Nearly four years after Cory Monteith's death, he's still finding his way into his former girlfriend's music. The song "Hey You" on Lea Michele's upcoming album, Places, is a tribute to her former Glee co-star.
Michele told PrideSource the track is "part two of 'If You Say So,'" a song on her 2014 album Louder that recounts her last interactions with Monteith. "I wasn't originally thinking of including ['Hey You'] on the album," she said. "It's sort of a sensitive subject for me that's hard to talk about, and I didn't want anything on the record that I couldn't talk about. But it just felt so beautiful."
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While "If You Say So" was slow and mournful, Michele said "Hey You" has a different tone. "It wasn't about loss, it wasn't about sadness. It was really about joy and love. I love it so much, and I really feel it represents who I am and everything that I've been through in my life," she said. "I wanted to make a song about loss that wasn't necessarily sad."
She didn't want to give the song's meaning away, but she hinted that there's a backstory, which she might divulge during live performances. "The song is pretty specific," she said. "I wanted to show this beautiful moment and there's a little bit more of a deeper story that goes with it that I talk about in my concert."
This isn't the only way Monteith's death influenced Places. After the tragedy, Stevie Nicks gave Michele an art book with a note that said "the only thing that matters is you, and who you are" — a sentiment Michele tried to channel in her new album. We'll all have the chance to hear the song when Places drops on April 28.