Keenan Te navigates unresolved love for ‘Bones’
An honest and stripped-back ballad that explores the quiet moments after a heartbreak
To love is to lose
After the Valentine’s Day celebrations, Australian artist Keenan Te tells us that not everyone associates the season with love. In his latest single, ‘Bones,’ Keenan reminds us of the heartbreak that lingers after a relationship ends.
“[The song] is about that feeling after a breakup, when you’re still reminded of all the memories and the inside jokes, and what you once had. So much so that it feels like they’re inside your bones,” he said.
Keenan reiterated that this experience is something universal and relatable for everyone who is going through all types of breakups, including platonic and romantic relationships.
““It’s really a song for anyone that’s not been able to let go of someone or something,” he said.”
Honesty and vulnerability
Before ‘Bones,’ Keenan was no stranger to heartfelt and emotional songs, but his latest single cemented a new chapter for him due to its rawness. “It’s definitely the most honest and raw and vulnerable song I’ve ever released,” he said.
Even during the song’s production he really wanted the story and the vocal delivery to carry the entire song, even with its minimalistic style. “I think this also adds to that vulnerability of the song as well,” he added.
Keenan expressed that he felt nervous before the single’s release, saying that he’s basically letting everyone into his brain. But his want to help people express their feelings through his music rose above his nervousness, telling everyone that it’s okay to cry every now and then.
“I always wanted to help people with my music, and I feel like I can help someone by being vulnerable and showing that it’s okay to cry… Especially as men, sometimes I feel like talking about your feelings is not the most common thing or not the easiest thing,” he said.
Behind the song
Keenan said that the single was the version he had in mind since the beginning. “As soon as I wrote the song, I knew that it was special and I knew that it was a song that didn’t need all the extra things,” he said.
He said that he just really wanted to keep it simple, to let the audience hear what it’s like to go through a heartbreak. “I always wanted to keep it minimal and stripped, and it started with me writing it on the piano and that’s also how it ended.
Keenan recalled that during the production of ‘Bones’ didn’t want to do multiple takes to perfect a single line. He instead wanted to feel lost in the sadness as he relived the moment in his life that he was writing the song.
“So we kind of just pressed record and let me sing the entire song front to back… It really took me back to that moment in my life that I was writing about, and it really felt like for those three minutes that I was recording, I was singing [like the] past me” he said.
