Single Review: Slip! by Aziya

There is a real attitude in this song. It is in the vocal delivery, the way words are spat out. It is in the lyrics, how there is a forced necessity to take action. Musically, this attitude can be found in the lower end, with the drums kicking up a storm. 

The song describes a person finding it difficult to enforce boundaries: “You're forcing feelings on me / I perk my lips / I can't breathe.” The aggression of the song comes from a place of affirmation, the explanation sign in the title entirely appropriate.   

When this song was born, I imagine it came into the world screaming. Despite the terror of such emergence, this baby would have been loved straight away.

Review by Glenn Robinson

Single Review: Forgive or Forget by Sarah Close

There is something beatlesque in this song. It is in the vocal melodies, I think. In some parts, the vocal variation occurs at the end of the third line, trailing off somewhere new, creating an emotional lift. The touch is light but the added sonic texture brings a human quirkiness and I am immediately disarmed. I want to listen. I am ready.    

The song is conversational in tone. It is a song about one lover on the cusp of a decision, who requires some form of disclosure from their partner. It is a song about a moment in time that could change the future of the relationship, where the call for truth becomes the highest value. 

It is a beautiful moment the song captures.

Review by Glenn Robinson

Single Review: Rare by Frances

Here you will find a careful and subtle articulation of an expressed love, rarified in a safe place where only two people exist. Listening to this song, reminds me of a distant chamber, far above the street noises below. The song is almost silent. Breathing in such a place can be difficult; the air thinner. There is comfort and understanding in this chamber. 

‘When somebody says you're different / When they open up a scar / When they stare until their heads remember / Who you are.’

There is an intimacy not only in the words but also how they are sung. Here you will find an imagined place that brings us closer to heaven. It is a place where the beloved is fully seen. It is a place where defences are not necessary.    

This sense of defencelessness is really what makes the song work. Defencelessness is so closely tied to intimacy, of being in a place of safety and vulnerability. 

This song reminds me of a rare form of desire, where the desire for comfort or not needing to be on one's guard, forges the way towards the road of acceptance.  

Review by Glenn Robinson

Single Review: Baby Queen’s These Drugs

If there is a PR team promoting Baby Queen’s new single ‘These Drugs’, I am certain I am not part of the demographic they are trying to reach. I am probably much older than any projected fan base. I am almost old enough to be the artist’s father. 

That said, I don’t really care because the song writing is good - it’s really good. 

I am not of the opinion that all the best years of rock and pop music is behind us. I think we have only just started and Baby Queen is evidence of that. She is the real deal. She weaves lyrical detail into her songs in such a natural artless way. It is marvelous. The imagery is of this time and I am convinced her words will ring true to many other young women who are listening.

Baby Queen is extremely literate and she drops the F Bomb with as much ease as any other word. 

‘These Drugs’ feels like it is written from experience. The song is complex, up front and honest about wanting to get clean from a drug habit. There is irony working through the song - there is the courage of delving into the subject matter but also the realisation that, “I told you I don’t need help because I lied to myself.”

This is why projected demographics don’t matter. The song is essentially about human struggle, something that none of us, if we are honest with ourselves, are unfamiliar with.

Review by Glenn Robinson