For the past two years, Estonian singer-songwriter OLLIE, stage name of Oliver Mazurtšak, has participated in the Estonian music competition Eesti Laul with the songs ‘Venom’ and ‘My Friend’, which has made the 30-year old artist quite famous in his home country. While OLLIE started out mainly as a producer, he’s expanded his repertoire and started writing, recording, and producing songs in 2021. On the 16th of May, he released his new single, ‘Heartless’.
The song opens with a steady beat and Mazurtšak’s vocals, repeating the title of the track several times before the instrumentals kick in. A heavy drum-and-bass sound sets the tone for this intense song. The music quiets down right before the first verse, to allow space for the quite emotional lyrics. Mazurtšak opens this verse by singing “I never wanna feel like this again”, alluding to a depressive state where one doesn’t even want to get out of bed. Interestingly enough, the verse ends with the text “Why not just kill me now and take me to heaven” – but the word “heaven” can’t actually be heard. This could be interpreted as the singer being unsure whether he would deserve to go to heaven, as he might be going to hell instead.
For the first pre-chorus, the instrumentals become louder as the singer sings about being unsure whether to “meditate or medicate” in an attempt to heal from “this situation”. It is unclear what situation he is referring to, but it is clear how terrible it has made him feel. The drums heavily kick in when the chorus begins. Continuing the pre-chorus’ theme, the singer states he does “drugs to numb my thoughts”. This is not the first song in which Mazurtšak has spoken about doing drugs as a way to deal with something – he has done so before in his previous track ‘Get High’. As a result of trying to numb the pain, he’s become ‘heartless’ in this track. This particular event has hurt him so much, to the extent that to feel nothing at all is better than to feel love and loss.
The song quiets down again for the second verse, which follows up on the chorus by continuing the idea that if you don’t want to feel pain, just “pretend you don’t own [a heart] at all”. The second pre-chorus and chorus follow a similar build-up as the first one. After the final repetition of the title, the song moves into a soft instrumental breakdown which continues into the bridge. In this part of the song, the singer talks specifically about a person, rather than a situation, that has “made me lose interest in everyone” and stating that this person has turned him into a worse version of himself that no longer dares to fall in love. The build-up of the bridge stands out the most in this track, becoming louder, more desperate with each repetition of the lyrics. From the raw emotion in the singer’s voice it’s obvious how much this song means to him, and how important it is for him to be able to talk about his experience in the form of music. After the bridge, there is one more rendition of the chorus before the song abruptly ends.
Mazurtšak first teased this song during his concert on the 26th of April, and fans immediately fell in love with this new track. Therefore, it’s great that they did not have to wait long for its release. The singer seems to only get better and better with each new release and it is clear he has managed to find his own style. Clearly influenced by famous rock bands such as Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon, Mazurtšak adds an amazing new voice to the scene and deserves recognition outside of his home country of Estonia. With his honest lyrics, he surely can captivate the hearts of emo kids all around the globe.
Written by: Mandy Huibregtsen
Edited by: Nèri Cliteur
