Chelsea Cutler has been making music and pulling on heartstrings since 2016 with her lyrically beautiful ballads and dance hits. Her newest song, released on January 28th, is titled “the lifeboat’s empty!” which juxtapositions the feeling of heartbreak with a catchy melody and chorus. Cutler knows all too well the ups and downs of a relationship since she has been dating her girlfriend for three years. Throughout her whole discography, Cutler has worn her heart on her sleeve, especially with her last two albums. The singer is also known for writing incredible breakup songs that resonate with her fans as well as a wider audience.
The metaphor of her new song touches on the feeling of having a relationship fail without any way of fixing it. It can cave in on itself and seem like a disaster waiting to happen. Cutler embodies this with lyrics such as “Tell me why we’re drowning still when the lifeboat’s empty” and “I can’t breathe down here, when did we get so heavy?”. The language she uses is so descriptive and powerful that even someone who has not personally experienced a breakup can get a sense of her feelings. In contrast to the lyrics, the production value is high tempo and immediately temps you to stand up and dance. This is not the first time Cutler has created a song like this. In her first full album, How to Be Human, the single “Sad Tonight” became one of the most popular tracks on the record. It has a similar feeling to “lifeboat” with lyrics like “I hate being so damn honest, you have my heart, but you don’t even want it”. I think this is the hook that drives fans to listen to Cutler.
Recently, she posted on her Tik Tok account both promoting the new song and showing fans the process of making "lifeboat". In a typical fashion, the comment section was filled with negative energy. In the past, Cutler has been ridiculed by fans for singing songs that are “too sad”. The singer finally responded in the comments of a video of her and her girlfriend. She wrote, “I’ve been there before guys; don’t act like I don’t know heartbreak just because I'm in a relationship”. Clearly, the artist knows something because she has racked up over 10 million listeners on Spotify. Listen to “the lifeboat is empty!” below:
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