Pulled Beneath the Surface: Songbird’s “Dry Land” Echoes the Deep

June 12, 2025

Pulled Beneath the Surface: Songbird’s “Dry Land” Echoes the Deep

In a maelstrom of sound and saltwater dreams, Songbird is back with "Dry Land" — a single not conceived in heartbreak, but in a primal affection for the ocean's most hated predator: the Great White Shark. There's poetry in the predator, in its quiet pull below the waves, and Songbird has captured it in haunting detail. The track is a lyrical examination of manipulation — less so by lovers, but by anything with teeth sharp enough to drag you under. It's a song for anyone who has struggled with the deep and made it back from its undertow.

"Dry Land" takes a cue from the nature of sharks: sleek, raw, and menacingly quiet before they attack. Both verses describe a scene of how danger is usually disguising itself as beauty, luring its prey with vows of safeguarding it. The metaphor is open-ended enough to let listeners envision their own monsters in the song — a toxic ex, an abstract fear, or maybe that small voice in your head telling you that you're not adequate. And in doing so, we realize just how universal the song actually is.

The sound — oh, the sound — an ocean in itself. You can hear the sea in it, not waves or gulls, but the way backing vocals swell and dip like tides. There's space in the mix, air to breathe even when pressure is building. The balance is tenuous, every element in its place, and yet the catchiness is there, anchored like a boat that knows it might float away but would rather stay docked — for the time being.

"Dry Land" is also a reminder that sometimes the same things that drag us under are beautiful — and treacherous — at the same time. Songbird has held up to listeners a mirror shrouded in song and sea salt, and a challenge to ask themselves what their shark looks like and if they're still searching for shore.