times that, actually, she trusts no one, because she has realized that everyone can hurt her easily, because she's a sensitive person that gets hurts easily.

    I could carry on explaining many other examples, but I think I've been clear.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 25th 2014 !⃝

    And another one bites the dust
    Oh why can I not conquer love

    Saying she has been trying to figure out love and thought this time it would work but it didn't and she is sick of failing

    And I might have thought that we were one
    Wanted to fight this war without weapons

    Saying she didn't want to break things off again because she is sick of it and she is sick of getting hurt by (weapons) people because they continue to break up with her and heart her.

    And I wanted it, I wanted it so bad,
    But there were so many red flags

    Saying she really wanted it to work but she had a omniscient conscious that told her it wouldn't work

    And another one bites the dust,
    Yeah let's be clear I trust no one

    Saying she will never fully trust any man, even if they do end up being the one because she has been hurt so many times in the past.

    You did not break me
    I'm still fighting for peace

    Saying that even though she may be hurt she won't give up the fight because she won't let it overcome her and that one say she will win the fight of love

    I've got thick skin and an elastic heart,
    But your blade, it might be too sharp

    Saying she's used to being hurt so she doesn't really care, but this time she really loved this guy and it hurts worse than usual

    I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard
    I may snap and I move too fast

    Saying she could possibly break after this break up, and that she is tired and tired of being hurt constantly.

    But you won't see me fall apart,
    Cause I've got an elastic heart

    Saying she knows that she can Get through this and that no matter what she won't let him know he hurt her.


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