And now a quick visit to planet pop . Now you’ll usually find us recoiling like a vampire trapped in sunlight from artists touted as the next big pop sensation (unless of course it’s us doing the touting ;) ). We don’t particularly agree with the view that this is a golden era for “pop” (as a genre) because we don’t believe The Guardian sets the cultural agenda but we have to confess that there is something VERY special about New Your City’s VÉRITÉ. We’re not too interested in the fact that she’s apparently one of the most blogged about artists of late, has been number 1 on Hype Machine and has had thousands of soundcloud plays, because without sounding like Mark Twain (lies: lies, damned lies and statistics) these sort of stats may on the surface look impressive, but often come to naught. What really does matter is the quality of the songs and the two she’s released so far are as good a brace of pop songs as you’re likely to hear. The sort my Dad would have called “belters” :)
Sure it’s slickly produced and full of on- trend “oh-ohs” (not you will note “Ey ohs”, which would have us stabbing our ears with knitting needles) , but what marks out VÉRITÉ out from much of the sumptuous yet empty designer coffee shop pop is the cool purity of her vocal and the simple fact that her songs aren’t just fucking good they are sensational. They dance the a fine line between being too polished and emotive but she has the musical chops to appreciate that subtlety and nuance are much underappreciated tools in the singers canon. Comparison wise you could say her songs are a mix of the laconic grace of Lana Del Rey with a touch of Madonna in her pomp and a dash of the epic soaring electropop of Chvrches.
Her first tune ‘Strange Enough’ is an ode to nostalgia and ruminates on how we only remember the good time whilst her latest offering ‘Weekend‘ she tells us resides somewhere between “the exhilaration of you could bring me to life’ and the reality that we were only fooling ourselves into thinking we were alive while we distract ourselves from reality.” So now you know! Will she be the next big pop sensation ? Who knows, but on this evidence she deserves to be.
Tuneage