Fire's Cgill Pck - Octtober 2026

 Happy Halloween season everyone!! It’s Fire here with the monthly Chill Pick article!! I don’t quite have a spooky song here, but I do have a pretty beautiful one!!


Lorin O’Leary - This Time Around

Release: October 1, 2026

Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Folk Pop

I covered Lorin O’Leary here before in my Chill Pick article for February, when I reviewed her debut single “When It Rains”. I treated that review with care because I know her personally and didn’t wanna come off as a jerk friend. She did later end up reading that review, and she seemed to be really appreciative of it! I thought that song was incredible for how much potential it showcased for O’Leary, but I did also say that the song could’ve afforded to have more reverb to cultivate a more immersive atmosphere. But anyways, earlier this month, she dropped a new song. Now, since my February Chill Pick article, she’s graduated and seems to be intending to pursue music full-time. I was watching her Instagram posts teasing this song and was super hyped, because she said she was relearning how to play the harp for it. That has the potential to make a song truly magical. And...yeah, I love this even more than “When It Rains”. O’Leary once again sounds utterly stunning, with her soft-spoken and gorgeous voice accenting the atmosphere perfectly.

The production also feels so immersive and engaging. In my “When It Rains” review, I suggested adding reverb on the guitar to cultivate a fractured atmosphere, and while the guitar here does indeed have some reverb, I think the key to this clicking so strongly for me is actually the harp. The harp isn’t really a prominent instrument so much as an accent to the production. It just has such a rich, beautiful tone to it that really makes this track feel complete. I also really love the harmonies—they’re very subtle, but they do a lot to help the atmosphere.

Lyrically, the song takes on a more optimistic subject matter—following a breakup, O’Leary is free of this person dancing in her head and is finally taking control of her life this time around. She acknowledges that being free of this person would be losing the best thing she’s ever had, but she understands that she’s all she has. The assurances that she’ll be bold and will impress herself somehow are her having a good head on her shoulders even though she’s scared. A particularly interesting lyric for me is this:


“I’ll ask you for directions in a room of unreadable signs”


Because this implies that she’s not gonna completely cut this person off in case things get really confusing for her. It’s almost like this is what she’s alluding to when she says she’ll impress herself somehow. Like, maybe she’ll impress herself by proving that she doesn’t need this person, even in moments where she feels completely lost. This is evidenced by the lyric:


“If you let me down

I will let you walk away

I am strong enough to say”.


She knows that this person might let her down even when she’s lost, but she’s able to say that things will be better for her in the end without this person. The lyrics feel deeply human in how they acknowledge how moving on from grief isn’t a straight line. And honestly, there might be some subtext about her graduating and pursuing music full-time in the songwriting, with its mix of resolve and anxiety.


In other words, beautiful vocals, impeccable production, and deeply human songwriting—Lorin O’Leary really knocked this out of the park. I give this a 10/10—highly recommended if you want some hopeful folk pop!! I can only look forward to what Lorin delivers...next time around.

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