British-Nigerian alt-pop singer-songwriter Essence Martins shares mesmerizing new single ‘Can We All Slow Down’.
A call to take a moment away from the digital chaos and constant perception, ‘Can We All Slow Down’ looks beyond the screens. Calming vocals and honest lyrics break through the static, encouraging listeners to put their phones down and reconnect with the world around them.
“I wrote ‘Can We All Slow Down’ about the pressure of constantly being perceived. We live in an age where we’re always looking at screens, with endless information at our fingertips. It’s not always a bad thing, but it can be overwhelming.
Essence Martins
I had a need to write something really honest. I just felt really drained that day in the studio, so I started with: “Smiling is an art form, I’ve got a master’s degree,”. Like most, I smile when I’m happy, but I know that I also smile when I’m nervous or uncomfortable. It’s a common coping mechanism, and a skill I’ve had to master so others don’t see how I really feel. Now more than ever, in the age of social media, it feels necessary to maintain a certain image. This song felt like writing in my diary, it kinda just fell out of me. It was the first song I’d ever written with producer, Jay Flew and it was amazing to be able to be so vulnerable working with a new producer and I knew we’d make many more songs together.
This song is about that constant pressure to keep up, to strive for the image of perfection, while knowing everything you do is being watched and judged online. Sometimes it feels like our worth as humans these days is tied to how we’re perceived and we’re all just playing roles in a digital world. I often long for a time where life moved much slower and I noticed small things and I was curious about the physical world around me. I long for the version of me that would play outside for hours with nothing but my imagination, perhaps I’m just grieving childhood as I move into adulthood.”
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