“Where You Are” by PinkPantheress (ft. Willow)
“Where You Are” features a story filled with heartbreak and internal emotional conflict. PinkPantheress and Willow talk about leaving their relationships where they’ve been told how to act and feel by their partners.
Verse 1
PinkPantheress starts off acknowledging how she doesn’t know why she chose to “suffer in silence” while in her relationship. We can assume that her partner plays a dominant role, causing harm to her and she’s forced to be quiet about it. With all this, she notes that she’d rather be with someone else than remain in this toxic relationship. So she has plucked the courage to leave her toxic partner tonight.
Verse 2
Willow brings us a change in emotions here. She faces internal conflict after the breakup. We find her struggling to find herself again, which can be a difficult thing to do after exiting a toxic relationship. While she tries to do so, she realises that it’s not easy to fulfil her hopes and dreams of being with someone else. This could be from a wide range of reasons – either she fears being with someone of the same calibre as her ex, or she’s afraid to get hurt/hurt someone amongst many other reasons.
Pre-Chorus
The narrators are no different to anyone who is going through the aftermath of a bad breakup. They share a common thought of wishing that they never met their exes, which would have spared them the emotional mess they’re currently stuck in.
Chorus of “Where You Are”
Eventually, PinkPantheress and Willow decide that the only way out of their “downward spiral” is to meet up with their exes. I deduce they want to get back with their exes as they’re unable to move on. Although they’ve tried, it’s not as easy as they had hoped it would be.
Takeaway
Being in a toxic relationship is harmful not only to one’s physical health but their mental health as well. When constantly told what to do and how to feel, amongst other things, we feel that there’s only two ways to it – either fight for one’s right or give in to the antagonist. In this case, the narrators seem to have given in for too long that even when they’ve buckled enough courage to leave the relationship, they find themselves wanting to return to the toxicity.
Release Date of “Where You Are”
This single was released on 22nd April, 2022. At the time the song was launched, it wasn’t associated with any album or EP.
The music video of this track was premiered on the same day. PinkPantheress teased its launch on TikTok a day before its release, together with Willow.
The First Collaboration
“Where You Are” marks the first collaboration between PinkPantheress and Willow.
Their collaboration happened after a fan of PinkPantheress suggested her to feature Willow on the track via TikTok.
Credits for “Where You Are”
Paramore’s “Never Let This Go” was sampled on this track, making members of the band co-writers of this song. This is the full list of writers for “Where You Are”:
- Paramore’s lead vocalist and primary songwriter, Hayley Williams
- Former Paramore’s lead guitarist and co-songwriter, Joshua Farro
- American DJ, Skrillex. He has worked alongside other names such as Diplo, Boys Noize and Incubus.
- British electronic music producer and songwriter, Mura Masa. He is famously known for his track, “Lovesick”, which topped the Spotify Viral charts in both UK and US.
- PinkPantheress
- Willow
According to PinkPantheress, she had so much for during the writing process of this song despite the process taking so many “attempts to get it right”. She went on to refer to the finished product as her “proudest work” up to now.
