“I don’t wanna be fragile.” With those trembling words, Jake & Shelby open a soul-stirring indie pop confessional – tender, intimate, and devastatingly raw, “Fragile” cracks the heart wide open with its unflinching honesty and breathtaking emotional weight.
Stream: “Fragile” – Jake & Shelby
Did you do this to me, or did I do this to myself?
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“I don’t wanna be fragile.” Shelby Hiam’s voice hangs in the air like a truth too heavy to hold, trembling yet resolute, sending shivers down the spine. To sing a line like that is to bare yourself completely – to let the cracks show, to let the world peer into the fault lines of your heart. It’s a body cracked open, a soul left raw and unguarded, and in that openness lies a rare kind of power: The power of being seen, of turning private ache into something we can all hold together.
There’s a certain kind of hurting that sits heavy on the chest, where words collapse under their own weight and all that’s left is unfiltered feeling. Jake & Shelby’s “Fragile” lives in that space. It’s a song that trembles at the edge of breaking, yet radiates with humanity – a dreamlike indie pop confessional that lays bare the messiness of anxiety, self-blame, and longing. Gentle yet gutting, it’s the sound of two voices holding nothing back, and in their unflinching honesty, Jake Lawson and Shelby Hiam transform inner pain into something achingly universal and breathtakingly beautiful.
I don’t wanna be fragile
It’s been getting in the way here lately
I just wish I could handle
Something, anything at all
My anxieties they cripple me honestly I
Don’t know how we got here
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Fragile,” the stirring, achingly raw new single from Jake & Shelby. The track arrives ahead of their debut album Learning to Love, out October 10 via EMPIRE, which finds the Nashville-based duo broadening their sonic palette while doubling down on the soul-baring quality of their lyrics.
Following recent singles “Loophole” and “You Don’t Know,” “Fragile” emerges as one of the record’s most vulnerable and cathartic moments – a song born out of struggle that ultimately opened new doors for Jake & Shelby both musically and personally.
For Jake & Shelby, “Fragile” isn’t just a song – it’s a vessel for processing upheaval, anxiety, and the disorienting blur of life changes.
What began as a deeply personal sketch of vulnerability soon became a turning point for both artists, opening the door to a bold new sonic era for the duo.
“This is the first song we wrote with Josh Ronen, who is now a sweet friend of ours and a producer on this album,” Shelby Hiam tells Atwood Magazine. “‘Fragile’ was a song I had started writing when I had recently gone through some big life changes, and I was just so tired of feeling fragile. It felt like it got in the way of everything and I just felt weak. I have a hard time knowing if anxiety and other things I struggle with are from my own doing or experiences that people have put me through, and I was able to process some of that by writing this song.”
“Even though our first time meeting Josh was whenever we wrote this song, I felt so comfortable being able to share all of this with him. The recording of this song felt magical. I would say this was the first song we recorded that stepped into a new place for us sonically, and it paved the way for a lot of this album.”
Lyrically, “Fragile” is as unflinching as it is universal. Hiam’s opening lines – “I don’t wanna be fragile / It’s been getting in the way here lately / I just wish I could handle / Something, anything at all” – capture the crushing frustration of living with anxiety and self-doubt. There’s no hiding behind metaphor here; it’s diary-page honesty sung aloud, and that stark openness makes every word feel heavier, more immediate. It’s the sound of naming what hurts most, of refusing to dress it up in poetic distance.
The chorus folds that pain into something at once intimate and sweeping. “So I wake up and I don’t know where I am / There’s no more room for me to stand / And the air gets thinner / Like breath in winter / Did you do this to me, or did I do this to myself?” The imagery is devastatingly simple, yet it hits like a tidal wave. The air tightening, the room closing in, the self-doubt spiraling inward – it’s the anatomy of a panic attack wrapped in melody. Hiam’s delivery hovers between fragility and strength, capturing the paradox of breaking down while still finding the courage to voice it.
So I wake up and I don’t know where I am
There’s no more room for me to stand
And the air gets thinner
Like breath in winter
Did you do this to me
Or did I do this to myself
I had recently gone through some big life changes, and I was just so tired of feeling fragile. It felt like it got in the way of everything and I just felt weak.
* * *
Musically, Lawson’s guitar and the hushed, atmospheric production cradle these words in a soft but unrelenting embrace. The instrumentation never overwhelms; instead, it leaves space for silence, for breath, for the trembling weight of each lyric to linger. When the chorus swells, it doesn’t explode – it deepens, enveloping the listener in layers of harmonies and textures that feel like a cocoon. That restraint is what makes the song so powerful: it mirrors the quiet intensity of living with invisible wounds, the way they fill a room without ever raising their voice.
