Polyphonic Pop for People Who Text and Delete in Gabriella Lin’s ‘Like I Used To’

Gabriella Lin has perfected the art of delivering bitter-sweet euphony through polyphonic pop harmonies, evidenced in her latest leagues-ahead-of-the-curve single, Like I Used To. Imagine if Sabrina Carpenter’s songs weren’t engineered to simply be superficial ear candy, then envisage Taylor Swift if she were actually relatable, and you’ll get an idea of what the indie singer-songwriter delivered with Like I Used To, which lingers in the push-and-pull tension of a relationship where complete radio silence is the only absolute until it is broken in yet another rekindling of a romance that was never going to fully bloom. There is a very specific emotional space this single lives in, the aftermath, the almosts, the texts you type and delete, the strange comfort of unfinished stories. The polyphonic harmonies act like emotional echoes, reinforcing the sense that nothing in this relationship ever truly ends; it just pauses, regroups, then starts again under slightly different circumstances. The songwriting leans into emotional honesty and narrative clarity with almost a Y2K conversational candour, allowing the listener to sit inside the unresolved tension and resonate within it. Raised between New Zealand and Southern China before later studying at Berklee College of Music, Gabriella Lin brings a global […]

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