Premiere: Luke Cloutier treads water in adulthood with new song, ‘Drown’

When you’re 20, you like to act as if you don’t care. You make bad choices for the hell of it – or you don’t even realize how toxic habits, cycles, and certain friends really are for you. It’s only when you hit 30 when things begin to fall into place – each piece more profound than anticipated. The person you become is the one you’re younger self truly needs. Country guitar-slinger Luke Cloutier tussles with his adulthood and the growing unease he feels rocking through his bones. He’s in the throes of learning a hard lesson, and as insurmountable as it might all seem, the horizon promises a vital, clean break. His song “Drown,” premiering today, glistens with that plucky optimism, golden brown around the edges, a slight vocal rasp soaked in sandpaper. “A few years from now is when I’ll drown,” he sings.

Cloutier’s style works both classic and contemporary cogs, cranking into overdrive with a heavenly gospel-glued crescendo on the chorus. “I don’t intend on letting all this go,” he vows. It’s not only a mountain-topping declaration but a weary, intimate confessional, one of great persuasion to himself never to give up. Adulthood can be a crippling experience, and it’s one we all must navigate. It’s one of life’s most brutal inevitabilities, and Cloutier’s gutsy performance is proof it’s all worth it.

On the song, Cloutier writes to B-Sides & Badlands over email, “‘Drown’ is a song that I wrote about the difficulty of building a relationship as a young person while also having dreams that you want to chase,” he says. “It’s about understanding the difference between want and need, and knowing that the person you want now will be the person that you need someday.”

“Drown” drops everywhere this Friday (January 24).

Listen below:

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