Coconut Rootz – Mixed Feelings

The title feels especially real because mixed feelings are rarely neat. You can miss somebody and still know they hurt you. You can care about a person while questioning whether the relationship is still good for you. That uncomfortable middle ground gives the song a subject many people will recognise. Coconut Rootz comes from a roots reggae background, and the project has openly connected its sound to the old reggae records and basslines that shaped its musical beginnings.

There is an interesting pattern around this release when you look at the artist’s wider catalogue. Songs such as Love With No Terms, I Fall Again, One Who Stays, Quiet Love and You Will Never Know all deal with different sides of relationships, but they do not all arrive at the same emotional conclusion. That makes this title particularly fitting. Sometimes you are not ready to leave, but you are not completely comfortable staying either.

That is where the record can connect with someone who has been caught in that exact situation. Not every relationship ends with anger, and not every difficult feeling has an immediate answer. Sometimes you simply need time to work out what your heart is actually trying to tell you.