Music Reviews

‘I’ll Be Fine’ is a musical anti-depressant

From Lesley Roy's official Twitter account.

Melbourne, AUSTRALIA – To say I had high expectations and a lot of anticipation for Irish singer Lesley Roy’s new single “I’ll Be Fine” would be an understatement. 

I’m not typically one to get overly excited over upcoming new song releases. I’m normally one that when told an artist I like has a song coming out, I react with, “Oh yay!” and move on. No impatient excitement, not much thought about it really.

But with Roy’s music it’s different. From the very first listen, I fell in love with this song, released today. 

“I’ll be Fine” is an absolute bop – there’s just no other way to describe it. 

It’s the kind of tune that quite frankly if you can’t find yourself dancing along to it, you have no soul. It’s up-tempo, catchy and just the perfect summer bop (or winter bop if you’re like me and live in the Southern Hemisphere.)

It’s also the kind of song that is going to cheer people up when they’re down.

Here in Melbourne at the moment, a lot of people are quite sad and frustrated. With a reality of constantly bouncing in and out of lockdowns – and normal life as we knew it pre-pandemic no more than a distant memory – people are searching for sources of joy. This song can definitely be that for a lot of people.

The lyrics are also incredibly relatable, which is a staple throughout Roy’s discography.

The song is all about talking yourself into feeling ok, and faking it until you feel ok.

You can tell that it is a personal song to Roy as she’s singing, and that makes an already great song even better. 

You can also hear Roy’s positive personality coming through in this song. “I’ll Be Fine” is not about an easy topic, but Roy’s positive approach to life and her music means that this was never going to be the slow, sad song you might have gotten from other artists. 

So in the end, I cannot say a bad word about this song. 

“I’ll Be Fine” came at the absolute ideal time for me. This is the perfect pick me up song. Its release comes at a time where my mental health, to be blunt, isn’t at 100%. 

Although I do have it better than a lot of people, life is stressful and hard, so to have this song that I know is always going to cheer me up and put me in a good mood is an absolute godsend.

One thing I’ve always loved about Roy’s music is how relatable her lyrics are, and “I’ll be Fine” is absolutely no different. Sometimes it is hard to see the positives in life, but you’ve got to remember that it is possible to feel happy again. 

There are two sets of lyrics in particularly that really resonated: 

“Even though I’m not I choose to feel alone

It’s all I know”

and

“I’ll be Fine

See the sunshine in the rain”

Lesley, if you do ever read this, I just want to say thank you for giving us another amazing, such heartfelt song. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for us in the months and years to come.  

Alyce Collett is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International.

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