Domestic abuse works to erode self agency (Davey, 2015, para. 46), and ‘Unkind’ is a song which seeks to address just that. The singer feels unrecognisable to herself as she loses her sense of identity within a toxic relationship, and comes to the realisation that she is being manipulated.
The vocal performance builds and falls in intensity as the singer repeatedly gains assertiveness and then doubts herself, signifying the complex relationship that we can have with our own thoughts and feelings when we are experiencing, or have experienced, abuse.
Further Resources
Davey, M. (2015) ‘The Most Dangerous Time: Five Women Tell Their Stories of Leaving an Abusive Relationship’, The Guardian, 2 June. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2015/jun/02/domestic-violence-five-women-tell-their-stories-of-leaving-the-most-dangerous-time (Accessed: 1st May 2022).