Indie singer Valid Systm cries out for understanding on his new single “wish it was you”, a song that touches upon universal yearning with a bit too much contrived melodrama. The midtempo quasi-power ballad opens with melancholic acoustic guitar licks and an ominous layer of synth bubbling underneath. The singer details his feelings of frustration in the face of misunderstanding. His angst is palpable in his delivery of lines such as “too much I’m dealing with / I’m crying out for hope”.
The song’s chorus delivers more angst that is further propelled by drums — that sound a bit too artificially produced — and punchy admissions: “But I feel like nobody comprehend / The struggles in my mind and what I feel inside”. Though the chorus does well at conveying his emotions, the song’s title abruptly cuts off the tail end of the chorus, creating a confusing pivot.
The singer relies largely on his middle register, which is pleasantly smooth and controlled, but at times hinders the track from taking flight. Near the close of the song, his mumbling muddles out the finer layers of vocals lost in the background. Although these elongated middle register vocal runs are where the song begins to suffer, thankfully the small but significant vocal flourishes that precede them make up for their losses.
You can listen to “wish it was you” on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
