Ryan Edward Kotler "Give It a Week"

Ryan Edward Kotler’s new single is actually titled “Give It a Week,” and it serves as a quiet showcase of his evolving voice as a songwriter.

The song opens with Kotler acknowledging that life rarely goes as planned: “Well, you know it ain’t easy, the way that it goes / Whichever direction the green river flows. / When sailing white water is dragging you down, it’s better to tread than give up and drown”. Rather than offering a sweeping chorus, he proposes a simple survival plan: hold on until Sunday and “make it ‘til Monday, and give it a week”. That mantra repeats through the song, suggesting that facing adversity is about breaking struggles into manageable stretches and trusting that things can shift with time.

As the verses unfold, Kotler turns inward. He admits his parents aren’t as young as they once were and confesses he “lost a few years to the tears in [his] eye” and friends when “the bottle ran dry”. He speaks of fumbling love, stumbling through life and being humbled by the miles he has driven; still he vows to “brave one more weekend, and try it again”. In the final stanza the imagery becomes more layered—“ghosts in the attic, and prayers in the cupboard / Faith in the silence and strength in resolve / There’s dark in the daylight and cold in the summer”—as he weighs haunting memories against quiet hope. Even then, he clings to the idea that if he can hold steady through Sunday, next Monday he might “give ‘em all hell”.

“Give It a Week” feels like Kotler reinforcing a confident voice rather than introducing himself anew. It retains the open‑hearted spirit of his previous single “Mary Anne” yet looks forward with a lighter step. By pairing candid, resilient lyrics with a simple folk‑waltz arrangement, he creates a mood that is hopeful without naivete and grounded without losing warmth. The result is a quietly affecting piece of storytelling that encourages listeners to acknowledge life’s bruises, keep their sights on the next Monday and believe that there is still time to turn things around.

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