We always choose music with care, but never more so than selecting our late night listening. If we are going to stay up past bedtime, robbing our ever-aging bodies of the rest needed, then the tunes need to be compelling. So it is with confidence and joy that we share Hailey Ezzell’s new band version of her song “Wanting You”. It feels like a song that didn’t need to be forced into existence. It kind of just… showed up and stayed the way it was.
The writing is simple, but it hits hard. That unreturned love angle isn’t new, but here it sounds personal enough that you stop thinking about that. Lines repeat, emotions loop, nothing really resolves. That’s the point. Her voice carries most of it. Rich, strong, but not trying to oversell anything. There’s a moment in the chorus where she pushes just a bit harder and it lands exactly where it should. Not dramatic, just honest.
The band makes a big difference on this version. Everything is tighter and more alive. Guitars sit right next to her voice instead of behind it and the mix actually lets both breathe. That middle solo, yeah, that’s one of the highlights. It doesn’t go on too long, doesn’t try to show off, just says what it needs to say and gets out. The production is clean, maybe even a little too clean at times, but it works for this kind of track. Nothing distracts from the core idea.
We ended up liking this one more than expected. There’s something about how direct it is, how it doesn’t dress things up too much. It just stays in that feeling and lets it sit there for a while. We like the sound and the chemistry between Hailey and the band behind her.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Hailey Ezzell is an up-and-coming artist based out of South Florida. Originally from North Carolina, Hailey’s writing style reflects the wide span of cultures she was exposed to in her two, wildly different home towns. With her piano by her side, Hailey is doing her damnedest to keep rock alive as she pays homage to the 70s and 80s musicians who inspired her and made her the musician she is today.
