Song Meaning

The narrator is clearly struggling with a partner who frequently needs "space," leaving them confused and exasperated. They can't "read his face" when he makes this request. This immediate tension sets up a relatable dynamic of misunderstanding. The core question becomes: where are the boundaries in this relationship? The central conflict revolves around the elusive nature of this "space." The narrator directly asks how much is too much, and how much is not enough, highlighting their genuine confusion and the difficulty in navigating a relationship with someone so seemingly distant. Describing him as "Dating a total astronaut" isn't just a clever turn of phrase; it frames his emotional unavailability as a fundamental part of his being, making the struggle "really really tough." The lyrics brilliantly juxtapose the cosmic with the comically mundane to illustrate this distance. The boyfriend is depicted as "always staring at stars," painting a picture of lofty detachment, only to be immediately undercut by the petty, relatable annoyance of him consuming all the narrator's Mars Bars. This shift from the sublime to the ridiculous perfectly captures the narrator's frustration with a partner who is both grandly unavailable and annoyingly inconsiderate. Even the narrator's attempt to bridge the gap by driving a Saturn—a cosmic gesture—is met with a dismissive "totally didn't matter." Ultimately, the repeated refrain of "Dark matter, dark matter" powerfully encapsulates the emotional impact of these lyrics. It suggests an invisible, pervasive, and utterly incomprehensible force at play in the relationship. This isn't just about needing space; it's about a fundamental lack of understanding, a void that the narrator cannot penetrate or comprehend. The repetition leaves the listener with a lingering sense of an unbridgeable, perhaps even existential, distance, making the lyrics resonate with anyone who's felt truly lost in a relationship.