Composition and Lyrics
Journalist Gillian Gaar described "Heart-Shaped Box" as "the Nirvana formula personified, with a restrained, descending riff played through the verse, building in intensity to the cascading passion of the chorus".
Cobain said the song was inspired by documentaries about children with cancer. He told biographer Michael Azerrad, "Anytime I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of." Azerrad asserted in his biography of Nirvana, Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, that despite Cobain's explanation, the song actually appeared to be about Courtney Love. Charles Cross wrote in his biography of Cobain Heavier Than Heaven that with the lyric "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black", Cobain "sang in what has to be the most convoluted route any songwriter undertook in pop history to say 'I love you'". After a performance of the song by singer Lana Del Rey, in 2012 Courtney Love asserted on Twitter that the song was about her vagina. The tweets were deleted shortly after. Cobain said that the song's chorus of "Hey/Wait/I've got a new complaint" was him giving an example of how he was perceived by the media.
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