Somebody Someone – The Light
“It’s like hitting the brakes at full speed — a quiet message of defiance encompassed in epic proportions,” says Austin artist Somebody Someone (pronouns: they/them) about their bold new single “The Light” which is released today, July 29, 2025.
“It is my burnout anthem. It’s fierce, beat-driven, and fed up with the hustle and grind culture.”
The follow-up to their debut single “Better,” “The Light” finds the understated yet formidable artist entering a more dynamic and propulsive part of their career, and what better way to present that than with a big, bold single.
Written during a songwriting retreat at Texas’ famed Sonic Ranch, “The Light” came as an epiphany that essentially wrote itself. “I was just staring into the swimming pool and taking a second to breathe,” they recall. “As I stared at the way the light was glinting off the glimmering pool, this song popped out almost as if to say ‘Hey, this art thing. It’s the most important thing you do. Don’t give up.’ I hit the piano in one of the studios and it came out in about 30 minutes!”
The result is an engaging and gleaming alt-indie banger that captures that bright glisten and bottles it into a purely melodic and haunting three minutes. “‘The Light’ is about reconnecting with what actually keeps us alive,” they say, “community, rest, nourishment, and the right to stop.”
“Big beats via Jason Robert Burt, guitar hero level three-part harmony riffs per Matt Muehling, and the feeling of waking up in a system that never lets you rest,” is how they describe it, “but, ya know, also something you could bop along by the pool to.”
The eye-opening accompanying video positions Somebody Someone in a boxing ring, a contender for a match that offers little challenge. “My longtime collaborator Wil Kelly and I knew from the jump that we wanted to take a hard left from the dreamy, magical tone of the ‘Better’ video,” they explain. “This one had to be weirder, sharper — surreal and comedic, but with teeth. We kept circling the same themes I think about obsessively: the tension between art and commerce, the broken machinery of the music industry, and the soul-tax of staying authentic in a world that rewards spectacle over substance.” Tossing around competitive sport metaphors like tennis and golf, they “eventually landed on the boxing ring as our stage,” they relay. “It’s physical, theatrical, and just absurd enough to get the point across.” Not just a simple, straight-ahead concept of an artist in battle, “The Light” took on a bigger concept. “The whole video became a kind of satire on what it means to ‘fight’ for your art without selling yourself out to the influencer pipeline or gatekeeper cash traps,” they explain. “It’s part fever dream, part farce, and totally sincere in its rebellion. My favorite part was studying boxing and fight choreographing again – hey, my theater degree is useful after all!”
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