Hudson Thames Gives In to Love in “Wrong,” an Authentic, Candid, and Heartfelt Revelation - Atwood Magazine

      Hudson Thames’ deeply personal piano ballad “Wrong” is a raw and heartfelt declaration of love, fear, and yearning that resonates with quiet desperation and carries the weight of authenticity – an immediate standout from his recently released debut album, ‘Bambino.’

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      Stream: “Wrong” – Hudson Thames

      Sharing your innermost self with the world is a subtle act of courage.

      It involves peeling back every façade, relinquishing pretenses, and allowing others to witness the parts of you that are still mending, still questioning, and still exposed. Hudson Thames does just that in “Wrong,” a painfully intimate piano ballad that feels like an open journal entry. Vulnerable, impassioned, confessional, and soul-baring, it comes across as less of a performance and more like an exposed wound. Each lyric pulses with raw emotion as Thames reveals his fears surrounding love, connection, and commitment – not out of indifference, but from the profound fear that such feelings invoke in him.

      I’m afraid of your love

      Afraid that it’s real

      Of sharing my time

      Or sharing a meal

      Afraid of the way

      You make me feel

      I’m afraid that it’s right

      Afraid that it’s good

      That maybe you know me

      Like nobody could

      Afraid things work out

      The way they should

      Wrong – Hudson Thames

      With only a piano to accompany him, Thames allows his voice to convey the full emotional burden of his lyrics: “I’m afraid of your love / Afraid that it’s real.” His delivery is rich and filled with desperation, reflecting the internal struggle between desiring love and the fear of embracing it.

      The song's minimal instrumentation – just piano and voice – highlights the intimacy and intensity of the moment. It feels as if you’re beside him at the piano, eavesdropping on a private admission he never intended to voice. He forgoes metaphor or abstraction, instead articulating his fear, line by line, verse by verse. The result is heart-wrenchingly simple. The more he opens up, the more we sense the pain of someone caught between longing and self-preservation, between love and the profound fear of what love entails.

      ‘Cause if I wanted love

      I would have it now

      I would settle down

      Then I’d settle down

      But I… I can’t decide

      And if I wanted friends

      They would be here now

      They would have my back

      In a violent crowd

      But I… got too much pride

      But maybe that’s all wrong

      Wrong wrong

      Maybe that’s all wrong

      Wrong wrong

      “I think, or at least I hope, that ‘Wrong’ addresses an experience that all artists go through to some extent; How much of a ‘normal’ life can I have?” Thames shares. “Art and performing often seem to clash with any relationship I've had. The relationship I have with my music is demanding in its own right. When it requires all of me, it can feel challenging to find room for anything else.”

      “This song captures me in a new chapter of my life, trying to make sense of it all. I still don’t have the answers. But that’s the essence of everything I create; to spark a conversation in hopes of discovering an answer.”

      It’s this tension – between art and intimacy, presence and performance – that constitutes the emotional foundation of “Wrong.” It’s a familiar struggle for many artists – how to balance the intensity of creative life with the closeness of human connection – and “Wrong” finds Thames in the thick of that struggle. He’s apprehensive about the cost of love, about who he might become if he embraces it, and about what he could lose if he refrains. Yet, the song carries a sense of hope. The refrain “I hope that I’m all wrong” resonates like a wish whispered in the darkness: Tender, uncertain, and quietly defiant.

      Hudson Thames’ debut album ‘Bambino’ is available now.

      I’m afraid of your dad

      Afraid of his eyes

      Afraid when he tells me

      That I’m a good guy

      Afraid of the way

      I make him smile

      I’m afraid of a son

      That isn’t alive

      Afraid he’ll be perfect

      And grow up just fine

      Afraid of the fact

      That he’d be mine

      There’s a courage in how Thames confronts himself: His fear of being loved, his hesitation about committing, and the haunting notion that perhaps he’s built a life too individual for companionship. And still, he opens up – allowing someone in.

      With its classic pop sensibility and raw emotional essence, “Wrong” stands out not only for its lyrics and performance but also for its sincerity. By baring himself, Hudson Thames captures something universal: The intertwining of fear and