If You Love Them, Let Them Go (2024) – Johnny Lloyd

Released in October 2024, If You Love Them, Let Them Go is from Johnny Lloyd’s fourth studio album, Punchline (image inset), which came out on 31 January 2025. The record centres on love, heartbreak and the difficult act of moving on, built mainly around gentle acoustic guitar.

The single arrived after a busy stretch for Lloyd. He had been writing music for television and film, including work on I Hate Suzie, which won him the RTS Award for Best Original Music. During this period, he was also making new material and touring with his band Tribes.

If You Love Them, Let Them Go is a beautifully written song about unrequited love. Its lilting melody and intimate vocals give it a sense of surrender, just as the title suggests. There is also a distinctly English, folk-tinged feel in its opening – reminiscent of the acoustic mood of Dylan’s Girl From The North Country. The lyrics evoke the still-fresh memory of a love only recently lost. You can almost sense the perfume of his former lover and the taste of whiskey on her lips.

The title If You Love Them, Let Them Go echoes the age-old sentiment about emotional freedom and trust in genuine connection:

“If you love someone, let them go. 
 If they come back, they’re yours. If they don’t, they were never yours to begin with”

Yet despite this idea of letting go, the narrator is clearly heartbroken by his lover’s recent departure:

Did the sun come up today,
I wouldn’t notice anyway,
you’re a shadow on the floor,

An interesting coincidence is that this reflective “break-up” song arrived just as my article appeared yesterday, revisiting my review of Scoop, which features a striking performance by Billie Piper – Lloyd’s former partner.

She appears in the photo left with Lloyd, cradling her pregnant stomach with one hand.
Piper began dating Lloyd, frontman of Tribes, in 2016. Their daughter was born on 2 January 2019, and the couple separated in 2023.

For further reading, see The Standard article titled: “Johnny Lloyd: Before Billie Piper I was lost.”

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your cigarettes left by my bed,
it was always me and you,
it was always me and you

You leave me drenched in your perfume,
said you wanted someone new,
guess the joke is all on me,
guess the joke is all on me

Taste of whiskey on your lips,
you ask me is there more than this
when did life become a drag
when did life become a drag

Everyday it goes the same,
disappointment push the blame,
if you love them let them go,
if you love them let them go.

The day the angels fell to earth
The day the angels fell to earth

You come around to get your things,
you smile at me I let you in,
did it always end this way,
did it always end this way

For a minute I’m happy,
then you get up and you leave,
I am hopeless once again,
I am hopeless once again

Did the sun come up today,
I wouldn’t notice anyway,
you’re a shadow on the floor,
you’re a shadow on the floor

Heartbreak it starts within,
then it pushes through your skin,
if you love them let them go,
if you love them let them go

The day the angels fell to earth
The day the angels fell to earth

If you love them let them go