Ellie Byers Releases New Single, Role Play
This is a sultry, easy-flowing track that is extremely hard not to sit back and relax to. Co-written by Ellie Byers and Simon Pereira (Syon), Role Play was produced by David Spoils and offers an alluring melody with a velvety texture that soothes the listener into the sound. An increasingly memorable chorus arches throughout that sits into beats and floats through the melody to create a softness that isn’t without hidden power.
The lyrics are poignant and rich under the guise of a classic gentle RnB music arrangement and the backing presents Ellie’s talent very well. She has a gorgeous voice that flows so freely through the melody. Check out her Instagram and you can find more videos that showcase her amazing vocal talents, demonstrating that those elusive high notes – Ellie can glide through them like melted butter. Whilst she has a limited online presence, her Twitter makes up for it with little glimpses into who she is as a person.
Described as “unflinchingly vulnerable and passionately determined”, the singer formed a team during the pandemic who are working on the emergence of Ellie’s vision. Role Play is just one of the tracks to feature on Too Far Gone, her debut EP which you will be pleased to hear is releasing by the end of 2022. These singles centre around the experiences of the brokenhearted, the besotted infancy of love, and how we feel on ‘the other side’ of heartbreak.
Role Play follows a narrative of play pretend when a partner takes on roles and pretends to be what they think the other needs within a relationship in an attempt to stabilise a crumbling foundation. The desperation near the end of this narrative and the realisation that pretending can also equate to sacrificing who you are is hard to come to terms with as it can often reflect our greatest insecurities, where love becomes conditional and there is the terrifying possibility of falling short and losing that established connection. Role Play has epically narrated this experience in a more laid-back approach which I feel is a great symbolisation of the process described – it feels smooth on the outside, but you cannot help but listen to the lyrics and hear the cracks forming underneath if you continue pretending.