Fiona Apple doesn't need to be in love to write a love song. She started writing "I Want You To Love Me" about the man of her dreams - a man she had not yet met. Apple's songs usually evolve over years. When she started this one, she was unattached, but in 2015 she got back together with Jonathan Ames, a writer she dated from 2006-2010, so the song became about him. They broke up a year later, so the meaning turned once again to a conceptual love; Apple reserves the right to change the meanings of her songs based on life circumstances.