Welcome to “Cut Through the Noise,” an entertainment column from the St. Louis Park Echo covering new music releases. Every week, a different Echo staffer takes on the role of writer, reviewing recent single releases from a variety of artists.
“Change is Gonna Come (feat. Remi Wolf)” — Norah Jones ★★★★★
Singer, songwriter and pianist Norah Jones just released the single “Change” featuring singer Remi Wolf — who you might know from American Idol. A while ago, I went to a concert and Remi Wolf was the opener so I was super interested in listening to this song when I saw that she was featured. “Change” was released on Feb. 1 and is very slow — the lyrics are very clear, allowing you to carefully digest the lyrics and their meaning to you. The lyrics of the song ask questions and the beat throughout the entire song is grounding. It invites you to relax and listen. At the same time, the questions within the lyrics encourage a deep dive into oneself — this is a blessing and a curse. If you want to think about the complex lyrics, this would be a song for you. If you aren’t feeling an existential crisis, both artists have amazing songs without as many subjective lyrics. Their voices are perfect, matching the accompaniment flawlessly. They are soothing and pronounced at the same time. I would highly recommend listening to these artists and this song.
“Save Me” — Britti ★★★★☆
Britti is brilliant. Within her music, she talks about heartache, dreams and uncertainty. Her voice is delightful and the melodies that she chose to use make her voice a centerpiece to the music. This is one of the songs from her first album released Feb. 2. The songs are all so beautiful, but this one stands out because of how central her voice is and how much it reflects her musical genre in a beautiful and flourishing manner that does not stray off but instead makes something profound within the boundaries in a way we don’t get to see as much anymore. I had never heard of her before looking into her album and I was pleasantly surprised. I recommend giving her new album and previous music a listen. I will listen to this album. I really enjoyed the song, but it’s not a song that I could listen to all the time.
“Honest Test” — Declan Mckenna ★★★★☆
Known for the song “Brazil,” Declan Mckenna is an English singer-songwriter. Recently Mckenna released a new album, and a song that stood out to me was “Honest Test”. The lyrics and accompaniment are positive — a rosy retrospection, if you will. The song feels like you are at the beach, and you can feel the waves and the sun. It opens up almost as a way to air negative things out in a positive way. “Honest Test” makes it easy to escape the pressures of the world while you are listening. Mckenna himself moved from the United Kingdom to LA and you can hear this transition in his life inside of the song itself. He talks about being in the sunlight — this implies that he hasn’t been in the sun for the beginning of his life and only now he is. California positivity and the beach are the common themes throughout the song, but this makes for the perfect song for rainy weather. When you are down this song will bring you back up. This song is reflective of positive change in life due to the whimsy background music that goes great with his voice. I would recommend giving this song a listen. I hold this song and Mckenna to a high position, though it might be unfair. While it was a great song, he has produced better music in the past.
