Where "Tender Hands" Begin: The Accidental Birth of a Reckoning
Returning after her last single released last year-from the warmest in July, singer-songwriter May Rei brings us Tender Hands, which she described as a "moment of pure, accidental spark," explaining it was the result of her humming a melody over a loose beat with no planning whatsoever to the pieces she was fusing together, letting the music freely take the reins. And just like that, calmed by the evening's essence, she birthed a song.
One of the working titles she had in her possession was Troll, to rework into something more serious. From irony, it captures a character in her life-a "man" affectionately called "James"-whom she describes as taking the devotion of people in his life as something easily bought like any other commodity. On the other hand, together with this is the portrait that fills the void in his canvases, which is an illusion, so as to be the meditative soliloquies on the theme of narcissism, which she took from her lyrics on a reflection that never focused on real love.
One of the working titles she had in her possession was Troll, to rework into something more serious. From irony, it captures a character in her life-a "man" affectionately called "James"-whom she describes as taking the devotion of people in his life as something easily bought like any other commodity. On the other hand, together with this is the portrait that fills the void in his canvases, which is an illusion, so as to be the meditative soliloquies on the theme of narcissism, which she took from her lyrics on a reflection that never focused on real love.
In “Tender Hands,” “musically,” the strings unfold like slow-burning cinematics. A drama around a piano goes up and down, contrasted by a syncopated rhythm guitar, all supported by a four-on-the-floor beat that drives a restless momentum to the piece. This is where May Rei’s love for the orchestral meets her love of the electronic, feeling like a freestanding, sparse and inviting expanse - one big, dimly-lit room that’s electrically charged.
In the accompanying video, this duality of the sounds is made a little visual poem. May Rei walks alone down a long narrow corridor, a piece of luggage in hand — a unifying symbol of unspoken truths and the weighty burdens we carry. Her red dress, a worn voicing of ornate beauty, is a tribute to the ongoing fight against gendered violence. In each and every one of her steps, the frames, and especially in details of her hand movements, love, we are told, joins the absence of clarity and the presence of contradiction we fear the most. In this sense, “Tender Hands” is not a love song. It is an invitation to love, and to challenge. At all times. And everywhere.
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