Great poets have written about love and heartache for centuries. Love comes and goes. Love lingers and it stings. It can also stay and make itself home. Or it can burn everything down, leaving you in the ashes. Love is quite a fascinating thing as it makes you feel large and on top of the world, like ‘Don’t Blame Me’ by Taylor Swift. Or it can make you feel confused, disconnected, noticing red flags, and small like a bug helplessly trapped trying to scurry away when a boot is coming it’s way. Annie Blackman is familiar with the ways that love and heartache like to play with fire together. In her new EP Bug, Annie Blackman takes us on a poetic journey through her experiences of ending the war between her heart and mind of what is wanted and what is better for her.
Annie Blackman Made Bug For Those Learning About What They Deserve In Love And Life
Bug is a 5 track EP that you need to listen to off of shuffle. It’s the best way to understand the storyline that Annie Black is penning. Bug is like a novella about untangling our deepest vulnerabilities, understanding love versus lust (heart versus head), and filling up our self-worth in a folksy/indie-rock EP.
Annie Blackman paints the experience of love and heartache so personally that it will make you think that she took a look into your diary entries. In the way poet Michaela Angemeer in you’ll come back to yourself wrote about love, women learning to choose themselves, broken hearts and relationships, and modern dating, as Annie Blackman does in Bug. The five tracks of Bug are ‘Ash,’ ‘The Well,’ ‘Altitude,’ ‘Need Me,’ and the song the EP is titled after ‘Bug.’ Bug follows the stages of confusion and grief when dealing with a broken relationship and navigating life as a 20-something.
A Bug Track Breakdown: The Beginning
‘Ash,’ the lead single off of Bug, tells the story of being deeply consumed by either the pitfall of the relationship or a serious argument. The ‘Ash’ has melancholic lyrics of “you pity me, and I turn my head,” “you love me, I believe you. Please don’t say it anymore,” “and you’re beautiful, but it’s too bright, undo the light,” and “my asbestos-cut confessional, out loud to you at last.” ‘Ash’ is a song that puts you into the headspace of a breakup. An argument. A bad date. Or a tale of infidelity coming to light.
‘The Well’ is a song that feels like you’re written into a TV episode; you’re just not fully aware of your role yet—lyrical lines about breaking the fourth wall and trying to figure out your cue. The way terms of endearment are losing their meaning as they get said like a script. ‘The Well’ has lyrics that focus on how important it is to feel comfortable, wanted for being yourself, filling up your cup, and being grounded in a relationship.
You’ll hear this in the lyrics throughout the song. It’s within the lyrics: “the actress looks a lot like me, I hover just above her.” The bitter line of longing for a different type of intimacy: “you wanna f*ck me, and I wanna read your palm.” It’s painfully heard in the line about losing grip on understanding these complicated emotions, “my brain is stupid all the nerves are fraying.” You’ll listen to this narrative take hold in the chorus, “the well won’t be full, if it is for a minute, hope you did it alone.”
A Bug Track Breakdown: The Middle And Change Of Direction
‘Altitude’ takes this even further with plane ride metaphors of flying through memories of a past love. Mentioning specific places that are attached to heartache and nostalgia. In the same way that people leave a dusting of themselves in our memories and lives, so do their past presences in places. ‘Altitude’ as the middle track in the EP is like the climax of the Bug storyline. ‘Altitude’ pushes us to move forward. Meanwhile also being written to capture that feeling of memories unintentionally boarding into your brain as you go about your life.
Notably, ‘Need Me’ is different than the three previous songs. It’s more current and full of lyrics that feel more bubbly as a new love interest is brewing. ‘Need Me’ reminds us of that feeling when you are deciding if you like someone. The song is about slowly discovering through conversations, walks, and wanting to mastermind a plan to get the new person to need you. ‘Need Me’ can be either a song full of desperate need or wanting love and attention. Or it can be a song full of confidence about once you get to know me, you’ll need more of me in your life because I’m worth having.
A Bug Track Breakdown: The End
‘Bug’ is the last song on the EP. ‘Bug’ is about the frustrations of figuring out where the new relationship is going. It’s a situationship. It’s quite a serious situationship too. Annie tells the story about meeting their father, describing her sense of independence within the relationship as an engine. She also describes their intimacy as a top sheet tangled. ‘Bug’ is the song explaining how they are in a relationship without a solid direction. That brings the heartache of needing to know a destination. Love needs knowing. The song’s ending captures the anguish of trying to fill the gaps yourself within the scariest question you can ask. Annie is brave in asking, “what would you do to me, if you could do anything to me?”
We Aren’t Bug-ging You When We Say Listen To Annie Blackman
Bug is an EP that says everything we’ve never been brave enough to say or scream out loud. Annie Blackman is a big deal! In case you didn’t catch that Bug shows her brilliant songwriting and lyrical writing abilities, we’re letting you know. Annie Blackman is from Brooklyn, NY, and released her debut album, All of It, last year. All of It is another excellent example of Annie’s talent. We recommend you listen to ‘Glitch,’ ‘Glass House,’ and ‘Souvenir’ from her debut album.
We at THP believe that Annie Blackman will take over the singer-songwriter, indie rock, and folk genres. She is already proving herself to be a name worth knowing. We are glad to be a part of her journey. It’s your turn to listen to Bug and let the EP crawl into your life to be enjoyed. Once you’ve completed listening to Bug, give us your review! We will meet in the comments below or tell us on our socials @thehoneypop. We can’t wait to find out which song from the EP is your favorite! While you’re here with us, don’t forget to see what else is going on with our music faves here!
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