As the winter enters full-swing above the equator, almost half of the population feels the effects of isolation. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is surely rampant in Boston (where I’m currently living), and everyone is looking for a cure. Sometimes a 5-day trip to Mexico is enough, other times you need a new significant other to watch countless movies with (hence the name “cuffing season”). So why am I explaining this on a music blog? Well, while it may not be 100% about cuffing season, the New Jersey-based artist, cant be jake, is giving us a look into the relatable feeling of needing a relationship to get by in his new single, “Desperate Boy.” 

Tapping into the narrative of a boy looking to fill his shortcomings, and a girl using him as a distraction from herself, cant be jake gives us an entertaining window into the concept of relationship dependence. Broken into two characters, cant be jake paints a picture of a relationship we’ve all seen before: 

You’ve got mail from a desperate boy, who don’t like himself, just tryna to fill the void that he was born with, he tries ignoring all the things that destroy him, he act like he don’t care at all… 

What we’ve got here is desperate girl who don’t love herself, so she falls for boys who she gets bored with, she liked to play 21 questions til’ the morning, then act like they ain’t talk at all. 

And it’s all packed into one of the most catchy chorus hooks I’ve heard this year. 

This lush guitar-based pop anthem is the second release from cant be jake, following “breakdown_demo,” a densely produced hyperpop banger that puts his dynamic vocals on full display. Although two distinct atmospheres, the contrasting tracks hint that cant be jake’s creative vision is one with many different colors, stories, and hits to come. Take a listen to “Desperate Boy” below:

‍

‍