MAY-A
Photo: Maybelle Theiu / Courtesy of twnty three

MAY-A’S “Swing of Things” Is the Drunken Night After Heartbreak

Sydney-based pop singer MAY-A’s “Swing of Things” is a guitar-driven sad banger, made for late-night pining.

Not since 2013’s “Still Sane” by Lorde has a singer been able to build a song around the phrase “the swing of things” — and Sydney-based artist MAY-A is here to change that. Where Lorde plods in suburban ennui though, MAY-A erupts into gauzy guitars for a pop-rock chorus payoff only rivaled by the likes of, say, Baby Queen. The verses meld self-deprecation (“I think I’m bad news”) and pining (“I wish you’d call”) into one plaintive diary entry tossed into the trash, but the emotional crux of “Swing of Things” lies in the bridge, stripped back to reverbed handclaps and mood-lighting synths fit for a dingy bar bathroom at 1:00 am.

MAY-A says, “‘Swing of Things’ is about that longing feeling for things to go back to normal even though you know if you give yourself time to heal, you’ll be better than you’ve ever been. It’s about learning how to live life by yourself again once someone has left your life. Sometimes you need to cut a person off so both people can grow better separately, and most of the time, that process sucks. ‘Is your heart out on your sleeve now you’re gone?’. ‘Is the grass more green from where you’re from?’ are questions I was dying to ask both them and my future self. Ultimately, ‘was this worth it?'”

Hear “Swing of Things” on the PopMatters Picks Spotify playlist.

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