On September 27th British singer-songwriter Sody (Sophie Dyson) released her latest single ‘birthday’. It is a beautifully heartbreaking song that talks about still missing a person after a breakup and the struggles that come with that. It’s a feeling that a lot of us likely have experienced before so if you have a little bit of time, stay a while and give the song a listen.
The record is built around a very calm piano base that emphasises Sody’s pretty vocals. When the chorus sets in, a beat kicks in to give the song a more energetic sound while maintaining rather chill vocals. For the second verse, the speed picks up more to match the lyrics, emphasising a more desperate feeling to be understood before the energy drops again at the end before the last chorus.
Talking about lyrics, the first verse is about how Sody doesn’t miss the other person like she used to, but them being still somewhat important to her, which means that she deep down still wishes they’d reach out for her birthday because it is a special day – and probably also connected to shared memories (“And I’m not missing you like I did, I just hope it’s a day you remember.”).
The chorus becomes more detailed and explains how just for the one day, they could pretend to still be talking to each other, and then just go back to how it’s been and live their separate lives (“Call me on my birthday just say hi – be fake nice to me“ / “Go ahead and hate me for 364, I’ll live mine and you’ll live yours“). But even with these thoughts, Sody admits that she will always be slightly in love with the person (“There’ll always be a little part of me that’s a little bit in love with you“). Following that, the second verse shows the listeners that there is no desire to start the relationship over, even after the little love confession (“I don’t wanna ask any questions. ‘Cause how you are and how you’ve been, leads to who you’re sleeping with and what you do and where you live, how far you are from over this. Frankly, I don’t give a shit.“). Despite it all, there will always be a small part of her that will miss the person and that part still feels hopeful about a little birthday call – even after the end of the relationship (“We ended in the worst way, but will you still call me on my birthday?“).
If you feel like this song resonates with you, there is good news for you: Sody is an incredibly talented songwriter and has a bunch of beautifully sad songs out for the world to listen to amongst her discography so you will have plenty of tracks to check out. Plus – this October Sody will be playing a couple of shows in Europe so you can catch her live too.
Written by: Lara Thissen
Edited by: Marieke Weeda
