Not to toot my own horn, but I like to pride myself on my routine of finding new music (really just giving Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” a fair listen). Painstakingly digging up the deep cuts that only you, the artist, and maybe the artist’s mom have played. Most of the time, the songs I stumble across just fall on the wrong ears and don’t strike me as anything special. But every now and then, a magical moment happens: a song plays for just a few seconds and you immediately realize the treat you’re in for. Eyes go wide, attention diverts fully to what’s pouring through your ears, and the thought hits, “Holy S***, I just found a GEM!”
A few weeks ago, “Cry a Symphony” by Deyaz gave me that high.
If I had to describe this song in one overused word, it’d be epic. Right from the jump, the track opens with a melody that doesn’t need explanation, it announces its own ambition and production quality. The punchiness never fades; it only gets elevated by Deyaz’s vocals, which sit perfectly on top. Considering he also produced the track, I like to think this is one of those rare cases where an artist is so in tune with their own sound that it naturally leads to big, swelling compositions like this.
One of the coolest tricks in the song is how the chorus evolves. The first time, it’s:
“No, I can’t… give you no more sympathy, no.”
Then later, it shifts to:
“No, I can’t… hear you cry a symphony, no”
The endings share the same rhythm and syllable count, with that neat little -y suffix, so if you’re not paying close attention, they can sound almost identical. Two different messages hidden in one flow, it’s clever, subtle, and worth a snap or two for Deyaz.
To wrap up my overly dissective ramble: what more can I say? It’s just a banger. It reminds me a bit of Djo’s earlier work. Definitely a track to keep in rotation when Clairo gets a little too mellow this fall and you’re craving something equally performative but with more punch.
