A threat, a protest and a cry all in one, Angie McMahon’s heavy-hitting new single “Missing Me” evokes love’s deeper tensions and emotional hardship.

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You’d better be missing me…

Love isn’t limited to hugs and kisses, hearts and happiness. Love is a dagger in your back; love is a frown; love is anger. Love is far from happily ever after, as Angie McMahon asserts in her raging new single, “Missing Me.”

Loving you has thrown me
Loving you is lonely
Loving you is lonely
Oh, you can swagger
You can gather attention
But I’m sick of your photographs
I’m so sick of your photographs
Oh, you can chatter
You can talk me to nothing
But I’m tired of being your sweetheart
I’m tired of being your sweetheart

Listen: “Missing Me” – Angie McMahon

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Debuting in late 2017 with the single “Slow Mover,” Melbourne, Australia’s Angie McMahon quickly turned heads with her powerful grasp of dynamics: The song’s sonic warmth and punchy melody make it an easy one to fall in love with, and the lyrics are utterly enchanting: Who doesn’t want to sing along to McMahon’s chorus petition, “Try settin’ me on fire,” as she carefully puts someone into the friend zone.

Missing Me - Angie McMahon — Missing Me – Angie McMahon

Angie McMahon may have entered our world with her bombastic, hard-hitting debut single, but “Missing Me” is proof that she’s here to stay. A heavy, overdriven guitar sets the tone for this outspoken rock song, but McMahon wastes no time, getting straight to the point in her very first lyric: Loving you is lonely, she announces, fueled by pain and anguish, angst and insecurity:

Loving you has thrown me
You have been my only rock on the ground
Now I’m out of sight
Loving you is lonely
Loving you is lonely

McMahon sings of heartbreak and uncertainty to some significant other, unveiling turbulent emotions through a vividly intimate narrative.

Whereas she had the upper hand in “Slow Mover,” McMahon’s ground is somewhat rockier in “Missing Me.” She is still coming from a place of strength – “I’m so sick of your photographs…,” she sings in the opening verse, “I’m tired of being your sweetheart.” Yet the artist’s head is rife with intense emotions, and we can tell that, even if she sings about leaving her special someone, she hasn’t fully made up her mind – and that’s a scary proposition:

I don’t wanna that I beg
And I beg and I borrow
And I don’t wanna follow you
I’m just too proud to follow you
You don’t wanna a baby
Gonna have to go tomorrow
You’d better be missing me
You’d better be missing me
You’d better be missing me now

“‘Missing Me’ is about releasing all that punchy sass and angst that bubbles under the surface when somebody isn’t listening to you, or they’re letting you down or breaking your heart,” Angie McMahon says of her sophomore single. Like her fire-starting debut, “Missing Me” offers that same infectious repetition that gets caught in our heads. Loving you is lonely, we hear in the verses and in the chorus. There’s no escaping this message, and for good reason: There’s tremendous weight in these words.

Who wants to tell the person they’ve loved that they’ve fallen from what was once a warm, infallible grasp; that they’re doing you wrong, and hurting your relationship? It’s an undertaking no matter how you slice it, but rather than say she’s falling out of love, McMahon’s word choice depicts a darker scene – one where love itself is a hardship. McMahon’s emotional tension boils over in the song’s breakdown, where she repeats the same words over and over:

You’d better be missing me

It’s a promise, a threat, a protest and a cry all in one: Without explicitly going there, McMahon lays down her final ultimatum with solemn, impassioned grace. The second single off her upcoming debut album, “Missing Me” further establishes Angie McMahon as a fiery songwriter and a definite artist to watch. Connect with her via the social channels below to stay tuned for more from this promising talent, and get lost in the intense rancor and thirst of “Missing Me.”

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