American singer PJ Morton has released his latest single, “Please Don't Walk Away”.
The brand-new R&B and soul single marks Morton's first solo release since winning the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album, his third-consecutive Grammy win in three years.
Morton started working on the single last year.
“I was just starting really slow and working on rhythms. There was a rhythm I knew I wanted before I put any melody to it, it was just that, then it started to develop a little more. In 2021, I went out to a studio in Louisiana and that’s where I wrote it and finished it,” he said.
The single looks back at a time when he thought he was going to lose the love of his life
“It’s really just going back to what I felt like I was going to lose. The fear and pain I was feeling caused me to beg her, the love of my love, to not walk away. That really inspired it and I wanted to express my vulnerability in that,” Morton said.
The award-winning songwriter and producer, who has been one of the keyboardists, alongside Jesse Carmichael, for the pop-rock band Maroon 5, said he knew what he wanted the single to sound like.
In 2010, Morton's friend and Maroon 5's musical director Adam Blackstone asked him to audition for a position in the band as keyboardist and rap vocalist. Morton was the first to audition and left an indelible mark on the group.
Since then, he has played with Maroon 5 in concerts and other live performances. From 2012 to 2014, Morton filled in for the band's keyboardist, Jesse Carmichael, who was on an indefinite hiatus from performing with the group, as stated on their website in March 2012.
In 2012, he joined the band as a full-time member, contributing his vocal and keyboard parts on Maroon 5's fourth studio album, Overexposed, and continuing to do so during the recording the band's albums, V and Red Pill Blues.
“Once I write the lyrics and the melody develops, I always hear the song complete in my head, even when it’s just the piano or just vocals, so I know I wanted the strings and the horns, all those things that were reminiscent of old soul music and old R&B music, I wanted it to feel classic,” he said.
Describing the lyrical content of the single, Morton said: “The lyrical content is very sweet, it’s very vulnerable, open and honest. Even the way I sang those lyrics is a little softer and a little more laid-back than I usually am.
“I think that’s because of the words. It’s a very humble place to be when you feel like you are going to lose something. You are willing to do anything not to lose, so I feel like the lyrics bring that through.”
The star said that putting this single together was an organic process and he hoped people would listen to it and feel inspired.
“One thing led to another, it was not something that I had to work very hard on, I was just very honest. With it starting from an honest place it came together easily.
“I hope that people who are meant to be together and aren’t supposed to break up listen to this single will be inspired to give it another shot and try again. I hope it inspires people to listen to their emotions and be in touch with their emotions.
“I think that is important, especially now more than ever when we have been through such a crazy time in the whole world. I think people are getting to their feelings and really listening to them because we understand how short life is and how all of this can go away in a flash.”