Setting the tone with an airy soundscape and a commentary on the nature of Aspartame, Hollow River opens his latest single with subversion, as the opus expands with an acoustic energy and fierce and introspective vocal delivery as he sings, “I think I’ll have a water but make it synthetic, and if the earth keeps on gettin’ hotter, it’ll burn up all the skeptics…”
Hollow River takes us on a thought-provoking trip as he delivers intricate and metaphorical prose about the mainstream sweetener and his personal experiences. With reference to the composition, the rising artist confesses, “When I was young I was really skinny and people would make comments. Then a got a bit older I started to put on a lot of weight, as boys tend to do before puberty and people would make more comments.”
Hollow River continues, “It’s then that my parents made me switch from regular soda to diet soda. I must have been ten or eleven and I’ve been drinking diet soda ever since. Regular soda doesn’t even taste right to me anymore, I crave that aspartame taste.”
“At the time that seemed like the obvious answer, ‘This kid’s fat— make him drink diet soda’, but as you think back now you realize how messed up that is. People commenting on my body seemed so normal back then and they make up a large chunk of my core memories from that time. Today I would never think to comment on a child’s body that way”, adds Hollow River with depth. “So to me the song is about those feelings of being told something about the world is normal and realizing that the narrative you’ve been sold isn’t real but how those lies cause real harm”, concludes the visionary creator.
Aspartame come with a hypnotizing DIY music video which sees our protagonist bring to life his narrative with props and charisma. Hollow River cites a fusion of Twenty One Pilots and Green Day as his references, but it is clear that the starts developing an authentic universe of his own. We have added Aspartame to our New Music Spotlight playlist, whilst we continue to stream Hollow River‘s wider discography including The Way I Want To and Known to Lie.