Many say love is the most powerful drug of them all. When you capture one little whiff of it, you can fall faster than an atomic bomb. Sadly, to fall hard can cause more pain than bliss in the end. New York based Stewart Taylor knows this story quite well. When love left Stewart, he may have felt devastated but, he turned that devastation in to something we all can learn from with his new single ‘Withdrawal.’
By taking a piano driven melody and heavy percussion, Stewart’s dark lyrics begin to become highlighted. When you think of the term withdrawal, the first thing that will come to many minds is drugs. To take that metaphor, the immersive quality of the song is heightened to a next level. You see real pain and struggle as the addict begins to release the hold of the drug. The song’s emotions become tangible as you begin to feel the pain of the break up.
Taylor says of ‘Withdrawal’: “It’s about that desperate moment when you’d literally give anything to get someone back and feel as high as you did before the relationship fell apart. [it] is a ballad that virtually anyone can relate to. No one escapes heartbreak in life. There’s really no way around it. All that matters is that you give yourself time to grieve and move forward. Hopefully Withdrawal helps you when you’re stuck somewhere in between.”
Stewart has soulful voice that rips at your heartstrings. As you hear him hit the bridge, you can’t help but feel sadness overtake you as he struggles to let go. Then, he hits a note the end of the bridge that feels so beautiful by giving a vocal illusion that sounds like crying as he sings “I still need you now.” Don’t say we didn’t warn you with the spine tingling vocals!
Ballads sometimes get a bad rap. You don’t have to be in a fallen relationship to fall in love with pure aural beauty of ‘Withdrawal.’ The latest pop music songwriters have lost the emotional connection to their music that has defined the genre. Stewart Taylor is a special standout that understands the true power of pop music. ‘Withdrawal’ is the greatest example of that.
With an EP due out this summer, I guess we have to suffer though a little ‘Withdrawal’ till we get another hit of Stewart Taylor.