Madi Diaz has already established herself as a tremendous songwriter to anyone who’s paying attention. Her new single, “Why’d You Have to Bring Me Flowers,” is strong enough to catch everyone else up to her talent. A tender, country-tinged ballad that recalls early Kathleen Edwards or Tift Merritt, the song is an emotional wrecking ball. The lyrics lay the scene with the opening lines: “My toxic trait is hanging on/ Your toxic trait is showing up.”

Diaz goes from there to sketch out a relationship that’s been in bad shape for some time (“We’ve been circling the block/ We’ve been in a downward spiral”), and the singer seems to know that exiting it is the only good option. The bad instinct of enduring kicks in hard when the person on the other side of the romantic teeter-totter performs the gesture cited in the song’s title. It’s a depiction of how people get trapped in their own hope that’s all too damningly true.

The new album from Madi Diaz, Fatal Optimist, hits record stores today.