Erika Wester builds the soundscape of “Wanted To Be Like You” beginning with a spare acoustic guitar riff and minimal keyboard and percussion. Her hushed and expressive vocals describe a relationship that seems dysfunctional on multiple levels and the progression of the song gives the impression of Wester navigating troubled emotional waters which is an image she employs as a symbol of infatuation and being in sync with someone, or feeling like you are, until you realize that you’re not of a similar mind about the relationship and that one person might be emotionally in a place where they can’t be present with you and you can’t always be the person to pull them out of a bad place all the time. The lines “Wanted to be like you/Till I watched you drown” in the chorus and later in the song “Did you date me/And think there’s be no doubt?/Ain’t it lovely/Until the truth comes out” doesn’t spell out explicitly but makes clear something many people realize at some point in a relationship that’s bad for them and that’s that some people, and most people at some point in their lives and perhaps often enough at the beginning of the relationship, don’t want to be with a real person with a history and flaws and misunderstandings and, well, needs, normal human emotional needs. Without saying so word for word Webster has written a song about someone who has moved on and developed as a person who knows herself and other people better and recognizes that she deserves better than someone who won’t grow and has no seeming emotional incentive to do so but that she doesn’t have to be the one to help facilitate that change. Sure, it’s a pop song with an element of the ethereal running through it but the instrumentation becomes more lush as the song progresses to its inevitable conclusion like the work of art mirrors the psychological growth suggested in the lyrics. Listen to “Wanted To Be Like You” on Spotify and follow Wester at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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