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.
‘better left unsent’ — Morgan Dudley ★★★☆☆
‘better left unsent’ by Morgan Dudley started off promising but ended up being a little too short and simple. Morgan Dudley is a new artist and just starting to release music. She’s best known from her role in the movie “Descendents: Rise of the Red.” The song starts off with a slower beat accompanied by quiet strumming on the guitar before moving into the lyrics. The song is about a broken love which you can tell from the lyrics “You’re nothin’ but a master manipulator, a relationship dictator.” Her lyrics bring out emotion and the intense words make you feel for her. The rhythm in the background of the song with the guitar really helps accentuate the lyrics and although I feel like the lyrics were really good, there could definitely be more emotion in how she sings. There were two verses, a pre-chorus and a chorus so I feel like the song went very fast. When I listened to the song multiple times it started to get repetitive, even though there were lots of factors that could have made it good. I think if there were more lyrics and less pauses with just music, it could make the song much more interesting. I would recommend checking this song out if you are looking for songs that you can put on in the background rather than a specific song you can listen to over and over.
‘Can You Die From a Broken Heart’ — Nate Smith & Avril Lavinge ★★★★★
“Can You Die From a Broken Heart” sung by Nate Smith and Avril Lavinge has so much emotion. It’s a song I could listen to over and over. Each artist signs their own verse and then joins in with the other for a duet at certain times. Their voices work extremely together and make the song very enjoyable. The instruments in the background, such as the guitar, also help highlight their voices. One of my favorite lyrics in this song was when Nate Smith sings “Oh, bless those friends givin’ me sorrys and sympathies. Know they’re just tryin’ to help.” I like this lyric because it’s true sometimes people don’t understand you may just need space and need to heal on your own. Throughout the song, Nate Smith and Avril Lavinge both sing their own parts which are similar but also different in their own way. In the different verses, there’s the same lyric that they both sing and then during their solo parts they will mix it up and put their own spin on a verse. For me, there was nothing that I didn’t enjoy about the song. You can tell the artists put their heart and soul into singing it so the result was truly amazing. This song is perfect if you want to sing along and I would recommend it to anyone who likes songs that are more country.
‘Force of Nature’ — Lizzy McAlpine ★★★☆☆
You may know singer and songwriter Lizzy McAlpine from her popular song “ceilings” that she released in 2022. I was excited to listen to this song but to my surprise, it disappointed me. It’s a slower song and I couldn’t get into it. The song is about a breakup and it sounds very melancholy from the start to the finish. In the background of her singing there’s a strum of an electric guitar that’s more quiet and faded. The tempo is very slow and to me the song was very repetitive and long. Something I did like about the song was the lyrics. I think they were really well written and with a little more energy and background music in the song, it would have gotten a higher rating from me. A lyric from the song that I enjoyed was “I know I had a hand in the crashing of the sword, the crashing of the car, no one could stop it,” because her voice sounded terrific during that section and you can feel the sadness from her lyrics and voice. This song does remind me of “ceilings” but from just the beginning where it’s slower. This song had no part where the beat and lyrics change, it really has the same tone the whole time. I wish I could have enjoyed this song more but it wasn’t what I was expecting and I couldn’t find myself listening to it again. I would recommend this song to anyone who likes slower paced songs.
