"TO ME" BY PINKSHIFT REVIEW

Pinkshift is back again with the new release of their single “to me,” a heartbreaking piece about finding love after a life of rejection.

Their first release in 2023 comes just six months after the release of their debut album Love Me Forever, a collection of pop-punk music with a balance between slow grungy songs to intense high-speed beats.

In “to me,” Ashrita, the lead vocalist, speaks of the polar differences between their experiences with love. While in the past she may have felt as though she could never let her guard down and could never escape this tense feeling in the room, she details an experience where, for the first time, that tenseness has faded away.

Despite the clear punk style of the song with its use of drums and electric guitars, it almost fades in the background as the listener focuses on the soft grunge tone Ashrita uses. This is not a song to jam out to with its beat, but rather one to drown in the subtle and precise changes in Ashrita's voice.

Throughout the song, she speaks to a new kind of love:

"Closing doors is what I'm used to

Shutting down is what I'm meant to do

Right in here, we're safe and sound

In a place that lasts forever

To me"

As is almost standard with Pinkshift’s music, the song transitions from slow beats and whispers to loud beats and belts. This allows not only audiences with varying tastes to enjoy their work but allows for a greater emotional impact on their work. When Ashrita switches to whispering lines such as “Closing doors is what I’m used to,” it creates such a distinct contrast when she switches to belting in “In a place that lasts forever to me,” that the listener understands the magnitude of these emotions.

This may also be interpreted as a means to show the stark contrast between the different types of love expressed in this song. While one is abrupt and tense, which could be emulated in her belting notes, the other is much more subtle, comfortable, and relaxed, which can be seen in her quieter, whispering lyrics. The emotional complexity of the song exceeds just the written lyrics and needs to be heard in the way Ashrita chooses to sing them to understand the full picture of what the group wants their audiences to feel.

The Baltimore-born group is currently on tour performing live in cities across America, with their most recent shows in New York.

Keep up with Pinkshift at https://www.pinkshiftmd.com