Catchy kinda but weird vocal mix ? And doesn’t really take any risks or justify the wait. Also kinda strange that the attitude for many is “damn, she worked with a rapist that sucks but hey what are ya gonna do”. That dude doesn’t add anything that couldn’t be replaced by countless musicians, she’s friends with him and has no shame about keeping him in the spotlight, which means she either doesn’t believe the victims or she doesn’t care. Pretty terrible return to the public eye imo
sara watkins played fiddle on "graceland too", we're only missing sean watkins to have all of nickel creek represented, hah
I liked it more as it went on, but it definitely doesn’t hit like some of her “bigger” hits. Hopefully more to come and this is just an introductory single.
valid contextual concerns aside, I'm surprised how sour a lot of people are on the song. were people expecting her to leap genres or something? to me it just sounds like a good phoebe song in her upbeat mode, albeit with more involved production (which sounds good to me especially in nice headphones, but then again I like Jack and Matty and Alex of course). it doesn't feel like a huge level up but I don't think she's the kind of songwriter where that would ever be apparent on one song. "Garden Song," for example, is not the most flashy thing in the world, but it did signal a huge moment for her as an artist.
Songs good, feels sliightly undercooked vocally at a couple parts but it’s a worthwhile tier 2 phoebe song. I think the album will be good and this doesn’t change my level of expectations really. The worst thing I can say about it as a song is most of her other pre album singles are better, but I’m not going to jump to any huge conclusions based on that.
I agree that the "Lost Boys" imagery is very trite and has been done to death by a lot of artists that are worse writers than her. She doesn't really bring anything fresh or impressive here lyrically, which is arguably her biggest strength. I do like the chorus more than you, though, and I think the melody and production here are kind of what's refreshing about the song compared to the rest of her discography.
idk i think the lyrics in the second and third verses are pretty great. “i don’t feel bad, but im sorry” is like a quintessential phoebe line. the song is definitely phoebe staying in her lane, which i think makes sense. i can see why others aren’t blown away by it, but it works for me
That doesn't mean he writes half the album! That'd be like if I assumed Phaynes was a lawyer just cause his wife is
If my boyfriend was a known song writer and was in the studio with me while I was writing a new album, I would expect they would probably contribute to the writing process here and there. It's not that complicated.