Some songs are written with intention, crafted carefully over time. Others just happen—a sudden rush of emotion, a moment too powerful to ignore. For Etham, Still Can’t Move On was the latter. Written in the quiet of an LA morning, the song spilt out like a journal entry, capturing the raw ache of a breakup that still lingered.
In this interview, Etham takes us back to that moment, sharing how the song came together, the effortless creative chemistry with Scott Effman, and why vulnerability in music is something he fully embraces.
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Can you take us back to the moment you wrote ‘Still Can’t Move On’? Was there a specific memory or feeling that inspired the song?
Yeah, I decided to go to LA for a month to work with some friends after a breakup I had a few months before and when I was out there I went and bought the cheapest guitar I could find so I could gather ideas in the evenings before sessions and I woke up one morning and still had this ache in my chest about the breakup and so I grabbed the guitar and start playing the chords for what would become “Still Can’t Move On” and the first lyric and melody that came to mind was “Waking up, Catching my breath, before it settles in” and the rest just kinda fell into place, it was definitely the most “Diary” type song because I just wrote my feelings down instead of trying to come up with some clever metaphor or groundbreaking title I just went for simple words that described exactly what I was going through and then I took it to my friend Scott Effam inere the afternoon and we finished it super quick and everything that you hear on the reecord was exactly what we recorded on that day.
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You co-wrote this track with Scott Effman, who has worked with some major artists. What was it like collaborating with him, and how did he help shape the song?
Scott’s one of my favourite people to write with because even though we do serious or sad songs, it’s actually a massive laugh, and I think that energy in the room is important because you don’t feel the pressure or overthink things, which helps the song in a positive way because when you start overthinking it, it just starts to become forced, and with Scott, it just feels like an effortless day. He also does an amazing job with making a song translate into a recording because sometimes the recording process can sometimes change your vision of what you heard, but he’s very good at reaching into someone’s mind and understanding where it needs to go.
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Your voice has such a delicate yet powerful way of conveying emotion. Do you approach vocals differently when recording something as personal as ‘Still Can’t Move On’?
Yeah, I think for a song like that, I always find it best to just sing the whole song all the way through and really understand when’s best to attack and when to hold off, and the dynamics kind of have to be right for a track like that, so without overthinking it, there was a bit of a different approach to what I normally do in how to convey the fight emotions at the right time.
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‘Everything and Nothing’ is set to explore the full arc of a relationship. How does ‘Still Can’t Move On’ fit within that larger story?
I think it’s a really in the moment song where as the others are kind of story’s of what happened but I feel like Still Can’t Move On captures something a little more immediate and I tried to write it in a way where you can really picture that morning I was having.
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A lot of your songs touch on themes of love, loss, and healing. Do you find writing music therapeutic, or is it more of a way to document moments in time?
For me, when I sing a song, I feel like I really have to mean it, and unfortunately, there have been a lot of turbulent times in my life, so when I sit down and think about what I’m going to write, those experiences and emotions are something that help me get it out and find peace with it, so yeah, it’s a bit of both, therapeutic and sort of a diary.
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‘12:45’ was a massive moment for you. Do you ever feel pressure to recreate that success, or do you focus on making music that feels right in the moment?
Yeah, I honestly wish I could have another song that can reach that level of success, and it’s almost my life’s mission to try and outstream it because it was so long ago, and I feel my writing and singing is still similar, but a lot has changed since then, and I’d also just love to make the people who are around me right now who believe in me proud and share a moment of success with them, so I think I’ll be forever releasing music until I can outstream it!
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Your music has this intimate, almost confessional quality to it. Do you ever struggle with feeling too exposed in your songs, or is vulnerability something you embrace?
The way I see it is that I feel this type of way, so I know I’m not going to be the only one who does as well, so my concepts and what I write about are kind of bigger than me, so I don’t really struggle with that because I know at least 1 person is going to relate to it, and music is all about bringing people together, so you kind of have to be vulnerable.
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‘Still Can’t Move On’ has such a melancholic yet hopeful energy. What do you hope listeners take away from it?
I know it’s a sad song, but I always try to write my songs in a digestible way, so if it’s only the melody you’re listening to, then at least it has something that feels hooky and catchy, so melody-wise and chord-wise, I feel like I try to imprint hope, but then the lyrics are sometimes a little deeper.
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