Hayden Everett Bares His Aching Soul in "Coma," a Breathtaking, Broken-Hearted Reverie

Singer/songwriter Hayden Everett wrings his heavy heart out in the hauntingly beautiful “Coma,” a soul-baring, breathtaking, and devastatingly raw song dwelling in life’s achingly vulnerable depths.

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Stream: “Coma” – Hayden Everett

It’s sad, it’s bite-sized, it’s perfect for all these kids’ tiny attention spans and for a quick hit of a big bummer.

Four stanzas.

That’s all it takes for Hayden Everett to spill his soul on his latest single.

Four stanzas, two sentences each.

It’s not much, but a few words can say quite a lot when you pick them well – and at his core, Everett has always been a powerfully expressive poet. The West Coast singer/songwriter wrings his heavy heart out in “Coma,” a wistful and devastatingly raw song dwelling in achingly vulnerable depths.

Coma - Hayden Everett — Coma – Hayden Everett

I miss the sky
It would talk to me
when I was next to her

Released March 15, 2024 via Nettwerk Music Group, “Coma” is at once cathartic, pained, and hauntingly beautiful. The second single off Everett’s forthcoming EP I Miss The Sky (out April 26 via Nettwerk) is a product of the artist’s own grief, loss, and longing in the aftermath of a breakup.

“I miss the sky. It would talk to me when I was next to her,” he laments, starting his minute-and-a-half long eulogy in a state of heartbroken nostalgia, his voice a soft, golden whisper against dreamy pianos and effected guitars. One gets the sense that he’s been in this state for a little while now as he creates a space for all to soak in these heavy feelings. Short and (bitter)sweet, “Coma” comes to life through the love’s wreckage:

I miss her eyes
How they could write a book
without a single word

“‘Coma’ captures nostalgia in its deepest, least digestible form,” Everett tells Atwood Magazine. “The kind that feels less like a whimsical revisit and more like a pit. I missed who I was and how the world felt by her side. It’s a precious thing when someone makes you feel like a more alive version of yourself.”

It’s about feeling like I was less in touch with my ability to see magic in the world… She drew that magic out of me. I’m missing who I was with her.

In addition to his voice – which hits with spectacular, spine-chilling force, despite its utter fragility – the other standout on this song is the smoldering saxophone, whose thirty-second solo at the end of the track sends shivers through the body, no matter how many times you’ve heard it. It’s a testament to Everett’s ever-increasing multi-dimensionality that he’s incorporated the woodwind instrument in such an elegant and moving way: The jazzy, emotionally nuanced, and melodically complex saxophone solo brings a new weight and fresh layers of depth to the music.

Upon releasing the song in mid-March, Everett commented that “Coma” was very special and extremely vulnerable – to the point where he felt a twinge of nervousness releasing it – and having heard it now a couple dozen times, it’s easy to understand why; whereas most commercially available music has at least one or two layers of distance to it by the time it’s released, this song is brutally honest, immediate, unfiltered, and deeply personal. Everett also self-produces, owning every aspect of the creative process, which makes an already intimate song that much more meaningful and unapologetically his own.

I miss my mind
I put it in a coma
so that it can’t get hurt

I think I’m alive
But when I loved her
When I loved her I was sure

I Miss The Sky is, perhaps understandably, named after the first line in Coma – a breathtaking four-word phrase that, again, says so much with so little. The bite-sized ballad follows the EP’s spirited lead single “See You Soon,” a more traditional and angst-fueled pop/rock anthem reminiscent of ’90s/early ’00s alternative crossovers, which houses the phenomenal lyric: “I’m much less human now, more like Moaning Myrtle but I’m half as loud.”

No stranger to these pages, Hayden Everett has been a rising star from day one – but then again, we might be a little biased: In premiering his debut single “Color” in 2019, Atwood Magazine praised the then-newcomer for tapping into the current strain of indie pop while also maintaining a certain timeless sonic quality: “His sounds evoke a well-developed balance of emotions ranging from joy and celebration, to nostalgia, doubt, wonder, and hope. In his first step up into the world, Everett makes a powerful self-reflective statement recognizing and reassessing his values.”

COARSE, REFLECTION, BREATHE: HAYDEN EVERETT PREMIERES HIS BEAUTIFULLY IRIDESCENT & INTROSPECTIVE ‘SILVER LINE’ EP

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The past five years have seen Everett release three soul-stirring EPs (2019’s self-titled Hayden Everett, 2021’s Kennecott, and 2023’s Silver Line), each of which comes to life with its own distinct sonic colors and flavors. His most recent record, Silver Line, is iridescent indie folk record whose raw emotions, intimate reflections, and radiant sounds capture life’s fragile, breathtaking wonder – and it hits as hard today as it did upon its release last year. If I Miss The Sky‘s first two songs are any indication, then this fourth EP is sure to be yet another stunner – showcasing Everett’s talents through a varied, yet inevitably cohesive journey into the bowels of heartache and despair.

“These days, I’m allowing myself to feel whatever I need to,” Everett shares. “There’s a lot of pressure to feel a certain way or get back to a specific time. I’m trying to be alive and let every moment be sacred in exactly what it is and nothing else. You could say I’m looking up to the sky and allowing myself to miss it.”

My preferred method of listening to “Coma” is to play it ten times on repeat, but to each their own. Hayden Everett’s I Miss The Sky EP is out April 26 via Nettwerk; stay tuned for more dramatic dreamscapes and musical enchantments to come as the artist builds momentum for what is sure to be a truly singular and gut-wrenching release.

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