Greg Mendez Shares “Best Behavior” and “Hoping You’re Doing Okay”

With his forthcoming self-titled album on the way, Philadelphia singer/songwriter Greg Mendez has returned with another pair of beautiful singles: “Best Behavior” and “Hoping You’re Doing Okay.” On the heels of storytelling standouts “Maria” and “Goodbye / Trouble,” the two new offerings find Mendez digging into a soft space, exploring small moments in search of their overarching meanings through low-key guitar strums. Across “Best Behavior,” he tracks a relationship with a power imbalance. A line like “Here’s a photograph where I look like I’m having a good time / But I’m not / And I know you can notice the difference” and “You got the radio playing and all I can think is to change it / To some shit I hate / It’s better than something that you like” will stick with you.

And on “Hoping You’re Doing Okay,” Mendez takes the guise of a worrier, scouring the obituary pages for the name of an old drug friend whose self-destruction has put distance between their love for each other. “Pull your sleeves down though it is 93 degrees / ‘Cause it’s not the way that you are / It’s what they wanna see, Oh Lord,” he sings, in a tender, honest register. Mendez’s next album, Greg Mendez, is coming soon. There’s an urgent sincerity in his work, as he looks back on folks he once knew and loved dearly and eulogizes their moments shared together with imperfections and reckoning. Ever the storyteller, Mendez has given us four charming teasers we can’t stop returning to.

Watch the music video for “Best Behavior / Hoping You’re Doing Okay” below.