Music Review // Alexandra Maillot "Cherry Pit"

 

From start to finish, Alexandra Maillot challenges how we think about songs with "Cherry Pit"   Soft synths bring in big beats with the vocals at first.  It feels like we're winding through the opening, but then these guitar notes just cut through so raw until we reach toward the second half of the song which just becomes louder and a lot bigger somehow as well.   Musically this song is not verse/chorus/verse but rather quiet/loud, which is not something you hear as often but I think for how it puts the emphasis on the subject of the lyrics it works.

Even without the traditional song structure musically, there are still lyrics which repeat: such as the opening lines about how "I pulled up to your house / I didn't want to get out".  What could be considered the chorus as well (Though I don't feel like it is in a traditional sense) sings about being the "Cherry Pit" and that does repeat as well.  The mood set for this can feel hypnotic at times, yet also like a power ballad from someone of the Cyndi Lauper era.

The lyrics which hit the hardest here are the ones which carry the title.  They start with "What is the etiquette / When someone that you trusted / Lifts you up / Breaks you down / Spits you out like a cherry pit?".   While I feel like that is about betrayal, I feel like it goes even deeper because this person got what they needed from you and then disgarded you when they felt like you were no longer of use to them.   If you've never known this type of "But what have you done for me lately?" type of person, consider yourself lucky.

As the lyrics continue, they ask: "Do you fold or crumble? / Pick up the pieces bit by bit? / Move on or let go? / Pen a book, write a hit? / Pages and pages".   Feeling used will probably have you moving on, but isn't it also interesting how writers can use these experiences.   A lot of the best songs, the best books are written not because of experiences that were being exploited but because of experiences the writers would have rather not gone through but yet somehow that subject always seems to find them.  It's a lot to think about.