It's A Hit is a section where I revisit some incredible, not new songs, albums, music videos, etc. The title is taken from one of my favorite Rilo Kiley songs, listen to that here.

Stina Tweeddale, the lead singer and guitarist of Honeyblood, described "Cruel" to NME as "the most honest song I've ever written." Even though there have been songs like it in subject matter, there is something especially gut-wrenching about "Cruel." It's less sad than it is remorseful. Less apologetic than it is honest. In just the first verse of the songs, Tweeddale sings "I'm destroying things/Is that a sign?/Maybe I, maybe I'm not doing this life thing right." Something about this song mirrors the girl on the cover of Babes Never Die, the record "Cruel" is on. She looks a little sad, a little lonely, and yet there's just a hint of something tough underneath her.

The chorus of "Cruel" is my favorite part. The writing of it is almost destructively honest as Honeyblood indulges in wanting to hurt someone else in a personal, emotionally gruesome way. :

    "When I do things to hurt you I do it with the intention

    When I say words meant to bruise, all for the pain inflicted

    I tell you that I'm through, I want to feel your heart breaking

    Oh yeah that kid can be so cruel"

That ending line of "That kid can be so cruel" is such a well-placed shift in perspective that puts a perfect bow on an incredibly raw chorus. One of my low-key favorite things a lyricist can do is rewrite their chorus for the end of the song. I want to be taken on a journey, and Honeyblood takes me on one. On the last chorus, Tweeddale sings:

    "When I do things to hurt you it's to my own affliction

     When I say words meant to bruise I feel it when it kicks in

      I tell you that I'm through, wreck my heart for yours is breaking

     And I don't mean to be so cruel"

And that's when it came together for me that "Cruel" is not really about a failing relationship or breaking up or anything like that. It's about the ways we hurt other people in a roundabout way to hurt ourselves. Honeyblood alternates asking "What will make you walk away?" and pleading "Come here, lay your bones 'cause I don't mean to be so cruel." It's not a song about punishing someone else as it is about punishing yourself, taking all your supposed bad behavior out on the world and hurting things you even think you love. I think a lot of the power in this song lies in the layers explored in this, it's about wanting to destroy someone else, but at its core, "Cruel" is a song about self-destruction.

Honeyblood is an endlessly dynamic project, having pulled off endless facets of indie, garage rock, punk, and lo-fi, but I think this song might be my favorite iteration of Honeyblood's sound yet. It's tough, vulnerable, clever, and deeply emotional. The song does what all well-written music should do, slap you across the face with lyrics and cradle you in the execution. Pulling off a sonically interesting, properly emotional, relatable, self-loathing ballad that still somehow finds power in its vulnerability is not often done this successfully, so I am reveling in the blindingly dim light of "Cruel."

Listen to “Cruel” here.