In February of 2017, Ryan Adams will release Prisoner, his first full-length album of original material since 2014’s stellar self-titled LP. Earlier this month, he shared the set’s lead single, “Do You Still Love Me?,” and today (Dec. 23) he’s followed that with “To Be Without You,” a sighing, mid-tempo breakup song that ranks among the most devastating (and devastated) songs in the singer-songwriter’s catalog.
Over crisp, interwoven acoustic guitars, Adams laments his lonely state with matter-of-fact delivery: “So hard to be without you/ Used to feel so angry, now I only feel humble.” He still sounds too shell-shocked to really be self-pitying as he concludes, “Every day’s a lesson things were brighter before/ And nothing really matters anymore,” before an electric guitar solo takes over to do the closing emoting for him.
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“It broke my soul in a zillion pieces writing this,” wrote Adams in his Instagram post announcing the song. “This record mattered more to me than any record before it and my life depended on making it. I would have died inside if I hadn’t.“
Listen to “To Be Without You” here, and read the rest of Adams’ heartfelt explanation of his new album and the power of music below.