Rarely do we ever think of breakup songs as optimistic– usually we turn on the most bleak song imaginable in order to intensify our suffering in search of some kind of emotional release. Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Jenny Kern abandons this convention of dismal breakup catharsis, in favor of her dazzling new single I Should Lose You.
Prior to Kern’s music career, the Canadian born indie pop artist initially worked as a Page at NBC, assisting high profile filmmakers such as Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, and eventually becoming a producer in the film and television industry. Come 2018, Kern decided to commit to her lifelong passion for music, pursuing it as her full time career.
The release of her debut single Slow Burn earned the musician widespread acclaim, leading to her first international tour in Europe, and features on MTV, ABC, and the CW. Kern’s latest single, I Should Lose You reconciles with the feeling of hurting the one you used to love, while anticipating what lies ahead.
Produced in collaboration with Carson Cody, Matt Huber, and Joe LaPorta, Kern explains that the track details, ‘Falling out of love with someone and realizing you need to let them go.’
“The relationship was failing and it became so one-sided. It’s easy to realize that you no longer have feelings for someone but it’s the intrinsic difficulty of hurting them is what makes it so hard. You can be in a relationship, feel a shift, and know something isn’t right anymore, but the second you say it out loud it’s in the open. You can’t take it back.”
The song is emphatically a modular symphony of fluorescent synth rock. The production rings with a feeling of levitation– the composition of pulsating beats, driving drum hits, and groovy guitar riffs are resounding, hanging in the air long after the last note has played. Without a doubt, the guitars are the compelling rhythm of the ebullient melody, carefully interlocking infectious riffs into the chord movements.
Jenny’s vocals are casually edgy, and slightly colored by an electronic modulation that attempts not to alter the natural tone of her sound, but to amplify the invigorating energy coursing through every note. Her lyricism is intensely forthcoming, revealing how we become so complacent in what we’ve known for so long that it becomes easier to wallow in it, than to move forward– Cause I've been avoiding you, it’s easier than the truth / You deserve someone new, someone that wants you.
Since her detour into the world of indie-pop angst, Jenny Kern’s poignantly rosy discography has charted on Top 40 radio, in addition to over 1 million streams on Spotify. In 2022, listeners can expect future tour dates, as well as more releases from the remarkably intuitive artist.
By Cassidy Copenheaver