PREMIERE | Raia Was, "Tough To Love"

Behind the scenes tails with Raia Was; photographed by Lucy Blumenfield.

Perhaps more than ever before since the dawning of psychoanalysis, we are working on ourselves. We cross examine and analyze the contents of our own respective psyche, electing ourselves something akin to armchair therapists to also treat ourselves as the client/patient in question. From collegiate texts leftover from higher education instruction in hand with choice Jungian paperbacks purchased at your nearby local bookstore; we are our own wellness guru. We are the ones doing the work. And beyond the infuencer noise from the AI guided content and targeted social media sponsored posts and other advertisements that pose as substance; we discover more and more who we are daily. Learning the hard lessons of lived truths, the soul searching, reaching out to trusted folks when we need to and finding the courage to love the self in the same manner of which we extend that affection outwardly. Through these processes we can discover an acceptance that revolves around a care that inspires a greater kindness for ourselves. Kindness toward others. And while our own inherent human messiness might make us feel tough to love, we are indeed worthy of love.

All of this and more are the messages found in the pop oeuvre of Raia Was. The affectionate and evocative intimacy of “You Are” from the album debut Angel I'm Frightened, to recent immersions into the ecstatic exaltations of the ineffable on “What It Feels Like” are followed up with the heart piercing revelations of vulnerability on the debut of “Tough To Love”. Presented with powerful and imaginative visuals courtesy of Kevin Yu and Fazed Films; Raia wrestles with revelations of perceptions and emotively tinged apologies. “Tough” is a journey to the inner core where we are our worst opponents, the depths of overthinking our personal value in quantitative terms, dwelling on the perceived judgements of others and amplifying our own shortcomings to cinemascope scale.

Raia Was delivers "Tough To Love" in a higher register like a soul baring confessional spurned by rhythmic keys that further the emotion and intensity. The choked up heart-wrenching ballad grapples with unveiling honesty in an unbridled manner, recitations that swirl and spiral in a dramatic hook that spins and churns with a destitute sadness that grows in size and sentiment. "Tough To Love" feels like a late night heart to heart, a desperate plea of reconciliation and attempts at asking for both acceptance and forgiveness. Was structures the breathless lyrical quips in bars that beg to be remixed in ways that further illustrate the raw feelings at work.

The video begins with a close up of Raia, holding on to her every utterance as the lens slowly zooms out. The camera takes in all the tearfully uttered lyrics, slowly allowing the growing tension to build for a grand reveal of the enchanted and the absurd. The magical realism visually in play takes the heavy drama and soul baring song to new heights like a deleted chapter from a certain Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. Raia’s spirit shook style conveying the sense of feeling like a fish out of water is elevated further in mythic ways that conveys songs of sea and land that are both sublime and unexpected.

Raia Was shared some thoughts on the new single and accompanying visual:

“Tough to Love”

This song is about being out of your depth, like a fish out of water, acting without thinking and realizing you’ve hurt those around you. I’m of two minds about where this song came from — both an apology I needed to make, and a song I might be singing back to myself.

The effect of the vocal against the arpeggiated piano really disorients time for me, I feel like I’m traveling backwards and forwards, I feel like I’ve found a rip in the matrix.

Through the glass and beyond the lens with Raia Was; photographed by Audrey Melton.

“Tough to Love” video

I have this bad habit of calling myself a monster casually and frequently — I hate cupcakes, I’m a monster — I know mermaids aren’t historically billed as monsters but there was something grotesque about this set-up that I wanted to dig into, something in the earnestness of the melody paired with the slow reveal of the tail at the end that feels kind of cruel, kind of monstrous, and also kind of funny. Being wrong, needing to apologize, can really feel like all those things at once…

Raia Was’ “Tough to Love” is available here.