Illustration by Isaac Wert

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.

“Lighter” — Galantis, David Guetta, Five Seconds of Summer ★★★★☆

“Lighter” is sure to be a song played this spring as its upbeat tempo just makes you think about summer. This track takes a bright beat with an EDM-reminiscent beat drop and puts over David Guetta’s happy vocals to create a dance song that makes you want spring to come even faster. This song also features Five Seconds of Summer, who have historically created more rock music and so I had questions as to how that would translate into the pop sound of David Guetta and Galantis, but I was not disappointed. The song still has the same upbeat feel of many of David Guetta and Galantis’s previous music while having the Five Seconds of Summer stamp on it as well. Because of the catchy beat and more cheesy and generic lyrics, this is sure to be a radio hit and a song of the summer. My only question would be whether it was released too early before people wanted the upbeat dance music that they would in the summer, or if it will still manage to become a big pop hit. I, for one, can’t wait to see what they do next. 

“Teardrops” — Liam Payne ★★★★☆

Liam Payne releases his fourteenth single in the form of “Teardrops.” His song contains emotionally charged lyrics focusing on his mistakes in past romances and the heartbreak that followed. The song shows off Payne’s upper register, with the chorus being sung mostly in his head voice to add a dynamic shift from the verses. The song starts out simple and a little slow with Payne’s solo vocals and a simple beat behind him. It slowly builds from there before exploding in a catchy chorus that will be stuck in my head for days. My only issues with this song is that it sounds kind of generic and similar to some of his earlier music or akin to a mid-2000s Justin Timberlake, making it kind of forgettable. Overall, I would put it in a category of songs wherein I would not be mad if someone played it for me or if I heard it around somewhere, but I would never play it for myself. 

“Messed Up As Me” — Keith Urban ★★★☆☆

Keith Urban’s “Messed Up As Me” represents nothing new from the country singer. The song is something that definitely goes along the grain of his past music and sounds fairly similar. He takes a decent beat and adds his vocals over it, which are not the strongest vocals he has performed. Urban’s lyrics are decent but they also fit into the commonly used country tropes about love and heartbreak that many country singers often use and rely on when they make music as well. He uses this time to talk about serious issues to him but he does it in a way that causes it to blend into the background of the song and be kind of forgotten about. Urban also has a very strong country voice that I have heard in some of his other songs and that did not seem to show up in this song. His voice didn’t fill out the song the way that I have heard him do in the past. Overall, it was just an OK song. I think the song said what Urban wanted it to say, but that is about all that it accomplished.