Connected to a Song: ‘All’s Well That Ends’ by Rainbow Kitten Surprise

I wasn’t expecting my heart to be captured when  first heard ‘All’s Well That Ends’ by Rainbow Kitten Suprise  thanks to my Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. I’d never heard of the band before. In fact, I don’t even think I was paying much attention the my music at all that day at work until I heard this beautiful guitar picking and then realized that my heart was beating to the same beat as their kick drum. 

It caught my attention to say the least, so I began to focus a bit more and I started listening to the lyrics. “All is well that ends well, but all is well that ends”. I didn’t understand it. The guitar string kept playing though and the more I listened it sounded like a voice of it’s own. 

Then the base came in and I could feel it in my gut. The drummer started to make this ticking that sounded like the loudest clock I’d ever heard.  The instruments and the vocals all danced together and made something that sounded so emotional and so simply and so raw. 

There was never too much base, but it as present. The drums never got out of hand, but my ears clung their beat. There weren’t too many lyrics to distract me from the music. I chased the guitar riffs like a little kid chasing a butterfly around and around. 

Rainbow Kitten Suprise is an indie-pop band from North Carolina. The band originally started in a college dorm room with singer Sam Melo and guitarist Darrick Keller. The two quickly added a few more to their group; Ethan Goodpaster for guitar, Charlie Holt on bass, and Jess Haney for the drums. 

The boys released a debut album (Seven) which was later relaunched with their EP as Seven + Mary before signing with local record label Split Rail. with the help of their record label and a second album (RKS) the group was able to gain a nation wide audience. The Band did end up switching to Elektra Reconds for their third album (How to: Friend, Love, Freefall)

This song in particular caught me as the perfect amount of different. It didn’t sound like anything else I was listening to at the time but it didn’t feel strange to listen to it. It pushed the envelope without ripping it open. 

I really connected to the song though because of it’s heart. The track captures an empty feeling that can be hard to pinpoint let alone describe how it feels. “Held in your arms, the hole in my head grows whole”. This song talks about love but not from a traditional perspective. Like many songs before it, it talks about being with that special someone that seems to make everything else make scene. Someone that truly makes you happy.

It expresses the desire to be with someone while acknowledging the understanding that those feelings might not be reciprocated. “I’m not gonna keep you by the phone, dear, hang up when you’ve had enough. Too much to talk”. It’s a fear everyone has when falling in love; what if they don’t feel the same way? This song stands apart from other love song or track of heartbreak. It looks that fear dead in the eyes and says love is still worth it. 

“Hang your head and cry if you like, but all is well that ends”. It’s a every powerful action to be able to push though emotion to look at a situation from a neutral perspective. Which is why this song carries a heavy heartache throughout. Showing that you love someone enough to let them go if it’s truly what they want.  

The simplicity of this song allows it to speak precisely and clearly. The relatively few lyrics keep the song focused while the instruments repetition give a sturdy platform to stand on. The simplicity of how the song is presented allows the band to address a complex situation and complex feelings in a way that is very easy for the listener to digest and understand.