The death of the sweetheart

From Stripespedia

Kurt Loder: "In the liner notes to Elephant, it says, "This album is dedicated to, and is for, and about the death of the sweetheart." What's that about?"
Jack White: I wanted to get people to think about how they relate to one another — how the males and females relate, how the parents and sons and daughters relate, and bring up some ideas to see if they still mean something. What does the word "sweetheart" or "gentleman" mean nowadays? Has it changed in the last 50 years? Should we reevaluate these words? Some people have said [about the liner notes], "I totally agree, I just wish you wouldn't have said that." It's funny to shock people with normality. I mean, it's becoming an age of punk for the sake of punk, angst for the sake of angst. What are we rebelling against?"
Kurt Loder: "It used to be different. Would you say that?"
Jack White: "Yeah, there was a time where it was really necessary that these things were coming out and now it's just like everybody's got spiky hair and fifty piercings in their face. Is there any meaning behind it? A beef I have is image for the sake of image, cool for the sake of cool. If things don't have meaning behind it with you, then all art falls apart at that point."