Opening your heart and soul can go either way. You can be left jostling with your feelings, or you could be sending signals of intent. Life is a hard-fought battle. When you’re fighting, you’re open to blows, you’re pulling at your own resolve. Bitterness rises through the situation, and dreams begin to fade away like dying creatures. You need to manage to ascend above it all, look down at your faults and flaws and try to patch up what has burst open.
Singer/songwriter Rhys Lewis’ cathartic new single, “Better Than Today” takes us forward into his world. It isn’t a glossy world nor is it a paradise brimming with cocktails and parties, it is a real world full of despair. We know this due to the sound and angle the song takes, from its empowering melody to its triggering lyrics which resonate. These lyrics convey a sense of longing. Lewis is searching for a better, more refined land, but all he sees is a sunken landscape of wars and tarnished dreams. Optimism is there in the background shooting glitter and gold, but it seems to only offer snippets of its power.
The song is gracious and beautiful. There’s no doubting Lewis’s prowess as a musician. He’s supercharged and incredibly talented. And with “Better Than Today”, Lewis signifies his intentions of trying to make sense of the world. Through the piano-laden melody, he sings softly and then creates a distinctive tone, harmonising and pushing the boundaries. From the get-go, he begins to tackle his feelings head-on, nullifying piece by piece his grievances.
Throughout the track, Lewis pushes his honesty to the forefront. Power and glory aren’t in his nature, but hope is. He shrieks at the news, he overrides the headlines, he doesn’t want to be brainwashed. This is fluent in the wordplay. Those discerning poetic strands offer the listener an insight into a mind which has proved to be intelligent. Lewis is sophisticated, and the way he strikes these words together like two pieces of wood igniting a fire is superb.
Overall, the fusing of well-engineered instrumentals and a voice supremely tuned makes for a great, thought-provoking track. Rhys Lewis’s destiny is paved in gold. He has all the attributes to become a star.