Indigo De Souza – 'You Can Be Mean'
Synonymous with emotive lyricism and genre-bending soundscapes, Indigo De Souza is back with her latest release “You Can Be Mean”. Plucked from her upcoming record, All Of This Will End (out later this month), and following the tracks “Younger & Dumber” and “Smog”, “You Can Be Mean” finds itself rooted in infectious pop-rock and relentless instrumentation.
The empowering cut follows a narrative divulging De Souza’s encounter with and LA model fuckboy, who’s toxicity and manipulative manner forced the singer to reassess her life decisions, and instead plunge herself into self-love and guarding her psyche from seeking validation from “assholes”.
Speaking on the track, De Souza comments: “… I had a history of putting myself in toxic situations and pining for validation from people who treated me poorly. I was stuck in some delusion that I could help abusive people through their trauma and teach them to love me in the way I deserved”. She continues, “I wrote this song when I finally realized that I could choose not to allow harmful behavior into my life, and that there is a deep, deep importance in protecting the body and spirit”.
De Souza even tries to validate his actions with “I'd like to think you got a good heart / And your dad was just an asshole growing up”, before lamenting that if he was truly a good person, he’d “try to be better than he is”.
Overflowing with thrumming percussion, soaring guitars and featuring De Souza’s staple gritty vocals, “You Can Be Mean” is a complete triumph.
Worlds away from funky break-out song “Take Off Your Pants”, you can be mean perfectly encapsulates De Souza’s new direction – intimate and honest takes, drenched in reverbed vocals and emotion.
Words by Lana Williams
