Every now and again I’ll come across an upcoming artist, much younger than myself, and think: “Wow, what am I doing with my life?” I’ve been playing the guitar and writing music since my early teens but have never had the confidence to put myself out there. A lot of people don’t realize how personal music can be, and how much courage it takes to actually release your songs out into the world. When I discovered Emmrose was only sixteen, I was shocked. Not only does her new song, “Take Me With You,” display a level of lyrical maturity that some artists never achieve, but it also shows an incredible amount of courage.
An electronic keyboard serves as the base for the entire song, providing a soft and melodic background for the other instruments to add texture to. On top of this, Emmrose sings of her longing to be with someone who is far away, “Hell is stayin’ here without you.” Her voice is powerful and confident with a melody which goes up and down her range, refusing to get boring. She leads us into one of the most poignant lines of the song, “Flower petals can’t tell me if you’ll always be mine / Forever means nothing / It’s empty most of the time.” A softly strummed acoustic guitar joins the mix, along with a ghostly melody in the background. In her most direct plea of the song, during the chorus she sings, “Take me with you / I love to go / Even if it’s somewhere out of this world.” By this point in the song, we can see how well Emmrose crafts her words to invoke emotion.
Making connections that show a lot of thought has been put into this situation, Emmrose reflects, “Seconds are miles / Miles are moments / Moments are sunsets in a different sky.” I found this connection to be clever, as she is basically equating every second she is away from this person as another mile, and after so many miles, the moments they could have been sharing aren’t happening due to them being so far apart. Instead, she has to accept watching the sun set in a “different sky” than them. The chorus comes around again, but now with added harmonies which add a real breadth to the song.
In the most uplifting section of the song, Emmrose sings, “You’re going places / I’ve never been / And I can tell you / I will, I will.” Despite knowing the distance exists now, she is confident that in the future she will be going along with this person to these faraway places. She reiterates, “Any distance / I’ll be by your side / Any time.” We’re led into the finale of the song which consists of the chorus being repeated two more times: once stripped down and a second time built up with the harmonies and additional percussion.
A relatable love song, “Take Me With You,” showcases the talent of singer-songwriter Emmrose wonderfully. With such a strong sense of melody and lyricism at this young age, I believe that the potential for Emmrose to go far is all there. I’m excited to see where her career goes from here, as it can only continue to go up.
