“The Way You Felt” by Alec Benjamin

“The Way You Felt” is a song which Alec Benjamin conceived during the height of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. He and others, according to his own words, “were experiencing a lot of physical isolation”. So he decided to pen a tune based on the emotion of ‘missing being close to somebody’. 

And in the song, that sentiment is being expressed within the context of a romantic relationship. Moreover, at least from the narrator’s perspective, it is a troubled one.

That is to say that he is singing from a post-breakup perspective. And said breakup is not one he wanted or even anticipated. Indeed the vocalist lets us know in the pre-chorus that he “can take rejection”. Or another way of looking at that statement is that he’s not the sappy type to get in his feelings all because a romantic interest proves not to want to be with him. 

However, this particular addressee ‘gave him the impression’ that their love was the real thing. And simply put, he “was so infatuated” with her that yes, he did in fact become emotionally vested. This is despite his brain telling him earlier on that his feelings were being ‘manipulated’.

But regardless of the details that led him to this place, nonetheless he is here. So now it’s like he is questioning why his sweetheart has left when everything appeared to be all good. And along those lines he even postulates that perhaps she is the type who is “preconditioned for brevity”, i.e. just can’t get down with a long-term relationship.

A Heartbroken Narrator

So combining all of these sentiments into one, simply put the singer is heartbroken. And the best way to describe how he feels in the aftermath is as having fallen for the wrong woman. 

Furthermore he is under the impression that she toyed with his heart, making him believe she was truly in it to win it, and he made sacrifices accordingly. So perhaps we can say he feels like a fool now discovering a contrary truth. But going back to the concept of his heartbreak, more than anything the emotion that has currently taken over his being is one of missing this woman he has fallen in love with.

Alec Benjamin

This song was released by Elektra Records. In fact even less than a decade into his career, Alec Benjamin has worked with quite a few major labels, also including Columbia and Atlantic. However, as far as Columbia goes, he never released any songs through them, as they dropped a young, college-enrolled Alec after he submitted his first album.

But that setback did not destroy his musical ambition. Indeed looking back if anything it invigorated them. This is because Benjamin still went on to tour in Europe (using his own money) and proceeded to make a name for himself more or less busking outside of concert venues.

His first EP came out via a label called White Rope in 2013, when he would have still been a teenager. That particular project, entitled “America”, didn’t catch on. However, Alec Benjamin still proved talented enough to get signed by Atlantic Records in 2018. And his next EP which came out that same year, “Narrated for You”, did a lot better, such as being certified gold in the US and Canada.

Then Alec Benjamin went on to drop his first official album in 2020, entitled “These Two Windows”. And chart wise it did well, appearing on both the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart.

Then as far as singles go he only had one hit during the 2010s, a 2018 tune entitled “Let Me Down Slowly”. It was originally a solo joint, but the song really took off once he made a duet featuring Canadian songstress Alessia Cara. Then it proved to be a multi-platinum, international hit, the type that helped put Benjamin firmly on the map until his next big song arrives.

“The Way You Felt”

As for “The Way You Felt”, it came out on 30 April 2021, marking Benjamin’s first solo release of the year. At the time, which project it is associated with, if any, hasn’t been revealed. However, by the looks of things it will serve as the lead single from a forthcoming Alec Benjamin full-length.

Earlier in 2021 Alec did drop a retake of his 2018 track “Water Fountain”. However, this time around the song was actually recited in Chinese and accordingly served as a duet with Zhao Lusi, an actress from that country.

The producers of “The Way You Felt”, Sir Nolan and Lenno, are respectively from Los Angeles and Finland. And they also get co-writing credit alongside Benjamin and Rømans. The latter is from the UK. And as for the singer, he hails from Phoenix, the capital of Arizona.

Alec Benjamin first teased this song, albeit briefly, via a snippet he posted onto Twitter in July of 2020.