Simon Curtis has a Valentine this year that he's madly in love with, and it's none other than himself. The singer is back with his first release since 2016, "Love," and it's all about basking in a moment self-acceptance.
After teasing his fans for weeks about a new single premiering with PAPER, it's finally here. The comeback song is a trance-pop groove for all those who just want to enjoy a moment with themselves this Valentine's Day — because if you're buying a box of chocolates, why would you ever give them to someone else?
"For me, more than anything, this song is about the moment when everything clicks and you finally learn to love yourself," Curtis says of the new song. These moments when "everything clicks" can be heard tonally, as well. While there aren't any dramatic drops or surprising twists and turns, the song's chorus fits into the downtempo verses like a missing puzzle piece — he wants to be "in love." The instrumentals are relatively stripped down, but they center Curtis' airy falsetto for listeners as a moment of complete confidence.
"It's about looking in the mirror and thanking the universe, or God, and clicking into that frequency where you fully acknowledge how beautiful your own existence is," he emphasizes. This certainly isn't the type of affection society has engineered us to embrace on Valentine's Day — if you're in a relationship you feel pressure to make the day special and if you're single you wish you were in a relationship. Curtis wants his fans to forget that and instead write a love letter to themselves.
For Curtis, there was no other date perfect enough to release the song. "Releasing it on Valentine's Day was important to me because it seems like we always forget self love on the holiday dedicated to love, and I can't think of anything more powerful or important than truly loving yourself," he tells PAPER. Watch the exclusive PAPER premiere of the lyric video for "Love," below, and snack on some candy hearts while you're at it. (Stream the song here.) You deserve it.
Photography: Tyler Shields
Additional Reporting: Michael Love Michael
