B-Side Guys

There’s no gentle way to quantify heartbreak, though néomí attempts the calculation on “Trigger.” Her latest single from the ‘Another Year Will Pass’ EP operates like a mathematical proof where every equation leads to the same devastating conclusion: pain is the only constant.

The Dutch/Surinamese songwriter strips away the dreamy soundscapes that typically cushion her folk-pop arrangements, leaving behind something more skeletal and immediate. The production mirrors the song’s central dilemma—sparse enough to feel vulnerable, yet structured enough to contain the emotional weight. Guitar fingerpicking creates a hypnotic foundation while subtle string arrangements enter like afterthoughts, never overwhelming the intimacy of Speelman’s delivery.

Her vocal approach here abandons the ethereal quality that marked earlier releases, opting instead for a conversational directness that makes every word feel like a confession. The melody moves in careful, deliberate steps, mirroring someone who’s thought through every possible outcome and found them all wanting. This restraint serves the narrative perfectly—a song about impossible choices demands measured delivery.

The track explores the peculiar torture of loving someone whose departure feels predetermined. “Trigger” captures the claustrophobia of relationships where every path forward leads to heartbreak—staying hurts, leaving hurts, and the knowledge of this inevitability becomes its own form of suffering. The song doesn’t romanticize this position; instead, it documents the strange paralysis that comes with loving someone you know you can’t keep.

What makes “Trigger” particularly devastating is how it refuses to offer false comfort. The western standoff imagery from the accompanying video translates perfectly to the musical arrangement, where tension builds not toward resolution but toward the recognition that all resolutions lead to loss. There’s no cathartic release here, no moment where the pain transforms into something beautiful—just the steady acknowledgment of what’s coming.

Following her Edison Award-winning debut, néomí has found her voice not in grand gestures but in these moments of quiet devastation. “Trigger” proves that sometimes the most profound songs are the ones that offer no solutions, only the perfect articulation of problems we thought were uniquely our own.