Scared Of Fear

Once again, Pearl Jam shows their knack for crafting heartfelt and emotional lyrics while using powerful and captivating beats, like in "Scared Of Fear," the opening track of their eighteenth album, "Dark Matter," released in 2024. The song's opening lines reveal the narrator's fear of truth: we don't have control over anything in life, even though we sometimes like to believe we do ("We all like control, I surrender to you, dear"). This brings up questions about possible mistakes made and feeling out of sync with a loved one, but these questions hardly ever have a clear, absolute answer.

The chorus also raises doubt: even if the narrator believes their loved one is acting to hurt both themselves and the narrator, as in "I think you're hurting yourself just to hurt me," how true is that? Could these actions be the result of inner conflict, a battle between fears and vulnerabilities? This verse also presents the couple's old life: they had a happy relationship, stars of their movie, but then things change, and their partner leaves ("All around my head, as if you never left").

Through these questions, it's clear the narrator isn't sure who was responsible for the change in their relationship. But being human, and sometimes proud, it's hard to admit defeat or let go of what we want. The narrator, feeling the same, is torn between wanting to make the relationship work ("Oh, let me fall at your feet") and changing their own mistakes, as seen in the line "Why must I be compelled to admit defeat?"

The chorus once again brings back the nostalgia of happier times when the couple laughed, sang, and danced together, contrasting with the current reality of pain and misunderstanding. This duality between the happy past and the painful present is a powerful metaphor for the fragility of human relationships and how they can deteriorate over time, sometimes slipping through our fingers without us realizing the situation is becoming unsustainable for one or both sides.

Finally, the voices in the narrator's head constantly symbolize the mental and emotional confusion they're facing. They wonder if they've lost a friend or their partner, and question what they've become. It seems like there's no more time to fix what's broken, and these voices grow louder, even though the narrator doesn't want to give up and face the reality that their loved one isn't coming back. These verses demonstrate the struggle against the fear of losing someone you love and the attempt to keep hope alive, even in the face of pain and improbability, which isn't always the best path to take.