Featuring lush flutes and synths alongside dreamy vocals, “Care 4 U Carefully” is a blissfully melodic track from Jennie Lawless. The Los Angeles-based artist’s seventh track release to date, “Care 4 U Carefully” evolves from lush synth/flute interplay into a sweeping, dreamy chorus, marked by the “straight into my phone,” line. The lyric itself refers to the temptation of a smartphone in one’s pocket, and the world of escapism it can provide. Musically, the section is fantastic — caressing vocals and instrumentation converge for a memorable moment, made even better by the flute-led bridge that occurs thereafter.
The artist provides background on the track’s themes and its video below:
Lawless began writing Care 4 U Carefully after her partner Chris was in a bad mood on his birthday. She didn’t like the way she reacted to his feelings. “It began as a mantra and reminder to be more thoughtful, but then I surprised myself with the line, ‘Oh no/where did I go/straight into my phone’ and then I realized the song was not about what a kind and compassionate friend and partner I am. It’s about how hard it actually is to care for someone the way I want to, especially with that tiny little critter in my pocket, my iPhone 7, iOs version 13.3.1, always whispering my name.” On the word “phone” in the line “straight into my phone,” the song moves into this smartphone-inspired world of sonic technicolor with a swirling mass of gorgeous vocal harmonies, arpeggiated synth chords, and watery surreal guitar effects. It’s almost as mesmerizing as an actual phone.
—
“Care 4 U Carefully” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of May 2020’ Spotify playlist.
The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Dream-Pop.
