Darren Waller and Kelsey Plum used to be a feel-good story. Waller, an NFL tight end, struggled with addiction but worked his way to recovery and breakout stardom with the Las Vegas Raiders. In Vegas, he fell in love with Plum, a superstar point guard for the local WNBA franchise, the Aces, who won the league championship the past two seasons. Things surely got more complicated for the couple last year when Waller was traded to the New York Giants, just after he and Plum got married. They filed for divorce last month, and Plum posted a cryptic message that began, "I'm devastated. I walked through fire for that man, but now I see it's time to go." Waller, for his part, has been mulling retirement from football. It turns out he's also been making music.
Today Waller released a single and music video called "Who Knew (Her Perspective)." It's a breakup song sung from the vantage point of his exes:
The song is written from the perspective of past relationship partners. It sounds like I’m getting my heart broken, but I really wrote it from the perspective of women who have tried to love me. I’ve struggled with intimacy in romantic relationships my whole life, and I recognize the toll it has taken on the lovers I’ve been close to. Essentially, I’m telling myself, from the damage I've done, that it’s imperative for me to heal the wounds in my life I've been avoiding by seeking relationships.
The video finds me walking in "her" shoes — begging the partner to heal, expressing pain and frustration, ultimately getting hurt in the end. As the song is an attempt to see things from the woman’s perspective, the video is an extension of that, ending with me being alone and wondering why they wounded me and left me there.
The song is not good, but it's a fascinating artifact in the long history of athletes trying their hand at music. The regret Waller displays here may even be more intense than the regret I feel about drafting him on multiple fantasy teams last year. If you're curious, the video is below.
UPDATE:
