The Sound of a Façade Cracking
Don’t let the delicate acoustic intro fool you; Adam Kyle’s “Tough Kid” is both fierce and calm. The track begins with the gentle, reflective spirit of indie-folk, but it’s a unexpected sonic misdirection. Kyle, a singer-songwriter dealing in the tension between control and chaos, uses this track to explore the unflappable facade he built as a queer, closeted kid – an armour he’s now desperately trying to unlearn. Inspired by a Tori Amos lyric, the song immediately raises the emotional stakes by pitting a deeply vulnerable story against a deceptively catchy, mesmerising groove. It’s this contrast between the soft vocals and the hard, painful truth in the lyrics that forms the essential hook.
This isn’t just a folk song; it’s soft Americana given a bit of a sweep, with rising vocals in the chorus that hint at the catharsis of late 80s/early 90s indie ballads (a nod to his genre-blending influences from Brandi Carlile to Foo Fighters). The catchy lyricism is spot on, and the backing vocals lift the song into a place of brightness, even as the main vocal delivers the devastating line: “It feels like the only way to win is to be a tough kid.” The track’s artwork – seemingly a young version of Kyle with a facial expression far older than his years – confirms this painful truth.
“Tough Kid” is a memorable piece of songwriting that manages to be both personal and universally resonant. The track’s strength is its ability to explore the quiet trauma of self-protection while refusing to wallow in despair. The final question it leaves us with is this: Does the emotional risk of being truly soft ever outweigh the self-protective certainty of being tough? Listen to this one immediately, and then tell us what you reckon: In 2025, is the ‘Tough Kid’ identity a necessary form of survival, or the biggest emotional obstacle we face?
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–Stephen Choi for Up and Comers
The Music and Planet Project 
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