Last fall the 1975’s Matty Healy posted footage of himself covering James Taylor’s “Carolina In My Mind” with Tiny Habits, the Boston folk-pop group. They may well have been together working on “Anything He Was,” the lead single from Tiny Habits’ new album.
That LP, Keepers, is the follow-up to 2024’s All For Something. The band announced it this week and shared “Anything He Was,” a gentle, breathy, slightly uncanny ballad with a Healy guest spot. In terms of mood/texture/overall vibe, it’s a lot like the James Taylor cover, and it wouldn’t sound out of place buried deep on a 1975 album. You might also enjoy it if you’re a fan of Healy’s pal Phoebe Bridgers. The refrain: “I don’t know why I can’t be anything he was to you.”
Tiny Habits members Cinya Khan, Judah Mayowa, and Maya Rae shared this statement:
“Anything He Was” speaks to a specific loneliness brought on by someone else’s discontent. They’re constantly using you to fill a space that can only be filled by someone else who is no longer there for them. Knowing this deep down, you still try; you show up. You make them laugh. You’re intimate with them. You perform gestures of kindness and grandeur in hopes that someday it’ll be enough, that your hard work will blossom into something more than just a bittersweet delusion. But it won’t (womp womp). You’ll never amount to them or the cherished moments they shared together. To those who share this experience (current or past), may this song soothe that loneliness and be a little gift on your path to find the love that you deserve.
Listen below.
Keepers is out 8/28 on Mom+Pop. Pre-order it here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
