Music Review // Lyubov Kay "shoulda run"

 

Sometimes I can tell within the first ten seconds of a song whether I'm going to like it or not.  For Lyubov Kay, that isn't a problem on "shoulda run" because as soon as you press play and hear those synth tones come in, you know you're in for something that will be good.  And this song doesn't disappoint, as it does exactly what synth tones can and should do.   While this song could become modern pop it could just as easily turn into a retro flashback, but yet, somehow it seems to embrace both at the same time.

The music of this song has a very direct synth pop way about it though there is also soul to it.  As the official music video is a live performance, as you see the band playing and singer singing, I'm thinking as much about someone like Lady Gaga as I am Debbie Gibson.  As the music video has a focus on the band, you never see the crowd and this could be in front of a huge arena tour or it could be inside of a mall.  That is how the way that the era of this song is so flawlessly blended.

Based soley on the title, you should be able to think up times when you know you should've ran away from something (or someone) that wasn't good for you.   But as these lyrics get into it there are lines like "If you always end up with her / Do I get just half of you?" and later it becomes "I'd never get this close to you / If I knew I'd only get half of you".   This feels like a situation where you're in a relationship with someone who also has feelings for someone else and once you realized it, you should've run but you hope they'll come around and forget about that other person so you foolishly stay a little too long.

I really enjoy this song musically as it could be a pop hit but I also enjoy that based on the lyrics it can feel like a somewhat subtle revenge type of song.  There are enough songs out there that feel like they're just bad break up songs, but Lyubov Kay takes more accountability for not leaving sooner but yet also still blames the other person and rightfully so.  We need more songs that people can gravitate to such as this but also they have deep layers to them.