Jamie Gray – “Play Pretend” (Video)

This past weekend, Charleston singer-songwriter Jamie Gray, whom you might also know as the frontwoman in Cry Baby, released a new single and music video called “Play Pretend”. I’ve always been a Jamie Gray fan and this song might be the best thing she’s done to date. It has a certain cadence to it and an emotional honesty that feels at once personal and relatable.

The Cry Baby stuff is good, but it’s way more of a party (like it’s 1991) band and thus Jamie doesn’t really get to write and play emotionally cathartic music with them. Which is something that Jamie excels at, as we first heard with “Break Down” last year and now we’re hearing with “Play Pretend”. In a way it reminds me of “Scott Street” by Phoebe Bridgers, especially in the last minute or so when the intensity comes to a break and Jamie sings gently over top to close things out.

“Play Pretend” was released on Halloween along with a video directed by our old pal Mia Naome Al-Taher. Watch and listen below.