Halle – Bite Your Lip

Everybody has seen it happen. Someone is trying not to smile, not to cry or not to say something they will regret, and the lip gets caught between the teeth. It is a tiny action that gives away a whole feeling. In a flirtatious setting it can be playful and a bit nervous. In a tense setting it can be restraint.

That range is what I enjoy about the title. It is physical, almost like a photograph, and it asks the listener to picture a face at a specific moment. Nigerians have many such signs, from the eye roll to the hiss, that carry a full sentence without a word spoken.

The record is on love?… or something like it (Deluxe), and the detail suits an album that studies love through small, human moments. The song gives the project a close-up shot rather than a wide one, which adds variety to the overall mood.

It suits an evening at a restaurant when someone across the table says something that makes you look down and try not to grin.

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