Music Review: Tiesto & Matthew Koma "Wasted"

Tiesto & Matthew Koma

Wasted

Album: A Town Called Paradise
Year: 2014

           Sex and alcohol are the only two things keeping Matthew Koma’s relationship together in the defeatist “Wasted.”

          A whooshing synth and zippy guitar open the single, setting an affected tone. The chorus starts. She slaps her hand on the table, laughing at his joke. He puts his bottle down and tells her how much he loves her. He kisses her and rubs her stomach underneath her tank top. She unbuttons his shirt. She tells him she wants just him. It is then he is truly content in the relationship. (“I like us better when we're wasted/It makes it easier to fake it/The only time we really talk/Is when our clothes are coming off/I like us better when we're wasted/It makes it easier to say it/Lay all your laundry on the bed/And then I'll lay it in instead/I like us better when we're wasted.”)

            Koma “oh oh’s” over a blinding flourscent synth arrangement.

          She cleans the counter off and tells him that all she ever does is work. She answers calls all day long and then comes home to a ton of chores. She says they are stuck and nothing ever goes ever smoothly for them. If he offers a different opinion, she tells him to stop kissing her ass. He wonders how encouragement could be seen as a negative thing. He walks out of the room, stunned at her lack of empathy. He really doesn’t know why he liked her at all. (“You are my glass half empty/Sipping my ocean dry/Emotionally spin me/'Till none of our planets could align/But I could stand you one more night.”)

         An edited chorus is sung. (“I like us better when we're wasted/It makes it easier to say it/Lay all your laundry on the bed/And then I'll lay it in instead/I like us better when we're wasted.”)

          Koma “oh oh’s” again over the flourscent synths.

         He tells her he thinks he should consider moving out. She begs for him to stay and promises to be the girl he wants. He believes he has turned his perky girlfriend into a moody, nastier shadow of herself. He can leave anytime he wants. Yet, he doesn’t touch a thing in their apartment and his suitcases are collecting dust. (“You are a catch-22, either way I miss out/All of the grief I give you/Is energy I can live without/But I could stand you one more night.”)

           The edited chorus is sung again.

           Koma “oh oh’s” again over the flourscent synths. The brights are turned up as high as they go, designed to divert away from the repetition.

         The edited chorus is sung again.

          Koma “oh oh’s” over again with the flourscent synths in tow to end the single

          Koma’s jubilant vocals try really hard to convince everyone he’s ok with his screwed up relationship. It’s just fun and nothing serious. No, really he’s ok. He hasn’t given up at all. They are just homebodies and drinking is how they let off steam.

         Tiesto’s rose-colored  arrangement romanticizes a troubling pattern in the relationship. It glosses over the couple’s burgeoning co-dependency and mutual drinking problem. The sex, which is supposed to be passionate, is spiteful and a distraction.

        The unsavory “Wasted,” puts on its façade but it’s not enough to cover how sad the situation actually is.