By Becky Lilley
On the 4th February Orlando released a new Album titled I Love You Too Much. The EP has seven songs, each song perfectly capturing what it feels like to be someone who tends to overthink, particularly when it comes to something that feels too good to be true.
I love you too much
This song is introduced with the strong clashing of drums, accompanied by the intense strumming of an electric guitar before quickly fading out to a melancholy piano. “I wish I loved me like I love you” is how the song starts, an ode to one’s inner turmoil when you love someone so much it feels like a stark contrast to how you view yourself. The song carries on with Orlando singing of his inner monologue as he wrestles with his overthinking, fears and anxieties.
There’s a momentary pause before the chorus with the backing drums slowly growing louder paired with a synth riser before Orlando exclaims “I’m scared I love you too much, baby maybe I’m too much”. Orlando significantly captures what it feels like to struggle with inner demons from past experiences and the fear that this could come in and affect the relationship, this overwhelming fear woven into the intensity of the mournful music composition.
Orlando then goes on to ask the question “What if you don’t love me when I’m breaking down? You might only love right now” A nagging a fear that if the person you love sees you at your worse, they might decide it’s too much, that perhaps they don’t love you all of you but the only the good parts.
In the second verse Orlando questions himself in this spiral, “But you’ve never given me a reason so why the hell am I freaking out?” Even when you are stuck in a spiral, there are moments of reasons, attempts to stabilise yourself as you realise that this spiral has no founding logic behind it. The music again rises as the questions remain, repeating them again and again, wondering but what if?
The song quietly concludes with the twinkling of the piano after the echoes of the questions are left unanswered.
Always you
A single sombre repeated note sets the tone for the song, shortly joined by Orlando’s soft harmonies in the background. Orlando reflects on the empty space of a hotel room, “silence makes me well aware” a reminder of a presence that used to be there and the weight it holds.
Just as the atmosphere threatens to become too bleak, the chorus introduces dreamy piano chords that pivot the emotional tone from regret to a shimmering fondness. As he breathes the refrain “It’s always you,” the song feels less like a lament and more like a reaffirmation of a ghost. As Orlando sings “always and forever” it feels like an attempt of renewed vow, suggesting that even in physical isolation, the emotional bond remains.
Orlando pulls the listener back into the shadows in the second verse to address the messy reality of loss, the vices used to "numb the pain." This vulnerability prevents the song from becoming overly sentimental, acknowledging that nostalgia is often a temporary escape from a much sharper pain.
To close out the song the dreamy chords of the chorus return but this time bolstered by a powerful, layered instrumental swell representing a final surrender to the memory. As the song fades into a faint echo of the title line, it leaves the listener in the same silence where it began.
My world is so much better with you
This song continues the theme of yearning for another, Orlando starts by singing “I need you to love me, I need you like smoke, I need you like water, I need you like cocaine, I need you to touch me, I need you like hope, I need you to need me, I need you to cope”. There’s a slight echo as he sings this suggesting isolation and the feeling of being hollow, each one representing a more dangerous kind of need, moving love away from being something healthy and into the realm of reliance. Orlando blurs the line between loving someone and needing them to survive.
This is followed by a pre-chorus where Orlando sings “You’re a flame in the back of my mind…you’re a hymn in the back of my mind”. A flame is something that consumes, that burns, that destroys, whereas, a hymn is something religious and peaceful. Orlando paints a picture of conflict, where the person has become a permanent mental fixture being both a source of warm and total devotional preoccupation.
This transitions to the chorus where a single line repeats “my world is so much better with you” as Orlando harmonises in the background, some whispers others more powerful, creating this crowded atmosphere as if it’s an obsession that fills every space of his head. The whispers representing a more intrusive thought whereas the powerful vocals representing a more outward confession.
This slowly moves from a dreamy echoey melody to a backing track that feels more gritty with a beat that’s picked up in pace, almost like a racing heartbeat. It’s no longer a song in isolation but instead a sensory overload mimicking the euphoric high we feel when we are with person our heart yearns for. Again Orlando repeats the first verse but this time more in a state of a dopamine hit, transitioning from the coldness from before into a frantic pulse of a fix.
The song comes to a close with the faint echoey repetition of the lines “I think about you all the time, I want your body on mine”.Orlando is very simple and direct compared to the complex metaphors used before, leaving only the raw, physical truth of his desires. It’s a simple declaration that lingers. The song then abruptly ends, almost like the come down after a rush.
I’m scared you’re falling out of love with me
The song opens with singular piano notes being played, almost disjointed before turning into a whimsical cohesive piano melody, almost as if Orlando is trying to find the right words but keeps stumbling. Orlando begins the first verse with the bold statement. “I’m scared you’re falling out of love with me…standing naked by your side like I’m an accessory”. This is sung in a slight whisper, as if he’s afraid that if he says it too loud it’s certain to be true, expressing that the act of being “naked” should feel intimate and vulnerable but instead he is left feeling like something decorative but not essential. It gives the distinct atmosphere of a late-night worry, a quiet confession to your partner during the night, as your fears come to the surface.
