Severine – Feel The Rain
I don’t know where the shortsighted notion of pop music being nothing more than two minute hook-laden jingles came from, but I find that it’s destroying contemporary music more than anything else in our modern culture. Pop doesn’t have to limit itself to the commercial ethos of big major labels and their A&R departments.
It doesn’t have to cave in to the demands of trends being perpetuated by corporate America or the drones that would see it trample over everything organic left in our country. Pop can be larger than life, poignant, evocative and stimulating in the same sense that jazz or classical music can be; it just takes an artist with the integrity, character and depth of soul to show us what the genre can really do.
I listened to Severine’s new record Feel The Rain the other day, ahead of its release date, and I couldn’t have been more impressed with what I heard. Here we have a pop singer who is committed to singing about more than just sex and endless partying; we have an artist who wants to share with us her innermost thoughts and dreams, all with the goal of connecting with mankind in a way that can only be defined as ethereal.
The epic title track in Feel The Rain was enough to convince me that Severine belongs on every critic’s “Breakout Stars of 2018” list, but it’s far from the only reason I would give you to pick up a copy of her debut album.
The song struts with a confidence that contradicts the chaotic discord that the lyrics infuse with an elegiac melody, and even when it feels like we’re about to be swallowed up whole by the dirge and depression of the minor key wall of sound that’s engulfing us, Severine and her heavenly voice are there to rescue us from the storm and bring us somewhere safe and insular.
Down the Rivers, Still Alive and Not Obsessed play off of this same theme, exploiting the tense environment generated from instrumentation just enough for us to really appreciate Severine when she finally releases us into freedom.
Feel The Rain is a sublimely cerebral glimpse into the future of pop and the audiological twists and turns that it can present to us when realized in such crystal clear audio by an artist devoted to originality. Severine is unlike any other singer/songwriter I have listened to in 2018, and if I’m being honest, one of the more sensible pop singers I’ve heard in the latter half of the 2010s.
She isn’t trying to be a part of a movement or revive a dying scene, and she doesn’t come off as an artist with financial gains on the brain 24/7. Severine is a musician for the sake of playing beautiful music for a sad and lonely world; all she asks in return is for us to hear her songs and take from them what we will to make our lives and interpersonal relationships better. She’s precisely the popstar that we need right now, and Feel The Rain is her official foray into primetime.
If you enjoyed a sneak peek at Feel The Rain, check out the official website for Severine by clicking here. Give her a like on Facebook by clicking here. Give her a follow on Instagram by clicking here & on Twitter by clicking here.
