teasea takes new direction
with new single "Lips"
teasea’s “Lips”
Written by Britnee Meiser
(she/her)
I first listened to teasea’s new single, “Lips,” on one of the hottest days of the year. I took a walk around the block, felt the sun on my face, saw it sizzle on the concrete—and yet, I felt a chill. “Lips” had transported me to the long-lost, breezy midnights of my past, when I was in my early twenties, wildly optimistic about life and completely reckless with my heart.
Part of that is technical: The song’s fuzzy, shoegaze-pop style effortlessly evokes late-night, 2010s nostalgia, like the calming glow of static waves on TV at 3 am. Driving guitars and swelling percussion make the arrangement feel equal parts uplifting and urgent—not unlike the way it feels to be 22, impatient for life to begin. And teasea’s vocals, distant and doubled so they almost bleed into the music, sound like a lovely memory. The details are hazy at the edges, but that uniquely indescribable feeling—urgent, hopeful, even a little melancholy—always lingers.
Mostly, though, my associations are emotional. This is a song about the frustrations and contradictions of love, especially when you feel it slipping from your grasp. The things you tell yourself over and over to try to make it right, or even just to make it make sense. Angst and longing underscore the optimism of the arrangement, hiding behind it like a mask. The more I listen, the more I realize this is the true staying power of “Lips.” Not what’s being said, but rather, what’s left unspoken. teasea describes it best in the opening lines: “Every time I get this far the feeling slowly curls its way back in / The lack of words to capture the lack of what is going on.”
When you’re not right for each other but you don’t want to admit it. When you know something isn’t working and you want to look everywhere but inside. “Lips” captures that specific kind of grief so acutely. It’s a reminder that our partners can act as mirrors—or lips, wink wink—for ourselves. No matter how much we want to avoid emotional reckoning, it’ll catch us off-guard, reflected in the words and behaviors of those we love the most. This is because, as teasea astutely reminds us, to be loved is to be vulnerable. You can’t truly have one without the other. If you try, you’ll just end up stuck.
As the song builds to cathartic release, I see my own mistakes, heartbreaks, and redemptions flash before my eyes. I’m reminded of how easy it is to get lost in my own head, and how only I have the power to pull myself out. I listen to teasea’s words—” What are you waiting for?”—repeated over and over like a mantra. And then, I give myself over completely to the music and let it all go.
“Lips” is the first single off teasea’s upcoming record that will drop sometime next year. It’s nowhere near his first musical release—he’s got several (excellent) ambient albums under his belt, as well as collaborations with SQORE, his brother Weeze, and his band Ritual Talk, to name a few—but it is his first structured release as a solo artist, marking a new chapter in teasea’s exciting artistic journey.
So, what are you waiting for?
Listen to “Lips” right now.
Written by Britnee Meiser
(she/her)
