REVIEW: Hailey Picardi Throws Herself Into the Battlefield Between Her Aching Heart and Mind
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY SULLIVAN JORDAN ☆
PICARDI’S “DOUBLE EDGED SWORD” CINEMATICALLY CAPTURES THE BLISTERING YET COMFORTING BOND OF HEARTACHE—She wraps a wistful blend of instrumentals around precise lyrics that highlight how shared emotions in a relationship can roll into an avalanche of agony. We can often let our hearts get ahead of us, despite our intuition screaming at us to pull away, until we are left lost and bleeding in a perilous battlefield.
Trembling acoustic guitar instrumentals lend the track a secretive and whimsical quality. They represent slivers of sweetness through the bitter truths of a relationship soured beyond the point of consuming. Despite having tasted the blood from her gashes and bruises, Picardi still hungers for a relationship she was once comforted by: “You’re standing fully armored on the frontline/and I won’t fall for the tactics that you weaponize/but when you tell me you love me I feel the words numbing the gashes from your stabs/and when I feel your regret, oh I almost forget the blood dripping down my back.”
Each chorus sweeps listeners away into a crescendo of yearning and frenzied self-doubt as Picardi questions who she has become: “You are a double edged sword/you’re the poison, the cure/you’re the enemy and the ally in this war/I keep wanting more ‘cause/I’m not even sure that I know who I am without you anymore.” The contrasting instrumentals between the verses and each chorus represent the emotional back and forth Picardi fights in her mind. She wants to simultaneously win her independence and confidence while holding on to her emotional vulnerability.
Picardi finds herself at a crossroads in the song’s bridge: “I watched the place I called home turn into a war zone/the one who’s rescuing me wouldn’t laugh as I bleed/cuz I know the truth, and I know it’s not you/but once the smoke clears from my view/oh you come back around/and lay your weapons down/and demonize all of my doubt.” As a sonic device, the bridge allows the musical landscape of the song to shift into something more hopeful as Picardi’s vocals grow stronger and more self-assured. She addresses that her relationship became the root of her emotional trauma, and leaving it behind is her only chance of escape. Her perspective changes during a refrain before the final chorus: “You are a double edged sword/you’re the poison, the cure/you’re the enemy and the ally in this war/I’ve been here before/now I’m not even sure that I know who you are anymore.” Realizing she has found the way back to herself, she can fight through the battlefield, not in an attempt to attack, but to race toward a brighter horizon.
