I love this video to Esther Rose’s new song, Sex and Magic from the fair.

“I’ve cast my spell, I hope it sticks … it’s only sex and magic” begins the chorus. It’s such a fun provocative line.

Why am I posting about it here? It’s a breakup song!

As the song begins, there’s a hint in the line, “All night long you walk the floor I do not live there anymore.” And the second verse confirms:

And dare to take, oh sit right down and pull my heart from underground

Cut the deck and roll the dice, I never want to say goodbye

Puddles filling up with rain and nobody wants to clear the drain

Such honesty followed by bashful narrative. Who’s crying? I’m not crying over this…

In an essay for Talkhouse, Rose says:

This song brings me back to a very specific moment; sitting at my writing desk in the morning, staring out the window, hung-over, moved-out, and out of love. I recently searched back in my voice memos to find the original demo, and to my surprise it was on Feb 11, 2018. That was two days before Mardi Gras and three days before Valentine’s Day. Figures. I was fresh out of a long time relationship and lonely as hell.

People have told me that this song makes them feel nostalgic in a way they can’t explain. We don’t have a great English equivalent, but in Portuguese they say “saudade” — a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return.

Esther Rose, Introducing: Esther Rose’s “Sex and Magic”

She goes on to share her writing ritual and how it helped her pull the cork out of the bottle of her creative genius. It’s a good read, check it out.

Thanks KEXP for playing Esther Rose today.

Quick followup, Handyman is fun as well: