Melanie Meriney “The Reason” — “We can’t be the way we were”
Nashville-based country singer/songwriter Melanie Meriney is releasing her brand new single, “The Reason.” The song was co-written with fellow artist Kal (Hannah Kalfas), produced by Israel McFarland, and delivers a pop-forward production surrounding the story of unrequited love. While the speaker loves her best friend entirely, she can’t quite translate those feelings to a romantic sense. She is left lamenting how hard it is to “be the cure” that she usually is in her friend’s difficult times when she knows she’s “the reason” for his suffering. It’s a unique perspective on a story that is usually told from the opposite point of view, where the person who has caught feelings is wishing their love would be returned in kind.
Meriney says that “writing with Kal was such an easy process because, as she’s one of my good friends, songwriting sessions with her are usually kind of like therapy sessions… I came into the co-write with a sense of the story and she really helped me focus the idea and cut to the core of what we wanted to say.”
McFarland, an indie pop artist himself, was the perfect choice of producer on a song like this where Meriney veers a little bit left of country into the pop world. His instinct of a minimal but full production suits the sentiment of the lyrics completely and really drives home the emotion of the song.
Meriney plans to release a music video of “The Reason,” shot in her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, a few weeks following the song’s launch. Stay tuned for an official announcement, and as always, stay up to date on her most current projects via her social media.