Sharon Van Etten's "Porta"' is a song about catharsis. Her first solo single since late 2020, it's a powerful, synth-heavy track that recreates the feeling of working through tough emotions. Van Etten says the song came about at a particularly dark time in her life. "For most of my adult life I have struggled with bouts of depression and anxiety and coping mechanisms," she says in a statement, "and I sometimes let those dark moments get the best of me." She says that during the time that inspired "Porta," she was feeling "very dissociated," disconnected from her body and out of control. These feelings resonate hard in the song, as when Van Etten sings "I want to live my life, but you won't allow," but so also does the feeling of facing these emotions and confronting them. "Stay out of my life," she repeats at the end, as the drums build and then quietly fade away.
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