feel like karma police is an internal dialogue, like everytime the male protagonist of the song has to deal with external reality, they know they'll look at him like a freak/weirdo, and they don't even have to say anything, his own internal paranoia and guilt will seize him like he's being arrested by real police, emotionally, and they keep coming after him over and over again.
then it shows the same situation from a female perspective, like how she's used to being judged for her unorthodox dressing or whathaveyou, maybe even just mindset, and how her own internal guilt comes after her late into the night, no one needs to say anything compared to what her own self-doubt will say to her.
and at the end, they both come back, saying "For a minute there, I lost myself" in this really overarching sadness that kinda indicates they know they will be slipping back to that place in a matter of time, the sadness of how easily they can get lost, how lost they feel, but still relieved to found even if just for one more moment
[also, the line, 'i've given all i can / it's not enough / we're still on the payroll' seems to me that they've gone through this process and tried to get past the self-doubt/paranoia/anxiety, but they just keep coming back to it]
feel like karma police is an internal dialogue, like everytime the male protagonist of the song has to deal with external reality, they know they'll look at him like a freak/weirdo, and they don't even have to say anything, his own internal paranoia and guilt will seize him like he's being arrested by real police, emotionally, and they keep coming after him over and over again.
then it shows the same situation from a female perspective, like how she's used to being judged for her unorthodox dressing or whathaveyou, maybe even just mindset, and how her own internal guilt comes after her late into the night, no one needs to say anything compared to what her own self-doubt will say to her.
and at the end, they both come back, saying "For a minute there, I lost myself" in this really overarching sadness that kinda indicates they know they will be slipping back to that place in a matter of time, the sadness of how easily they can get lost, how lost they feel, but still relieved to found even if just for one more moment
[also, the line, 'i've given all i can / it's not enough / we're still on the payroll' seems to me that they've gone through this process and tried to get past the self-doubt/paranoia/anxiety, but they just keep coming back to it]