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.
‘S P E Y S I D E’ — Bon Iver ★★☆☆☆
Released on Sept. 20, “S P E Y S I D E” by Bon Iver starts out with a slow, relaxing guitar, before giving way to Iver’s melancholic voice. The song consists of four short verses, and by short I mean each verse consists of only five brief lines. If I could only use one word to describe this song, I would choose “simple.” The melody is basic and the lyrics are straightforward. Iver sings about resigning to a life where he “can’t make good,” though he wishes that weren’t the case. The short lyrics are redundant by repeating the same message, only with different words. The music video is also simple, and matches the wistful lyrics by switching between peaceful views of the ocean and Iver singing—the whole video is in black and white. Everything about “S P E Y S I D E” feels old fashioned, and while I think it can be a pretty and relaxing song, I gave it only two stars because of how slow it is. For a song lasting almost four minutes, there are hardly any lyrics. After listening to it a few times, I lost patience and got bored.
‘Somebody Else’s’ — Gwen Stefani ★★★★☆
“Somebody Else’s” by Gwen Stefani starts upbeat and lively. She sings about the relief of getting out of a toxic relationship, which also adds to a much more optimistic tone. In the line “I don’t know what a woman like me was doin’ with a man like you but now I got a love so true,” she reflects. “Somebody Else’s” has a similar feel as the songs from her “No Doubt” days. Although it has many elements from a Y2K pop song, it also has a hint of country, a genre she has become more involved in over the past few years. More recently she has been releasing country duets with her country star husband, Blake Shelton. The only reason I didn’t give this five stars is because it’s just not the genre of music I usually listen to in my free time. However, I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for an upbeat, hopeful and happy song, or anyone who’s a fan of Gwen Stefani. At 54 years old, she still releases music that will capture the admiration of fans.
‘WHITNEY’— Tommy Richman ★★★☆☆
“WHITNEY” is a new single released by Tommy Richman it will be the second track of his upcoming album, “COYOTE,” which will be available on Sept. 27. Richman rose to fame after his single “MILLION DOLLAR BABY” came out earlier this year, though he’s been releasing music since 2016. Since his newfound fame at 24 years old, he’s continued to release tons of new songs to occupy his fans. “WHITNEY” starts up without much warning and stops many times. This caused me to think my airpods were glitching the first time I listened to it. After listening a couple times, I was able to ignore the skips in the music, though it annoyed me at first. I found it hard to understand Richman unless I was looking at the lyrics while I was listening, something I’ve noticed about his other songs as well. However, that’s not to say I don’t think he’s talented. His songs and voice have an intriguing and unique quality about them. In his latest single, he sings about a relationship where the two people just don’t seem to click, though he wishes they did. I gave “WHITNEY” three out of five stars mainly because I didn’t like the “glitching” effect of the music. Although Richman is obviously talented, this song didn’t feel like anything special. It just made me think of a song that would be played at a roller rink. Despite that, I would still recommend checking this song out if you are a fan of Richman.
