“Blood Runs Red,” a new song by Matt Maeson, is released for the first time.
Matt Maeson is no stranger to these pages, having left his mark even before we were applauding his debut album, Bank on The Funeral, released in 2019. We’ve been lucky enough to experience the trip personally, from sold-out headlining performances to chart-topping singles, but the strange thing is that it can’t just be names proudly emblazoned on marquees and fans screaming in adulation. Maeson grapples with the idea of ego and returning to the world he knew as a changed man in his latest single, “Blood Runs Red.”
Maeson’s first solo song in nearly a year, “Blood Runs Red,” has all of the qualities that make the affecting crooner such a force to see. The distinctive confessional begins with seductive guitar strumming and his distinct timbre that effortlessly draws you in. It quickly layers upon itself, reaching to a fever pitch with all the zeal of a passionate church sermon. “I guess I lost my head at the Holiday Inn / I guess I did too much living and I’m dying again,” Maeson sings before reflecting on his previous statement, “Couldn’t let go of my pain / Think I found myself at Holiday Inn,” implying that the places where we find and lose ourselves are one and the same.
“‘Blood Runs Red’ is a song about the egotistical inclinations that come with becoming a great artist. I traveled for three years and received a lot of affirmation, but when it’s over and you go home, you’re left with yourself and who you’ve become while everyone else has stayed the same “Maeson agrees.
The new tune is accompanied by a music video directed by Jesse Deflorio, which shows him coping with the physical representation of the inward upheaval he’s going through. The story of “Blood Runs Red” is one that is frequently left unwritten in song. It’s one that avoids imagined, real, or aspirational celebrity in favor of focusing on the truth present in the quieter, unsure times of touring – the days when you’re left wondering, “What’s next?” and “Who am I, now?”
Below is a video of “Blood Runs Red”:
