There comes a point after heartbreak when waiting for somebody else to repair the damage becomes its own form of surrender. And on their new single ‘Someone’s Got To’, Cincinnati-born, London-based artist Catlea captures that moment with unusual clarity, turning private disappointment into a quietly resolute declaration of self-worth.
Built around acoustic guitar, cinematic strings and a vocal performance that gradually opens into something larger, the single allows doubt and emotional fatigue to remain visible before its central refrain arrives with the force of a decision: “If you won’t love me, then I will.”
The arrangement supports that progression carefully. Acoustic guitar brings intimacy and directness, keeping the opening close to the songwriter’s internal world. As the strings gather around it, the song begins to widen, suggesting that what started as a private realisation is becoming something strong enough to carry beyond the room in which it was first felt.
Their vocal performance is central to that effect. Catlea has long approached songwriting as a way of translating isolation into connection, and ‘Someone’s Got To’ embodies that philosophy particularly well. The delivery retains enough fragility to make the hurt believable, but there is also a gathering steadiness beneath it.
The single also introduces ‘Aftermath’, a forthcoming five-track EP exploring the stages of grief. As the first release from the project, it establishes a compelling emotional direction. Here, the aftermath of loss becomes a period of reconstruction, where old attachments are examined and a different relationship with the self begins to emerge.
Following the concept album ‘Language Barrier’, the new project appears poised to continue Catlea’s interest in long-form emotional narratives. The five stages of grief provide a familiar framework, but ‘Someone’s Got To’ suggests the EP will approach them through personal detail rather than mere abstraction.
Tender, expansive and emotionally direct, the single finds Catlea transforming rejection into renewal without losing sight of the vulnerability that made the transformation necessary in the first place.
