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.
“Here We Go (Uh Oh)” — Coco Jones ★★★★★
Coco Jones is a multi-talented artist. She’s a singer and an actress who recently won a Grammy this year for her single “ICU.” I cannot get over her vocals, and “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” didn’t disappoint in the slightest. I listened to this song many times and I will continue to do so for the next week. The soulfulness of the song makes you really feel for her and potentially yourself, if you take it that way. The song reflects the cycle of heartbreaks and loss. The dynamics in this song are perfect. I really resonated with them. I wouldn’t change a thing and I loved every second of it. I could listen to this if I was sad, but, because it’s so good, I can also listen to it when I’m happy. This is something I think a lot of sad songs don’t have: duality. If “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” is anything like the songs that are going to come out in her debut album, I am going to be her biggest fan.
“run!” — WILLOW ★★★☆☆
You might know WILLOW from her songs “Wait a minute!” and “transparent soul.” Something I really like about WILLOW is the alternative rock, funk theme going on throughout her music, and she carried that into “run!.” This song reminded me of her song “transparent soul.” I love alternative rock and funk, so her dropping another song made my day. The heavy bass and the amazing guitar work really energized me and brought me out of my sleepy daze. Her voice has really developed throughout her music career, and this song reflects that with the usage of different chords than she normally uses and more of a whisper tone versus the louder volume in her previous music. The only thing I didn’t like about the song was the repetition which happened a lot. She was at least by what the lyrics were stating running for a long time. The reason she repeated the song over and over was to induce a state of panic and fear of confrontation. But by the end of the song I was ready for it to be over. Maybe I don’t like the feeling of perpetual panic, so, for me, this song lacks the ability to be played on repeat which is a huge loss.
“Love Me Not” — Ravyn Lenae ★★★★☆
This song really surprised me in the beginning. When I first turned it on, I thought it was going to be slow. I was ready to skip it and look for a different song. I was delighted when the drums started playing and she started singing after a few too many seconds. Lenae’s voice is very striking and it was ultimately the reason I continued listening — she has a high placement along with softness and breathiness. It’s perfect. As I continued listening to the song some of the lyrics stood out to me: “oh, it’s hard to see you, but I wish you were right here.” I think the pop-like guitar vibe is coming back to the music industry, and this song is going to be one of the reasons. It has really meaningful lyrics, but you can kind of ignore them and live in peaceful bliss like a lot of other pop music on the radio. When you break it down, there’s a lot to unpack in this song and I really appreciate that. “Love Me Not” feels like separating yourself from someone because it’s better for you and not because you dislike them or hate them. One problem I have with this song is the lack of lyrics. Because the piece was more than three and a half minutes long, I expected more content.
