Cover Photo:
Young Saab visuals.
▌Young Saab
▌Torii Wolf
▌Deem Spencer
shoulda coulda woulda
Musical powerhouses Torii Wolf and Deem Spencer join forces with Brooklyn duo Young Saab in their latest release, ‘shoulda coulda woulda’. It’s difficult to even try to explain the impact of this track’s dark yet extremely captivating soundscapes—it makes you feel as if you’re a lone rocket that’s already taken off. If you close your eyes, you can easily imagine yourself wandering around constellations in outer space. Or, perhaps, it’s nothing more than a bokeh of street lights right in front of you. There’s nothing quite like it out there. None of the artists fight for the spotlight in ‘shoulda coulda woulda’ as they come together to create a multi-layered and extremely coherent work of art instead.
▌1stNameQueen
Call Me Up
Although gorgeous and sensual vocals dominate ‘Call Me Up’, the soothing R&B performance isn’t the only great thing about it—add candid, relatable lyricism and thoroughly crafted production to the mix and you’ll get the empowering masterpiece that 1stNameQueen’s new single is. “‘Call Me Up’ is about those late-night calls you get from guys, but from a woman’s perspective,” she explains. “A woman who knows her worth and knows what she wants and how she wants it.” This song doesn’t appeal to one singular demographic only; in fact, it can be understood and felt by many people, no matter their gender identity, race or sexuality. Everyone can find themselves within this beautiful track.
▌The Roop
Discoteque
The Roop were one of the 41 artists who were meant to represent their country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020—the opportunity was lost after the cancellation of the event due to the ongoing pandemic. However, The Roop are back. They are eager to perform their newest single ‘Discoteque’ and win the contest later this year. Their song embraces a somewhat dark disco feel and encourages the listener to accept who they are deep inside and dance their inner critic off. The minimalist yet extremely rich production takes its time to submerge the listener into the groove; it becomes more and more enthralling with each listen. The chorus, sung in staccato, sharply detaching every note from another, not only emphasizes the existing rhythm but makes it sound tighter as well. If this darker sounding groove is not enough to make even the most stubborn listener move, the live rendition of the song, with frontman Vaidotas Valiukevičius enchanting everything on stage and next to it with his charming charisma, will definitely do it.
▌Teflon Brothers
▌Pandora
I Love You
While many competitors of last year’s Eurovision are already set to come back and compete in the contest this May, some countries have decided to select new artists to represent them this year. Hip Hop group Teflon Brothers and the Swedish Eurodance icon Pandora’s bilingual collaboration ‘I Love You’ is one of the seven songs competing to represent Finland in this year’s competition. This track is a great throwback to the ’80s synthpop and it delivers a witty glance at the timidness of the Finnish people that might result in a struggle to communicate one’s feelings. On the contrary to the Finnish language, love is a very commonly used word in English. It is used so frequently that some people might believe that the intensity this word is supposed to hold does not match the intensity of the emotion it is supposed to convey. This ordinariness of the English word love becomes the main gimmick of the track as well as the basis for a bit repetitive (at first glance) yet truly clever chorus when you consider the lyrical content of the song.
▌L’Impératrice
Peur des filles
Released earlier this month, ‘Peur des filles’ is the fourth single off the upcoming album Tako Tsubo from the French pop and disco six-piece L’Impératrice. The dreamy sounding synth track serves as a sarcastic response to the unfortunately pivotal component of the patriarchal world we live in—misogyny. As Flore Benguigui’s sweet vocals paint the hysterical picture of women as the monstrous creatures who desire to take the lives of men, the slick production of the song invites the listener to laugh it all off in the middle of the dancefloor, right under the shiny disco ball. With this track, L’Impératrice emphasizes the many insecurities that human beings, in this instance those of the masculine gender, feel and choose to fight off by using hatred as the weapon and the shield. Instead of defending ourselves by projecting the same hatred, the song encourages us to deal with it by using witty and clever humour and a charming groove.
ECHOWAVE MAGAZINE 