Lea Michele’s debut album, “Louder,” is now streaming in full on iTunes ahead of its Mar. 3 release, and the full-length is capped by the haunting ballad “If You Say So,” about the death of Michele’s “Glee” co-star and boyfriend, Cory Monteith, last July. Take a listen below:
“If You Say So” takes place a week after the passing of its unnamed subject, with Michele repeating the phrase “seven whole days” while trying to shake off the numbness she feels. In the chorus, she recalls their last encounter: “You said I love you girl/I said I love you more/And a breath, a pause, you said, if you say so/If you say so/If you say so.”
The final verse is the most harrowing, with Michele declaring, “I check my phone and wait to hear from you in a crowded room,” and the music builds as she concludes, “I thought we would grow old/Mirrors in the smoke/Left me here to choke.”
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“It finally feels real,” Michele told Billboard last month about the impending release of her Columbia Records debut. After years of setbacks to her studio debut, the “Glee” star finally unveiled the single “Cannonball” in December, and the rest of “Louder” — featuring contributions from Sia, Christina Perri and the Messengers — began streaming earlier this week.
“I really feel like, for such a long time, people were so sick of me, and were like, ‘Yeah right, when is this album you’re talking about actually going to happen?'” Michele told Billboard. “Now that it’s really coming out, it’s unbelievable. I’ve been playing these songs for my friends and family for a year now, and now that everyone’s going to get to hear the songs. I’m like, ‘Holy shit! People are going to actually listen to this!'”
Click here for more with Michele and to hear “Louder’s” title track, which premiered on Billboard in January.