If you’re looking for a new queer heartbreak song to play on repeat, Gillian Elyse’s recent single, “9 weeks”, is an ideal ’80’s-esque anthem. “A modern day ode to 1980s pop,” this track features addicting melody and production, including big percussion and bass that you can feel in your heart. Elyse’s voice is androgynously smooth and fully envelops you as you listen.
Her songwriting is raw and encapsulates the queer experience of seemingly wandering in circles to find love. She describes what she knows too well will happen if she tries to get over her love by moving on with someone else:
“And I’ll see her as a waste of time / Look back at the 9 weeks that you were mine / Wondering if I f*cked it up too much to reach out again”, she sings in the chorus. “And she’ll do nothing wrong to me / I’ll break her heart accidentally / She’ll leave and I’ll be / Right back in love with you”.
In “9 weeks”, Elyse elaborates on just how scary falling in love can be, and if that love is lost, how exhausting it can be to relive not only the process of getting to know someone, but the emotional battles that come along with it.
The music video is as authentically eighties as we can get in 2022, and beautifully portrays the story of two people falling in love, captured moment by moment. It is a perfect fit for this song that Elyse says was inspired by a girl who embodied the 1980s with her wardrobe, attitude, and look. “Back in January, I fell in love fast,” Elyse says. “I spent a majority of my time with a girl that reminded me of how I felt when I fell in love for the first time. Unfortunately, the flame that we lit caught fire and we realized that we weren’t built to last.” Although it tells a story with a sad end, she is happy to have a sound that simultaneously makes people dance and feel heard.
Her upcoming project “BABY” will continue to creatively lean into some of the trademark elements of pop music from the ’80s. “I already have many songs that I’m sifting through to make this next project memorable,” she says. “I’m so excited to share my new music, and to continue to make music videos and content with the production team I’ve found here in Los Angeles.”
Find this and more exciting new music on our Alchemical Multigenre Mixdown Playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
Emma Page, a recent Journalism graduate of The George Washington University, possesses a passion for music journalism and storytelling in all its forms. Originally from Baltimore, MD, when she is not writing, she can be found at a local concert or making music of her own.
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