Difficult breakups are a typical topic of choice for songwriters, but DeAndre leaves listeners’ ears ringing with the longing shouts of an angry ex-lover. “Chose” stews with choppy rhythmic pacing that amplifies his anger and resentment toward his ex.
The local singer/rapper, DeAndre sings his own hooks over beats that run the gamut of hip-hop and R&B stylings. Purposefully striking an emotionally open tone with the listener, DeAndre notes Kanye West as his biggest musical inspiration, who uses similar lyrical themes.“I want people to know all of me,” DeAndre says.
Unlike some of DeAndre’s more head-bopping songs like “Favors,” “Chose” provides a slower, more mellow sound. The video is filled with shots depicting painful memories, and many are done in slow motion—simulating the lingering, slow burn of pain. An array of colored lights shine on his face during the hook, accentuating the different shades of pain he felt at the time.
The most curious scene in the video is the last one: the female lead digs a hole, and places a hand mirror into the ground—a reference to an object belonging to a woman he loved, DeAndre notes. As the camera pans back, a collection of other symbolic objects are revealed; the surrounding menagerie of random collectibles in the dirt represent the many chapters to his life and relationships.
“Chose” embodies the best of DeAndre’s core artistic skill-set, which is the ability to hit the listener’s emotions from a number of different angles, from lyrical to non-verbal. His full-length debut album, Lost in the Details, has been in the works for about one year and is due in mid-November. “I literally got lost in the details of my life,” DeAndre explains; the record is one born from the inner turmoil that arose when he moved away from his family, plagued by the distance he was creating between them.
Watch the music video for “Chose” below: