“Falling Inside the Black” by Skillet || Worship With Me #27

Welcome back to my latest music review series, “Worship with Me.” This series introduces you to new worship music that you might have heard before. I aim to connect with you through worship and build your relationship with God in ways you might not have tried.

Today’s song is “Falling Inside the Black” by Skillet. I’ve talked about getting into their music before, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. Skillet was my introduction to Christian rock, especially most of their mainstream hits. I grew to enjoy the energy and vibe of that genre of music because my repertoire of Christian music excluded anything rock or metal. This song was my first endeavor, or at least my main memory, of going outside their general hits.

I could not find any direct articles or interviews by Skillet about what this song means, so we will just discuss some of my favorite lyrics and what they mean to me.

Tonight I’m so alone

This sorrow takes a hold

Don’t leave me, it’s so cold

Never wanna be so cold

Your touch used to be so kind

Your touch used to give me life

I’ve waited all this time

I’ve wasted so much time

In a weird coincidence, this almost feels like a breakup song. We covered LEDGER’s “Ruin” last week, and this almost feels like the same vibe, especially with the concept of touch. The idea of being separated from someone special and losing out on the warmth of a relationship entails being physically, emotionally, or spiritually separated. It could be about the relationship with God with very intimate imagery, but the overall lyrics lead me towards something more romantic.

It feels like the song’s main character is sitting in their home or in their room on the first night after the heartbreak. A lot of grief is being held on him, making me wonder if there’s fault coming from the main character. They could’ve done something to cause the separation, or there’s a character trait within them that the significant other had enough of. They dread being alone, feeling as if their world has gone cold. They feel dead to the world, or at least dead inside. They’re missing out on their touch. They found love in it. They found life in it. Their significant other was the reason that they could progress through life, but this heartbreak has paralyzed them. They were waiting, but for what? If this were the case, it would be a relationship, and a breakup would occur. I wonder if it was for marriage. I wonder if they were preparing to propose when they broke up. Now that the relationship is no more, the main character may feel that all this time waiting for this moment is wasted. The frustration continues to build and build inside of him, leading him to speak these words in the chorus:

Falling in the black, slipping through the cracks

Falling to the depths, can I ever go back?

Dreaming of the way it used to be, can you hear me?

Falling in the black, slipping through the cracks

Falling to the depths, can I ever go back?

Falling inside the black

They’re in a dark place. The reality they once clung to is slipping away, falling through the cracks of life’s path. The fall continues their deep descent into grief or madness. I fear that the main character is going into a deep depression that they feel they can’t come back from. It makes me wonder if the main character is going through wrestling with suicidal ideations. I say from the fact that he’s asking if he’s being heard. He could be sharing with their ex or a trusted individual their heartache and grief, and they are receiving toxic positivity or hearing the cliché recovery phrases in response. He’s not being heard and continuing to feel rejected, leaning on the dark thoughts that are going through his mind a mile a minute.

The one thing we don’t hear about in this song is God. God’s nowhere to be seen in this song, and I believe that’s intentional. This song, I think, is a cry out to God. Asking God to bring life back to the way it was. Asking God to bring their significant other back into their life so they’re not alone. Screaming to God if he can hear him or if his prayers go unheard. That’s power and something most of us have gone through. When life gets rough and puts us in a deep depression, we often forget about the source of life we can find in God. We get caught up in our thoughts, creating patterns of life that we never wanted but are starting to become comfortable with. When we get into these ruts and fall into the darkness, reaching out to God is time.

I’ll wrap up this review here. Let me know if you agree with my thoughts or have another story this song tries to tell. Enjoy the song, and I’ll see you next week with a brand-new review. Until then, stay blessed.