Jade Bird - ‘Burn The Hard Drive’ ft. Mura Masa
Sometimes what makes a break up so heartbreaking looking back and realising that you saw it coming. In Jade Bird’s gentle latest track ‘Burn The Hard Drive’, she beautifully traverses the end of a relationship from realisation to finalisation.
Created in collaboration with heavyweight Mura Masa, the tune deviates from Bird’s usual full-power belting vocals. Instead, the singer remains soft-spoken throughout the track. Bird labels the song a premonition of the end of her own relationship, having written it prior to the actual breakup.
Unlike her other repertoire, there is no rage propelling her vocals. In lieu, the song is powerfully accepting; at no point does Bird lament the end of the relationship or try to make amends, simply stating “till there’s nothing left to do // but erase moments one by one”.
Speaking about the creation of the track Bird said “Rage became a huge point of contention for me - I grew up in a high conflict household so I think my albums have been about getting that out - but with Alex (Mura Masa), for some reason, that wasn’t what was coming out. It’s a little different. I think it’s exploring the emotions before the rage… I’m saving the rage for the album.”
The lyrics move through the breakup in a measured way, beginning gradually with the initial signs: “I swear I’m watching you fade away // into another time and place”, before solidifying into finality, “it's too late // too hard to make you love me again.”Bird’s gorgeous lyricism then links the ubiquitous experience of our online lives to a tender metaphor for feelings melting away: “Too many things that I cannot change // So my heart, it starts to pixelate”.
Her hushed but unfaltering acceptance is as moving as it is empowering. In today’s digital world, we can be all too surrounded with memories of those we once loved. From our camera rolls, to social media and beyond. To move on, Bird has a simple instruction: “burn the hard drive”.
The track is accompanied by a music video created in collaboration with Aries Moross. Bird’s cinematic world is one moment seemingly reality and next glitches away into another scene. Figures solidify and fade, making Bird our one constant through the ever changing backdrops - confronting us with the imperfect way in which we remember our own memories.
The song closes with one final command to “burn the hard drive” before stripping back to Bird’s melodic humming as the instrumental winds down. This altogether more delicate offering shows further breadth to Bird’s skill as an artist, and is reminiscent of earlier popular tune ‘Does Anybody Know’. With only a hint of a new album on the way, we’ll just have to wait and see what Jade Bird does next.
Words by Ella McLaren
