New Single: "Who's Gonna Want Me?" by Paige Temperley
Photo Credit: Rebecca S George Photography
With a bubbly and bouncy piano, a soft indie-pop beat, and the subtle but brilliant fiddle, you wouldn’t expect a song about suppressing your darkest emotions so that people will like you. But that is, in fact, what we have. And in an age of ramped up emotions and anxiety, I think it’s being released at the perfect time.
“Who’s Gonna Want Me?” is Paige Temperley’s latest single, and like all of her songs, it packs a punch. More specifically, an emotional one. The song starts off like one of the beloved peppy indie-pop ballads of the mid-2010s, and to be quite honest that’s what I thought I was going to hear. I figured I was in for a romantic bop that would relieve some quarantine-induced stress. That is not this song. In fact, right off the bat, “Who’s Gonna Want Me?” begins by seemingly describing the onset of an anxiety attack.
We’ve all been there: we feel upset, or anxious, or any number of negative things, and we suppress the feelings in order to be good company. Because, otherwise, “who’s gonna want me around?” We have it in our heads that we’re only worth hanging out with if we can be happy or entertaining. Sometimes we forget that our friends and family want to be with us through the good and the bad, or worse, we think that even though they tell us that they want to help us through our problems, they won’t like seeing us that way. So we don’t discuss it. As John Mulaney once said, “I’ll keep all of my emotions right here, and then one day I’ll die.”
But in spite of, (or rather, because of) the weight of the lyrics, the tone of the song is calming, happy, almost romantic. Paige usually shows off quite a range with her voice, but in this song, she feels more contemplative, which was an excellent choice for the song. It’s the sound of someone trying to calm down, or cheer up, or simply distract. And it’s really beautifully done. The balance of the piano coupled with the brilliant but subtle touch of the fiddle (performed by Gillian Rodgers) makes for a memorable piece of music. The chorus, a series of melodic “da di da das,” is beautifully simple. Paige has struck a delicate balance between letting one’s feelings out and soothing the soul. The struggle to live your life in spite of the fear and self-doubt, while keeping your head above water. To just breathe. And quite frankly, in times where I find myself more and more anxious about the state of things, “Who’s Gonna Want Me?” is just the song I want on repeat.
