Noah Guy Embraces Grief In R&B Album ‘MEMORIA, in blue’
Photo by Eric Nguyen
It can be easy to turn away from sadness, but in new album MEMORIA, in blue, Noah Guy is facing grief head-on, taking listeners through the ups and downs of love and loss.
MEMORIA, in blue tracks Guy’s grief journey as he goes back over an ended relationship. The collection of songs starts with “RIGHT WITH ME,” an R&B piano track that sees the artist pledging devotion to his partner: “Wherever you go, I guess I’m right there with ya // sift through the wreckage, you’re gonna find me there.”
On lead single “GREEN VOWS,” however, things begin to break down. The Justin-Timberlake-esque track focuses on the beginning of the end, with Guy admitting, “You made me feel something // better off than nothing,” before asking, “Why you burning all these green vows?”
“Loss can make erasure feel like mercy; wiping away all the memories, the patterns, the moments that once gave a relationship its true form and color,” Guy explained in a statement about the project. “This record was a lesson in putting feeling first, letting my instincts and intuition lead the way, while pushing myself emotionally, lyrically, vocally as far as I could possibly go.”
He called MEMORIA, in blue “one big sonic grief cycle,” but added that, ultimately, the album is a “celebration” and “an ode to feeling all of it – the love, the loss, and the good, good grief!”
While Guy’s production is mainly R&B, from his smooth falsetto vocals, to the slinky basslines, the singer-songwriter dips into other, throwback sounds. The groovy “MY LOSS” is a pitch-perfect pastiche of 70s-style yacht rock, while “BELLA’S SOUND” is a stripped-back, Motown-inspired song that has Guy checking back in on an old flame.
Guy ends the album on — no pun intended — a high note, with “HIGHER,” a dance-ready track that ends the cycle of sadness — and starts the whole thing all over again. “To begin is to end,” the calm, cool female voiceover that narrates the album reminds us, “Again, and again, and again.”
While grief and loss can be difficult to navigate, Guy’s MEMORIA, in blue is a reminder that pain is never permanent — and that every ending is just one more beginning.
Listen to MEMORIA, in blue below:
