In 2025, beloved Irish pop group Westlife made a powerful return to the global music stage with their emotionally charged album titled Love, Loss & Healing. True to its name, the album explores themes of heartbreak, self-reflection, grief, and ultimately, the long and arduous journey toward emotional recovery. At the heart of this moving collection lies a standout track that has quickly resonated with fans and critics alike — the hauntingly beautiful “I Still Say Your Name.”
A testament to enduring love and unhealed wounds, the song captures the essence of regret and longing in the wake of a relationship that once defined someone’s world. “I Still Say Your Name” is not merely a ballad about a lost love; it is a poetic confession of how memories can haunt, how words unsaid can echo the loudest, and how time does not always mend what is broken.
A New Chapter for Westlife
After over two decades in the music industry, Westlife has evolved from teen heartthrobs into seasoned vocalists capable of delivering nuanced and emotionally mature material. Love, Loss & Healing marks a departure from their earlier formula of soaring romantic ballads and instead leans into raw vulnerability and introspection.
This album is a journey — from the moment of heartbreak, through nights of questioning, to the slow acceptance of reality. It’s not an album of easy answers, but of real emotions — messy, complicated, and deeply human.
“I Still Say Your Name,” written in collaboration with acclaimed songwriter Ed Drewett and produced by Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin, is arguably the emotional centerpiece of this journey.
The Song: A Narrative of Regret
From its opening piano chords, “I Still Say Your Name” sets a somber tone. The instrumentation is sparse, allowing the vocals to take center stage. Shane Filan leads with a whisper-like softness that carries the weight of regret, singing:
“I still say your name like you’re right beside me / In the quiet of the morning, you’re the sound that finds me.”
Each verse unravels a memory — a shared laugh, a familiar place, the feel of a hand once held. The chorus builds with harmonies that recall the group’s signature sound, but there’s a depth here that speaks of lived experience, not just youthful fantasy.
The lyrics explore how the absence of someone doesn’t erase their presence. They linger in habits, thoughts, and language. The act of still saying someone’s name, almost like a reflex, is a metaphor for not letting go — or perhaps, being unable to.
Emotional Resonance: Why It Connects
One reason the song resonates so deeply is its relatability. Almost everyone has loved and lost. Almost everyone has thought about someone long after they’re gone — and not just romantically. The song could speak to lost lovers, estranged family members, or friends who drifted away. Its universality is its power.
The refrain, “And though you’ve gone, I still say your name,” is delivered with aching clarity, turning a simple phrase into a devastating admission. It speaks to how grief — whether from a breakup or something more permanent — lingers not in grand moments, but in the smallest, most personal rituals.
A Vocal Performance Worthy of the Story
Vocally, the members of Westlife — Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne — deliver some of their most restrained yet emotionally intense performances to date. Mark’s falsetto carries the bridge with a delicate fragility, and Kian and Nicky add depth with harmonies that seem to echo from a place of shared sorrow.
There’s a maturity to the delivery — a sense that these are not men simply playing a part but drawing from real emotional reservoirs. They do not over-sing, they do not dramatize; instead, they let the silence and space speak as much as the lyrics.
The Album’s Larger Context
Love, Loss & Healing is Westlife’s first full-length studio album since 2022’s Wild Dreams, and it reflects a shift in both musical direction and emotional tone. While the band has always been known for their love songs, this album feels like a deeper dive into emotional complexity.
Other tracks on the album deal with themes of forgiveness (“Letters Never Sent”), acceptance (“Where the Light Comes In”), and personal growth (“The Man I Am Now”), but “I Still Say Your Name” is the wound at the center of the healing — the point from which everything else begins.
Legacy and Relevance
Westlife’s decision to tackle such emotionally complex material in 2025 shows a band unafraid to grow with its audience. Their fans, many of whom have been with them since the late ’90s, are no longer teenagers. They too have loved, lost, and tried to heal. “I Still Say Your Name” is the kind of song that feels like it was written not just for the fans, but with them.
This song — and the album as a whole — has been praised for its emotional depth, musical sophistication, and lyrical maturity. Critics have lauded it as one of the band’s best works in years, with Rolling Stone calling the track “a heartbreak anthem for grown-ups.”
Final Thoughts
“I Still Say Your Name” is not just another Westlife ballad. It’s a meditation on memory, a confession of regret, and a prayer for healing — sung by voices that have aged, matured, and deepened. In many ways, it is the culmination of everything Westlife has learned in their decades-long career.
For fans new and old, it’s a reminder that while love may be fleeting, its imprint can last a lifetime — etched into the words we still whisper, the places we still visit, and yes, the names we still say.
With Love, Loss & Healing, and especially with “I Still Say Your Name,” Westlife proves that they are not just survivors of the boyband era — they are enduring storytellers of the human heart.
