Title: "Don't Read the Headlines"
Artist: Ryan Ross Hernandez
Released: March 11, 2016
Format: Digital download, streaming, radio airplay
Recorded: EastWest Studios - Los Angeles, California
Gerne: Psychedelic pop, funk, disco
Label: Studio 60 Records
Writer: Ryan Ross Hernandez
Producer: Ryan Ross Hernandez

Pitchfork Review

Hernandez's comeback release "The Younger Heart" was a pleasant song that sounded much like what one would expect from the veteran musician who has always been hyper self-aware of his own material. For years now, he has tangled the lines between maintaining a critical-darling credibility while also appealing to adult contemporary audiences in a radio format that has more or less decreased from its early 2000s peak, and Hernandez was one of those who cracked into the scene in 2001 as a dude-with-a-guitar and has been able to stay in relevancy much longer than most of his peers from back then. Much of his success has been due to his ability to be one of the more versatile artists of the 21st century waving between a soft-spoken pop-rock artist with acoustic sensibilities in his first two albums, to switching gears and becoming a guitar-slaying blues artist by his third record, an odd mixture of the two by album four, and finally his two most recent album releases served as modern standards to 1970's Americana singer-songwriter records. Reverting back to "The Younger Heart", it possessed what a RRH track would, a light, acoustic start that slowly brings the rest of the instrumentation over before building up and swirling into a beautiful, grandiose piece of music with a string section to round it out.

"Don't Read the Headlines" is nothing like the previously released song, nor is it like anything we've ever heard from the 38-year-old musician over the course of his sixteen year career. There is no acoustic guitar or subtleties to be found with this shameless pop jam that's inspired by the 1980s but very much current to 2016. The electric licks along with the thumping drum beat lead to a flourish of synths and keys with a melodic bass line serving as its backbone. Despite all the flashy layers added to it that aren't heard much on mainstream radio in 2016, this is Hernandez writing a pop song and anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. Looking back at his track record, at heart, Ryan has always been a "pop" artist, just mixing different styles that usually placed those pop tendencies beneath the surface. This is him unleashing that love or admiration of pop music of yesterday and bringing it to present day to create one of the catchiest songs that we'll hear this year. You don't have to understudy this any further than the vocals on here which feature Hernandez singing almost entirely falsetto throughout the course of the four-in-a-half-minute track. A singing technique that Hernandez had used in spurts but never truly committed and dove headfirst into it as he does on here.

Now if you digest the lyrics, that is where you find that this is in fact a Ryan Ross Hernandez penned song. While it's not as bluntly built around the subject of sex as the song he released last February, although the subject is mentioned and plays a part in the grand scheme of things; its centerpiece seems to be more built about his own mental health and paranoia of the media description of him, earnestly apologizing in the chorus to a seemingly new lover for bringing her name to appear along his. Showcasing from the moment he met someone, eventually leading to forming a relationship of some nature, then by the third verse he is questioning if there is anything else there but the sex they have and goes on to express a dissatisfaction of hanging out with her friends, frowning upon their habits, but admitting to his own hypocrisy in the process ("I'll go to your best friend's birthday party, even if I think she's always high on Adderall / I know that's hypocritical of me when we got high right before we left the hotel room"). It's safe to say with the song serving in the long-form, detailed writing that has become Hernandez's standard in the last half-decade, there will be plenty for gossip rags and casual music listeners to speculate the subject of his latest release, as they always do.

This does throw an unexpected left hook on Hernandez's upcoming seventh studio LP titled Sex with Former Lovers: Living in the Past, Living Inside My Own Head. The obvious contrast between the two songs have leant themselves to way-too-early online speculations by some critics that the guitarist's forthcoming record will be a double album, serving as opposite sides of the coin. While I understand where the idea may come from, as it's difficult to imagine "The Younger Heart" and "Don't Read the Headlines" co-existing on the same 12-track record or so, the marketing and promotional strategy for RRH this year has been well-thought out and likely planned out for months before we actually get the full-length. An interesting fact to share about these songs that Hernandez has released in the last four weeks is that him nor anybody on his team are describing these as "singles" off the album and Studio 60 Records is not promoting them as singles, despite both being sent to radio and backing music videos in support for each either have been released or in the latter's case a music video is expected later this month. Whether these are promotional tracks, singles, or something else entirely, it's safe to assume that RRH won't be going anywhere anytime soon and this year will be packed with new music from the artist. When it's this good, I can't imagine anyone will complain.

