The latest single, ‘Alley Rose’ is drenched in the perfect combination to embrace the experience of finally feeling safe in a relationship to watch it slip away.
It’s a track that puts any listener into Gray’s table-turning shock as he realises that despite the security existing in his eyes - a relationship can still dwindle as he calls out for them: “Don't leave me hangin' / Oh, where'd you go, go, Alley Rose? / Oh, where'd you go, go, go?”.
As with the other leading singles from the album, ‘Alley Rose’ continues with the heavy ‘80’s influences heard in the synths, syncopated drum layers added on later, reverb, and melodies that are reminiscent of pop-rock of that time period. There’s no denying that Gray has taken inspiration from glam rockers Elton John (‘Tiny Dancer’) in this new release and David Bowie-esque vocal play as heard in ‘Never Ending Song’.
Gray explores more of how love that he has previously known: abusive and destructive, can be rewritten as beauty and fulfilling - the bridge of the piece carries this emotional release so powerfully. “But I swore hands were made for fighting / I swore eyes were made to cry / but you’re the first person that I’ve seen / who’s proven that might be a life”. Even though the song is about heartbreak with arms reaching out to reunite, it’s also in a way a thank you to the lover for showing him another version of love that can and does exist.
Gray has never been one to shy away from purging his ideas of love as a gay man, stories of familial ties severed, and his path as he finds his place in a world after facing difficulties in many relationships and his music career. ‘About Heaven’ certainly will divulge deeper into where Gray is now in his life exploring himself in and out of relationships with a more mature approach to it all in comparison to his last album, ‘Superache’.
Tyra Baker
Image: ‘Alley Rose’ Official Single Cover
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