Here Comes Secret American's New Slow-Burning Single

Graphic by Bre Cura

By Emily Herbein & Bre Cura

“Here Comes A Man” places you into a noir-era film in the most un-ironic way possible. This track creeps with molasses-like instrumentals, slow and thick, while sticking to Secret Americans’ trend of euphorically drippy vocals.

The music video, combined with an on-the-nose choice in lyricism, doesn't leave much to the imagination. An almost-satirical battle for a patriarchal reign ensues as the speaker challenges the manhood of his love interest’s other pursuer. The repeated mantra of “Here comes a man, here I come”, only further exemplifies this plight for control. At first we thought this song might be about losing a lover to someone else, but with the opening line being, “I've seen your face before, but don’t recall your name. You're looking at me too long through a glass of champagne”, we’re led to believe this is a song about catching someone's eye at a bar. 

We couldn't quite decide if this was a sort of dig at the way romance is approached in modern times - an anecdote perhaps about what men are thinking when they see a woman at a bar - or if the intentions behind this song were purely to narrate a personal experience. Other lines such as , “I’m not chasing you out there, I’m only bringing you in”, further push that agenda of I am focused on getting this womans’ attention for the sake of my own vanity, in an almost “predator/prey” relationship. 

This song also lends itself to a sort of “out of place” feeling. Our immediate reactions to the introductory interlude were that it feels like it could be played in the background of a horror or suspense film, during the type of scene where the atmosphere is just too serious, but the music purposely makes the viewer feel on-edge. Then when the lyrics come in, overt and purposeful, the whole tone is easily shifted to one of intense calculation and an almost prowling state.

Our instincts tell us that this song could parallel with “Pumped Up Kicks”, a good listen, ripe for the charts, but hiding some darker, creepy energy. Maybe it’s emerging from a couple bad experiences at a bar, but we couldn't quite agree with the energy of this song in terms of how it makes us feel as women. The success of the slow-burning instrumentation paired with vocals that listen like that voice in the back of your head make “Here Comes a Man” a very intrinsic song.