A new roundup switches between hard-hitting pop and introspective country.
Stalking Gia – “Happy Birthday!”
Toxic things beget more toxic things. Feeling pressurized and beaten down, Stalking Gia declares her worth and freedom with the bitter-laced “Happy Birthday!,” as much an ode to one’s birth as it is reclaiming her own story. “I can’t change you or make you change / So angry but I’m ok / I’m finally getting used to the space,” she takes a breath. Her words settle into your eardrums and worm right into the membrane. “I feel like hell / I carry every mistake,” she confides, tugging you closer. The celebration is sobering. With exorcizing her demons, she lights a match and torches the earth beneath her feet. As they say, fire really is cleansing.
Listen to “Happy Birthday!” below.
Mitch Rossell – “Son”
Mitch Rossell lost his father when he was 10 years old. That kind of tragedy never leaves you, settling like dust on your soul. “I was mad at God, couldn’t let it go,” the singer-songwriter peels back the layers to his heart. The layers beneath are still raw and the scars so deep. Rossell not only exposes his pain anew but details how his father died, singing, “I guess God had other plans ‘cause on a two lane road on a Tuesday night a drunk driver crossed that centerline.” A catastrophic death that didn’t need to happen, but so goes this thing called life.
Listen to “Son” below.
Theo Fitzgibbon – “Waterfall”
There’s immense pressure to deliver on a debut single. It needs to strike the right chord between commercial and unique, possessing a singular perspective. And well, Theo Fitzgibbon more than delivers with his first solo outing, “Waterfall.” Previously the frontman for League of Nation, he steps into the spotlight with a renewed creative energy. “Living by the bottle, and I can’t get sober,” he confesses. A flurry of percussion and piano cascades around him just like a waterfall’s relentless gushing. “Where did all the love I need go?” he ponders. The emotional core rises and falls in time with the melody, equal parts vulnerable and anthemic.
Listen to “Waterfall” below.
Old Dominion – “Memory Lane”
Old Dominion spend most of their time meandering down memory lane, replaying the best memories like a homemade videotape. With “Memory Lane,” the country band reminisces on lost love and those shared moments that linger long after the sun sets and reality sets in. “If I could buy a house on memory lane, I’d put my money down and I’d sign my name,” reflects Matthew Ramsay. “On that little corner lot, where it don’t ever rain.” The shine of the past casts a hypnotic, yellow, and warm glow on the present. As much as they long for those good ole days, it’ll never be the same again.
Listen to “Memory Lane” below.
Rozes – “Used to Love You”
Losing love can be like having a rug yanked from neath your feet. It can also cause you to go a little mental. With her new song “Used to Love You,” Rozes admits to feeling like she’s “going crazy,” she sings. “Don’t know what to do.” The cloud of sadness follows her every waking moment, a cascading of rain wetting her shoulders. Over pounding drums, she continues to unfurl her emotional space, “I’m running ’round in circles tryna find the words to say.” In the last stanza, she ponders two important questions: “Why do the ones we love hurt us the most? And why does it take so long to know to let go?” Maybe one day she’ll have the answers.
Listen to “Used to Love You” below.
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