Northern Irish singer-songwriter JC Stewart is back with his latest single. His previous track, ‘Scars’, was released on the 27th of May 2022, so it’s been almost exactly two years since. After a successful European tour with Slovenian indie rock band Joker Out, Stewart released his newest track ‘Hey Babe, I’m a Mess, I’m Sorry’ on May 22nd.
While Stewart rose to fame with polished, upbeat pop songs, such as ‘Break My Heart’ and ‘Too Many Nights’, this new single is quite the opposite. The singer took a step back from music to focus on himself, which has led to more vulnerable, more mature music. ‘Hey Babe, I’m a Mess, I’m Sorry’ opens on the piano – in fact, the entire song is a haunting piano ballad where the high notes are accompanied by Stewart’s raw vocals. In the track, Stewart looks back on a failed relationship, making it seem like he himself was the reason why it didn’t work out.
The track follows an unconventional structure; it has no clear chorus, only verses and some repetitions of the title throughout. In the first verse, Stewart sings about how he’s “tried everything to numb the pain” insofar that he now no longer is able to feel anything. While he loved the person he was with at the time, he wasn’t emotionally available enough to let her know. In the second verse, Stewart names various reasons as to what went wrong – him being unkind and unavailable as a result of his own internal struggles. In between the first and second verse, the listener can hear choral elements in the backing vocals. While the track doesn’t necessarily build to a climax, it’s elements like this one that makes it swell all the same.
In the third verse, a vocal effect makes it sound like Stewart is far away, adding to the feeling of unavailability and avoidance. “Cause I know love hurts, but I’m the one causing the pain” he sings. The effect disappears for the final chorus, which focuses entirely on Stewart’s raw emotions. “I’ll love her to death but I refuse to bring her down with me” he sings, acknowledging again that he feels it is better for his partner to stay away from him.
All in all, the song is quite depressing. We’ve heard sad lyrics from Stewart before – on tracks such as ‘Loud’ – but the honesty in this one hits heavy. The singer stated that he wrote the song while going through a dark time, but that he’s feeling a lot better now and felt extremely excited about its release. This track is Stewart’s first independent song out in the world, and what a song it is to start off this journey with. On tour with Joker Out, Stewart played other unreleased tracks, including ‘Space Hurts’, and fans can only hope he’ll release these in the future as well – this is a singer whose lyrics and voice deserve to be heard.
Later this year, JC Stewart will be going on tour across Europe and the United Kingdom, so make sure to grab your tickets to hear ‘Hey Babe, I’m a Mess, I’m Sorry’ and other stunning, personal songs live.
Written by: Mandy Huibregtsen
Edited by: Nèri Cliteur
