Within the opening seconds of her newest single, “Let Me In Again”, Louise Goffin‘s voice is ushered in only by a few pensive notes played on her trademark piano. “No one has the time to love anymore,” she croons. Meanwhile, a melancholic flashback to a previous, simpler time is interspersed between scenes of her performing the song in a lonely room here in the present.
This feeling of nostalgic and bittersweet reverie is what gives the song and its accompanying music video a heartbeat. Much like her legendary parents, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Louise’s music is centered upon masterful songwriting that can capture human emotion like lightning in a bottle. For these reasons, one would not necessarily be heedless to imagine upon first listening that “Let Me in Again” is a plea to a past lover, but they would still be wrong.
Instead, the tune is a comparison between the days we live in now and what once was. Goffin elucidates that we spend so much of our time wired to the internet these days that we “miss out at being present to what’s available around us.”
Yet, the song feels hauntingly romantic. This feels especially true as it hits its stride throughout its final minute or so, with Goffin accompanied by background singers and an engrossing full band ensemble as she covets those times gone past. It’s a song, and a video, that handily lights a spark in listeners’ hearts and yearns to be spun again moments after it’s over all for the sake of the pathos that Goffin wholly commits herself to appealing to in her performance.
The song was co-written with Marvin Etzioni (producer to Counting Crows and Peter Case), who says, “She would pick up an idea where I would leave off, and finish a chord progression that would take the song to a new level.” He continues, saying that Goffin “not only is a gifted artist, but she is also a sweet spirit in a world where her voice is needed and welcome.”
The video was directed by Billy Jayne, who offered his services to Goffin after hearing her perform the song during a photo shoot. Goffin explains that the video provides a looking glass into her past. Highlighting two teens experiencing love for the first time, the video is more about not fully understanding that those times were the best parts of one’s life until long after they were over, and they had the opportunity to look back.
“Let Me in Again” is the next installment in Goffin’s ongoing digital single series, in which she plans to release one video and song at a time roughly every six to eight weeks. The series began with the premiere of “Revenge” on Billboard on 20 October. In regards to her choice to release individual singles, and only on a digital platform, Goffin told the publication then, “I don’t want all these great tracks that you put a lot of time and energy into to fall by the wayside and not get their due attention. So I think this is the best way to go.”