Luca George has bared his soul on the title track of his forthcoming EP, You’ll Never Know Me Sober.
Written earlier this year in London with George Glew (Lewis Capaldi) and Joseph Wander (the 1975, Frank Ocean), the track, as the gripping title suggests, vulnerably explores the complexity around intimacy.
“This song is a lot,” George says. “It dives into my struggles with my relationship with intimacy and alcohol. Still, to this day, I haven’t had a 100% sober kiss due to the fact that I’m too scared to give myself to anyone fully.”
On the soaring ballad, the intensity of George’s pained vocals betray his struggles with intimacy. His voice breaks multiple times, the sound of someone yearning for a break from a suffocating crutch like alcohol.
The accompanying music video, directed by London-based Sonali Ohrie, perfectly portrays the serious themes of the track (watch below).
“The music video for “You’ll Know Me Sober” acts as a visual representation of my mind,” George adds. “As soon as I wrote it, I envisioned myself in an endless black void under a light (in my mind). I learnt a lot about myself exploring the lyrics and melody of the song and I wanted to show that in the video. The video takes you through my difficult process of coming to terms with myself.”
“You’ll Never Know Me Sober” is the second single from George’s EP of the same name, following “Godless”, with the full record set for release in September.
The rising pop artist has enjoyed a strong start to 2023. George was selected by Australian pop superstar Troye Sivan to be the sole Kiwi participant in his APRA SongHubs songwriting camp in Sydney. He then followed that up with the tender “Blue Again”, his first single of the year.
Earlier this year, Rolling Stone AU/NZ caught up with George as part of our ‘Up-And-Coming Aotearoa Artists’ series, finding out more about his life and music.
“Music hasn’t only influenced my life, it has literally consumed it. Every breath I breathe, every blink, every step I walk is towards my dream,” he told us about his creative pursuit.
“It’s funny, I sometimes feel bad for the people that stumble into my life – you will get a song written about you. I write about literally everything, it comes like breathing to me. It’s so natural.”
Luca George’s “You’ll Never Know Me Sober” is out now. You’ll Never Know Me Sober EP is out September 8th via Platoon.
