Listening to
Rafaella’s new single Broken after
having reviewed previous release Nobody
Knows was a happy surprise. I definitely didn’t expect the neo-soul
influenced ballad which I heard, but this just meant I had to go back and
listen on repeat :)
Rafaella is
showing great versatility and I have so far really enjoyed the development of
her unique style. She has a distinctive and sophisticated combination of torch
song sensibility and slick electropop, a pairing which I haven’t encountered
much of in the current music scene. Broken
relies much more on instruments such as piano and electric guitar than it’s
drum pad and bass driven predecessor, with an earnest emotional openness and
choice touches in guitar lines and big sweeping violins.
There is a
true vulnerability and sincerity to this song, something which is very
refreshing. “Broken is a big part of who I am as a songwriter. It was probably
the first song [where] I was 100% honest with what I felt at the time,” says
Rafaella. She wrote the song “after going through a lot of pain and sleepless
nights,” and that it came together “in twenty minutes before a piano lesson!”
The openness of the raw song has been skilfully translated in the studio,
providing a track which is both emotionally turbulent yet musically balanced.
Ballads are
an easily exhausted format with a very real risk of being formulaic. In order
to stand out, there is a much greater pressure to be exceptional or different
in some way, but luckily Rafaella has managed to strike a finely tuned balance
between her influences which lends her work that little extra needed to carve a
niche. Broken is a skilfully created synthesis between retro and modern, a
Europop-electropop heartfelt medley of emotion. As a slower track without a
middle-eight it risks losing the interest of the modern, attention depleted
listener, but this is masterfully avoided with clever arrangement and
production. Broken uses quite a
variety of instruments, but uses them all well. It’s full enough to do justice
to the size of the vocals, but nothing is lost in the backing of the big
choruses. Most of all though, I’m really excited by Rafaella’s boldness in
releasing two very distinct singles, as opposed to relying on a formula.
Overall, I’m
really pleased that Rafaella has such a wide variety of influences and
directions in which she can go. I can’t actually predict where’s she’s going to
go next with the third single, which, in such an over-saturated market, is one
of the best possible signs of someone who is able sustain interest. I am very
keen to do another review.
Follow her @rafaellaxo on social media
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