
“Pretend” is a raw and brutally honest account of a “situationship”. We all know what they are, that weird in-between of wanting someone you know you can’t have. And yet…for some reason, you can’t stop spending time with them. Catarina Rodrigues’ new single, lifted from her ‘Midnight Confessions’ EP, is a painful reminder of exactly that. You can almost feel the tension in the first few seconds of this one. Her voice sounds airy and sad, and the lyrics are just begging the other person to stop pushing away and just do it. Make it real, even if you don’t. If you won’t, just pretend, if only for a little while, because it would make it easier to take. “Pretend” makes it seem like there is a hope. It’s the saddest kind of hope, but it’s a hope nonetheless. It’s a reflection of the troubled times in which we live.

If you’ve ever had a “Pretend” moment, you know it’s not a pretty sight. It’s even worse to see it played out so poignantly in a song, but here we are. What’s most striking is just how honest “Pretend” is. Catarina does not mince her words. Instead, she verbalizes what everyone wants to say but never do. The beat is soft, and it remains so throughout the song. It never goes loud or harsh, even when the lyrics are. It’s almost empowering in a way, hearing her sing about something she wants but knows she can’t have. The song is simple, but it gets under your skin in a way that makes you want to pull your hair out. It’s the kind of sadness where you don’t cry, but you just sit in silence, replaying scenarios late into the night.
The whole ‘Midnight Confessions’ EP is a direct reflection of what “Pretend” is: thoughts you have late at night that somehow turn into a song. Catarina explained that ‘Midnight Confessions’c are a selection of real-life stories that were causing her sleepless nights for more than a year. In “Pretend”, it’s just like when you text someone too much in your head, but you never actually send them. It’s raw, it’s vulnerable, it’s honest, and it’s trapped somewhere between reality and wishful thinking. When midnight comes, and you’re all by yourself with your secrets, you can bet a song like “Pretend” will hit you like a train
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