Senior – With or Without You (2022)
Losing someone you love at a young age can be extremely difficult to handle. This is something that Senior is familiar with, but he has turned his journey of acceptance and grief into a cathartic single that can help anyone who has lost someone. At the core of ‘With or Without You’ is a personal loss suffered by Senior when he was 8 years old, but this personal story has a universality that makes the single extremely relatable.
The first single from an upcoming project, the track is a journey of growth and a reminder to stay in contact with loved ones because you never know what can happen. Since finding his passion for music at a young age, Senior has been honing his musical skills. He made the leap to release his own music in 2018, infusing addictive pop into the personal and emotional outlet of his songwriting.
‘With or Without You’ slowly swells into a clapping shuffling that pushes you into the story of the lyrics. There is a slow build to the melody that comes through the shivering and shuffling tones of the beats that make their way under your skin. Through the verse and chorus, the movement of the melody rises into a climax that drops for the next verse, only to start the building again. This is a wonderful cyclical movement that mimics the journey of grief that many people find themselves stuck in. This is highlighted by the vocals as they consider never fully getting over a loss. The sweeping feeling of the music is wonderful and really showcases the musicality of Senior as he blends different pop styles.
Against the soft tones that swell in the opening are Senior’s vocals that have a vulnerable honesty. The story he draws you into is one that many people can relate to, even though it works through an extremely personal experience. Through the verses, he considers the pain and anguish that comes from losing someone and the struggles of trying to move on without them. The lyrics are stunning in their cathartic power as they settle the pain in your soul and let you know that you are not alone in what you are feeling. The chorus takes the healing to another level as they bring the understanding that you need to move forward from the loss, while acknowledging that the loss will always remain.
Using expressive, vulnerable and relatable vocals, Senior connects with feelings of grief, loss and moving forward after losing a loved one in the powerful ‘With or Without You’. The melody has a cyclical movement, rising through the verses to the chorus, before dropping, only to start it all over again. This movement highlights the emotional journey of the lyrics which are infused with emotion through the expressive performance.
Find out more about Senior on his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
