Last Friday, Calum Scott released his new single, ‘Die For You’ which is guaranteed to be your next cry-in-the-car song.
This piano ballad is exactly the work we’d expect from Calum in the best possible way, and arguably his best single yet. The premise is simple, yet relatable, as the song is centred around a passionate declaration of a love of the strongest kind.
As seems to be the theme with a lot of his music, the focus here is on the words and the way they are being expressed, with little frills needed elsewhere. The lyrics are dramatic and heartfelt without being hyperbolic and the acoustic style allows his voice and poignancy of the words he is saying to really be heard. An example of this is “‘Cause words, they don’t come easy and everything I hate is listening to the silence” sung in the first verse. The lyrics are repeated often with the line “I’d die for you” sung several times, however due to the fairly short track length and way the song builds, this does not feel overused at all.
The song builds wonderfully by the second chorus with the harmonious addition of stringed instruments which lifts the song in an anthemic way that left me with goosebumps. There is a tonal similarity here with his previous work and a clear likeness can be made with other hits such as ‘You are the Reason’, but I think this song has the capacity to reach the same, if not greater, commercial heights. Despite the similar sound of this release to some of other songs – this genre of music is what Calum does best.
Calum Scott could truly belt my shopping list and make it sound emotive. He has a rich, smooth and fervent tone of voice that is soothing yet tear-jerking. When he sings, there is no equivocation about each word coming directly from his heart.
I listened to this song for the first time looking out of a train window and for all you out there who love to romanticise – this is the perfect ballad to add to your cry in the car playlist, sung beautifully, by a true storyteller.
Words by Abbie James
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