Merry-Go-Round by Hels Pattison: Review

by admin August 6, 2025

August 6, 2025

With “Merry-Go-Round,” Hels Pattison stakes her claim as one of the North East’s brightest new voices, lassoing heartache, nostalgia, and country into one tight, irresistible package. Released August 1st, this summer anthem hits like warm, familiar sunshine through a dusty window, tinged with just enough ache to make you listen twice. Clocking in with fuzzy, jangly guitars and thick, thumping beats, the track is a mash-up of Sheryl Crow’s breeziness and AC/DC’s punch, with a whole lot of personality thrown in for good measure.

Right out of the gate, the song kicks up dust with smacking, toe-tapping drums and those delightfully fuzzy riffs that somehow sound modern and retro. Hels’s deep, husky voice, laced with vibrato that quivers just right, brings a grounded maturity to the whole thing. She belts with feeling, letting the lyrics and melodies do the heavy lifting.

Thematically, “Merry-Go-Round” spins between youthful abandon and the slow, creeping self-awareness that adulthood brings. You know the feeling, when you start second-guessing your weird hobbies, or ditch your favorite genre because it’s “not cool” anymore. Hels lays it all bare, like the classic coming-of-age story it is, with a country-pop flavor. Her delivery is so relatable, it practically begs for a windows-down car ride and a sing-along.

Co-written with Zachary Savage and polished by a dream team of North East producers, the track is a love letter to country music and a gentle nudge to anyone feeling lost in the crowd. Hels reminds us that yeah, life moves in circles, but the trick is to hold on to who you are while the world spins around you. Listen to it on Spotify.