Rachael Yamagata: A Postcard To Lost Potential

Enlarge Laura Crosta

Rachael Yamagata's "Even If I Don't" is a paean to the pain inherent in both staying in an unhealthy relationship and letting go.

Laura Crosta

Rachael Yamagata's "Even If I Don't" is a paean to the pain inherent in both staying in an unhealthy relationship and letting go.

Breakup songs aren't supposed to be exuberant, particularly when they're conflicted, but tell that to Rachael Yamagata. In "Even If I Don't," the velvet-voiced singer crafts a tune that's as bittersweet as it is buoyant; it's a perfect paean to the pain inherent in both staying in an unhealthy relationship and letting go. More than anything, it's a postcard to lost potential — a postscript to an ideal that lingers even after reality rears its head.

The result is a refreshing change of pace from black-or-white, love-or-hate breakup songs; a song for those who've survived nasty broken relationships, only to harbor fond memories of better days. If nothing else, Yamagata's refreshingly mature refrain — "Even if I don't, I wanted to" — contains some of the kindest, bravest, most honest words to pop up in a song in a long time.