Photo: Danelle Painter
Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Shawn Brown recently released his new single/lyric video, “The Sad Ones.”
Brown explains, “To me, it just seems like we’ve gotten increasingly uncomfortable sitting in our feelings. Vulnerability is hard. Technology makes it harder. It’s way too easy to momentarily pull out our phones and soothe the hard things away. The rough part happens when we then pathologize those same hard things. We make ourselves ‘bad and wrong’ somehow. We’ll judge each other or ourselves for simply feeling whatever we’re feeling. What if we just let ourselves feel our stuff? No resisting. The truth is – feelings are just feelings. For most of us, it’s how we’re impacted as a result of being unable to tolerate them that leads to challenges. The song is meant to make space for just feeling sad. It doesn’t aim to solve or soothe the sad because there’s nothing inherently wrong with just feeling our shit. Whatever we’re feeling, it’s OK. We all need that permission just to feel it, and soon after, we’ll be feeling something else, and so on. There’s nothing wrong with being sad, just like there’s nothing wrong with being happy. Feelings – they’re just that. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“The Sad Ones” was written by Brown, arranged and produced by Grecco Buratto, and features the talents of Daniel Clarke (piano) and Brendan Buckley (drums, percussion). Alberto Lopez handled the engineering, while Tiago Becker handled mixing, and mastering was done by Juan Garcia Petri.
Folk, R&B, and roots music form the basis of Brown’s sound, a sound highlighted by Brown’s unique falsetto, at once rich and suffused by warm, passionate colors.
Brown recently released his first book, We Almost Are, published by Embers Arts Press, a collection of narrative poems about love, loss, and regret – an exploration of hope through the darkness.
“The Sad Ones” opens on a slightly melancholic piano, elegantly expressive. Brown’s evocative vocals imbue the lyrics with tender compassion, revealing the complexity of swirling emotions running through human beings. Delicately nuanced, the feel and flow of the melody conjures up a sumptuous, swaying, motion.
Gently alluring and deliciously poignant, with “The Sad Ones,” Shawn Brown offers a hauntingly gorgeous song, one that’s unforgettable.
