Matter Of Time
Thomas Geelens · Pop
Reviewed 2026-02-24
The Roast
“"Somebody tell me that I'll be alright, it's just a matter of time." Thomas wrote a motivational poster and put it on Spotify. This song is the musical equivalent of those "hang in there" cat posters — technically encouraging, fundamentally generic. But THEN he drops "I'm back in my mom's basement and it feels like I'm wasting time" and suddenly we're somewhere real. That one autobiographical line contains more truth than both choruses combined. The tragedy of this song is that Thomas keeps burying his best material under inspirational quote accounts.”
Sally's not done with you yet.
Drop a URL, screenshot, or file and Sally will give you the honest truth.
The Bright Side
"I'm back in my mom's basement and it feels like I'm wasting time or am I just too late" — THAT'S songwriting. It's specific, humble, and painfully relatable. If the whole song lived in that basement, it would be twice as powerful.
Hardest Sneer
“You wrote a motivational poster and charged streaming royalties for it.”
Think your work can survive this?
Drop a URL, screenshot, or file and Sally will give you the honest truth.
Issues (5)
"You Need the Dark to See the Light" — Fortune Cookie Core
Receipt
"You need the dark to see the light / it's just a matter of time" — Thomas. This is on inspirational Instagram accounts. It's on yoga studio walls. It's the caption under stock photos of sunrises. You took a cliché so worn that it's literally embroidered on pillows and made it the centerpiece of your chorus.
Fix
Show us YOUR dark. What does your specific darkness look like? The mom's basement line in verse 2 does this perfectly — apply that same honesty to the chorus. "I've been writing songs that no one plays" hits harder than any proverb about light and dark.
"Stuck in the Deep End" — The Drowning Metaphor Everyone Uses
Receipt
"It feels like I'm stuck in the deep end / and I'm reaching out for a helping hand" — The "deep end" metaphor has been used in approximately 47,000 pop songs. You didn't even try to make it your own. No twist, no subversion, just "I'm drowning, metaphorically." Even the reaching-for-a-hand part is straight out of the Motivational Imagery 101 textbook.
Fix
Replace with something from your actual experience. What does YOUR struggle feel like? Not a swimming pool metaphor — your real life. The basement. The empty inbox. The demo nobody played. Get specific.
"Are All the Possibilities and Everything I Used to Be Out of Reach"
Receipt
This opening is trying to be poetic but it reads like a run-on thought that forgot where it was going. "Are all the possibilities and everything I used to be out of reach" — that's a lot of abstract nouns doing very little work. Possibilities. Everything. Out of reach. It's the verbal equivalent of a blurry photo: you can tell something's there, but you can't quite make it out.
Fix
Pick ONE concrete possibility that feels out of reach. "Is the sold-out show I used to dream about still possible?" Specificity makes vague feelings tangible.
"I Can Write a Song or Two" — The Accidental Undersell
Receipt
"And I can write a song or two / and that's what I set out to do / but I'm losing faith" — You describe your life's passion as "a song or two." Not even three songs. One or two. Maximum. You're underselling yourself in your own song about not giving up. The confidence is not convincing.
Fix
Either commit to the understatement as a stylistic choice ("they say I can write a song or two" with a knowing wink) or say what you actually mean: "Music is the only thing that makes sense." Half-hearted conviction is worse than none.
"You Don't Need to Pretend That You're Fine" — Directed at Whom?
Receipt
"You don't need to pretend that you're fine / it's just a matter of time" — Who are you talking to? Yourself? The listener? A specific person? The song switches between first person ("I'm reaching out") and second person ("you don't need to pretend") without any transition. It's like the song can't decide if it's a diary entry or a TED talk.
Fix
Pick a perspective and commit. If it's to yourself, use "I." If it's to others in the same boat, establish that clearly. The audience swap mid-chorus is disorienting.