Conor Maynard – How Am I

After teasing the announcement for several months with the release of two deeply personal singles “If I Ever ” and ‘By Your Side’  pop star Conor Maynard has dropped ‘+ 11 Hours’. Featuring fiercely personal songwriting and a new confidence found touring the world, Maynard’s ‘+11 Hours’ marks a creative turning point, as he lets the abundant skills of his youth blossom and steer him into new directions of artistry and creativity. The project was inspired by a difficult breakup he went through late last year, with a girl, he revealed, from Sydney, Australia, where the time zone is +11 hours from the UK.

To celebrate the release, Maynard has shared the project’s latest single “Storage,” a classic Maynard-style ballad about the way memories change after a relationship falls apart. “Storage is about having the capacity to contain various, irrelevant but ultimately incredible, personal and beautiful memories when you’re in a relationship,” he explains. “Once that ends, your brain holds all of the information and fixates on those tiny little things that didn’t really make a difference at the time, but now all they do is consume your so-called ‘storage’ of your brain. Just as an iPhone would ‘run out of storage’ when keeping meaningless little pictures over the years, the concept is the same for one’s brain.”

The announcement follows the release of “By Your Side” a dynamic pop single that channels the frantic experience of watching a relationship come to an end that you so badly don’t want to let go of. The song was Maynard’s message to his fans who reached out to him in the wake of the breakup and his disappearance from social media, which he chronicled for SPIN Magazine, as he took time to heel and reflect on his experience.

I received a lot of messages when I came back online, from fans and even just people that related to the feeling of wanting to take a break from the pressures of social media,” Maynard recalled. “I realized just how many people have been through a similar notion, even when the circumstances that have led to that decision are different. For that reason, I kept the lyrics of ‘By Your Side’ a little more open, so it can be interpreted to fit all different types of relationship; romantic, friendships, family, and all different reasons for letting go, whether it be through just going your separate ways, or in the hardest of scenarios, death.

The first song Maynard released from the project, “If I Ever ” explores trust and suspicion in relationships and the different outcomes that they each can lead to. “‘If I Ever’ is the first of a series of songs I wrote about an extremely difficult breakup I went through last year,” Maynard shared upon its release. “It was a unique relationship and hard to write about because 90% of it took place over phone calls and video calls, which I understand was common during the pandemic. This song captures my emotional experience following that breakup, and the anticipation I continue to feel about my upcoming appearance in her hometown of Sydney, Australia, since in our last conversation, she told me she still hopes to see me there.”

Listen to this song and more emerging artists just like this one on “Discover”, playing Sundays at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on Channel R – Today’s Hits & Your All-Time Favorites.