Sid Dorey’s ‘Middle Seat’ Is a Reckoning in Motion
- Curious For Music Team
- May 5
- 2 min read
In a landscape oversaturated with curated perfection and empty hooks, Sid Dorey continues to be a refreshing anomaly. With the release of their sophomore EP Middle Seat, the Nashville-based indie pop artist dives headfirst into a painfully honest — and ultimately healing — meditation on grief, identity, and what it means to feel safe in your own skin.
Middle Seat doesn’t whisper its intentions — it buckles you in for a ride you didn’t know you needed. From the raw ache of Isn’t This Just So Us to the visceral vulnerability of Cannibal, Dorey peels back the layers of performative positivity that often plague pop music. Their sound, atmospheric yet deeply grounded, carries a theatrical intensity inherited from their musical theatre roots. But unlike the polished sheen of the stage, Dorey’s stories are messy, nuanced, and deeply human.
“The middle seat can be the most uncomfortable spot in the car,” Dorey reflects. “But it can also be the most joyful — if you’re surrounded by the right people.” That duality is the heartbeat of the EP. The title track, Middle Seat, is a standout — a bittersweet anthem for anyone learning to take up space in a world that often wants us to disappear.
Dorey’s rising visibility, especially as a queer artist with an unapologetic lens on love and loss, is not just refreshing — it’s necessary. At a time when identity is both weaponized and commodified, Sid Dorey offers something rare: truth without spectacle.
Their message to listeners is clear: “You’re allowed to choose who you keep around. Keep your seatbelt on. We need you here.”
And in a world spinning just a little too fast, Middle Seat might be exactly the soundtrack we need — tender, jarring, hopeful, and entirely unskippable.
