Recommended Tracks: “Than I Am,” “Kinda Like It,”
Artists You Might Like: Braden Bales, Stephen Dawes, David Alexander
After being led by love and his old self, Adrian Lyles is forging new paths for himself. On the final saga of the Horizons project, the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series singer makes the choices for himself on Horizons: Night. “It’s freedom and acceptance,” he says. “It is the end of this era of being led.” After spending much of Horizons: Dawn and Horizons: Dusk living under someone else’s light, Lyles reclaims his voice and steps into his own in the final installment of Horizons.
The EP opens with “I Can’t Hear You,” a short 1-minute and 43-second track that begins slowly, with a low synth bass underneath. The song paints a portrait of isolation and doubt, with Lyles beginning to question whether his own voice matters after living in the shadow of others throughout the first two installments of Horizons. He searches for validation and is unable to hear it in this Labrinth-styled track. With lyrics like “I thought that my words were more than just songs” and “Would anyone know if I’m dead or I’m gone,” Lyles is hungry for validation but is met with silence — and in a refrain, can’t hear himself or others clawing at him.
In a slight tonal shift, Lyles has a breakthrough on “Kinda Like It,” which begins with chaos and electricity. It’s bridging the gap between grunge and alternative pop. The song, ultimately, is a moment where everything clicks for Lyles. It’s almost the first spark of clarity or passion after a period of numbness — one that cuts deep on Horizons: Dawn, especially. Here, he sings, “I swear I saw some lightning in the back of my mind / I wanna find it wanna find it ’cause I / Could see a little flash of light in those eyes.” That passion is sudden, bright and somewhat dangerous; that’s why he kinda liked it.
“It’s an assessment of all my problems and the want to get out and away from them, then realizing I’m the one making the decision to get out for the first time,” Lyles says.
Lyles deepens the story of breaking down, forgiving yourself and finding hope in the EP’s second half. On “Than I Am,” the 20-year-old singer accepts his limits and gives himself some grace after losing a little bit of himself in the previous two Horizons installments. He sings, “I could be stronger than I am / But I’m not a god, I’m just a man.” Serving as a moment of recognition, the electric guitar anchoring the track helps blend the imagery of exhaustion (“My posture’s awful / My back can’t be fixed”) with glimpses of ambition and memory (“5’9” mixed boy, Dallas sound… tryna go platinum, diamond soul”). It’s nearly this giant deep breath after the first two tracks, “I Can’t Hear You” and “Kinda Like It” — a step toward forgiving oneself, and also gives Lyles a little place to rap a bit.
Almost like a gentle sunrise, Lyles hopes for the best on “Take It Easy.” At the start of the next era of his personal life and professional career, he finally learns to believe in a gentler, future self after feeling invisible, finding some self-determination and allowing himself some grace (“She said boy believe me, boy believe me / You’re the only one who really sees me how you see me / When you need me / Come home.”
“It’s the end of the beginning and the beginning of everything that’s coming next,” he says.
As a whole, Horizons: Night serves as the ending and beginning at once; it sees the horizon as a source of closure and chance for possibility.
https://spotify.link/amdD9I5QxXb
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