May we all have the courage to be as forthcoming as Zola Simone in our post-breakup dazes. “I know you miss me/Do you wanna let it show?” the Boston-raised artist asks on her new single “I’M NOT DESPERATE.”
The tune, which dropped today (June 26) is a collab with Los Angeles rapper KESHORE that was inspired by the end of Simone’s last relationship. She sets the title in all caps, as if to convince herself that there’s no point in patching things up. But the song’s underlying hesitation is its strength — “I’M NOT DESPERATE” is a slinky pop yo-yo that makes a two-step out of the internal “I love them, I love them not” debate.
“‘I’M NOT DESPERATE’ proves that relationships don’t have to make sense to mean something,” Simone says. “Sometimes emotions don’t make sense either, but when you put such a groovy beat to it…it all starts to get a little easier to understand.”
Tune in below.