There are roughly six billion songs ever written about getting someone back. The entire pop landscape is built around elaborately creative ways of singing “Actually, could we just sort of rewind everything?” so it’s a bizarre novelty to hear a song take the path less taken and acknowledge something infinitely harder to admit: you’re pretty fantastic and the problem here probably lies with me.
That’s pretty much the emotional thrust of Reetoxa’s new single, ‘You Deserve Better Than Me’. Yes, it’s a breakup song, but it’s not driven by the animosity of a spectacular falling-out, nor by the frantic pleas of one desperate to be taken back. Instead, it occupies the strangely potent awkwardness where two entirely capable, thoroughly likeable people discover the simple fact that attraction and compatibility simply aren’t negotiable qualities. It’s the emotional equivalent of correctly answering every question on an exam, but somehow still failing the subject.
Helmed by Melbourne songwriter Jason McKee, Reetoxa is only relatively new, although McKee himself is coming up on thirty years of making songs before stepping into the spotlight via producer Simon Moro. And it’s clear: that vast period of learning has paid off. Rather than sounding like someone trying to make an impression, McKee possesses the kind of comfortable self-assurance born from discovering that the small emotional details are often the most compelling.
The inspiration is prosaic enough; McKee was on a Tinder date that went from a Mexican restaurant to Arcadia Bar in South Yarra and met someone he felt genuinely quite positive about. The trouble was that nothing seemed to click – there was no intangible spark. Another songwriter might have manufactured an affair or an explosive argument; McKee is talking about meeting someone perfect for you in the wrong, impossible state of your life.
The arresting emotional truth is mirrored by an understated and restrained production. Recorded at Melbourne’s Avenue Recording Studios, McKee reports the entire track was nailed in just four takes following guitarist Kit Riley’s spontaneous suggestion of a last-minute chord shift. The music breathes, not rushed and not overburdened by its sensitive content – nothing ever feels like it’s aiming to become a power ballad.
It’s quietly devastating and it’s not quite clear what there is to say about such understated clarity, only that sometimes, maybe it’s time to let them go.
This may not be the most feel-good song of the year, but perhaps it might just be the most emotionally honest because growing up isn’t always about getting someone back, it’s about watching them leave.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for various publications around the world, the former lead writer of review blogspace Atop The Treehouse and content creator for Manila Bulletin.
