Jake Wesley Rogers pays tribute to love’s awful, awesome power in his dramatic new single “Middle of Love,” an effervescent and cinematic upheaval that revels in sweet, soaring highs and emotional depths.
Stream: “Middle of Love” – Jake Wesley Rogers
There is nothing more beautiful in this world than love – and there is nothing more devastating.
Those special bonds that bring us so close together can enrich a life – giving you purpose, meaning, identity; but they can also tear a soul apart, leaving you lost and gutted, with a void that will never quite be whole. The bittersweet truth of love is that it inevitable causes pain – whether that comes in the form of a breakup, a death, or another kind of loss. In agreeing to love someone else, we are also agreeing to eventually hurt or be hurt; and while some might wave that away as an inherent part of life’s social contract, seldom do we take the time to recognize and appreciate the ramifications of love, and the true impact of our connections and feelings.
In point of fact, love is terrifying, and it’s high time we talk about it. Singer/songwriter Jake Wesley Rogers pays tribute to love’s awful, awesome power in his dramatic new single “Middle of Love,” an effervescent and cinematic upheaval that revels in sweet, soaring highs and emotional depths.
Look at us showing up the funeral
With conversation that’s way too colorful
Almost broke up over spilled milk waterfall
Blame it on the moon
We made up and made out in a swimming pool
Sometimes life is just like high school
Fight like adults, make love like it’s taboo
And I really fuckin’ hated high school
Why’s everything so hard?
Released May 6, 2021 via Facet Records / Warner Records, “Middle of Love” arrives with the announcement of Jake Wesley Rogers’ major label signing and a forthcoming EP due out later this year. A dynamically expressive singer/songwriter born and raised in Kansas City, MO, the now Nashville-based Rogers has been charting his own course in the music world for the past five years. Early singles like “I’ll Stand By You” and “Only You” remain highlights of a fast-growing catalog that also includes 2017’s immersive Evergreen EP and 2019’s deeply inspired Spiritual EP.
I wrote ‘Middle of Love’ at a time when I was feeling the heavy weight of life and love.
Once upon a time a quarterfinalist in America’s Got Talent (he auditioned at age 15), the now 24-year-old Rogers exudes as much songwriting finesse as he does vocal chops in his latest single. His first offering in over a year, “Middle of Love” kicks off the artist’s 2021 return with a theatrical, impassioned performance that calls to mind the likes of fun.’s Nate Ruess and The Killers’ Brandon Flowers – and just like fun. and The Killers, Jake Wesley Rogers has long been destined for the spotlight. In premiering his song “Little Queen” in 2019 (taken off his EP Spiritual), Atwood Magazine praised the artist for “a triumphant anthem in which Jake Wesley Rogers brings together a triad of some of the most important aspects of people’s lives – spirituality, identity, and love – and creates a universal message of self-discovery that touches your soul and begs to be shouted from rooftops.” Two years on, “Little Queen” remains a smoldering showcase of Rogers’ ability to cross the explosive with the sultry and cathartic, and now with “Middle Love,” he’s found a way to celebrate love while indulging in its dark side.
“Middle of Love” is an upbeat anthem full of heartache and soul.
My grandpa was dying because my grandma died, and my own love was kind of exploding in my face. I feel like this song really captures the intense joy and terror that love can cause a person.
Written with Justin Tranter, Eren Cannata, and Michael Seamus Crossey, Rogers’ song about love encapsulates the good and the bad, unveiling a world of hurt through infectiously catchy, saccharine lines full of life and character. Rogers ignites, dramatic in the very best of ways in a singalong chorus begging for release – as well as audience participation:
I’m in the middle of love
In the middle of love
In the middle of loving you
It’s so far from done
You tried to run
I tried to tie your shoes
In the middle of love
In the middle of love
It’s breaking us up in two
There’s not much I can do
“I wrote ‘Middle of Love’ when I started to notice that love was causing destruction all around me,” Rogers tells Atwood Magazine. “I saw my grandpa dying slowly after the loss of his wife, I read about my LGBTQ+ heroes who were mostly all murdered or exiled, and I witnessed my own romantic relationship exploding right before my eyes. When I finally sat down to write ‘Middle of Love’ with Justin Tranter and Eren Cannata, it was the perfect storm; all my guts just spilled out. I’m so excited for the rest of this project to unfold – it’s the most honest and raw I’ve ever been in my music.”
I didn’t ask to melt to the floor
I didn’t ask to even be born
Both those happened when my eyes met yours
I don’t remember life before
I hope it’s worth dying for
I hope that we’re driving north
“Middle of Love” really does balance that fine line between the good and the bad, the sweet and the somber.
Jake Wesley Rogers’ charisma is infectious, and though he may be exposing the hardest parts of loving someone, never once does he regret those feelings or curse their name. “There’s not much I can do,” he sings at the end of his chorus. If anything, “Middle of Love” is a raw recognition of love’s mighty power – an acceptance that with euphoria and ecstasy, there must also one day come sadness and sorrow. It really is a perfect storm of sound and feeling – and we could think of no better way for the artist to make his way back into our ears and our hearts.
Love is love is love – and love hurts; it’s a beautiful curse, but “Middle of Love” is a blessing.
My grandma died ‘cuz that’s what people do
It’s the ones left behind that really lose
Why’s everything so hard?
I’m in the middle of love
In the middle of love
In the middle of loving you
It’s so far from done
You tried to run
I tried to tie your shoes
In the middle of love
In the middle of love
It’s breaking us up in two
There’s not much I can do
Oh, there’s not much I can do.
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:: stream/purchase “Middle of Love” here ::
Stream: “Middle of Love” – Jake Wesley Rogers
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