Her most recent single, "If I Took A Shot," is another fizzy, heart-racing folk-pop tale that falls somewhere between wistful memories and playful chaos. It's the type of song that should be sung at the top of your lungs at midnight while you're thinking about a crush you've never seen for 10 years, but remember like it was yesterday. A record that recalls folk-pop but pleasantly brushes up against commercial pop-rock, "If I Took A Shot" sounds slick and evisceratingly raw at once. The song feels like a struggle between adulthood and youth, a weird emotional loop where you're older, wiser, but still attached to a distant emotion you thought you'd finally outgrown.
This song is the final single from "Antipasti," BERENICE's debut EP, and the first installment in a musical trilogy that introduces her full-length album. It's a bracing closer, and an indication of the more serious emotional threads she's prepared to pull in future releases. Each song on "Antipasti" is constructed as a feeling allegory, and "If I Took A Shot" may be the most universal of the bunch. The instrumentation is colorful and textured, and the pace is high-spirited, but there's an undercurrent of longing. It's like a road trip with your past self laughing, crying, and in all likelihood taking a few metaphorical shots en route.
The songwriting on BERENICE glimmers with the simplicity of a person who has been writing since the age of eight, more than just scribbling lyrics, and documenting life's sticky, sentimental corners with brutal honesty. This track reveals that she's a feeler, a dreamer, and, above all, a connector. Whether you're knocking something strong back, thinking about the one person you never quite told the truth to, or longing for an escape into emotionally intelligent pop, "If I Took A Shot" is your perfect pour. In it, BERENICE is here to acknowledge that the heart remembers even years after the pages have been folded.