British Singer/Songwriter and musician Lauren Aquilina has a resume many people her age and even older would envy. At only 18 years old, her music has already gained the attention of fans all over the world, with a recent sold-out gig performed in New York. She has also had her songs featured on British television teen drama Hollyoaks. Her second EP Sinner, has gained a great amount of critical acclaim, following the success of her debut EP Fools from 2012 and her nation-wide UK tour in the same year. Having begun her musical journey at the age of 13 with YouTube as her first major music outlet, she has garnered over 2 million views on the platform and managed to get Take That member Gary Barlow to take notice too.
“Let’s be sinners to be saints” is sung in the chorus of the EP’s title track “Sinners“. The release of this track was so successful with over 200,000 views on YouTube for the music video, that it was naturally turned into a UK single that placed well in the charts at #66. Sung with such powerful emotion and strong melodies for someone so young with the backing vocal harmonies entering the track so smoothly, “Sinners” creates such an commanding listening experience for the ears. The piano arrangements flow effortlessly against Lauren’s voice as she sings captivatingly drawing her listeners in. “Our hearts are too ruthless to break, let’s start fires for heaven’s sake” is sung repeatedly in the bridge in sync with banging drum patterns to increase the drama of the song to great results. Musical accompaniments ascend in pitch, till it falls again and ends on a beautiful high note for the end of the song. The intensity of the drama created by the musical backdrop makes “Sinners” great to listen to and lyrically, it is told like a story in the way that the music is constructed. It is essentially a love story that has the themes of passion and sacrifice evident in it, listen below:
“Sinners”:
“Mysterious and Pop” is the way “Ugly Truth” from the Sinners EP is described in the artists’ own words in a recent interview. Beautiful grand piano arrangements played by Lauren form the sonic bed of this song and make it the most defining feature of the song, along with catchy lyrics sung in an upbeat voice with excellent Pop sensibility especially in the chorus – altogether on “Ugly Truth”, Lauren Aquilina shows her great range, both vocally and musically. There is a very humbling quality to Aquilina’s voice – you can listen and enjoy her voice without feeling overwhelmed, or feeling that her vocals do not match up to the melody. She maintains a great median that exposes the great piano arrangements and the amazing musical skill employed for the song.
“Ugly Truth”:
In typical teenage angst fashion, “Talk To Me” as Aquilina describes it is about what happened when an old flame goes out of his way to avoid her afterwards. Beautiful melancholic violin compliments the piano arrangements that are delivered in a striking manner. Via lyrics such as, “Game after game we play, our twisted snakes and ladders, time for the rules to change” great imagery is displayed on this song as well as the metaphors that represent the struggles she encounters with the love interest which is expressed with lines like “there’s a universe inside your head, constellations of the things you left unsaid”. Holding glorious notes in parts of the song and being able to change her pitch expertly creates a great amount of variety on “Talk To Me” and out of all the songs on the Sinners EP, this one particularly shows off Aquilina’s Pop sensibilities the most and you can clearly see the potential it has to slot in anywhere on the U.K Singles charts.
“Talk To Me”:
Taking inspiration from her own life experiences, Lauren Aquilina expresses great talent as a songwriter on this new EP and her voice is almost beyond her years as she is able to vary the moods of her songs and have her voice match them so perfectly while carrying the listener along via every note and every word sung. Do yourself a favour and purchase Lauren Aquilina’s Sinners EP right NOW and while you’re at it, get a hold of her debut Fools EP too.
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Halimat Shode
