Amber’s “Borders” has an excellent premise, unfortunate execution

Amber released “Borders” as part of ‘SM Station‘, and it’s quite the shift in that it’s not a power ballad nor is it trying to be coffee house indie.

Amber had a lot to say about the creation of “Borders” on Instagram before it was released, and it’s clearly quite personal for her.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDVLAZft-iN/

The fact that it’s a personal song comes across well in the lyrics when you break it down, especially during the hook, so I give “Borders” a lot of credit for conveying that and for the fact that at least it’s not another power ballad/indie wannabe track for ‘SM Station’.

That said, I was disappointed that not only did the track not build on the instrumental from the opening chorus, but it actually just went mostly silent during the verses. Normally this is a fine tactic if one wants the listener to focus on the lyrics or rapping, but in this instance it stunted the momentum of a lot of the successful elements of the song while also rather unfortunately exposing Amber’s flaws in her quasi-rapping. And I say quasi-rapping, because while I honestly do understand that she was busy telling a personal story, at some junctures in the song there wasn’t even an attempt to flow or rhyme or anything. A track of this nature executed well would’ve woven that message into a coherent flow and rhyme scheme to really have the entire concept hit home as hard as possible, but the way the rapping was presented on “Borders” was actually a distraction from the message.

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I give Amber a lot of credit for what she attempted with “Borders”, and I feel like I’ll be in the minority on this track as people try to will themselves into loving it thanks to the thought and concept behind it. It’s a universal emotional topic that many (including me) can relate to, so it’s understandable that “Borders” would be well received. But I just don’t feel the song is all that quality, mainly because the majority of it (aside from the chorus) wasn’t executed well, and her Instagram post was honestly probably the best medium for the message presented in “Borders”.