Taylor DeRousse is a talented and lovely singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from the Detroit area with an impressive resume. I first learned about her in January and featured her and her single “Growing Up Is Scary” in a Fresh New Tracks post. But to reiterate, the highly accomplished young lady not only writes, sings and records her own original songs, she also owns a music school and studio called Tailored Harmonies Music Co, plus has a B.A. degree in Music with an emphasis in Piano Performance, as well as an MBA. According to her website, she’s been teaching music in a variety of capacities since 2014, including as a private music instructor, studio music teacher, group class instructor, middle school art & music teacher, theatre vocal coach, and collegiate music tutor. While her primary instruments are piano, guitar, and voice, she also plays the ukulele, violin, mandolin, and bass guitar.

Inspired by artists like Alanis Morissette, Phoebe Bridgers, Stevie Nicks and Carole King, Taylor writes pleasing indie pop-rock songs featuring relatable lyrics about life, love and loss. She released her first single “Pins and Needles” in 2020, and last September (2024), she began dropping a series of singles which culminated in the release of her debut album Running Back To Me on March 28th. One of those singles was “Death Of Me“, a quietly intense and emotionally powerful song about a broken romantic relationship that she originally released last November.

Today she releases a poignant new video that brings the track to life (no pun intended). Directed and produced by Secret Park Creative, the video shows a forlorn Taylor going through the motions of trying to do chores at a bar where she works while singing the bittersweet lyrics about how the hurt and pain of the failed relationship has left her feeling broken and shattered. As she recalls painful moments in the relationship, along with signs that he was toxic for her, she expresses how it will be the death of her. But by song’s end, she comes to realize that she’s stronger than she’d imagined, and that she refuses to allow him or the pain he’s caused to be the death of her after all. The still-intact mirror on the ground at the end of the vido indicates that she’s no longer broken.

Isn’t it funny how 
When you asked me out
I hesitated and you came back jaded it ain’t life or death girl it’s only a date
Don't you think its funny how
Looking back now
We always said Romeo, Juliet 
Guess I didn’t know, that you’d be my last breath 

Everything is muffled now
Midnight on the phone screaming how you’d rather kill me than try at all
Red wine stain on the carpet floor
Should've gone to bed but I’ll have one more
Cause you’d rather use me than feel at all
Now I know, This alone, Might be the death of me

I didn’t think, on the day that I met you
I’d be writing the will, for the girl that was left in me
Give it a few years, surely that’s all you needed
You carved out my heart, only then I conceded

Everything is darker now
Ghosts and past lives reminding me how you'd rather kill me than try at all
Talk is cheap but you held true, 6 feet under now I know there’s no getting over you 
Now I know, this alone, will be the death of me

So dig a hole, and don’t bother with flowers, write here lies the girl, 
who gave too much to others
Dig a hole, and don’t look behind you, here stands the girl
Who’s had enough of you 

Everything is over now
The ghost of you don't hang around 
Cause i’d rather kill you
Than lose it all
Now I know
This being alone
Won't be the death of me

Taylor’s Socials: Facebook / Instagram / Threads / TikTok