When I was first listening to this song, I expected Overnight to be another semi-well-known indie-rock band I’d just been missing out on.
And while I suppose I’d been missing out, I was surprised to find out that “Whittier” was their newly released debut single. The band, coming from southern Massachusetts, highlights the difficulties of feeling belittled in an unhealthy relationship and the importance of recognizing this feeling and removing its source altogether.
If you were to separate the song’s lyrics from its instrumentals, you might take a look at them and assume the background music to be slow and sad to fit the nature of a difficult relationship ending. But interestingly enough, upon listening, I found myself lost in the song’s sound rather than its lyrics. I started to wonder if they provided this contrast on purpose. It’s not uncommon for us to prioritize the sound of a song over the lyrics (we do listen to music with our ears after all). So we listen to a happy song with sad lyrics, but we still dance. It’s like the song is pretending like it’s happy even when it’s not.
It’s almost metaphorical. We get so caught up in appearances and seeming happy that we forget to prioritize our own true internal happiness. It’s representative of what the relationship outlined in the song entails. It may look nice on the outside, but on the inside you have one or both parties feeling invisible or neglected.
However, I feel as if Overnight’s dream-pop sound fits their lyrics quite well. We learn near the song’s end that “Whittier” is about the growth and strength it takes to stand up to someone who is hurting you deeply, and in that case, why not make it fun and upbeat?
“You give me a reason to stay
I wouldn’t want it any other way”
Earlier in the song, this line is spoken from the singer’s former partner, but upon its reiteration, the speaker of this line is not entirely clear. I like to think its appearance the second time around is now spoken from Overnight, which would be an excellent stylistic technique; it represents the difficulty of leaving a toxic relationship, whether it might be unsafe, scary, or generally uncomfortable. It’s not uncommon to defend and tolerate others’ unhealthy behavior or mistreatment because we fear that leaving these relationships will hurt more than staying in them. What makes this song so powerful is that it confronts concerns like these in a way we can relate to.
While I’m sure none of us want to relate to a song like this (unless you’re moving on from a hurtful person in which case, by all means go ahead), I’m hopeful for more work like this from Overnight. With all this being said, I definitely expect bigger and better things on their upcoming EP, Blush, and other future releases.
