Italian singer MUSA shares ‘You Better Run’ demonstrating a sea change in her songwriting style.
23-year-old MUSA’s previous tracks ‘Empty’ and ‘I Don’t Love You (Anymore)’, released last year, showcased a pop-punk style, pitting spiky guitars with a strong vocal, resulting in songs that had biting energy and real impact. With ‘You Better Run’, the Italian singer has upped her game, digging deeper emotionally and capturing a previously unknown vulnerability. She turns this into a strength in a track that tells a story, taking both the artist and the listener on a transformative journey.
With Andreas Johnson’s ‘Glorious’ vibes in the symphonic intro, runaway drums suddenly give way to MUSA’s vocal with ripples of echoing guitar. From the outset, the lyrics emphasise the darkness she inhabits, teeming with a sense of sadness and loss: “I see the stars in the sky disappear/And all the shadows are coming here.”
The drums come pounding in again as her vocal grows stronger edging closer to the emphatic chorus, which is like an exorcism, as she casts out the thing that has possessed her, making her life so sad. She is living her life by somebody else’s script: “Nothing is real, it’s like being an actress.”
The bridge of the song is precisely that, a crossing over from the way it was to the way it is going to be. MUSA now backed by a baying guitar, is now fuelled with an anger and determination to get her life back: “I wanted to fly but I’m not an angel anymore.” By the end of the song her desire for freedom manifests itself through an inner strength and control rather than a want to run away: “I better run away/But I’ll never run away.”
Emotional songwriting can be channelled through pain and heartache and appeal to a sense of empathy and this is very much the case for Musa’s latest offering.
“I want to forge a deep connection with those who have gone through or are going through a similar time as mine. I hope this song can make them feel part of a family, creating a safe space where sharing is at the heart of everything.”
From being in a very dark place, MUSA finds the resolve needed to take back control. This is an honest and accomplished piece of songwriting.
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Words Andrew Gutteridge