Would you say the album is about a get-together or a breakup?

It's really not about either. It's more about two people who are trying to find certain things and trying to escape certain things, and they're trying to do both through each other. Before anybody can really have relationships, they have to deal with the major issues in their lives. To me, this story is acknowledging that. The relationship between those two people really has a lot of love in it, but it's like love is the easy part; that's not really the point. In the story, the guy has a drug addiction that becomes more apparent, and nothing can really happen until that’s dealt with. I know a lot of addicts—or recovering addicts—or alcoholics, or people who had parents [who were addicted]. It's exploring the dynamic of both sides of love. It's a heartache all around.

When you were writing, were you sympathizing more with Caroline or John?

Both. I wrote songs from both points of view and they're both kinda in the same boat. She has this idea of what she wants her life to be and is just barking up the wrong tree—a tree that won't ever really deliver that kind of life—and he thinks drugs are gonna help him live the life he wants to live, and so they're both misguided.

How does someone like her make someone like him "better”?

A very close friend of mine is a drug addict, and he's relapsed, and I just literally don't know how to deal with it. You can't "do" anything, anyway, except in terms of your own feelings. Some people think they’re helping and they're really not helping. …You can’t change anybody. [Laughs.] It's hard to change somebody when they think what they've got works for them.

Does dating the "bad boy" always have to end the same way?

That personality looks good on the outside, but really falls apart when you get close to it. They're never really known. The façade—the act and the show—is fascinating, but there's no getting past it.

The way you write is very literary, lots of narrative—and this is a love story. What do you consider a great love story?

I'm very suspicious of love stories because they give a really false impression. Love stories depend on the idea that you can gain your emotional sustenance entirely from another person. I think that's a very dangerous road, because you can't. It's a huge burden on the other person, and inevitably one of the people starts pulling away, like "Aah! I can't take being your caretaker."

Any relationships that were a catalyst for your songwriting?