Before the next verse there’s an introduction of a more intense piano chords, melodies and harmonies, Orlando then goes on to ask “How will I recover…as I quietly whisper this, my heart has a nosebleed”. The tone in Orlando’s voice gets deeper, richer, more solemn. Orlando feels fragile, his heart is feeling the pressure, bleeding as the pressure breaks through despite it being merely a whisper.
The song ends with Orlando again stating his fears, “I’m scared you’re falling out of love with me”. The song doesn't offer a resolution, it ends right where it began, trapped in the loop of his own fear.
See me cry
This song, a collaboration between Orlando and Them & I, changes from the usual piano to a guitar played with slow fingerpicking giving it a more unplugged feeling. Them & I open the song in verse one, “We used to talk about how we’d grow old but now your ghost is all I have to hold”. It’s sung with a raspy undertone, sorrow that the plan for their lives had been broken.
Orlando joins in for the chorus, as they harmonise in breathy lines “you were never meant to see me cry…you were meant to be the one to watch me die”. The layers of voices, show the range of emotion, transitioning to a single person’s grief to that of many.
Orlando leads the second verse “I’ll always love you but clearly you don’t…wanna tell you how much that I need you but the words get stuck in my throat”. Orlando sings this with pace, it’s high in pitch, encapsulating the feeling of words getting stuck in his throat, a contrast to the settled grief in the first verse.
The song finishes with the joint chorus again, harmonies that slowly get fade away to leave the guitar and piano close out the song. The outro is a slow dissolution, that even after confronting the grief they are still ultimately left alone in the silence.
The song finishes with the joint chorus again, harmonies that slowly get fade away to leave the guitar and piano close out the song. The outro is a slow dissolution, that even after confronting the grief they are still ultimately left alone in the silence.
You’re too perfect
Orlando introduces the use of a violin to open this song, strong as it pulls you in. A contrast from the songs before, Orlando lets his intrusive thoughts read out loud, “Am I the only one that’s praying for your comedown?.. I picture you falling from grace. Love has made me desperate and strange”. Orlando’s tone is low, serious and wispy almost as if he’s trying to restrain himself from saying the honest yet ugly thought too loud. Orlando encapsulates the desire to watch someone fall from grace so that they can feel more attainable because if they are too perfect, one can feel unworthy of them.
The tone shifts in the chorus, Orlando repeats, with a rawness, “You're too perfect, Too perfect, Too perfect to be perfect for me”.This verse becomes more of a rejection of himself, Orlando is saying he is the wrong fit for someone so right. The piano in the background feels lighter, more airy, higher in pitch, by making this switch the music mimics the angelic nature of the other person whereas Orlando’s raw vocals ground him in his messiness.
Then the tone becomes slightly dark again as we enter verse 2, “I hope I’m not wasting your time, ‘Cause I know I will never be your type, but I’m waiting for you”. There’s this feeling of wasting time yet still holding out, showing this scenario of being trapped in one’s insecurity.
The chorus and the bridge pull the song to a close, transitioning back to the whimsical hopeful music with more intricate layering, showing Orlando holding out hope for the future “I can say it again, again, and again, I have no intention of just being a friend, I want your body on my body, And a tattoo of your name on my hand”. There’s this desire for permanence, for interconnectedness. Orlando acknowledges his flaws and still lays himself bare to this other person stating that for all is ugly and for all their beauty, he wants them.
Collarbone
The mood for this song is neither overly dark nor overly bright. The piano chords are strong and powerful in the first verse, allowing Orlando to state his desires with confidence. “I like the way your neck fits my collarbone, can I be stuck to you as long as silicone?”He’s reflecting on their ability to fit together as if they were made to each other, and the underlying desire for this to compatibility to be permanently bound.
The pre-chorus feel more like vows, “Darlin', I wanna be tangled, Darlin', oh darlin', with you”.
In the chorus to the second verse, the piano chords get louder and richer joined by symbol crashes and background harmonies that slightly distorted which add a sense of grandeur to the song making it more of a loud, confident proclamation of desire without fear. Orlando sings “When you're holding me, I still wanna be closer to you, I get on my knees, I would beg and plead to get closer to you”. There’s a psychedelic sense of immersion; the physical connection is so intense it allows the world around them to fall away.
The song ends with each layer of the song slowly fading out one before the other. This song acts as a conclusion for the album, a finality, stripping away the complexity of the feelings before, leaving the listener in a sudden, quiet vacuum that emphasizes the finality of his devotion despite his fears.