MATT JORDAN - Don't Mean - Independent Release

Following his uber ambitious, three version release of his latest album The Gamble, Heartland Country singer/songwriter Matt Jordan has continued in similar stride throughout 2023 with an equally as impressive release schedule that’s already seen him deliver four new tracks to high praise, teasing his forthcoming project with “Steal Away the Night,” “Steering Wheel,”  “Always A Girl,” and “Anyone But Me.” 

He now returns with his fifth single of the year, “Don’t Mean.”

The song, co-written by Jordan and Grammy-Award nominated producer, Sal Oliveri, continues unveiling Matt’s signature style, utilizing the rawest edge of his voice to convey the emotions within the struggle of moving on from heartbreak, while seemingly making the proper life changes but also facing the mirror of truth that consistently reminds you that you’re stuck on the used to be.

“I guess I thought it was just a season, a little time and space to clear you head,” Jordan sings on the opening lines of the song as the progressive melody smashes into the rock kissed groove in the pound of the drums to match the waver in his voice as he comes to terms with the fact that she isn’t coming back while lamenting that he probably ought to wash the lipstick-stained coffee cups.

The unbridled kick into the chorus fully allows the melody to embrace the varied emotions through the frustration of her memory hanging on and his clear understanding that making changes is meaningless if they’re only surface changes:

“I put away the bottle that don’t mean that I don’t drink

Stay up all night long that don’t mean that I don’t dream

Quit a thousand times but that don’t mean that I don’t smoke

I watched you drive away but that don’t mean I let you go”

Admitting in the second verse that most of the time he does okay with lying about how he’s been, while the bridge sees him accepting the underlying truth of his struggles when he confesses that he’s “still waiting on the phone call,” Jordan drags us into the hopeless loneliness of knowing that she’s never coming back.

While a release schedule like this is usually too much too quick for many other artists, Matt Jordan has swerved the norm to perfectly time his output so that each new release intriguingly amps his signature characteristics, defining who he is as an artist and songwriter while putting on a clinic in crafting songs that connect with the listener on an individual level.

“Don’t Mean” absolutely speaks straight to those who are struggling to move on through its expertly delivered emotional tilts within each lyrical line, giving the broken hearted a place to land that lets them know they aren’t alone in their fight.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)