Nekujak
My muse is demanding better working hours
This is Olivia Rodrigo's latest release and it immediately caught my ear when I first heard it.
The chorus is the overwhelming highlight here, which has an unexpected old-timey feel with big stacked harmonies and a very lyrical and catchy melody. It just sounds so different than all the songs out there with melodies that typically span a range of only 2-4 notes. And I can't get the overall vocal sound of the chorus out of my head - it's a brilliant production.
I've seen some reviewers mention this song has shades of 80s new wave and synthpop, but I'm hearing elements that reach much further back. To me, the chorus sounds like it could be right at home as a traditional folk song. For example, I can easily imagine Peter, Paul & Mary singing it.
The other interesting thing about this song is the phrasing of the lyrics and how they meld with the melody. I'm deliberately linking the lyric video below (as opposed to the music video) to focus on the delivery of the lyrics, which I find somewhat unexpected and unusual in places - for instance, most of the first verse and the "feminine intuition" line in the chorus. I definitely wouldn't have come up phrasing like that. On the one hand it's fresh and clever, but on the other, it also feels like the lyrics were simply pasted on top of the melody with no regard to any synergy between the two. Either way, the result makes for interesting ear candy.
The lyrics also have some interesting words to latch onto, like "walls of Versailles", "Pisces and a Gemini", and the Cure reference in the first verse.
Kudos to Rodrigo for not having an army of songwriters attached to the song. It's just her, the producer, and one other writer.
Enjoy!
The chorus is the overwhelming highlight here, which has an unexpected old-timey feel with big stacked harmonies and a very lyrical and catchy melody. It just sounds so different than all the songs out there with melodies that typically span a range of only 2-4 notes. And I can't get the overall vocal sound of the chorus out of my head - it's a brilliant production.
I've seen some reviewers mention this song has shades of 80s new wave and synthpop, but I'm hearing elements that reach much further back. To me, the chorus sounds like it could be right at home as a traditional folk song. For example, I can easily imagine Peter, Paul & Mary singing it.
The other interesting thing about this song is the phrasing of the lyrics and how they meld with the melody. I'm deliberately linking the lyric video below (as opposed to the music video) to focus on the delivery of the lyrics, which I find somewhat unexpected and unusual in places - for instance, most of the first verse and the "feminine intuition" line in the chorus. I definitely wouldn't have come up phrasing like that. On the one hand it's fresh and clever, but on the other, it also feels like the lyrics were simply pasted on top of the melody with no regard to any synergy between the two. Either way, the result makes for interesting ear candy.
The lyrics also have some interesting words to latch onto, like "walls of Versailles", "Pisces and a Gemini", and the Cure reference in the first verse.
Kudos to Rodrigo for not having an army of songwriters attached to the song. It's just her, the producer, and one other writer.
Enjoy!
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