This entry marks a new segment within my NIN entries, where I will analyze common phrases and/or words found in NIN songs.

First up is: ’slip away’.

Found in:
‘The Fragile’: I can’t watch her slip away
‘The Becoming’: Annie, hold a little tighter I might just slip away
‘Into the Void’: Tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away
The Slip/Album

Slip definition:
To escape, as from a grasp, fastening, or restraint
To get loose or free from; elude
To slide involuntarily and lose one’s balance or foothold

Putting aside the fact that slip could define NIN’s current maneuvering of the music industry, I feel that slip defines an overlying sentiment that the type of person that is a NIN fan feels. Granted, all of this shit is like a horoscope, it’s specifically unspecific and applies to everyone at some time or place. But my gut feeling is that the core NIN fanbase has some similarities: we sat at the goth lunch table, feel/felt isolated, had some violent ugly things happen in their past, etc. So, ’slip’ clearly connects with a feeling that we’ve all experienced: wanting to escape, wanting to be free, and at the same time, slipping closer to our dark places.

‘Slip Away’ is also a Bowie song, who has worked with Reznor on multiple occasions.