‘Me Before You’ by Bleachers: A Jazzy Indie Pop Montage

'Me Before You' is a jazz-infused indie pop song that takes you on a nostalgic wave through time. A nostalgic wave of how life can be impacted tremendously by a person so much that they've made a permanent stamp in your life; since meeting them, there's a distinguished before and after mark in your life's timeline.

Bleachers' newest single is a ballad that makes time feel slower, calling for the listener to stop and sit with the song. 

'Me Before You' is put together gently to stay on course with a reminiscent emotion-filled haze backed by soft synths, fluttering drums, saxophone, cymbals, and an acoustic guitar adding texture. Each element in 'Me Before You' creates a snapshot of what it feels like to walk backwards in your highlights in the moments leading up to meeting someone who changes the trajectory of your life. The quickened pace of the drums fading out at the end of the song is the memory flashbacks ending to come to the surface of reality where the protagonist and the listener sit with gratitude and love. 

Bleachers made 'Me Before You' speak more about its meaning in the song's instrumentation than in the lyrics; “My bed was a placе for the lonely / Built it that way, came to think it was holy / That was mе blue / Crossfade into the dark, have a smoke, yeah / Take another drink or walk with the news playin' / That was me too / That was me before you”. 

The lyrics are touching and powerful, but the true storytelling is how the composition washes over you, creating a blanket full of love, appreciation, and warmth, the same way the individual you might think of when listening to the song would make you feel. 'Me Before You,' is a cinematic showcase of telling someone our feelings on a starry night leading to our life panning out in a montage of moments with them, no longer feeling blue. This gorgeous atmospheric song is a moment of pause to breathe and experience what true love that stands that test time feels like through the eyes of the Bleachers. 

Tyra Baker 

@got_tyra

Image: Alex Lockett