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D O N ' T R E A D T H E H E A D L I N E S //

sounds like:

On the night I met her she was dancing, she was shooing off a line of assholes
They tried to flirt but fumbled every other line
They wanted to impress her but she could tell
Those pity bastards were all looking for a quick fuck when they couldn't keep eye contact
She doesn't do with that out-dated, patriarchal bullshit
And I told her I don't deal with anyone who isn't independent, strong-willed and outspoken on their ideologies
She joked that she'd slap the taste right out of my mouth if I ever step out of line and I believed her
All her friends gave her a look that served as warning signs I could tell
They'd heard about my reputation around town
I tell her that's why I hate Los Angeles
You can never live out the predetermined ideas that people have of you
It feels like a fixed fight from the start, I should just lay down for the count
Or drink enough that I give them a show of a man whose lost his mind

But you grab my hand and call a bluff on the rumors
You say you rather find out for yourself than believe third-party accounts of past stories
It's all irrelevant to you when I appear so differently from the portrayal you'd heard before
Now you're re-touching your lipstick and letting my hand explore your thick thighs
So we spent the rest of the night drinking and sharing your vape pen until the bar closed
Then we went back to your place, it oversaw the city skyline
But we didn't appreciate the view much when we'd rather explore each other's bodies
All I wanted was to swim naked in your waters
And forget about the demons inside my head

Don't you read between the lines
There's nothing good that can come from it
I use to keep tabs of myself on social media
Until my brain would end up buried underneath all this vapidness
These days I rather binge on Netflix to get out of my own little head

I'm sorry honey, I'm so difficult to put up with most days
How can I put you in such a position?
Now your world is caught inside a cover story they're posting online for ad revenue
These vultures are watering at the mouth to get us on their Instagram feeds
What does your life become when you're just waiting to make it back home?
The only place where you feel you can actually breathe

After the seventh date I lost count
Now you come around ever so often when you have the time
Your twenty-something body is always antsy and on the run
I can't blame you, baby, I've been there before
At least when you're here you help me feel alive again
Usually when you're around, our clothes never stay on for longer than an hour
We always prefer having sex 'cause everything else just feels like a waste of time
Dressing up to go out is such a bore when all I want is to bend you over and take you from behind
When all you want is to be on top and ride me until climax
It's not all just sex
I've memorized the scent of her perfume and the birthmark on her inner thigh
I like the slight accent she has and how her hair looks after we have sex

But alright I give in
I'll go to your best friend's birthday party
Even if I think she's always high on Adderall
I know that's hypocritical of me when we got high right before we left the hotel room
I admit I don't feel comfortable when your friends are around
I've never met any of my lover's friends who truly liked me
And it's a little ironic that my exes are dancing to your songs
You tell me to calm down and just have another drink 'cause I'm not making any sense
I've already drank most of the bottle by myself and nothing's changed
The alcohol gets me out of my self-aware head
But I'm so accustom to the feeling that I don't think I'm safe when I'm not anxious
I'm really failing to have any fun no matter what I take tonight
Excuse me if I make a scene

Don't you read between the lines
There's nothing good that can come from it
I use to keep tabs of myself on social media
Until my brain would end up buried underneath all this vapidness
These days I rather binge drink to get out of my own little head

I'm sorry honey, I'm so difficult to put up with most days
How can I put you in such a position?
Now your world is caught inside a cover story they're posting online for views
These vultures are watering at the mouth to get us on their Twitter feeds
What does your life become when you're just waiting to make it back home?
The only place where you feel you can actually breathe

I'm too tired to fight it any longer
I just want to rest my head on your breasts
Until I pass out from all the temporary medicines I take in order to feel sane
One day you will see the down side of me and that scares me
I feel myself falling apart at the seams already
Each day I'm trying to sew it back together, at least as long you're around
But I know the lines will soon blur and I'll have another breakdown that I won't be able to hide from you, darling

Don't you read between the lines
You'll only drive yourself into a downward spiral
I kept an open tab in my heart for the women that I've loved
Until my brain realizes that none of them are ever coming back for my broken bones
These days I see them smiling so content in pictures from afar
They've found a place where they feel themselves breathing again
And at that moment I realize their happiness was not with me
Sooner than you want to think you'll realize that too, brown-eyed and sunshine haired