Nearly a quarter of the way through the year so far, it may be time to do a small check-in. How are you feeling? How are your friends feeling? Are you taking time to pause and refresh? It is always essential to show up for yourself and for others when you can, which is a topic that Eighty Ninety explore on their new single “Stay Alive.”
An acoustic-based track with crashes of percussion and guitar, “Stay Alive” is an emotional yet uplifting ballad about mental health. Vocalist Abner James recounts moments when he didn’t quite understand some of the more complicated feelings a partner was having, and in turn didn’t know how to cope with his own. Through his willowy timbre, he sings, “I guess I took this all for granted, I was sure of you / Never thought I couldn’t understand what you were going through / The things you do / Just to be alright / Just to stay alive.” He also makes it a point to keep moving forward, singing, “I will follow if you lead the way / And maybe tomorrow is when things will change.” You can check it out below.
About the single, Abner shares,
“‘Stay Alive’ is about how our struggles with mental health can affect our relationships and how the things we do to cope and the people we love – and who love us – can help to get us through life’s hardest moments. For my whole life, music has been one of the tools I turn to as a listener and a musician, but I’ve never directly addressed it in a song before.
The song is a promise to be there for myself and an acknowledgement that the more grounded part of me knows that those feelings pass, and I’ll make it through to the other side. My hope is that it can also be a loving reminder to anyone else going through a hard time – and a promise to our audience that through our music, we are and will always try to be there to help provide comfort and joy to anyone who listens.”
Following the release of last month’s “2 Carat,” “Stay Alive” is the second single from Eighty Ninety’s upcoming debut album, which will be released later this year. For now, you can listen to “Stay Alive” on platforms like SoundCloud, Apple Music, and Spotify.
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