Over the weekend, I finally gave myself time to listen to Emily King's debut album East Side Story and absolutely loved it. Sure, I could kick myself for catching on so late (the album was released 28th Aug), but best to be late than never. The 22-year-old hits out with a compelling album with R&B and Hip Hop influences. She is also the daughter of Jazz duo Marion Cowings and Kim Kalesti so being introduced to music came to her at a very young age. But her album is everything short of jazz and doesn't really follow in her parents musical direction. In fact, listening to the album reminds me of a more contemporary-sounding Alicia Keys/Lauryn Hill. I love the track "Alright". She samples Bruce Hornsby's "That's Just The Way It Is" but Hip Hop listeners would become more familiar with the sample as it was also used on Tupac's "Changes".Her vocal delivery is pretty melodic but not of powerhouse caliber. Still, she has a really good voice that you can listen to over and over without the yodeling or the screaming which comes natural to many R&B singers when they try to hit notes outside of their range. You won't find that on here and despite all the emotional content, there are songs of blissful happiness like "U & I". Songs like "East Side Story" unveils her pains and her struggles. Her lead single "Walk In My Shoes" expresses the difficulties that she's also encountered. Other tracks that scratch the surface of the emotional roller-coaster include three of my favourite stand-outs "Hold Me", "It Was You", & "Never Be Lonely".
But one track that did catch my ear was "Colorblind" which was deep and heartfelt because she sings about what she had to endure from a society and its conflicting prejudisms towards interracial relationships seeing as though she is the creation of one herself. Last year, my contributor Etienne also had the opportunity to meet and see Emily in concert when she supported Floetry. Back then, she wasn't all that known yet but he was so impressed he had to write about her in THIS blog entry. Having said that, the album touches on a lot of concepts and as she wrote a lot of the songs, you just know that she's singing with her heart on her sleeve, which makes it all the worth listening to. This album is quite a journey from beginning to end and an absolute joy to listen to. Rating: 4/5.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment