fbpx

Chris Walton goes all-in on city pop with ‘Halfway Lover’

Courtesy

It happens to the best of us: You lock eyes with your boo after a dazzling evening and confess your burning love for them. They shoot back a pitiful look and mumble “I’m sorry.” Then the blood drains from your face and your soul leaves your body, no biggie. 

Chris Walton isn’t afraid to reopen that wound of unreturned feelings on his new song “Halfway Lover,” a funk tune about getting your kinda-sorta relationship out of a, well, funk. The Boston artist dropped the single today (July 15), sharing the first sample of his forthcoming album Ruminating Thoughts.

“’Halfway Lover’ is an upbeat retro-inspired ballad about two people trying to navigate the classic ‘what are we?’ quandary,” he tells Vanyaland. “Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of the person who is ready to commit, while the other is a little hesitant. This song is special to me, because I’ve been on both sides of the situation. I can really, truly relate.”

But if Walton’s hookup can’t fully commit to him, then at least he’ll commit to a proper tribute to Japanese artist and city pop pioneer Mariya Takeuchi.

“Musically this song draws heavily from the Japanese genre city pop, which really came into its own in the ’80s,” he notes. “More specifically, I tried to emulate Mariya Takeuchi’s style of blending melancholy lyrics with mid-tempo funk arrangements.”

Walton doesn’t half-ass his homage, either; “Halfway Lover” is prime soundtrack material for what comes after the devastating blow of “I’m sorry,” also known as the head-down walk home under a blanket of blinking neon lights. Rejection never sounded so pretty.

Dip in to “Halfway Lover” below.