LOS ANGELES, CA- More than a decade after he first turned heads with the bruised balladry of Long Way Down, Tom Odell continues to prove he’s one of modern music’s most fearless chroniclers of emotional collapse. His latest single, “Don’t Let Me Go,”(released April 25, 2025) feels like a distillation of everything he’s sharpened over the years — heartbreak rendered with an almost unbearable intimacy.
Built on the lilting pulse of a waltz tempo, “Don’t Let Me Go” immediately sets itself apart. The 3/4 rhythm feels almost like a slow, swaying dance at the edge of oblivion — a sonic heartbeat that cradles the song’s despair without ever romanticizing it. It’s an inspired choice: the waltz, often associated with elegance and grace, is here weaponized into something fragile and crumbling, mirroring the precariousness of the relationship Odell describes.
Lyrically, Odell is at his most piercing. He tenderly sketches scenes of sentimentality and devastation:
“You put on your clothes and you kiss me / Pour out a miniature whiskey / Look through the glass at the city / When it gets dark, it’s so pretty.”
In just a few lines, he captures both fleeting beauty and looming tragedy — a hallmark of his best work.
Musically, the melody stays relatively soft and repetitive, circling like a mind stuck in rumination — until the bridge explodes. When Odell gasps out “Can you hear me scream?”, the moment cuts like a blade through the muted sorrow. It’s a rare rupture in an otherwise controlled performance, and the shock of it is visceral; it gave me chills. For an artist whose strength has long been emotional restraint, this flash of naked desperation lands with lasting impact.
There’s a warmth to the keyboard chord progression that caught my ear — and for a fleeting moment, I thought I heard an echo of Van Morrison’s “Queen of the Slipstream.” Whether intentional or not, the resemblance is a beautiful one. Like Morrison’s meditation on seeking freedom and tenderness within chaos, Odell’s plea in “Don’t Let Me Go” feels suspended between resignation and hope. Both songs reach for salvation in connection, for something — or someone — to hold onto as the world spins recklessly on.
The accompanying video only amplifies the song’s atmosphere, pairing stark, almost surreal imagery with Odell’s delicate vocals. It’s a reminder that while he came up in a pop landscape that oftentimes values polish over vulnerability, Odell’s greatest gift has always been his ability to make the personal feel apocalyptic — and the apocalyptic feel personal.
Now supporting Billie Eilish on her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour, and preparing to join The Lumineers for arena dates in the U.S., Odell seems poised for another major chapter. Yet if “Don’t Let Me Go” is any indication, he’s not interested in easy victories or anthemic singalongs.
Instead, he offers something rarer: a song that doesn’t just soundtrack heartbreak, but inhabits it fully, unflinchingly. At a time when so much music opts for escapism, Tom Odell keeps doing the harder, lonelier work of naming the pain and waltzing straight into it.
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