Singer-songwriter MARIS brings an ode to summer in Montana, where she grew up, in her new track ‘Salt Water Taffy’, released on August 2nd. Working hard to achieve her pop star dreams in LA now, this song takes the listener back to the summers in the countryside that came before this.
The atmosphere of the song is immediately set, with the first lyrics describing summer in the way it feels when you are young: “August feels a million miles long, and I’m still so young”, sung over some bright synths, guitar and light drums. The instrumentals pick up a lot more in the catchy chorus, where the song shifts more from the descriptions of the scenes to the nostalgic side of summer, singing “Don’t go yet, I was finally happy”.
MARIS’s songwriting skills really come to light in this track, as the lyrics do an amazing job at contrasting between nostalgia and summer happiness and then being pulled back to the present and the future ahead. This is most nicely described in the lines “How to tie a cherry stem with my tongue, Oh I had no idea about the woman I would become”, weaving together a juvenile carelessness with a hint of what’s ahead. Not to mention she proves on social media videos that she is serious about possessing this niche skill of tying the cherry stem in her mouth.
Later in the song, MARIS’s vocals become even more impressive and apparent, effortlessly reaching high notes with a raw edge as we hear her plead to the summer “Don’t go!”, the vocal qualities only emphasise the feeling of begging for a happy summer not to be over.
With ‘Salt Water Taffy’, MARIS has perfectly encapsulated the feeling of summer, impressively capturing the experience of enjoying a summer while simultaneously having both the past and the future linger over you in their subtle ways. Tying the past, present and future together with anecdotes and descriptions, all over a catchy beat, making the song both relatable and a fun summer tune.
Written by: Marieke Weeda
Edited by: Sabine de Graaf
