(July 19, 2024) For most of us, the milestones of adulting happen one by one: that first job, the drivers permit, losing a BFF and the painful realization that even your one true love can break your heart. Whether it’s a flagrant, reality-show-worthy betrayal or just a vague misunderstanding, navigating back to that place of relationship zen can feel like stepping through a field of broken glass. It’s that plea for smoother ground fueling Janay Saxon’s soothing reconciliation ode, “Can We.”
Although she’s a Connecticut native, Saxon’s Dominican, Jamaican and Portuguese influences are threaded throughout the breezy, downright tropical midtempo: co-written with the track’s producer, Garrett “Chazz” Oliver, Saxon demonstrates assured, delicate pacing with her sultry and vocals ask, plaintively, to return to a more carefree status in their love affair, if not a perfect existence: “I’m just trying to do my best, I want you to know that I’m better than before /I never meant to break your heart, now you don’t trust me, trust me.”
It’s been said that anything a human takes part in is inherently flawed, which includes our intentions and interactions with those that we claim to love. But Janay Saxon’s whimsical and wistful request to mend a broken heart and move forward is not only a tender listen, it’s sincerity can move lovers at odds to reconsider their stances — or at least reflect — on where they need to be, and whether or not they have what it takes to get there.
By Melody Charles
