There are many paths to becoming a successful music producer, and Rory may have taken one of the more unique ones. His career journey includes being a music marketing manager, music executive and a successful podcaster, initially with Joe Budden before moving on to launch a new podcast with MAL. Now he's decided to put his years of experience in the industry into being a producer and songwriter, and he's released his first single “I WANT YOU BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW...” Rory has already passed the first test as a producer by selecting extremely talented artists Shelley FKA DRAM and Alex Isley to collaborate with him on the song.
At the beginning of “I WANT YOU BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW...,” we hear a conversation about infidelity from one of Rory’s podcasts, which sets the tone. The song shares both a man and a woman’s perspective on their complicated relationship. The man divides his time between two women, and he does just enough to string his number two option along by claiming his feelings for her are real. Shelley tries to apease her, singing on the first verse, "Just take a breather sometimes / Cause I want it / But can’t have it / You swear I stay acting / Just believe me sometimes / I’m really gonna to call you."
Conversely, the other woman knows he is not committing to her but wants him so bad she is willing to be an option and not the priority. Alex plays the side piece role and comes across a little sprung when she sings, "I don’t mean to bother / But I needed to call ya / I don’t care you’re with her / I’ll try back tomorrow / Can’t help that I miss you." And she's definitely fallen and bumped her head when she suggests he confront his main chick, singing, "Ask her what’s the issue / With sharing your heart, your body parts and your mental."
“I WANT YOU BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW...” is pretty messy, but some relationships are far from pretty. The song itself is a gorgeous midtempo groove packed with guitar, bass, piano and a steady drumbeat. The instrumental track complements Shelley’s rich voice and Alex’s feathery soft, soothing vocals, with additional backgrounds provided by Chiiild.
Rory has knocked it out of the box with his debut single, which he co-produced with Yonathan "xSDTRK" Ayal and Azad Naficy and co-wrote with Mitchell Bell and Shelley. Given his connections and good taste in terms of collaborators, we are optimistic that his forthcoming debut project will be in heavy rotation. We are hopeful there will be a visual forthcoming, but for now simply press play below to give “I WANT YOU BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW...” a listen.
