Cape Town based singer-songwriter, Red Robyn – who also makes up part of The World of Bird’s ensemble – released her single titled “Got me”, this past Friday. The catchy and deceptively lighthearted track will form part of what will be a trilogy EP, called Girls wear Pink. The EP title is — I am assuming — a sarcastic middle finger to outdated and tired gender stereotypes that propagate reductive and statements such as “girls wear pink”. “Got me”, follows the release of Red’s ethereal debut single “Dust and Iron” and her second; “The Pits”. The trilogy EP itself will consist of three works; “Got me” being the first of the songs to be introduced to the public, with its swelling guitars, 1, 2 drum licks, and dreamy duet as Robyn and Nic Lighton Preen’s voices melt together in melodic harmony on the catchy song. Although this is Robyn’s solo release, her World of Birds family seems to have also played a role in the making of the song and trilogy. “Got me”, was produced by Benjamin Mcarthy who is another of Red Robyn’s World of Birds bandmates, when the two spent a period of a month together in picturesque Noordehook working on her solo project as the musician shares:
“Ben and I would cook together, do chores together, watch tv, go to the beach and stay up til 5am working on music. We were very blessed to have that time, it was a much needed break from my then full time job as a secretary. When we knew we had something good we would dance in the garden and play it really loudly.”
Falling in love and heartbreak are both such universal, yet simultaneously singular experiences of the human condition. These emotions and the experiences rooted in them have shaped and various aspects of our collective and singular worlds, from poetry, music and even politics. They are emotions that when felt, are singularly yours in the most dazzling way, yet- they also form a part of the human collective affective legacy. Red Robyn’s lyrical content remains candid on this release as she Lyrically unravels a story of hopelessly falling for someone through internal monologues in “Got me”, thus walking the listener through moving thought processes. Sharing more about the context and time the song was written and recorded she had this to say:
“It was a tumultuous time romantically, a web I consistently find myself caught in. I found that there is nothing more cathartic than making music about my heartbreak and more specifically on this song about the possibility of something new”.
While the dizzying and intoxicating spell and spin of falling in love and the gamble we take with heartbreak are not extra ordinary experiences within themselves, perhaps even falling amongst the most ordinary of human experiences- it’s our respective loads of stuff; daydreams, nightmares, half finished thoughts, desires, darkness… that we bring along with us and what we make of that with our love acts that gives an intimate singularity to these experiences. And while heartbreak can feel like an abyss that has devoured you whole when your are experiencing it, there is magic, art and a wealth of beauty which can also be recuperated from those ugly and complicated feelings to be turned into something new.
