LIIYO – Overwhelmed (2020)
Anxiety can have a crippling effect, particularly when you face the battle alone. LIIYO reflects on this battle through his latest single ‘Overwhelmed’. With a raw sound, he delves into the mind of someone battling anxiety and how they try to explain to themselves that everything will be fine. All of this is done to a backdrop of being pulled under.
You might be familiar with LIIYO from when he was a member of two KPOP-inspired groups. Now, he has branched out on his own for a mature and refined sound. Wrapping his sonic influences around powerful messages, he brings them to life with emotive vocals which are building a buzz around him.
‘Overwhelmed’ opens with a waving line that has a great soulful feeling to it. There is a smoothness to the flow of the music that slides across your shoulders and lets you breathe. The light notes of the melody gently lap against your ears while the drums provide momentum and change to the pace at times. These higher notes form a river of sound that seems placid at first but have a hidden depth that could pull you under if you are not careful. The calm and easy flow of the melody is a wonderful sonic representation of the deceptive feelings you face before anxiety can overtake you.
Dancing across the surface of the melody is LIIYO’s vocals. His performance has a maturity to it that adds depth to the music. There is also an authentic vulnerability that hits you with the emotions of the track and sinks into your chest. His emotive performance adds a light touch of calm to the melody but brings the pain and shaking of fighting anxiety to the fore.
LIIYO uses a mature, raw and authentic sound to highlight the crippling battle people face against anxiety in ‘Overwhelmed’. The melody has a deceptive calm and relaxed vibe that makes you feel at ease only to fall into the hidden depths. His vocals bring the pain of battling anxiety to light through his emotive performance.
