Maribelle is open and honest on her new single, I'm A Mess Without You

Header photo by Duncan Killick.

Over the last week, there's been a lot of discourse surrounding the yes and no's of queer songwriting and how to be genuine with your story-telling and lyrics. It's primarily been centred around the release of Rita Ora's single Girls, which some took as an act of queer-baiting (or pandering to an LGBT+ audience) and stereotyping due to the seemingly lack of authenticity in lyrics and the fact that although it's a single sung by women about their experiences with the same-sex, the track was largely written by an ensemble of guys - something Rita Ora has apologised for while maintaining that the song was genuine and a heartfelt reflection of her own experiences. The circumstances around the Rita Ora single, whether you agree with its theme or not, has brought on some great conversations about being genuine and authentic while writing about queer experiences, and Maribelle's new single I'm A Mess Without You is a brilliant example of how to go about it in a good way.

“This song is very personal for me. It’s about me reflecting on being confused about having feelings for a girl for the first time,” she explains on the single. "I was hiding my feelings for somebody and hurting them because I wasn't being honest with myself. It’s actually about my current girlfriend and the early stages of our relationship. I was out in the club one night and had a 'Days Of Our Lives' montage of all of our memories together, and just realised what a mess I was being.” It's an honest and incredibly personal single from Maribelle that demonstrates her skills in songwriting and lyricism while also feeling very accessible, with Maribelle's vocals layered over a snapping production that throbs with this brilliant bassline and pops of percussion.

It's a great single that further strengths Maribelle's status as one of Australia's premier songwriters, something which has landed her some big co-writes both here and abroad. And as a brief side note - between this and G Flip's single earlier this week, it's incredible to see two of Australia's biggest releases this week written by queer females about queer experiences. Let's see more of that in 2018.

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