Charlie Pittman Confronts Love’s Final Moments With New Single “death row”

Photo credit Jack Craig

Half British, half Australian singer-songwriter Charlie Pittman is making waves again with the release of his new single “death row,” the third track lifted from his forthcoming EP okay.again?

Premiered on triple j Drive with Abby and Tyrone, the song marks the beginning of the EP’s narrative arc, opening at the end of a fading relationship and setting the stage for an intimate exploration of heartbreak, renewal, and the messy cycle of love. Blending indie rock with alt-pop, Pittman pairs raw, candid lyricism with soaring melodies, cementing his reputation as one of the most vulnerable and relatable new voices in the scene.

"death row” is such a powerful metaphor. What drew you to framing a breakup through that imagery? 

I think a lot of the time, I link romantic relationships to grief and loss. The idea that the relationship has to die 99% of the time. I also just love being dramatic, and so using death row as a metaphor for an unsaid conversation around breaking up just felt fitting in this instance.

You’ve described it, again, as your most honest project yet. What made you ready to go this deep now?

I pride myself on being as honest as I can on every song I make, but I think this EP was the first time I dug deeper into romantic relationships. My first EP was a lot of self-reflective and spoke a lot to growing up and figuring out how to navigate the world as an adult. This is a real time stamp of a year in my life and how my romantic relationships influenced that. I also like songs that have some level of acceptance of being the one in the wrong. Songs like ‘casual’, for instance, where I say lines like ‘fall into the habit,’ refer back to the healthy relationship in ‘death row’ and ‘intimate when I’m not into it’, for example.

How was it working with Itamar Lapidot and Francesca Morris on “death row,” and how did they shape the track?

It was amazing, I wrote a house in the suburbs with Itamar a year before ‘death row’, but this was the first song I’d written with Fran, and they collaborated with me so well to create what I had in my head.

Trying to work out how to form the chorus was a bit of a task, as I knew I wanted to create something a bit jarring and out there, but we workshopped a few ideas and landed on what is now in the song! Interestingly, when we had the session, there wasn’t a bridge in the song, but then after playing it live, I decided to add one in.

The EP follows the cycle of a relationship from end to beginning. Was it challenging to map out such a cohesive narrative?

It actually fell into place really easily. Once I’d landed on the six songs that I wanted to be a part of the project, I looked at it chronologically, and funnily enough, it clearly explored the narrative that I knew I wanted to tell. It doesn’t always work like that, but luckily, I’d documented all my experiences throughout the year through songs, and there was enough dynamic change between songs that I was happy!

You’re about to embark on your ‘okay.again?’ tour in Australia before heading to the UK. How does performing these deeply personal songs live change their meaning for you?

Performing my songs live always gives me such a special feeling. Seeing how people interpret my stories and how they resonate with their lives is an unmatched feeling. I’m really intrigued to see how these songs are received in a live setting, and which lyrics fans will cling to.

You’ve described “how I feel?” as completing a cycle that loops back to “death row.” Why was it important to structure the EP so it feels like a perfect loop instead of a straight-line story?

I think I wanted to emphasise the cyclical nature of relationships. All relationships have a start, middle, and end, and then you start the next journey, and I wanted to go through that journey with fans. Ended up where you started after an emotional rollercoaster of a year, which also provides a feeling of stillness and calmness that I think I wanted to put into this record.

This track mixes anxiety, limbo, and self-admission. Was writing it more like therapy, or more like pulling yourself back into the spiral just to get the song out?

It was honestly more like therapy. I wrote every single one of these songs in real time, as I was going through the emotions and events themselves. It doesn’t always work out that way, but for this project, it absolutely did. I think writing the songs helped me figure out things and gave me answers to questions I had to help me through all of the above that you mentioned.

The EP okay.again? plays with themes of doom, reflection, and acceptance. Where does “how I feel?” sit emotionally in that lineup, rock bottom, closure, or something in between?

‘how i feel’ feels like a rock bottom moment, there’s a search for closure, but it isn’t found it that song. It’s a song that has a lot of questions fueled by anxiety and limbo, but I don’t feel like any questions are truly answered in the song. I think the last lyric, being a question, ‘would you do it to spite me, despite how I feel’ really encapsulates that.

You’ve said humans repeat relationship patterns. Did creating this EP make you more aware of your own patterns, or are you still figuring those cycles out as you go?

I think it really did make me more aware of my patterns, but like anyone, I’m definitely still figuring it out. Being able to learn from every relationship is a huge plus, but also being able to talk about mistakes so openly has helped me a lot. It’s also made me a lot more fussy when going back into the dating scene because I know what I’m looking for now.

When fans hit play on Sept 19 and hear “how I feel?” close out the EP, what do you want their first reaction to be: relief, recognition, or maybe even unease?

I honestly just want people to have whatever reaction they have; that’s the beauty of music: it’s so personal to each listener, and once it’s out there, it’s no longer my story. I think this EP takes listeners on an emotional rollercoaster, and being able to feel comfort, unease, relief, and recognition is something that will naturally happen from the journey these songs take people on.