The Singles Bar: REYNA wear out the past with ‘Baby Forget It’

Welcome to The Singles Bar, a review series focused on new single and song releases.

There’s a frizzy-haired teddy bear that sits by my desk. An ex-boyfriend got it for me once, nearly 10 years ago, and I can’t seem to let it go. Our relationship was a short-lived one, admittedly, but in that timeframe, we connected on such a truly deep level that this bear ⎯⎯ Seth, I call him ⎯⎯ embodies the magical twilight of that Christmas vacation at Disney World, the chilly winter freeze pulling us closer together, our lips locked, our hearts intertwined. I’ve never felt that again, and even though our love fizzled out as abruptly as it was ignited, I look into this bear’s charcoal eyes and get all warm and fuzzy inside. Alt-pop duo REYNA know that feeling, too, as they ponder the past with busted disco-ball shards on their faintly glistening single “Baby Forget It,” in which the script is actually flipped in this scenario.

It’s not them holding onto the past. No, it’s an ex, who they see wearing a lost and cherished article of clothing in public, despite the heart’s tragic flames still licking at their wounds. “The song is about a former love who kept something of mine after a dramatic breakup. I wasn’t the best version of myself in this relationship, and I can admit that I really messed up,” the band says. “That’s why I was so surprised when I saw that she would wear my jacket. I was like ‘hmm, maybe it wasn’t so bad, maybe every time she puts the jacket on she thinks about the good times instead of the bad.'”

The song is made of neon, flecked with club-floor handclaps echoing across Milky Way in extravagant grooviness. “We could have got it right,” they muse, elastic (production) bands snapping and curling. “Can’t you feel it / The feeling is gone” rings in starry strands, leaving you feeling a quiet heaviness on the heart, a matter of consequence. Singers, songwriters, musicians and sisters, Victoriah and Hannah Gabriela add about the song, “This is for everyone who has had their heart broken then somehow muster the courage to put their hearts out there again. It’s learning from those sour episodes in your life and making them part of who you are like a scar you’re proud of.”

“Baby Forget It” is as fabulously striking and inescapable as a luminescent club sign swinging freely overhead. It’s a comforting reminder that the past isn’t some terrifying beast from which you should hide, but something that should be cared for and allowed to propel you forward into an uncertain but thrilling future.

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