Lingering feelings and unanswered questions are bound to happen when a relationship fizzles out. Pittsburgh native Drew Elliott felt the thorny sting of heartbreak, but that didn’t stop him from attempting to “rekindle a friendship” last summer. With a new song called “Missing You Now,” premiering today, the pop songwriter mines the emotional stakes surrounding his efforts to reconcile.
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“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” he sings, an alluring smokiness to his voice. “500 miles, southbound / Your hesitation speaks volumes / And I can’t turn it down now.”
“I tend to go silent immediately after a relationship ends, to allow space for healing and create a chance to move on,” Elliott tells American Songwriter. “But even after years passed, it felt like a piece of my life was always missing. Not to sound pessimistic, but usually that process of rediscovering a friendship fails ─ because things can get complicated so easily ─ so you end up missing your best friend and wondering if they’re missing you.”
“In this case, I’m happy to say she’s a part of my life again,” he adds.
“Missing You Now,” co-written with producer Jason Wozniak, sprouted out of Elliott’s very “first attempt at trying to rekindle that friendship on what felt like a lurking possibility of slipping back into something reminiscent of the past.”
On the chorus, Elliott firmly embraces nostalgia’s sweet rush. “Memory is ecstasy / Am I missing you now?” he ponders. “You’re chasing fantasy / And there’s no easy way out.”
Musically, the musician found himself greatly inspired by a collaborative pedal called MOOD. “There was this sort of arpeggio created through the pedal behind some chords [Jason] laid down for the verses. Once the drums were lined up, the melody and lyrics started pouring out of me. I think we finished 75 percent of the song in the first couple hours of making the demo,” notes Elliott of the songwriting/producing session. “The whole song essentially builds up to the bridge, where Jason and I wanted to introduce a new section.”
“This ‘bridge,’ I guess you could call it, was some of the most fun I’ve had in writing and recording a song. Everything created felt natural to the wavelength we found ourselves on, and in my experience, those have led to the most honest recordings.”
Struck by AC/DC’s 1976 studio record, High Voltage, a gift from his brother, Elliott picked up the guitar when he was 10 and hasn’t looked back since. He went on to make the rounds at local festivals and clubs and later moved to Nashville to earn a degree from Belmont University. Smaller records, including From Bonfires and Embers, both collaborations with Wozniak, were released in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
“Missing You Now” follows on the heels of “August Sun,” released back in November.
Photo by Destiny Keller
