Gabe Ziro has made his debut with Don’t Wanna Die, an anthemic, punkish new single that navigates the complexities of mental health.
Carried by rich synth sections, the single opens with sparse guitar strums before percussion ushers in a noisier feel. Here, punchy drum rolls and clashing cymbals explode on the chorus, with electric guitar licks seemingly pulled from a garage session.
While each production choice deserves its kudos, it’s the guitars that truly steal the show. Melodic and thunderous in equal measure, the riffs allow Don’t Wanna Die to masterfully toe the line between pop stylings and punk flairs.
The genre is enjoying a deserved renaissance in recent years, and Ziro breathes new life into pop-punk with his own range of stylistic choices.
For starters, the single deploys dreamy synth keys which, while subtle in some parts, contribute to the track’s poppier feel.
Confidently inhabiting the sound, Ziro makes expert use of traditional pop structures, from the infectious “da da da” riffs to a hook so earwormy you’ll be humming along to it for days.
There’s a polished quality to the production that makes it destined for radio play, with the kind of restless pop feel of a vintage Five Seconds of Summer cut.
To maintain that pristine pop feel alongside punk’s messier tendencies is no small feat, yet Ziro pulls it all off without making Don’t Wanna Die feel like a mish-mash.
Much of this is achieved by way of Ziro’s vocal performance, so enrapturing and versatile it constitutes an instrument all unto itself.
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Flitting between soaring sneers and clean harmonies with finesse, Ziro’s delivery remains a throughline throughout Don’t Wanna Die, and serves as the perfect vehicle for the song’s message.
Here, Ziro waxes poetic on complex issues of depression and mental health, and the methods we use to confront it. The singer mentions sleepless nights and depleted serotonin, before inspecting all the thoughts and feelings that contribute to his pain.
With lyricism so intimate you could imagine it scrawled in Ziro’s own diary, Don’t Wanna Die delivers a poignant and sombre message.
For all its lamentations, the single ends on a note of optimism, as Ziro lays bare his intentions of “tryna move on from mistakes.”
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It’s a level of personal storytelling you’d expect from an artist ten years’ his senior, but Don’t Wanna Die is especially impressive given that it marks Ziro’s first-ever single.
Listen to Gabe Ziro’s new single Don’t Wanna Die above.
