Disarme creates an engrossing contemplation on the loneliness of city life with debut single “Change”

Whether New York or London, Paris or Berlin, city life has a way of grinding people down after a certain point. Isolation and loneliness somehow hit even harder in places that always have so much going on, with so many different people in them. It’s a facet of city life that often goes unspoken, leaving individuals wondering if it’s just them who feel alone in a city of millions.

Disarme explores this dynamic on “Change,” her debut single composed in a home studio between Paris, Berlin, and the French countryside. Disarme leans into the loneliness with cutting depth and emotion, creating a perfect song to wallow to. It makes me want to lean my head against a rainy car window and contemplate every decision I’ve ever made.

“Change” is driven by a haunting vocal melody that rings in your head well after the song is over. Layered guitars coupled with breathy vocals create a hazy soundscape that feel almost dream-like in delivery. Disarme gets the most out of every word, stretching out a one syllable word like “love” across four beats. Around three-quarters into the song, the instrumentation pulls back, with the lightest touches of an electric guitar accompanying the repeated opening lines. The electric guitar is so quiet that it almost sounds like it’s being played unplugged.

The track’s set up defies typical verse-chorus-verse songwriting, opting for two distinct verses, with the opening lines repeating at the end. It creates a full circle stream of consciousness that carries listeners through the distorted, layered instrumentation. Lyrics like “Has anyone ever cared?” emphasize the hopelessness that comes with a city grinding someone down, and feeling like no one is looking out for you in a place filled with people. On the track, Disarme says she was “A bit disillusioned by the collective urban agony and my spoiled senses, I felt the urge to express this loneliness. I had someone in mind—someone I love who suffers deeply in Paris, in a constant state of anxiety…How can I save you? This music humbly tries to soothe.”

The music video, shot with an early 2000s Sony Handycam, leans into the blurry and hazy feelings of not knowing what to do with yourself. Particularly low-res in contrast to all the hyper-HD content we’re now accustomed to, the video is jarringly shaky, with a blue hue that adds to the slight eeriness it gives off. The video itself seems to start around dusk, with Disarme slowly fading into the darkness as the song continues, ending as a silhouette.