Listen to what it’s saying. You don’t know me, so how can you judge me?
It’s Armand Van Helden with Duane Harden on vocals, released in January 1999 as the lead single from his album 2 Future 4 U, and it went to number one in the UK that February. Armand built the track from a loop of samples and left Duane to write and record the words on his own.
To me it’s the perspective of the person we don’t listen to. The person we don’t see. The person we never truly take the time to get to know and understand. That’s the flip side of what I’ve been writing about making people feel understood.
I love this song. It’s one of my favourite house songs ever, actually. It’s one I can sing loud, and one I resonate with deeply.
There have been times in my life when I’ve felt judged, usually by people who never heard my side of the story. Over time I learned to let that go, and sometimes to let them go too.
Whether it’s your private life or your business, if you want deep connections you have to learn about someone. You have to understand them, and you have to invest your time in them.
Press play, turn it up and sing the chorus as loud as you like.
