New Music Friday Playlist: Heartbreak & the Human Experience
Other than death and taxes, the only other part of the human experience that no one can seem to escape is having our heart broken.
Whether it be a parent, lover, or friend, we’ve all faced deep hurts, crossroads and endings with people that mean the most to us. Frequently with these endings, we’re left to wonder: “Will I ever recover?” and “Did I even mean anything to them at all?”
We as humans are notorious for compulsively re-hashing these painful experiences in our minds, and with others, often to our detriment. Wherever you turn, the media is overrun with movies, books, and songs of love and its dissolution. Endings and hurt are inescapable, even if only by proxy. The beauty of music is, as Bob Marley is quoted to have once said, “when it hits you, you feel no pain”. Artists and musicians have a transcendent gift for alchemizing their individual pain into collective healing for others. This week’s featured artists are obviously not the first to sing and write of heartbreak, and they certainly won’t be the last; nevertheless, they’ve harnessed their raw stories, vulnerable honesty, and unique perspectives, and enriched the greater catharsis that comes with exploring these unavoidable feelings for all who have ears to listen and hearts to feel.
Ambar Cassidy’s debut single, ‘feel this way’ sets this week’s playlist into motion with its blues-y, organic melody and contemplative lyrics. “Funny how I knew this would end, still I went back again…”, iterating the classic tale of back and forth between paramours, and inability to fully rid ourselves of the aching desire for someone that cannot remain in our lives for the long haul. The lead guitar’s call and response with Cassidy’s vocals, paired with the thick and emotive bassline settles you into a deep, encompassing groove. Personified, ‘feel this way’ is the crooning, seductive sway of two bodies entwined in their final dance together: slow and lingering, full of heat and unanswered questioning. This song will leave you wanting more in all the best and worst kind of ways.
Questions asked and left unanswered bleed into our second pick of the week. ‘Mannequin’ is the title track off Ellie Stone’s debut EP, which she describes as a hard hitting, queer break up record. Layered with building, robust chords, and uncompromisingly direct and honest lyrics, this song will pull at your heartstrings from start to finish. Saturated in sounds reminiscent of early 2000s pop rock nostalgia, echoing the likes of Jimmy Eat World and Coldplay, ‘Mannequin’ tells the story of a love kept hidden away, closeted and vague, masked by pretense. Weighted and pulsating, “I ask myself what I want to ask you, was I real to you?”, Stone embodies the mania, the burden of not being chosen, not fully knowing why, and never really getting any clear answers, reminding the listener that conclusions and closure are gifts only we can give to ourselves.
If you liked this week’s picks, we’ve got plenty more coming your way! Who’s been your favorite feature so far? Leave us a comment on our socials!
