Soon, millions – nay, billions – across the globe will gather and count down the final seconds of 2020, eagerly bidding this depressing this year the “boy, bye” it so rightfully deserves. With eyes cast towards 2021, it’s hard not to be cautiously optimistic that the next year will be better. Yet, there’s a foreboding sense that this year might still linger on for a few more months. This swirling quandary of emotions, of hope and dread, is woven inside “The Darkest Winter,” the new song from Nicholas Hollywood Tetreault. Co-written by producer Valentin, “The Darkest Winter” is a haunting electronic track, one that has Nicholas Hollywood — yes, his legit middle name — search for “answers in the blizzard of my mind,” about fighting through moments of being “solitary, cold and alone.”
“If there were some way to get past this gloom / To realize our ignorance may just become our doom / Maybe there’s a glimmer, somewhere out of sight /Or have we all been blinded by dazzling white,” sings Tetreault on the track, before launching into the chorus. “Falling snow conceals the past / Ghost of present fading fast / Could this be, could this be… The darkest winter?”
The inspiration for “Darkest Winter” didn’t come from the lack of sunlight during these cold months but a grimmer source. In May, Dr. Rick Bright testified before Congress, warning that the Donald Trump administration was unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities,” he said in his foreboding statement. “Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be the darkest winter in modern history.” After hearing those words discussed on CNN, Tetreault was inspired to create this new EDM track.
While the winter will be “dark,” the future looks bright for Tetreault. As we end 2020, this rising star promises more in the coming year. Nicholas will bring his unique spin on music in 2021. With a reverence for the Golden Era of Hollywood, admiration of the neon-soaked nights of the 1980s, and a not-so-secret love of the explosive pop culture of the 2000s (“The peak of pop culture,” he says), Nicholas hoping to lead a pop revival that synthesizes elements of the past and present to craft what he sees as the future of the sound. Helping him achieve this are close friends and collaborations, including noteworthy producers like the aforementioned Valentin and Titanic Sinclair. Though not much can be shared about the latter collaboration, Nicholas does say that fans can expect an “immersive entertainment experience,” one that fans can expect in early 2021.