Erin Bloomer's latest pop release collectively appraises "Therapy"

Fast-rising, fresh out of A-Levels sat in lockdown, and having her progress stalled by COVID, Erin Bloomer hasn’t been held back – her songwriting has proved itself resonant regardless of outside factors. Now, after last year’s Moshi Monsters-named EP Cherry3101, Sussex-based Bloomer is back with more coming-of-age diary entries.

“I just want a guy who goes to therapy…” Bloomer reflects in the chorus over a backdrop of laidback beats and swimming synths. In her trademark no-fuss style, she’s utterly collected despite how honest her lyricism is, turning tricky topics into grooves and totally normalising the things she’s singing about. This is something of a calling card across Bloomer’s releases so far, which include the viral hit "F U and F Her Too" - a narrative about cheating and resentment and letting yourself feel your feelings even if they’re not pretty. Backed up by an alt-pop soundscape, it gives a little rose-tinted glow.

In keeping with themes of conversation and honesty (as well as Bloomer’s viral cred), "Therapy" is being released on one of TikTok’s first-ever distribution deals. “Last year, I was actually fairly new to TikTok and I had a viral moment which completely took me by surprise,” she tells BEST FIT. “ It also opened a lot of doors for me, so when I was offered the chance to work with TikTok of course I was down for it!”

“The distribution deal meant that I could have the official sound released before "Therapy" dropped on digitals and this has led to hundreds of video creations with the sound by other users on TikTok. It’s been brilliant because so many people are already familiar with the artwork and the sound, so it’s given me a welcoming friendly audience and I can’t wait to share the full track with them any minute!”

On the track itself, Bloomer’s RnB-tinged pop style successfully continues to inject something that can be difficult to talk about with an element of breeziness – which was important to her to do. “The lyrics of "Therapy "show that what counts is not superficial, it’s what’s on the inside that’s important. I love deep-diving into meaningful convos with my friends, I help them and they help me, it’s a two-way street and it strengthens our relationships, but we also want to have fun and enjoy being young, so I’m glad that the song feels pretty playful too.”

“With everything that’s happened in the world over the last couple of years, as well as physical problems, so many people have struggled with their mental health and "Therapy" holds a mirror up and says it’s okay to be honest about it, it’s completely normal. When I played it to my friends, they laughed and loved it. Very slowly there seems to be a positive change in people’s attitudes towards mental wellbeing and I wanted to be a part of that.”

“I’m aware that many people, especially boys, will suffer in silence because they’re embarrassed and see it as a weakness. In fact, I struggled with anxiety myself during the lockdown, I couldn’t see my friends, a family member was seriously ill and I had been planning to dive headfirst into my music career straight after A-levels and of course, all of those plans were suddenly on hold. I did a few zooms with friends and with music colleagues and I did write and record from home too, but I found myself needing some extra help to process everything; I met with a therapist, in a socially distanced way, every Tuesday afternoon, to help me work through my thoughts and deal with the new life I was leading, it was unbelievably cathartic and it’s had a very positive outcome.”

On bringing the song together, Bloomer tells us “I’ve written a lot about things that have either happened to me or my friends and I was writing a song with Jungleboi and xyz over zoom and "Therapy" was a song that he had started writing with someone else. When I heard it and sang it I started working with the team, we made changes that were personal and I fell in love with the simplicity of the message, it feels so optimistic. My favourite lyric is ‘taking care of you is taking care of me’ which speaks to everyone.”