On “Less Important Things,” Eric Hirshberg writes about the part of parenthood people warn you about too late
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Newsdesk
There is a familiar cultural script around parenthood: sleepless nights, first steps, teenage tension, college drop-off, the bittersweet empty nest. Most of those milestones are discussed so often that they can start to feel abstract. Eric Hirshberg’s “Less Important Things” succeeds by making one of them feel physical again.
The new single, taken from Hirshberg’s forthcoming album More Is Not The Answer, is built around the emotional aftershock of becoming an empty nester. It is not a song about a single goodbye so much as the long echo after the goodbye happens. The children leave, the house remains, and suddenly every room seems to contain evidence of a former version of daily life.
Hirshberg has released several songs recently that look at modern life from a thoughtful distance. “For Real,” featuring Aloe Blacc, examined connection with enough immediacy to land him a national television debut on Live with Kelly and Mark. “We’re All In This Alone” and “More Is Not The Answer” continued to explore the pressures and contradictions of contemporary existence. “Less Important Things” narrows the frame, but it does not feel smaller. Its subject is domestic, but the emotional stakes are large.
The song’s core line, “Nothing’s ever gonna matter as much,” could have been heavy-handed in a less careful context. Hirshberg avoids that by surrounding it with details that feel ordinary and recognizable. The track is concerned with the lived texture of parenting: the noise, the movement, the constant negotiation between exhaustion and devotion.
That is why the lyric “You build this place to withstand a riot / It’s not supposed to be this quiet” lands so well. The line has humor in it, but also pain. It captures the strange irony of a family home: everything is designed to survive chaos, and then the chaos becomes the thing you miss.
There is a steadiness to Hirshberg’s vocal performance that keeps the song from tipping into melodrama. He sings with tenderness, but he does not oversell the feeling. That restraint matters. A song about the empty nest can easily become overly polished or greeting-card sentimental. “Less Important Things” feels closer to a private realization being said out loud for the first time.
The in-studio performance video deepens that impression. Filmed with Hirshberg and his band in a close, intimate setting, it emphasizes musicianship and quiet connection rather than narrative drama. The video gives viewers the sense of watching the song take shape in real time, which suits a track that depends so much on emotional honesty.
As part of More Is Not The Answer, “Less Important Things” suggests that Hirshberg’s album may be less interested in easy answers than in careful observation. The title itself points toward a suspicion of excess, whether that means information, consumption, ambition, or noise. Here, the question becomes deeply personal: what remains important after the most consuming chapter of family life shifts into memory?
Hirshberg’s public path to music is unusual, given his long career in entertainment, advertising, and technology. Yet “Less Important Things” does not lean on that biography as a hook. It stands because the writing is specific enough to feel personal and open enough to let listeners find their own family stories inside it.
The track’s power is quiet. It does not demand catharsis. It gives shape to a feeling many people recognize only once they are already inside it.
