I'm Not The Enemy

When I first I heard this song I thought it was compelling but I didn’t pursue it. I liked the melody and instrumentation but for the most part I brushed it aside. How foolish of me. Thankfully I heard it again this past weekend and I pounced on it and had it on repeat for the majority of the weekend. It’s an amazing song by lina entitled “I’m Not The Enemy” off of her album “Stranger on Earth”. Lina isn’t the strongest vocalists out there, she’s not anywhere in the same category of say a lizz wright or a Laura Izibor but her vocals work for her style and they definitely work for this song. “Enemy” is a well executed song on all fronts. It’s arranged beautifully and it couldn’t have been produced any better. This song has a seriously sexy swagger to it and if downloaded you will put this song on repeat because it’s that good.

The instrumentation has a retro 1920’s feel to it but what stands out to me are the lyrics. The chorus speaks nothing but the truth when lina sings “You can’t love nobody unless you love yourself / Don’t take it out on me baby / I’m not the enemy”. Once I heard those words I played a lot closer attention to the rest of the lyrics because honestly upon first listening I was purely focused on the music. It’s just so damn catchy but the songs lyrics make this song something definitely worth listening to. Lina starts off with “I don’t know you, don’t know those melancholy eyes I see / do you even know me?” and she goes on to talk about how her man is familiar to her but his words aren’t and it speaks to a certain part of me as I’m sure it would most men. There are those moments when we don’t open up, when we don’t speak and we hold in things until we explode and we become unrecognizable to those who love us at that instant but they aren’t the enemy, we are.

Why this song didn’t get more play, earn a Grammy nomination, or put this artist on the map I will never figure out or understand because it should have. This song is worthy of that kind of attention, at least it is in my humble opinion. Take a listen and see if you agree with me.