I can’t wait to hear this one live for myself.
About a week ago, Koe Wetzel released another new single from his forthcoming album 9 Lives called “Sweet Dreams,” which finds Koe lamenting a former flame and taking responsibility for the fact that he can’t seem to keep a good thing for too long, and the memory of this girl seems to haunt him even in his sleep making hard to have “sweet dreams” anymore.
It’s a pretty open, honest look at Koe and how he views himself in relationships, where he blames himself more than the girl he left brokenhearted which is a pretty mature take and definitely some sort of evolution (no matter how small it may be):
“A man like me would keep it to himself
A bigger man would say it to your face
Yeah I ain’t doing good and you can tell
Was I the only one you couldn’t save?
I hate to be the reason that you’re crying
The way you always knew when I was lying
And breaking your heart was getting tiring
I knew I had to let you go”
The production also has a little bit of R&B flair to it, and is much softer than what we heard on albums like Hell Paso and Harold Saul High, for example, and Koe says he was actually inspired a little bit by the R&B stylings of something like Usher’s iconic Confessions album (still one of my favorites, but I digress…):
“I had an R&B type song in mind, like something off Usher’s ‘Confessions’ album, with a badass drumbeat and a really cool melody.
I had written in my notes a few weeks earlier: ‘Sweet Dreams.’ When we got to the Sonic Ranch in El Paso, we tried it. We stepped back to look at the song and got really excited about the way it came out.”
And today, he released a live performance video of the song when he played Hangout Fest in Alabama about a week ago.
He addressed the crowd by telling them it was the first time he and the band had played it live, and it might not be perfect considering they had been drinking since “none in the morning”:
“We just shot the new song about two nights ago, and we haven’t played this live yet, so if we f*ck it up, we truly apologize. We’ve only been drinkin’ since like, nine this morning.”
And considering all that, I think he sounds pretty dang good… actually, I almost like the live version of this better (that shouldn’t surprise y’all by now), and something about the way they played the bridge live and the other production feels more effective in this setting.
9 Lives is due out everywhere on on July 19th, and you can watch it here and see what you think for yourself:
The studio cut:
9 Lives tracklist:
“Continued” Skit
“9 Lives (Black Cat)” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon)
“Casamigos” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Sam Harris, Ben Burgess, Gabe Simon)
“Damn Near Normal” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon, Carrie Karpinen, Sam Harris)
“Leigh” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon)
“Twister” (Ropyr Wetzel, Steve Rusch, Ben Burgess, Josh Serrato)
“High Road” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Gabe Simon, Carrie Karpinen)
“Reconsider” (Charles John Brocco, Keith Quenton Gattis)
“Hatchet” (Gabe Simon, Mike Coogan)
“Sweet Dreams” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Josh Serrato, Gabe Simon, Sam Harris)
“Runnin’ Low” (Ropyr Wetzel, Amy Allen, Sam Harris, Gabe Simon, Ben Burgess)
“Bar Song” (Blake “Shy” Carter, Breyan Isaac, Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, Dave Gibson)
“Last Outlaw Alive” (Josh Serrato, Ben Burgess, Sam Harris)
