The first line of EĐĐIE’s “Insecure” puts the singer at ground level: “I feel like potting soil, whenever I think of us.” The rest of the opening verse stays down there. The person he’s falling for is a little bug in the dirt while he wanders lost in an ant farm, and then the scale flips, with his crush shining like a beacon on a hill and him reduced to a weed in the grass.

The song is about falling in love for the first time after a hard breakup, with every old insecurity from that split creeping back in. EĐĐIE, a Philadelphia singer, songwriter and bassist who used to front the band Nothing But A Nightmare, sets that anxiety to bright, commercial alt pop, riding a bass groove and a vocal that climbs into a chorus built around the title. Last year his single “Livia” ran on obsessive energy, and “Insecure” turns the same intensity inward.

The second verse adds a sharp, specific sting: he had hoped to be the one to teach his crush guitar, and California got there first. He’s left hanging by the grapevine. Then the garden imagery turns hopeful, as he suggests they plant a tree together, watch it grow and keep holding on.

That turn gives “Insecure” its lift. The guy who started out as potting soil finishes the song offering to grow something, and EĐĐIE sells that hope with a hook catchy enough to drown out the doubts.