Hammering drumlines ensconced in fluid guitar distortion and a tight bass exude just the right level of angst and rigor to support Livia & the Rosebuds‘ expressive release into “Guess Ur Right”, a vibrant and stark song about addiction.
Themes of fear, shame, self-destruction, and avoidance behavior shine through vocalist Livia Rose Overton’s words. Energy is felt from start to finish of this song, mirroring the chaotic and exuberant existence with substances and fun escapism they extract.
At the beginning of the song, staggering strokes of the guitar glitch us into the cruelly honest self-ridicule the writer grapples with. “Guess you’re right/ Guess I’m fucking up,” she insists. Truth is welcomed and exhibited as blatant as the conversational and biting vocals, which vulnerably state the pitfalls of addictive behavior. “I’m lonely/ I’m only trying to become me/ But I’m having fun.”
The instrumentation’s intensity weaves in and out a plea of excuse but also of mercy. Major triads and an upbeat chorus escort the character on their path to recovery.
Some psychologists suggest that one of the stages to recovery from addiction involves contemplation, where one plays with the notion they do indeed have a problem. In some ways, this track embodies a self-aware addict who still embraces ecstatic fancy but can acknowledge the impact this has on the people around them.
Stream “Guess Ur Right” below.
Anjali Rose Kumar is a musician, videographer, and creative freak based in Brooklyn, NYC. Anjali is learning to cope with a self-imposed quarantine in NYC’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by spending her hours recording music in her bedroom, watching her unemployment leave her bank account, and embarking on a newly revived love of writing. In fact, when Anjali was 10 years old she was convinced she would live her life as a writer, however, she would often confuse her teachers by making up her own vocabulary and therefore buried the interest for 15 years. Cheers to the new years ahead of us. You can find out more about Anjali here.
