Song Review: “Perfect Worth It” by Stella

by: Brittany Davis and Sofia Crepeau

Brian Sella of The Front Bottoms is back with new music, but under his first solo project, Sella. Brian is starting it off by releasing a single called Perfect Worth It to tease the upcoming album, Well I Mean. This song feels so very familiar to The Front Bottoms community with the acoustic guitar bouncing back and forth between a few notes while having overlapping deep guitar strums, and the light sounds of a trumpet. 

This song dives deep into the once strong connection between two people and the current space between them. The melancholy folk-indie tone in Sella’s voice makes these lyrics so crushing: “When I think about it I guess I’m still in love with you.” The emotions of longing for someone in a physical and emotional way are transparent, while reflecting on the love shared with a special person. The use of the line, “I guess,” puts on display the amount of reflection it took Sella to get to where he is now emotionally. This love was something that felt so magical and unfathomable at the time, but now there’s bits of anguishing regret over the situation coupled with everything reminding him about this person. Self-reflection and acceptance fill this song with the underlying power of learning control. There’s something beautifully poetic about the final lines: “Still struggling to find the words that could explain how bad this hurts.” While the song comes to an end with a minute-long instrumental with rough acoustic guitar strums into the horns finally wrapping it up. The long outro gives both the listener and Sella a moment to reflect on what once was and the feelings that go along with it. This song is perfect for yearning and thinking about what went wrong with something so perfectly magical. 

The full album, Well I Mean will be out March 13th with five tour dates to celebrate the release.