By Diego Valedez, MWN
Michael Rosenberg, better known as Passenger, shook the indie scene in 2012 with ‘Let Her Go.’ Now, reflecting the success of his fourth studio album, ‘All the Little Lights,’ he has revisited and reimagined the album. To celebrate the album’s tenth anniversary, the singer prepared some collaborations.
‘Circles,’ unlike other Passenger songs, is a track about friendship. The British singer-songwriter mentioned that he wrote it with his childhood best friend in mind. Due to the sentiment ‘Circles’ evokes, Rosenberg decided that the most fitting voice to join him in the re-recording would be his fellow countrywoman Gabrielle Aplin, a singer-songwriter known for her indie, folk, and synth styles, who has been building her musical career for nearly 15 years.
“I’m a huge fan of Gabrielle. I met her when this album was starting to get big. So it’s great to be able to sing with her. I love her voice. I think it has something very special, and it really fits the vibe of this song. I’m so happy with how it turned out,” the artist commented.
Rosenberg hasn’t forgotten his roots as a street musician, roaming the streets and bars of the United Kingdom. ‘All the Little Lights’ was a significant step in his life, catapulting him to global fame, and this memory became the main reason to revisit his material.
“Over the years, I’ve listened to that album and thought, ‘I love these songs, but I wish I could try them again, wish I could breathe new life into them.’ That’s what we’ve tried to do. It’s a good balance because it’s a very special album for many people. So you don’t want to break it and start over, but you do want to make things better,” he explained.
Undoubtedly, ‘Let Her Go’ is Passenger’s most iconic song and one of the most memorable anthems of the 2010s, reaching No. 1 in 19 countries since its release. ‘Let Her Go,’ the last and most anticipated single of the ‘All the Little Lights’ reinvention featuring a collaboration with Ed Sheeran, is a track about the pain of letting go of a loved one, a situation Passenger was going through while writing it.
“Letting go is so hard. I think most people struggle with the same thing. It’s difficult once you’re used to something. I think as you get older, maybe you handle it better because you get used to it. When you’re young, it’s so hard to let go of things. You’re not used to that feeling, and it hurts,” Michael concluded.
