How many wedding DJs will have to play this song this summer?

It’s all about the feelz with James Arthur‘s emotional ballad “Say You Won’t Let Go,” released September 9, 2016.

Penned by Arthur along with songwriters Neil Richard Ormandy and Steve Solomon, it’s that song you cynically roll your eyes at while stuck in rush hour traffic on the way to work, spilling coffee on your pants … but cry your eyes out to when drunk at the bar with your girl. (Yes guys, I’m talking to you.)

(Courtesy Columbia Records)

The first couple lines feel good.

I met you in the dark, you lit me up,
You made me feel as though I was enough.

So he’s in a dark place. Life has kicked him around a little, but she’s been there for him. Why this bar talk, you ask?

The answer lies in the next few lines:

We danced the night away, we drank too much,
I held your hair back when,
You were throwing up.

There you have it. That dark place is the local tavern, friends. Boots up, kickin’ back and throwin’ down. Booze that is.

But it’s not all puke and blurry eyes.

Then you smiled over your shoulder,
For a minute, I was stone-cold sober.
I pulled you closer to my chest,
And you asked me to stay over.
I said, I already told ya,
I think that you should get some rest.

Drunk or not, this woman’s a keeper. And the guy? He’s a keeper too.

Maybe the alcohol is how the magic began, but it doesn’t matter; the deal is done. Signed, sealed, delivered, she’s yours.

We’ve come so far my dear,
Look how we’ve grown.
And I wanna stay with you until we’re grey and old.
Just say you won’t let go.
Just say you won’t let go.

In a way, it’s the perfect relationship. They meet at the bar, they party, they drink, they throw up, they hold each other and go home. In the end they grow old together. (Just remember to pick that tab, gentlemen.)

It’s a good love song, and for many a barfly or club hopper, it’s how romance began. I can see couples ordering this up for their first dance when they read those vows to each other at their summer 2017 wedding.

But ultimately, it’s a song about falling in love at first sight, and that’s something we can all relate to.

The gravelly-voiced Arthur, a former winner of Britain’s X-Factor television series, notched his biggest single to date with the track, which peaked at #1 in the UK and other European countries. It peaked at #16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 2017.

His first single since “Get Down” in the spring of 2014, “Say You Won’t Let Go” was released as the lead single to Arthur’s second album, Back from the Edge.

So hit up your local tavern, relax, drink a shot, and fall in love.

Take a listen and keep a tissue handy.