From the album Loveland
This is a song about someone who keeps choosing a relationship that disappoints her, then blaming herself for the choice instead of him for the behavior. She frames her unhappiness as a personal failure—like she picked the wrong menu item—when the actual problem is that every night he doesn't come home, she's alone wondering if this is what love is supposed to feel like.
One step onto the dance floor, that's what started the chase
She narrates the relationship's beginning as a single moment—one step, then chase—collapsing what might have been months or years into a night. That compression suggests she's been rewriting how long this has been going on, treating an ongoing pattern like it just happened.
Pulled me down with ribbons on, nothing but my cotton socks / Is this what happiness is?
The ribbons and socks make the scene feel like unwrapping a gift, but the question that follows—'Is this what happiness is?'—means she's asking during or right after, not weeks later. She knew it was wrong while it was happening and did it anyway.
Searched through all of the trash cans, thinking of your face
This is the only genuinely strange image in the song, and she doesn't explain it. Searching trash cans could be literal—looking for something he threw away—or it could mean she's picking through garbage trying to salvage the relationship. Either way, it's desperate and she knows it.
But every night you don't come home, bet you think I'm here all alone
The phrasing—'every night you don't come home'—means this isn't about one bad night. It's a routine. She's been staying in a relationship where his absence is the norm, then acting surprised that she's unhappy with it.
I get what I chose / And I change my mind again
She declares the grand exit—horse, sunset, done—then immediately reverses it in the same breath. The song ends with her changing her mind four times in a row, which is maybe the most honest thing here. She's not leaving. She's just rehearsing leaving.
The song ends where it starts—her changing her mind again. She's not actually asking if this is happiness. She already knows it isn't. What she's really asking is whether being unhappy with it is her fault for expecting rocket ships when all he offered was a dance floor and a lot of nights alone.