The British singer worked with Will Wells as producer and songwriter on this ballad; a pop song that’s filled with soaring vocals, backed by even more powerful voices, drums, guitar sounds and string instruments like the violin. With heavy strains of soul and RnB mixed into it, the track allows both Erivo’s powerful voice and the emotional lyricism to take up space.
The ballad starts with mellow sounds and Erivo’s soft voice, before the drums and a strong build up of background voices lead into the heartfelt chorus. With lyrics like “You could cut me deeper than the ocean / But I refuse to drown, I'm comin' up, I wanna breathe again”, the pre-chorus builds up the momentum before transitioning into the powerful chorus.
With the song’s overall theme being the hurt and damage that previous love has left on the protagonist, the chorus sets in with “I gave you my all, but you took the worst of me / Lightning and scars is all I got left of me”. With her soulful voice, Erivo embodies the vulnerability of the lyrics and the pain that those lyrics unleash. In the second verse, the loneliness felt and shattered love is compared to Romeo and Juliet, before setting the clear boundary in retrospective with the lyrics “I deserve to be loved, no fear that it would disappear”.
The singer has managed to maintain her lyrical depth compared to ‘Replay’, her earlier released single this year, while giving her voice even more room to be heard with her strong vocal talent. Excitement for her new album is certainly increasing with this newest release, and the anticipation keeps on building, just like the powerful lyrics in ‘Worst Of Me’.
Kathrin Waschke
Image: ‘Worst Of Me’ Official Single Cover
