rex questions and empowers with new single “i can’t lie”

In her first release for 2021, rex shifted. The previous pop rock quality still lingers, but with “i can’t lie”, she’s focused on the heart of rock: raw emotion.

With a quick ramp into a guitar-picked solo and opening vocals, a sparse atmosphere touches a tender confession. Fear and vulnerability spill out of the exposed vocal line while little touches of post-production sparkle over select moments. The effect creates a distorted utopia couched in the harmonic and orchestrational timbre of indie rock.

Rex flows back and forth between quiet head voice moments and rich chest voice licks. These vocal seesaws encapsulate the anxious, unprotected situation of losing your true self in society’s expectations for relationships.

Her internal fight—is this what’s expected of me, am I losing myself, does anyone else feel this way—sits at the heart of “i can’t lie”. “Maybe it’d be easier to fit right in?” she asks. Posed as much to us as it is to herself, picks at the heart.

But we’re left with hope. The most memorable, authentic moments resonate in the chorus. In her powerful chest voice, rex steels us for the hard truth, “I can’t lie.” What’s next is up to us.

Stream “i can’t lie” below.

Ben McCoy

Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.