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GIVEON at 2023 Governors Ball Music Festival

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Key Takeaways:

• GIVĒON shared the ‘BELOVED’ tracklist in a letter that reads like a breakup be aware.
• The letter embeds every track title in emotional reflections, providing perception into the album’s deeper themes.
• Previously launched singles “RATHER BE” and “TWENTIES” preview the album’s introspective and narrative-driven type.

GIVĒON is releasing his sophomore album, BELOVED, on July 11, and on Tuesday (July 1), he revealed the official tracklist by a letter, of all issues.

“It’s strange how certain memories cling like MUD — messy, uncomfortable and impossible to forget,” the note begins, with every of the 14 track titles written in all caps. “And still, I think of you and realize I’d RATHER BE in that chaos again than pretend it meant nothing.” Later, he displays, “We thought we had it all figured out in our TWENTIES, but we were just STRANGERS with familiar souls trying to matter to someone.”

Judging by the letter, the LP’s opening reduce, “MUD,” will discover the lingering emotional mess left behind by a love gone unsuitable. Thankfully, not the whole lot is left to interpretation. Fans have already heard “RATHER BE” and “TWENTIES,” two singles launched forward of the undertaking. On the previous, which dropped in May, the “Time” artist admits he’d fairly “be a fool” and embrace the chaos of an outdated flame than fake there’s no connection there. The latter providing, because the title suggests, revisits the wreckage of affection through the titular decade.

“I was NUMB to so much back then… but I CAN TELL now what I couldn’t admit then: I loved you more than I ever said. If I could, I’d leave DIAMONDS FOR YOUR PAIN — something beautiful to make up for all the ways we failed each other,” GIVĒON continued. From what we are able to inform (pun very a lot meant), the primary two songs right here appear to middle on how emotionally indifferent he as soon as was earlier than lastly understanding the load of it.

“DIAMONDS FOR YOUR PAIN,” in the meantime, may very well be an acknowledgment of attempting — and possibly even failing — to redeem himself by gestures. The letter goes on to learn, “You were always the KEEPER of the best parts of me, even when I didn’t know how to hold onto you. Now it’s SIX THIRTY in LA and I’m thinking about how some things in life don’t come with a BACKUP PLAN — especially in love.”

Toward the tip of the letter, the writing begins to lean heavier. “Still, I feel the BLEEDING edges of what we lost. Even when you said DON’T LEAVE, deep down I already knew our time had run its course,” GIVĒON pens. “Maybe we were just an AVALANCHE waiting to happen — beautiful and destructive. Still, I’ll always carry the GOOD, BAD, AND UGLY of us with me.”

From the sound of it, “AVALANCHE” may seize precisely what the metaphor suggests: a love story that was certain to crumble finally. As for the nearer, “GOOD, BAD, AND UGLY,” there might not have been a extra becoming option to finish each the LP and letter. By now, hopefully GIVĒON could have totally accepted each a part of the connection with out attempting to rewrite historical past.

Luckily, we received’t have to attend for much longer to see precisely what every of the track titles means. BELOVED hits streaming platforms on July 11.