Tim: Remember Ryan Dolan?
Tom: No?
Tim: Yes you do, Ryan Dolan.
Tom: Still no. Despite watching Eurovision, that one slipped past me. Maybe I nipped out during that song?
Tim: Here’s his new track, which is decidedly not an upbeat dance number like that. Prepare yourself for sadness, and you might want to keep a couple of nice cat GIFs on the side for afterwards.
Tom: Well, call me a cold-hearted jerk, but the video came across as mawkish rather than actually sad.
Tim: Seriously?
Tom: The message is good, I suppose, but they could have eased off on the melodrama a bit.
Tim: Maybe it does escalate a bit quickly, but bear in mind you’ve about two and a half minutes to tell that story; you can’t exactly take it slowly.
Tom: Well, Pink managed it.
Tim: Yes, and back then you said anyone else doing it would probably annoy you; guess you were right. Any other criticisms to pile on top of what I maintain is a spot-on video?
Tom: They could also have proof-read that message at the end.
Tim: Oh, fine. Anyone with a heart who’s still paying attention: feel free to cheer yourself up with this.
Tom: That’s probably fake as well. Would spraypaint really show up like that, front-lit at night?
Tim: Oh, for heaven’s sake, I don’t know. If we could move on to the song now, Ryan came out as gay a few weeks back, and also talked about his teenage depression due to that, so especially with the message at the end it’s clear this is an incredibly personal song, and what wonderful one it is. The emotion in the voice is enormous, and the way the strings, piano and drums build up for the big choruses at the end is just wonderful.
Tom: So, setting aside my thoughts about the video: yep, that’s a pretty good song, and there’s a hell of a lot of emotion in there. He’s got the voice to pull off a Big Song like this, and he does it bloody well.
Tim: One notable thing about this is the “didn’t even know if I could make it or not”, which is lifted straight for Bon Jovi; first I thought it was weird, or annoying, but then I realised what came next – obviously, it’s “we’ve got each other”, except here, when it’s “’cause everyday is harder on your own”, which turns it into an incredibly clever piece of songwriting. This is a fantastic track, and I don’t know if it’ll get around enough to spread awareness and stuff, but it’s a damn good effort.