Music Review: John Newman "Out Of My Head"

John Newman

Out of My Head

Album: Tribute

Year: 2014

           John Newman is numb after a breakup in the downhearted  “Out of My Head.”

              An anxious piano opens the single, setting a damaging tone. He has no idea what to put on the end table. There are some empty spots on the wall, where pictures used to hang. He hasn’t been single but it feels as though it didn’t even happen. (“Living in a broken home alone/16 weeks since you've been gone/As time goes by there's no pieces left/No memories of you and me.”)

                 In the chorus, he grabs his keys and heads to the bar. He wants to forget and questions love’s existence. (“To shut out feeling lonely; I get out of my head/Lost everything around me/Not dealing with it well/To shut out feeling lonely; I get out of my head/Why would you want to love somebody when love hurts in the end?”)

                A woman sits next to him at the bar. She leans into him and tells him how she’s bored of entire scene. He puts his drink down. He could continue the conversation and take her home. It wouldn’t matter. She starts talking about her personal life and he immediately thinks of his ex. He excuses himself and tells her it was nice to meet her. (“Free to see the world now as my own/Sleep with any woman that I want/But anytime anyone gets close/Breaks through my mind, what I have lost.”)

                   The chorus is sung again.

                    In the bridge, he checks his phone and sees he has a voicemail. In the message, his ex says she’s been thinking of him and made a huge mistake. There is no concern in her voice for him. He wonders if she’s trying to assuage some guilt. He almost touches her phone number to dial and then puts his phone away. (“You called to say you're missing me, but never ask how I feel/I'm beaten, I'm broke/I'm out of my mind, but learning to get on by fine.”)

                  The chorus is sung again to end the single.

               Newman’s pain is raw. One pick at the wound and he’ll bleed over again. He’s fighting it but can’t find any relief. This wasn’t any girlfriend who left him. It was the one he thought he would be with forever.

                The sorrowful “Out of My Head” lingers in the mind after it’s been heard.