Max Drazen has captured the painful process of breaking free from a toxic relationship in his new single, “Not Because I Loved You“. The new track, produced by Johnny Simmen (Mickey Guyton, Jordie), finds Drazen baring his soul, with his powerful vocals surrounded by reverberating keyboards and beats. Listen to the song now below.
“I didn’t think that I could get my heart broken without being in love but my last relationship proved me wrong,” explains Max Drazen. “The lyric ‘it’s NOT because I loved you that my heart breaks’ represents the idea that even though I wasn’t in love, being manipulated in a toxic relationship can be just as hard or harder. For me, ‘Not Because I Loved You’ is particularly meaningful because the experience is so recent. I still get anxious when I see my ex, I still have trauma from when we were together, and I still think about the aftermath of the breakup. it’s truly the most honest song I have written to date.”
“Not Because I Loved You” is the latest in Drazen’s series of highly relatable 2022 singles, which include “Let Me Down Slow,” “Caffeine” and “Blurry Pictures.”
Born and raised in Connecticut, Drazen’s first influences came from his parents’ record collection – Elton John and Billy Joel. As he got older, he fell in love with artists like Smino, Justin Timberlake, Jon Bellion and Two Door Cinema Club. Although recruited to play soccer at Middlebury College in Vermont, he found his focus shifting to songwriting. He developed a sinewy, genre-agnostic voice and centered his authentic perspective as a kid from the ‘burbs, adeptly swinging between R&B, pop and rap.