New Music: Mario ‘Drowning’

Eight years since his last album, Mario is back with his new single “Drowning.”

On the sultry production, the R&B crooner behind hits like “Let Me Love You” and “Just a Friend 2002” sings about being torn between two women. “I’m sinking, I’m not swimming,” he sings in his trademark falsetto. “Please stop me from drowning, drowning, drowning / Her tears won’t stop falling and your body keeps calling.”

The song was inspired by his own love life. “This song is about being faced with the reality having multiple women I love for different reasons,” he explained. “One is based on infatuation and lust, and the other is a lingering love connection that has not yet ended. As a man, I’m finding myself drowning in the middle one’s tears and the flow sexual attraction to the other. As I share a story about highs, lows, and the grey space in between love and lust, fans can expect to feel reconnected to me.”

“Drowning” arrives ahead Mario’s long-awaited fifth album, Dancing Shadows, described as his “most powerful, passionate, and personal fering to date.” The project, his first since 2009’s D.N.A., is due this fall on EMPIRE and his own New Citizen label.

Watch the accompanying video for “Drowning” below.