Bridie Adams reviews Lewis Capaldi’s latest single
Following the huge success of Lewis Capaldi’s singles ‘Someone You Loved’ and ‘Grace’, ‘Before You Go’ is infused with a rich, emotional sound that resides in all of Capaldi’s work. On Twitter, the Scottish pop star wrote that the new single is “one of the most personal I’ve ever written”.
The lyrics to ‘Before You Go’ are both beautiful and painful. The opening lines of the chorus, “So, before you go, was there something I could have said to make your heart beat better?”, are like a desperate cry for reassurance and comfort. There’s a sense of guilt about what was not said and not done, a sense of something being incomplete. These feelings of restlessness and regret, of wanting to change a past event, contrast with the lyrics to Capaldi’s earlier single ‘Grace’, in which he sings, “I’m not ready to be just another of your mistakes”. While ‘Grace’ looks, though pessimistically, towards the future, ‘Before You Go’ cannot move forward from the past.
‘Before You Go’ is infused with a rich, emotional sound that resides in all of Capaldi’s work
For fans of Capaldi, ‘Before You Go’ is a treat. It’s exactly the kind of emotionally heavy track we expect from him. However, it is very similar to his earlier work, so similar that it’s hard not to wonder how his vocals would sound combined with something different. Some more upbeat music amongst his discography would not go amiss, and it would be interesting to hear him experiment with sound a little more. In spite of this, it’s clear that sad songs are what Lewis Capaldi does best, and ‘Before You Go’ is no exception.
