First Listen:John K & Loote join teamwork. on 'Wasted Summer'
by Megan Armstrong
The track, released today (Jan. 31), explores nostalgia with breezy beats and poignant lyrics.
The best of Loote's 2018 banger "Your Side of the Bed" and John K's 2019 breakout single "If We Never Met" are brought together by teamwork. in the trio's new single "Wasted Summer."
The single opens with Loote's Emma Lov singing that she can't sleep because her former lover is cold to her now, and all she has now to keep her warm are the distant memories they made "getting high on Sunset Boulevard / Sleeping in your beat up car / Playing 'Creep' on your guitar / That wasted summer."
The acoustic-based chorus softly contrasts the song's underlying uptempo dance-pop beat and sets John K's verse: "Dancing on my own / 'Cause your company, it doesn't keep me the way i need it to / Am I still the one? / 'Cause I don't wanna know, I don't wanna lose / The one thing I ever loved."
The track acts as a safety blanket for everybody who has ever thought they had found the one only to realize months later what once burned so bright was just meant to be the first and not necessarily the only. John K, Loote and teamwork. force listeners to reconsider whether it was actually a waste if, amid all the heartbreak, it produced stories that can be told forever. The lyrics' anecdotal imagery lures each individual listener's own associated memories to the forefront.
"It felt super nostalgic to write 'Wasted Summer,'" Lov said in a press release. "We wanted to trace the romantic path of a couple that needs nothing but each other. But then coming-of-age complicates their love. Inevitably, growing up often tears young couples apart. But we all think back on that one person, our first great love, with whom everything was so carefree. That memory lasts a lifetime."
"I've always had an admiration for artists and producers like teamwork., who manage to transform those real-life moments in catchy hooks that you want to hear over and over again," John K added. "When I first heard the first few seconds of 'Wasted Summer,' I instantly knew that this song is special. I couldn't wait to contribute to the feel and the emotions of the song, making it the pop song that it is. In less than three minutes, the song takes you on a journey that everybody can relate to. I really hope that people will enjoy the vibe of this summer love throughout the entire year."