Following May’s release with Handsome, I Am No Fun, Flawed Mangoes are back with another collaboration.
This time working with Will Jay, Fatal Flaw packs a significant different feeling to I Am No Fun… Where the latter basked in an easy breezy summer eve feeling, Fatal Flaw chugs with nervous energy.
Will Jay’s vocals convey a sense of introspection, frequently repeating the refrain “Baby it’s my fatal flaw” on a song that describes the experience of questioning whether you are actively bad at maintaining friendships and connections. I personally experience the push and pull between wanting to be open, emotionally available and vulnerable, whilst also at times worrying about being seen to be needy in a way that is off-putting. I suspect I’m not alone in that experience and yet, as someone once told me, we are each the protagonist in our own story. We never get to truly know another’s experience or see ourselves as we see others.
Flawed Mangoes is producer Evan Lo, and here he gives Will Jay’s vocals an itchy, slightly frantic sense of movement that suits the slightly anxiety induced feeling of the song. The chugging synths feel like escape and yet as Will himself alludes to, you can’t escape loneliness:
“Fatal Flaw is a song for anyone who wants to be left alone but doesn’t want to be lonely.”
I’ll sign off with another quote, this time from Evan Lo, who describes his admirable intent in releasing Fatal Flaw:
“I hope this song can put into words the social pressure that people feel a lot but don't like to talk about, make people feel less uncomfortable feeling that way.”
Check out Fatal Flaw below:
