An achingly heartfelt indie pop confessional, lewloh’s “summer boy” peels back layers of bittersweet emotion to reveal a vulnerable core longing for love, connection, understanding – but most of all, forgiveness and closure.
Stream: “summer boy” – lewloh
I never got to shine for you..
A poignant atmospheric letter to a former flame, lewloh’s latest offering resonates with the familiar sting of loss and regret. An achingly heartfelt indie pop confessional, “summer boy” peels back layers of bittersweet emotion to reveal a vulnerable core longing for love, connection, understanding – but most of all, forgiveness and closure.
We really never know how good we have it, ’til the moment’s over – and we never fully feel what someone means to us, until they’re not around.
We only have 4 days
I hope we make the most of it
Cause every single moment is
Our whole relationship
I don’t mean to change you
I wish we weren’t different
You were my audience when 8I
Should’ve been listening
You raise your voice
I shut down
You don’t even try to speak up
Now it’s my noise
To let out
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “summer boy,” lewloh’s first single of 2021 (out April 23, 2021 via Where Are the Fruits). Formerly LEW, lewloh is the music moniker for Boston-based, Singapore-born singer/songwriter Lewis Loh – who, since 2016, has been treating audiences to the beautiful and often heartbreaking depths of his heart. Early songs like “Two” and “Loved You So” introduced the artist’s heart-on-sleeve songwriting and spellbinding voice, both of which found a special home in his 2019 debut album, Lullacry.
LEW made the change to lewloh in 2020, releasing the expressive acoustic song “Robots” in October as the first track under his new name. Written with Emilia Ali, “summer boy” arrives six months later as a resounding reminder of what Loh’s music always been about: Intimate, unapologetic honesty through song. He bares all in the song’s pre-chorus and chorus, as his multi-tracked vocals ring out against a soft acoustic guitar and subtle, nuanced drum hits.
It’s an emotional reckoning – the kind often saved for tearful diary entries or late, late nights alone with one’s thoughts. lewloh spills his feelings out in song:
Summer boy
I should’ve gave in
When you took my hand to play outside (with you)
I never got to shine for you
Summer boy
I wish I could scream and
Say what i mean just like you asked me to
I never got to shine for you
I never made time for you
“I never got to shine for you,” Loh sings with a heavy soul – his voice soaring with cool effervescence. “I never made time for you…” It’s as though he’s realizing the full depth of who and what he’s lost in real time – making “summer boy” as much an apology as it is a self-reflection.
“I wrote ‘summer boy’ thinking about about the finite time you had with someone, and wishing you were easy-going whilst you were in that relationship,” Loh tells Atwood Magazine. Singing hot on the microphone, lewloh’s presence is radiant and compelling; he crafts an all-encompassing sense of nostalgia and yearning for the person he lost and the might-have-beens that will never come to be.
It’s been half a year
And you still keep me up at night
Cause every time that I was right
I was wrong and you were right
If only it was clear (to me)
It was not the distance
There was something bigger than
The train ride to michigan
“summer boy” may tell a story of endings, but as the lead single off lewloh’s forthcoming sophomore album (scheduled for Fall of 2021), it’s also a beginning – a fresh start for Lewis Loh as he makes moves under a new name, closing the chapter on LEW and turning the page. Time will only tell what lewloh has in store for us, but if “summer boy” is any indication, visceral expression and aching vulnerability are just two of the alluring attributes we can expect from this exciting up-and-comer.
It’s been half a year
And you still keep me up at night
Cause every time that I was right
I was wrong and you were right
If only it was clear (to me)
It was not the distance
There was something bigger than
The train ride to michigan
You raise your voice
I shut down
You don’t even try to speak up
Now it’s my noise
To let out
Stream “summer boy” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and dwell in the resonant, delicate depths of loss and longing with lewloh. He may not have had the chance to “shine for you,” but today he shines for all of us in song.
Summer boy
I should’ve gave in
When you took my hand to play outside (with you)
I never got to shine for you
Summer boy
I wish I could scream and
Say what i mean just like you asked me to
I never got to shine for you
I never made time for you
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Stream: “summer boy” – lewloh
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