“Like That” (2019) is a synth-pop ballad by Torrey Mercer (they/them, also known as TEA), featured on their EP Boys/Girls. The song captures Mercer grappling with romantic feelings for a best friend who, in the past, showed no attraction to women but now seems to be sending ambiguous signals. This delicate tension between hope and hesitation forms the core of the track.
Mercer’s lyrics articulate a paradox familiar to many queer friendships: the fear of confessing feelings to someone presumed straight, risking the friendship itself. For those navigating newfound bisexuality, this emotional tightrope walk feels particularly resonant. The yearning pulses through lines like:
This thing we have is one of a kind
I want to tell you that you look so fine
Make you feel the way I feel inside
But I don’t know if I’ll get you mine
If you lean this way, I’ll lean like that
You give signals that I can’t read well
I don’t know if this is love
I don’t know if this is lust
I just want go for bust,
And I’m scared you’ll say
‘Why are you looking at me like that?’
I don’t want to ruin this thing that we have
Pushing me away would make me feel so bad.
The song’s conclusion delivers a bittersweet ending: a voicemail from the friend affirming deep care, but not romantic interest, hence not seeing them “like that”.
In an interview with Stratton Setlist, Mercer explained the EP’s mission and this song’s origins:
This EP was meant to be a liberation for me as a woman and as a bisexual. In the music industry, there’s a lot of pressure to perform a version of yourself that is more likable to others. This project was about taking the duct tape off [of] my own mouth and embracing what makes me different and outspoken.
They expanded on the song’s universality:
I’ve had a lot of encounters with different girls that inspired that song. It isn’t about one specific girl, but a few. Sometimes, when being a girl who likes girls, there’s an anxiety about having feelings for another girl, and fearing whether or not she likes you back, ‘like that,’ or if it’s just a close friendship. I’ve heard that sentiment a lot from many friends of mine as well, and knew the song had to be written. … It’s my hope that fans and listeners can feel validated by these songs and empowered in their own way. So often, these subjects go unaddressed in the mainstream. And if I can do anything as an unsigned LGBT artist, it’s to shed light on that for others.
Though Mercer now identifies as a nonbinary lesbian, “Like That” crystallizes a shared queer experience rarely soundtracked in pop music. By giving voice to the quiet ache of unreciprocated attraction between friends, especially in bi contexts, the song fills a niche of the bi experience, proving that not all anthems need to soar; some whisper truths just as powerfully.