Los Angeles rising star EMME has released “Are You Winning Now?”, the perfect song for crying in the car this summer. The single reveals a more vulnerable moment in the same friend breakup that inspired “New Best Friend” earlier this year. Where “New Best Friend” was an up-tempo dance track dripping with sarcastic edge, “Are You Winning Now?” is strikingly honest and stripped down, comparatively.
To lose a friend is one thing, but to find out they have been keeping score the whole time is a deeper type of pain. Sharing more about the origins of “Are You Winning Now?”, EMME says:
“In our final conversation, she said that the things I did for her never matched up to what she did for me. While proving how she was ‘winning’ in our friendship, she ended up losing me in the end.”
Part of what I love about this song is that it’s musically gorgeous, but still has a bit of a lyrical bite to it: “How does it feel to be finishing first after all your hard work? / Are you telling them that you’ve cut me down? / Knowing that I won’t be around, tell me, are you winning now?” EMME’s composition features muted guitar lines, sustained, emotional piano chords, and sweeping, angelic harmonies, while still confronting the ugliness head-on.
Was my own friend breakup more than 5 years ago? Yes. Am I still going to cry in my car to this song on the next rainy day? Also yes.
Stream “Are You Winning Now?” here:
