If Love’s a Game, Curtis Waters Is Winning

Curtis Waters finds himself unexpectedly content on “Freckles,” a new track filled with curt guitar and booming drums. “If love’s a game, then I’m winning,” he sings. “Unfamiliar feeling,” he adds — “usually I don’t feel alright.”

Waters started “Freckles” following a run-in with an old friend. “After I left college I was home for a few months trying to get back to shape, and I reconnected with this girl just to catch up on how life had been since then,” the singer explained in a statement. “She was telling me about all the crazy and tragic stuff that had happened since I last saw her and how she had fallen back into old habits and was struggling again. But even through all of that she was still happy and hopeful about the future and was telling me about her career goals.” Waters penned part of “Freckles” later that day. 

Waters, who was born in Nepal but now lives in Cary, North Carolina, broke out earlier this year with “Stunnin.’” The track went viral on TikTok while the singer was still working in a smoothie store; “Stunnin’” now has nearly 90 million streams on Spotify alone. Waters followed that with “System” and “The Feelings Tend to Stay the Same.”