![Now What? Review – Orla Gartland: Chaos, Catharsis, and Control [4/5]](https://www.gsgmedia.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GSG-Photo-2025-04-22T110916.712.png)
Guide
Orla Gartland from Ireland has impressed me with her new indie track, “Now What?“. Admittedly, this is the first time I have come across Orla but it appears she has been taking the scene by storm in recent years with her 2021 album, “Women on the internet” being quite the standout!
Song Analysis (Now What? Review)
“Now What?” starts with an indie-punk edge with a wall of sound hitting me immediately. Orla soon emerges with an indie-folk-style vocal. She sings with power but also can make me feel at ease with soft spoken sections. The tempo is pretty rapid which brings an infectous energy, the pace is 176BPM and the song is in the key of A Minor.
Orla Gartland – “Now What?” Lyrics (Now What? Review)
Verse 1
Goosebumps on the back of my neck
When I looked up and you were there
Sod’s law, then I saw
It was just some guy who has your hair
And just like that I felt my heartbeat coming down in real time
I kinda wished it had been you
Pre-Chorus
Six months and I haven’t thought once about all the things that drove me out
Your ghost has been cooking me toast and picking my socks up off the ground
And just like that the air has changed and so have we
I am completely fucking free
Now what?
Chorus
There’ll be a day when you’re not even slightly mine
One for the ages, it’s a tale as old as time
And maybe I will watch you walking down the aisle
And think about the time when I was hanging on for life
For dear life
Verse 2
One year of biting my tongue
Letting you go, getting it done
So funny how the time can fly
When you try to run
Tell me I never knew that
Pre-Chorus
And just like that I missed my chance to call you up
You’ve only gone and fell in love
Now what?
Chorus
There’ll be a day when you’re not even slightly mine
One for the ages, it’s a tale as old as time
And maybe I will cook for you and your new wife
And think about the time when I was hanging on for life
For dear life
Outro
Try to learn and find the meaning
Take a bath in all the grieving
New tattoo, ego death
Find someone to take to bed
Trick yourself, call your bluff
It’s not the same, but close enough
And now we play the lottery
Of all the people we could be
Whatever you’re meant to feel
Whatever you’re meant to feel
You’ll feel eventually
You’ll feel eventually
Now what?
(Now what?)
Meaning (My Opinion) (Now What? Review)
Orla speaks about the lingering emotional turbulence that follows a breakup. She captures the bizarre events when the past seems physically present—that is, when you see someone with your ex’s hair or experience their “Ghost” going about daily business. The song reflects on the disorienting push and pull between liberation and longing and how someone can feel completely “fucking free” in one breath, yet still haunted by memories and what-ifs in the next.
It’s a raw and honest look at the nonlinear path of healing, where grief, humor, and even mundane moments like cooking toast become charged with meaning. The repetition of “now what?” also captures that restless question that sits with you after you think you’ve moved on, but maybe haven’t quite done so yet.
I can also spot themes of acceptance and evolving identity. There’s a maturity in acknowledging that someone once so central might one day be a stranger, and a strange tenderness in imagining cooking for an ex and their new partner. This acceptance, however painful, underscores how people change and adapt—learning, grieving, distracting themselves, and eventually reshaping their lives. The outro becomes almost a ritual of self-discovery and Orla lists the small but meaningful attempts to move forward in life.
Listen To “Now What?” By Orla Gartland
- Now What? Review – Orla Gartland: Chaos, Catharsis, and Control [4/5] - April 22, 2025
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