Between mandated facemasks, adapting to new at home work modes (if we can), social distancing and lockdowns, let’s face it, there’s hardly a single aspect of our lives that hasn’t gone haywire. We’re all looking for silver linings and an out for creativity at a time when artists can’t perform in traditional ways.
In a time when we’re eager for anything that can bring us even a lighthearted distraction and joy, multi-talented Canadian singer/songwriter Justin Maki delivers the goods with his instantly infectious, jazz and soul inflected, super-hipster new single, “Different Kind of Love.”
A feel-good pandemic era anthem dropping at a time when we most need that uplift, the track finds Justin taking a pointed yet whimsical look at dating in the era of quarantine. Just when you’ve got something going – SLAM! How do you adapt and keep the romantic flow at a distance? Musically, the tune starting with a catchy swirl of guitar strum, finger snaps and engaging whistle, then evolves into a spirited light funk/pop groove with some heavy, danceable thump.
Using both his dreamy falsetto and deeper emotional vocal range, he follows his laments (“I hate to wait/It’s not the same”) with thoughtful questions (“When you can’t taste, can’t touch/This is a different kind of love/Is this a date/Kind of”) and then cleverly suggests some ideas: “I’ll call you in the AM/Text you in the PM/Slippin’ in my DM’s. . .I’m catching feels, new wheels, it’s a hell of a deal…” Like all of us have to, he makes the best of it: “Not too shabby/In HD, wine and havarti..” In the bridge, he makes a promise: “I’ll try to keep you satisfied/And we’ll remember what we found/When we were lost inside.”
One of the most fun and dynamic, indie pop singles this year, the track perfectly chronicles this crazy time, offers a roadmap for trying to figure out social connection and makes us believe that musical creativity may hit a detour now and then, but always finds a pathway to our hearts.