I take it as an ex-girlfriend....someone he once viewed as beautiful but now sees a whole different side of her and views her from a totally different perspective.

That is my take on it. The problem with most people is that they expect the song to mean just one thing. They expect a song to hold just one meaning in a world of unique subjective minds. Think about it, get your own meaning out of it. Don't worry about what other people think the song means.