Pop in 2025 is often built for speed. Hooks are crammed into the first ten seconds, choruses arrive before the verse has even settled, and the goal is usually TikTok virality rather than emotional resonance. In that context, Vân Scott’s “Turn Off the Tears” feels almost radical. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t beg for your attention. Instead, it unfolds with patience, allowing space for its message of hope to sink in.
URL: https://www.vanscottmusic.com/
The opening is understated. A strummed guitar provides the base, while ambient synths create a backdrop that feels both airy and heavy, like fog on a morning field. Scott sings with quiet intensity, describing the paralysis of doubt and fear. There’s no gimmickry here—just raw vocal presence carrying real words. It’s the kind of opening that feels personal, almost private, as though you’ve stumbled into someone else’s confession. But then the chorus arrives, and the song shifts into something cinematic. Scott’s vocals multiply into radiant layers, bolstered by group-style echoes that make the refrain feel communal. The melody leaps upward, the rhythm accelerates, and suddenly you’re no longer listening to a solitary voice—you’re part of a collective shout. “Turn off the tears / Stop running from the fear / Start living.” It’s immediate, but it doesn’t feel cheap. It feels earned.
What separates Scott from many of his contemporaries is sincerity. This isn’t pop that hides behind irony or production gimmicks. This isn’t a song trying to sell a mood board. It’s a song trying to save someone’s spirit. Written for his sister, it radiates compassion, yet it never feels weighed down by sentimentality. Instead, it channels that compassion into energy, creating something listeners can rally behind.
Musically, the track would sit well alongside Lauv, Ben Rector, or AJR—artists who balance emotional honesty with modern pop stylings. Yet where some of those names lean heavily into production tricks or theatricality, Scott keeps the focus on vocal delivery. His tone is clear, open, almost pastoral, which gives the song a unique warmth.
In the endless scroll of today’s streaming ecosystem, “Turn Off the Tears” stands out because it feels designed not for virality but for endurance. It’s a song that will still mean something a year from now, when the TikTok clips have faded. It’s melody, heart, and hope—all wrapped into a package that feels timeless, even as it thrives in a contemporary landscape.
Mark Druery