CHARLY REYNOLDS - Love You Long - Independent Release

Though tempo induced songs “She Ain’t Me,” “Top Off,” and “Pour Decisions” anchored her 2023 Perfect Timing EP, country starlet Charly Reynolds also made a pact with herself to veer toward more transparency in her songwriting, culminating now with her first release of the new year, “Love You Long.”

Written by Reynolds and frequent collaborator Nicole Croteau, the softer instrumentation provides accompaniment that allows the delicate tips of her voice to hold a nearly cry like feature as she wavers through the emotionally packed depth of pulling away from falling in love for fear of getting hurt; clearly rooted in a past scar that she still carries with her today.

immediately striking vulnerability in the opening verse, she shows that she understands how much she means to him as she paints the picture of how his eyes light up whenever she walks in the room, while then gently easing through her roadblocks as she enters full confessional mode.

Through the normalcy of her habit of running away when things get too real, she admits her fears of falling in love before slapping the truth-laden chorus that spells out exactly how things will go from here:

“I'll be gone with the wind before you know it

'Cause just when it's getting good

That's when I get to going

It's just the way I am and I know it might be wrong

Yeah, I might love you now but knowing me

I won't love you long

No, I won't love you long”

In many ways “Love You Long” gingerly balances the idea that she’s opening her feelings to him against the gut punch reality that this lyric is the presentation of the battle waging war within herself, toying with the strings of her heart and pulling her away from a potentially good thing to keep her locked in the chains that have held her past relational experiences.

Where so many other songs of similar nature are being released by her female counterparts, they often seem to always point the finger at the other party, placing full fault on them for creating the walls they’ve built around themselves.

Reynolds masterfully swerves that easier paved road to maturely face her own mirror, her truths, and her flaws, raising the song to expertly gilded transparency that delivers raw honesty throughout its entire performance; the perfect usage of melody and instrumentation to match the masterful tones of her emotionally drained vocals within the heavier lyric.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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