- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 27/Jul 14:14

Darryl Gervais gets real with Drifting Away

SINGER/SONGWRITER Darryl Gervais believes that sometimes, the most beautiful art stems from pain. So in keeping with this, he wrote his latest release, Drifting Away, about one of his most painful experiences – a fading relationship. The piano-filled, sombre R&B track explores the feeling of growing apart from one’s romantic partner. The lyrics acknowledge that he’s been questioning the point of holding on to the relationship. With smooth vocals, he sings, “She said, ‘Don’t leave. Now’s not time for walking out. Maybe we can talk it out. This can’t be the end.’” He wonders whether they’re going through a phase or just need space away from each other. “Lately we don’t love no more so we got to do what we got to.” And while he does not feel the love is gone, he is aware of their “problems” and wonders what the relationship would look like if they could be solved. “It kind of feels like we’re in different places and I hate how I’ve been feeling. I can feel me drifting away from you. It don’t feel the way it used to...We’ve been slipping away trying to hold onto whatever’s left of us.” [caption id="attachment_1168738" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Singer/songwriter Darryl Gervais' cover art for his latest release, Drifting Away. -[/caption] The song was produced and composed by Dwala, popular local musician, composer and sound engineer, who also co-wrote it. The process was seamless, Gervais said, as it was not their first time working together. They have previously collaborated on tracks like Boss Lady and Jolene by Kes, and are now good friends. Gervais has also worked with a number of other local acts, including Mical Teja, Patrice Roberts, Lyrikal, V’ghn, Ravi B, Shal Marshall and Viking Ding Dong. In addition, the Palo Seco native had his own stint as a gospel artiste around 2007. He then shifted his focus to songwriting across various genres, but predominantly soca, and has released a few soca tracks since then, too. He is now a full-time songwriter and also manages soca artiste Rae. "From childhood, I always knew that music was going to be it for me. I just didn't think it would be songwriting. But I was always this eager student of songwriting. I was the child sitting down and dissecting the lyrics of a song in awe of how they told the story and how the song took me somewhere...so I wanted to be able to affect people the same way." In an interview with Newsday on July 22, he recalled going through “a difficult time” in his marriage around 2021. “I think we were dealing with a lot of hurt, some of which I caused, and we were just in this very reactive place. It was also a very lonely place for me at the time. I felt very lonely and unloved, neglected…” he recalled. He said owing to what he observed in his grandparents’ relationship, he thought marriage was “an everlasting thing. “Notwithstanding, we’re humans and we all have our flaws…But they were my first example of what it was to make it work. And I never thought in a million years I would ever be divorced.” For him, navigating the process of and the aftermath of divorce was also particularly tough as the father of two. Bringing it back to the track, he said, “I just didn’t want to fight for it any more, and (at that point) this song was me accepting that’s where we were at.” He felt 2025 was the right time to release the emotion-packed song, especially as many of his friends said they felt he was keeping his vocal talents hidden. “The artistes I work for would know I sing, because I have to basically give them demos. But a lot of the listeners would not know the songwriter is actually a vocalist. “(My friend) said to me, ‘I think you’re hiding your gift. People need to hear your voice…You’re giving away your stories (through songwriting) and building everyone else – but it’s your time.’” That stuck with him. “I felt like I had been battling with procrastination for a while. Last year, I wanted to release it but I (kept putting it off). I had to sit with myself and say, ‘Yeah, you really do need to build yourself.’ I did not want to miss the right moment to put this out.” Asked what it was like revisiting such a personal track after all this time, in preparation for its release, he said it was emotional. “We actually revisited it in 2023 as well, because I felt like I could have executed it better. I started writing it just before we got separated, so in 2023, I felt like I went through so much pain so it would have been heard better in my voice.” That, he added, was “something that I learned under my mentor (Grammy award-winning producer and songwriter Cory Rooney), and even with other songwriters: you have to be able to transfer that emotion. (Listeners) have to hear it and feel what I felt, or it has to be able to trigger them to go back into the moment when they went through it. “(Rooney) would always say to me, ‘Darryl, you have to make them feel something. You’re not selling a song, you’re selling emotions.’” While reviewing footage of the studio recording sessions, he said, Dwala agreed he could “hear the feelings” in his delivery. [caption id="attachment_1168738" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Singer/songwriter Darryl Gervais' cover art for his latest release, Drifting Away. -[/caption] As a songwriter, it’s not unusual to write something personal and give it to another artiste to sing. But in this case, asked if the plan was always for the song to remain his, Gervais said yes. “It was never a song for sale. It was always very deeply rooted in me. It’s my feelings, and I didn’t want to sell anyone that story. It’s my story.” He simply wants listeners to “let the art be a safe space. “Part of me doing this song is, yes, you kind of want to be understood. But I also want people to identify with it because there’s nothing new under the sun. We’ve all been through this at some point in time, just some on smaller scales, some on bigger scales…but heartbreak and loneliness (are) common things. Let it resonate if it does – and if it doesn’t, then fine, but this song is just a roadmap to that moment in my life. Art imitates life, and that’s what this is for me.” Drifting Away is available on all digital media streaming platforms.   The post Darryl Gervais gets real with Drifting Away appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.