There should probably be a playlist category for songs about convincing yourself everything is fine when you absolutely do not believe that. “Wishful thinking”, out now via Now Listen, would sit comfortably at the top of it.
Meli Foster-Turner takes that all-too-familiar spiral, liking someone, wanting it to work, and immediately preparing for emotional disaster, and makes it sound far prettier than it feels in real life. It’s not a breakup song, and it’s not exactly a love song either. It lives in that awkward middle space where things are good, which somehow makes them more terrifying.
What’s clever is that the track never pushes too hard. It doesn’t need some huge emotional climax or dramatic final revelation. Instead, it moves like real overthinking does: quietly, repeatedly and usually at the worst possible time. The doubts creep in rather than explode.
There’s also a nice contrast between the softness of the production and the constant second-guessing underneath it. The melody feels light and easygoing, while the writing keeps glancing over its shoulder waiting for something to go wrong. That tension gives the song its personality.
A lot of artists write about vulnerability by making everything sound huge and tragic. Foster-Turner goes the opposite way. She keeps it refined, specific and recognisable. That’s why it works. Instead of feeling like a performance, it feels more like reading someone’s thoughts at 1am, which is probably the most relatable thing a song can do.
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