What makes “Fragile” so affecting is its paradoxical balance: It’s gentle and soothing, yet it carries an all-consuming heaviness. Like a whisper that echoes louder than a shout, the song pulls us into its fractured world and refuses to let us go. It’s not just about fragility – it embodies fragility, in all its delicate, devastating beauty.
Living in my own place now
I don’t ever really see u anymore
But you know how to find me
Guess there’s no use in locking any doors
Tell me why can’t u just let it be
We could take it easy and forget everything
The music video, shot in a home filled with memories, warm colors, and a deep personal history, mirrors the song’s sweeping vulnerability.
Jake & Shelby capture their music’s emotional weight through a story of isolation and self-discovery. It opens on Hiam at a living room table surrounded by friends, smiling faces all around her, yet she sits quietly – lonely in a crowded room. She slips away into a bedroom with a half-filled suitcase, its walls lined with mismatched metal and wooden frames, the kind of art that makes a house feel lived-in. Throughout the video, we see her in different corners of the home: At one point, she’s even unpacking boxes, hanging pictures, and slowly transforming an empty space into something vibrant and personal. At another, she stands behind a microphone, framed by red curtains, singing gingerly at first but gradually finding her footing – her demeanor growing stronger, her presence steadier, as though she’s learning to draw confidence and power from solitude itself.
“Making the music video for this song was really special because we got to film it at Jake’s best friend’s house in California,” Hiam shares. “Even the part where I was singing into the microphone! We were inspired by Taylor Swift’s All Too Well short film. We wanted to make a video that fit the tenderness, confusion, and rawness of this song.”
Learning to Love is, at its heart, about the dual journey of self-acceptance and connection. “While a lot of this album is about learning to love someone else, a bigger part of it is about learning to love yourself,” Jake & Shelby explain. “It’s about learning to love yourself enough to leave what isn’t good for you. Learning to choose someone who will truly care for you. Learning to love yourself enough to work through trauma from your past. To fully love someone else, the first step is learning to love yourself, and that’s what this album means to us. We hope this album can meet people wherever they are. Whether they’re in a relationship or not, we want them to feel seen.”
Across its tracklist, Learning to Love traces love in all its messy, transformative forms – from the dizzying highs of new attraction to the sharp pangs of heartbreak, and the quieter reckoning of self-reflection. Songs like “Loophole” and “You Don’t Know” lean into infectious grooves while exploring the hesitations that come with trust, while ballads like “Fragile” and “Our Hands” expose the weight of anxiety, heartbreak, and emotional labor. Elsewhere, “Shut Up and Kiss Me” and “MmHmm” celebrate desire and connection in their most playful, unguarded forms, while “Stuck On Your Love” and “You” revel in the rush of falling all-in. Together, these songs chart an emotional arc that feels as cinematic as it does intimate – a mosaic of moments that, when pieced together, reflect the chaos and beauty of growing into yourself.
Musically, the album showcases the breadth of Jake Lawson and Shelby Hiam’s craft. Their roots in stripped-back acoustic arrangements remain intact, but Learning to Love expands that framework into lush, atmospheric indie pop layered with haunting piano, crunchy guitars, and ethereal vocal harmonies. Working with producers Josh Ronen and Micah Tawlks, the duo have created a sound that’s both deeply personal and refreshingly expansive – polished enough to dazzle, yet raw enough to retain its unshakable intimacy.
So I wake up and I don’t know where I am
There’s no more room for me to stand
And the air gets thinner
Like breath in winter
Did you do this to me
Or did i do this to –
Tender, unguarded, and soul-stirring, “Fragile” captures Jake & Shelby at their most exposed – and perhaps their most relatable.
It’s a song for anyone who has ever felt like their own heart might break under the weight of living, yet still finds strength in naming that feeling. Let its message give you the strength to crack yourself open, to face your pain head-on, and to discover resilience in the rawest parts of who you are.
Jake & Shelby’s debut album Learning to Love is out October 10 via EMPIRE. Stream their breathtakingly beautiful new single exclusively on Atwood Magazine. “Fragile” is out everywhere Friday, September 5!
I wake up and I don’t know where I am
There’s no more room for me to stand
And the air gets thinner
Like breath in winter
Did you do this to me
Or did I do this to myself?
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:: connect with Jake & Shelby here ::
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Stream: “Fragile” – Jake & Shelby
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© Emmy Meleika
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