Hayley Mary – The Chain

After finding success as the frontwoman of Australian indie pop band The Jezabels, Hayley Mary decided to step out for a while and become a fully-fledged solo artist. ‘The Chain’ is the latest of her new singles, having been written on the night she was supposed to go on her first solo tour earlier in the year.

Although her new sound has a different edge to it than her work with the Jezabels, she’s managed to maintain the anthemic quality which saw her band get success. Sonically it’s an upbeat pop bop, yet lyrically and thematically the saddest song she’s ever written; it feels similar to Hard Times by Paramore in that respect. I really enjoy the pop-rock feel of the song and it gives me an energy which you wouldn’t naturally expect from such a sad song.

Speaking of the track’s inspiration, she says: It was a feeling I’d had before akin to depression that there is some kind of invisible magic chain holding me to the earth and keeping me from moving forward or climbing higher, which if I pull too hard on or try to escape from, seems to have devastating consequences behind or beneath me. But this time it was an odd sort of happy-sad because for the first time I felt like the chain not only held me down, it connected me to everything and everyone else. For a brief moment, everyone could see it and feel it at exactly the same time.”

Ryan Powell