Averie - ‘Just Before You Go’ | Single Review
June 9 | Written By Adele Whyte
‘Just before you go’ is the debut single by upcoming artist Averie. Averie’s new track pushes the boundaries for alternative music. With a narrow bassline layered with jazz, Latin and percussion which takes listeners into a new groove. All this while telling the story of a romantic attraction between two people in a long-term relationship. Appealingly, the single describes not only the emotions but the physical sensations between two people.
This article will analyse Averie’s lyrics and how this could highlight a deeper cultural representation of romance today. Furthermore, Averie is packing a lot into her debut single and that’s how you can make an impact in the industry!
The opening of the single, intrigues listeners as Averie emphasises her “hands, skins, lips, cheek”. This details the sensual connection still alive in a long-term relationship. This can be heard within the first few lines of a track and helps link the song from the initial obsession of a relationship into a deeper understanding of each other as the song progresses. This conveys a sense of longing towards another person but also highlights the complex emotions tied to being intertwined in someone else’s life. This underlines Averie’s appreciation for the love another can provide. Thus, the single feel like Averie is transporting the listener into a dreamland where the ideology of romance is favoured over the reality. It’s interesting to note Averie’s reference to Latin style, sonic undertone the single presents. This adds to the undeniable romantic feeling the single brings to listeners but also provides a comforting feeling because of the jazz instrumental the lyrics are accompanied by.
Averie repeats the word “every time” and “can’t stop thinking about you, can’t stop wondering how you…”. These lyrics may have been repeated to highlight the depth of fascination Averie has for love and this leads her to overthink their actions. For a first single, Averie could have chosen to repeat lyrics to help listeners recognise her voice and uniqueness as an artist. This should bring exposure to this romantic single and help push forward the single and make the song more recognisable and addictive for listeners. Although these phrases are repeated, they are not over done to the point where it takes over the single and becomes irritating for listeners.
From a cultural perspective, Averie’s “Just before you go” could be highlighting societies neglect of physical contact in relationships. A lyric which expands this meaning is “Mind if I go and let you in”. This could strengthen this analysis as “let you in” could mean beyond the surface. Beyond the projection that society shows you of a person on a screen. Therefore, becoming infatuated with the touch an in-person relationship can give.
This could favour the ideology that love as a feeling of gratification that cannot be fulfilled through a phone. This could be a result of society choosing to display scenes of romance through the use of social media and dating apps. This can be a positive way to make a connection, but it also strips away the physical characteristics of which Averie describes as being able to make her “weak” which people associate with traditional romance. Averie may be providing a traditional look into romance which highlights the sensations a person feels which social media only projects a false representation of a person as they only exist through a screen. Thus, they could be identified as anyone within the world. Additionally, social media may struggle to reciprocate the feelings Averie feels as physical touch is blocked by a postmodern object.
Overall, Averie single “Just before you go” offers a promising insight into her potential future as an artist. A benefit of the single is it opens Averie’s opportunity as an artist because it features so much inspiration from varies musicians in the industry such as RAYE, Eloise and Erykah Badu. Each of these bring their own uniqueness to the industry and listeners will be intrigued about what else she has to offer music.