Toronto soul singer Tara Van navigates the tangled give-and-take of devotion on her buoyant new single, “I’m A Vine.” Also featured on her EP “Miles on It,” the track adopts the stubborn genius of flora the quiet tenacity of green shoots wedging through concrete merely to catch daylight. Here, Van transforms an unbalanced dynamic with an unyielding partner into an uplifting celebration of endurance, filtering Motown-tinged indie soul through crisp retro pop.

Musically, the piece moves with agile confidence. A deep, walking lower-register groove sets a snappy, syncopated bounce, accented by bright staccato strikes that keep the verses delightfully taut. Van contrasts that punchy rhythm against a warm, sustained melodic layer underneath, giving her expressive vocals plenty of room to stretch, sigh, and ascend. Rather than masking the friction of adapting to someone else’s rigid boundaries, she honors the delicate balance between hard-won self-reliance and reaching out toward community for support.

It leaves behind an invigorating aftertaste, celebrating the messy beauty of persistent growth. After all, what is genuine resilience if not discovering how to bend without snapping?

Website, Facebook, Twitter(X), Bandcamp, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok