American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten released a new song, “When I Die,” on Friday, November 11, in conjunction with the release of the deluxe edition of Sharon Van Etten’s latest album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong. It features the previously released one-offs “Porta,” “Used To It,” and “Never Gonna Change.”
According to Stereo Gum, “When I Die” is “a swirling, echoing blast of sound that finds Etten in reverie and making resolutions: “Yeah, I want to remember/And I want to do so much more/ Yeah, I want to be better.”
In the lyric video released simultaneously with the single, millions of paper angels fall to the ground, denoting a sense of uncontrollable yearning, no matter how unrequited or hopeless a person’s requests, wishes, or attempts toward personal betterment may be. Etten further exemplifies these sentiments in the slow-moving and small text she utilizes within the video as she likens the physical properties of the text to her own emotions about herself: she also feels small and is enveloped in a sense of regret when she died by not using the time that she had to make herself a better person.
Watch the video below.
Sharon Van Etten’s original announcement of the November release of the deluxe edition of her album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong was also accompanied by the release of another new single, “Never Gonna Change,” earlier this year in October.
Sharon Van Etten has also been busy traveling throughout the country as she, Angel Olsen and Julien Baker recently finished their tour, with their last performance at Central Park, in August of this year. For access to high-quality videos of their performances from this last showing, check out this article.
Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer
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