With her latest single, “What’s Good and What’s Right,” singer-songwriter Lauren Vahdani delivers a poignant and deeply thoughtful ballad that addresses the struggle between desire and duty, fleeting joy and enduring truth. The song is, by far, a masterclass in emotional songwriting, one that lingers long after the last note fades awaya.
The story behind “What’s Good and What’s Right” is as captivating as the song itself. Written in the summer of 2020 during a walk through Griffith Park with her dog Lucy, Vahdani found herself grappling with the complexities of adulthood: relationships, life’s purpose, and the constant tension between what feels right and what is good.
“I had just gotten off the phone with my music collaborator, and we were having a conversation about how messy life had gotten – not just with everything that was going on in the world, but also just the general difficulties that come with growing up,” she shares. “The chorus kind of flowed out of me, and I voice demoed it on my phone mid-hike. I sat down at my piano when I got back to my apartment, put some chords to it, and the rest flowed out from there.”
That spontaneous inspiration blossomed into a full studio recording. Now, the fifth single from her upcoming album, “What’s Good and What’s Right,” stands as one of her most genuine and relatable works to date.
Yeah, I’m stuck in between, playing hard to lose
Got a pretty good idea that good ain’t you
Wanna get out of here, wanna make a move
Wanna feel that good time feeling sick of singing the blues
The lyrics are a raw confession of internal conflict. Vahdani’s voice conveys the weariness and hope found in the lyrics as she grapples with the disillusionment of aging while still yearning for redemption. The chorus is a plea for clarity. This sentiment definitely resonates with anyone who’s ever felt torn between short-term gratification and long-term fulfillment.
To bring the song to visual life, Lauren Vahdani traveled to Joshua Tree in late February 2024, where she shot both the single’s cover art and a music video, premiering April 18, with her neighbor and collaborator, Charles Byerly. In the video, she embodies a “desert hitchhiker,” a metaphor for the song’s themes: searching, wandering, and finding direction. The stark beauty of the desert reflects the song’s emotional landscape: vast, raw, and hauntingly beautiful.
“What’s Good and What’s Right” is a meditation on the human condition nowadays, where everything happens in a whirlwind of events and things to achieve. Lauren Vahdani‘s ability to intertwine personal introspection with relatable lyrics is what makes this track so special. It’s an exceptional song that combines honesty and hope, all wrapped up in a melody reminiscent of an intimate late-night conversation with an old friend.
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