Debuted live during her 2018 US tour, “Arms Unfolding” is a short a cappell… Read Full Bio ↴Debuted live during her 2018 US tour, “Arms Unfolding” is a short a cappella song. During her Brooklyn performance, Dodie said this song is about “my two friends who are learning to fall in love with each other again.”

During the live performances she asked the audience to hum two notes, which she sang over.

In a video released on January 22nd, 2019 entitled “I hid a secret song in my videos”, Dodie revealed that she had secretly hidden words from this “secret scrapbook song” in her videos over the previous nine months.

“Arms Unfolding” is the only track that Dodie has produced herself (besides “I have a hole in my tooth”).

Dodie has frequently explained this song as being about “learning to fall in love again”.

In January 2019, she revealed that she had “hidden a secret song in her videos”, explaining why she had chosen to use “Arms Unfolding”:

"I was inspired by two friends who were learning to love each other again because that’s how I was kind of feeling about YouTube at the time."

In a later video, celebrating the release of "Human", Dodie also added that the song was about:

"giving someone or something who hurt/damaged you a second chance because they’ve grown, and so have you."

Arms Unfolding
dodie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

hope i'm not tired of rebuilding
cause this might take a little more
i think i'd like to try look at you
and feel the way i did before.

oh, our fire died last winter
all of the shouting blew it out
you know i could live without or with you,

but i might like having you about.

yes, these new walls are pretty hard to crack
it might take a while until i trust you won't attack
oh i apologise, but it was only self defence
running away just made sense

but here i am with arms unfolding
i guess it isn't quite the end

old partner in crime, i am going to try
to fall in love with you again.

Overall Meaning

In the first verse of "Arms Unfolding," dodie expresses a reluctance to let down her walls and rebuild her relationship with someone. She admits that it may take some effort and time to regain the trust and feelings that she had before. In the second verse, dodie reflects on the past and recognizes that their previous arguments may have contributed to the demise of their relationship. Despite the possibility of living without the person, dodie admits that she might like having them around. However, she also acknowledges that rebuilding the relationship may not be easy and that it may take some time to learn to trust the person again. In the chorus, dodie appears hopeful, and she opens her arms to the possibility of falling in love with the person again.

Line by Line Meaning

hope i'm not tired of rebuilding
I hope I am not exhausted from fixing things.

cause this might take a little more
This might require more effort than before.

i think i'd like to try look at you
I want to attempt to look at you again.

and feel the way i did before.
And have the feelings I used to have about you.

oh, our fire died last winter
Our passion for each other disappeared in the past.

all of the shouting blew it out
The yelling destroyed it completely.

you know i could live without or with you,
I can continue to exist with or without you around.

but i might like having you about.
But it would be nice to have you around.

yes, these new walls are pretty hard to crack
These barriers to entry are quite challenging to overcome.

it might take a while until i trust you won't attack
It might take some time before I trust that you won't hurt me again.

oh i apologise, but it was only self defence
I am sorry for defending myself, but it was necessary.