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Giavanna Gradaille

Review: "more than friends" - Isabel LaRosa




In the court of public opinion, there’s characters from different stories, shows, and movies that should have been more than friends. Despite how popular the friends-to-lovers trope is, some couples are just never written into existence. But it especially hurts to see one half of this non-existent couple left in a perpetual state of yearning to be more. Unrequited love is a shame to witness but devastating to experience.

Isabel LaRosa provides the unrequited lover's perspective with a twist in her latest single, “more than friends”.





Through “more than friends”, LaRosa illustrates the vexations of being within a friendship that you wish to transform into a romance. The dark-pop single utilizes moody synths to emphasize the longing that’s being experienced by the unrequited lover, while LaRosa’s breathy vocals demonstrate this longing's emotional and physical nature. The song opens with slow and sultry verses that build to an all-consuming, powerful chorus. In the music video written, directed, and starred in by LaRosa, watching audiences see her sneak out of the home to meet up with her friend. As the two get into trouble, LaRosa begins to feel closer to this friend. These transpiring events only feed our artist’s longing to be more than a friend to her fellow troublemaker – something watchers witness, and listeners hear during the single’s progression towards the chorus. When the chorus finally drops, LaRosa blows us away with the intensity and gravity of her longing. It makes you ache for the relationship’s transformation right alongside her. A flash of hope appears, though: the friend sneaks back into the home with her and confirms that the emotions she’s been experiencing are mutual with steamy kisses. But this hope is short-lived and stolen from the two, and subsequently, the audiences rooting for them. The music video ends with police sirens and lights seen right outside of LaRosa’s bedroom window to presumably pick them up after their night of mischief. Potentially leaving them to a fate worse than unrequited love – love from a distance.



Isabel LaRosa is a singer and songwriter with roots in Annapolis, MD. The artist’s upbringing was filled with nights in jazz clubs where she’d watch her father’s soothing saxophone and her brother’s inspiring guitar playing move listeners. Influenced by her environment, she began writing songs in elementary school with her brother which led them to become a dynamic duo. Now nearing the end of her high school career, the artist produces music on top of writing it with her brother (and fellow producer), Thomas. LaRosa currently sits pretty at the top of pop-stardom; still reveling in the success of her 2022 EP, i'm watching you, and the 200+ million streamed single "i'm yours". Even with all this excitement, she's gracious enough to spoil listeners with her newly released EP, YOU FEAR THE GOD THAT LOVES YOU, that centers on the experiences of a girl growing up under a religious household. It also features the atmospherically stunning "more than friends". If you've enjoyed Isabel LaRosa's yearning to be more than platonic, show her some virtual love in the form of streams, likes, and follows.



Written by Giavanna Gradaille



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