ERICKOSCAR Finds Strength in Letting Go and Healing
In this deeply personal song ERICKOSCAR looks at one of the more difficult aspects of love, focusing on the moment when one should leave someone they care about. Instead of treating heartbreak as a straightforward account of losing someone and then moving on, the song acknowledges the complex reality that it is possible to miss a person even when one knows that separation is necessary. This emotional contradiction is what gives the song its strength. Although there is sadness in it, hope is not entirely absent, and the notion of healing while still loving someone offers a more mature viewpoint than the typical breakup story. The way ERICKOSCAR handles the song is based on storytelling, with the emotional message staying at the heart of it while his acoustic-guitar style and influences from country, pop and ballads provide a natural musical backdrop. The song sounds as if it has been written from personal experience rather than simply observed, and that difference is what gives the feelings a real and substantial weight.
The song also fits well within ERICKOSCAR’s broader body of work and with his long-standing association as a songwriting artist. Having been influenced by his father, who taught him love songs and ballads when he was a child, he has for over 35 years played acoustic guitar with his worship band and has composed more than 1,200 songs. His music moves easily from country, Americana, pop, ballads, bachata, reggaeton, salsa, merengue, flamenco, vallenato to mariachi, although the genre is always of secondary importance to the story he wishes to tell. This approach is especially effective in this case since the emotional theme calls for restraint rather than excess. The main idea — that it is possible to love someone, miss them and yet still decide to heal — is something that applies to everyone, and ERICKOSCAR allows it the room it needs to be expressed. Moreover, his increasing experience with music-production software enables him to take personal control of the instrumentation, the arrangement and the vocal performance, thus adding another personal dimension to a song that is already so closely tied to his own experiences.
It is the song’s recognition that progressing forward doesn’t always mean forgetting what has happened which makes it memorable. This concept is closely linked to the emotional themes in ERICKOSCAR’s more recent work, such as those featured on the albums Hold The Light and Till We Turn Grey, where resilience, relationships and the realities of life are approached with openness rather than being hidden behind a veil. His music is based on the idea that songs should convey a meaning and this song certainly does so. It addresses anyone who has had to make a painful choice to leave someone they still care about, at the same time giving the comfort that healing doesn’t mean forgetting the importance of the relationship. There’s a quiet strength in that message, and it shows off ERICKOSCAR’s ability to turn his personal experiences into songs that can speak beyond his own life.
The fact is that ERICKOSCAR doesn’t mean you cease to love them — in some cases, the process of healing starts when you have finally learned to let go.
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