Tag: Gabrielle

Gabrielle feat. Thomas Eriksen – Ti Kniver

“It’s very, very difficult to pull off “morose” in a song like this.”

Tim: We haven’t featured Gabrielle since last August’s (exquisitely reviewed) #SitterHer; let’s fix that.

Tim: That’s quite a lovely track – it’s been a while since we’ve had a decent dance ballad, and though I can’t say I was screaming out for one. I certainly won’t complain about it.

Tom: I will!

Tim: Yeah?

Tom: It’s not dancey enough to be dance, and not ballady enough to be a ballad. It occupies a middle ground, and while that can be fine, the melody and production just aren’t good enough to balance the two.

Tim: Really? Because I reckon the production’s great on it, and the melody of the singing is lovely, albeit morose.

Tom: Morose! That’s the word. That’s why I don’t like it all that much. It’s very, very difficult to pull off “morose” in a song like this.

Tim: Strange, because I think it works well. Ti Knivers means Ten Knives, so to be honest I’m not sure I want to hunt down the lyrics to translate them. I’ll just assume she’s dedicating this song to a really tough steak, and then I can forget about any potential violence issues, as long as I also forget about the rather odd ‘bitch’ that comes out of nowhere.

Tom: It’s always a little unnerving, that. English swearing seems to be powerful in nearly any language.

Tim: The singing itself with the slightly odd variant of autotune it’s got going on strangely doesn’t bother me – in fact, I really rather like it. Basically, as long as we selectively forget certain bits, #lovely.

Tom: Involuntary cringe at that hashtag, there.

Tim: YOU’RE WELCOME.

Gabrielle – #SitterHer

“I don’t think anyone likes hashtags in song titles.”

Tim: I’ll be honest: I don’t think anyone likes hashtags in song titles except marketing suits (and perhaps Oscar Zia, who took a strange amount of pleasure singing them). Still, they seem to be a thing now, so let’s try not to let it get #InTheWay.

Tom: I don’t like the way this is going.

Tim: So, #SitterHer is a nice song. The title translates to #SittingHere, and I think that fits with the song very well.

Tom: Stop it.

Tim: Stop what? This is a #JauntyNumber – gives a nice #Impression of sitting around, #EnjoyingYourself, not worrying about anything really. Singing a little bit, with a #SmileOnYourFace, maybe even swaying gently #FromSideToSide.

Tom: Just stop it.

Tim: Seriously, stop what? Lyrics, well, I have #NoIdea what they’re about as I #DontSpeakNorwegian, but I’m #StrugglingToImagine that they’re particularly negative. All in all, #Listening to this song is a really #RatherEnjoyable #Experience. Though actually, #NotAsEnjoyable as I’ve found #WritingAboutIt. #AnythingToAdd?

Tom: There should be a way to punch people in the face through the internet.

Gabrielle – Regn fra blå himmel

I got distracted during that first verse and then woke up during that chorus.

Tim: First single off her second album, this is.

Tom: And just to repeat, again: “not that Gabrielle”.

Tim: What we have here is a song you start playing, think ‘yeah, it’s alright’, get distracted reading something or other, and end up missing the blinder of a chorus that the verses really don’t do justice to. So if you missed it, go back and have another listen. It’s worth it.

Tom: That’s actually exactly what happened with me. I got distracted during that first verse and then, well, “woke up” during that chorus.

Tim: The verses are nice enough, sure, but they’re not really much out of the ordinary. That chorus, though, short as it may be, does come with some fantastic instrumentation to it which is brilliant. I just wish it was longer, and the verses were a bit shorter. Or perhaps just better. That’d be preferable, I think.

Tom: Agreed. It is a damn good chorus, though.

Gabrielle – Inn I Deg

She’s going with the “repeat the title endlessly in the backing”, then.

Tim: Gabrielle, previously featured here after producing Ring Meg as an X Factor 7th-placer’s single and Bordet as an X Factor 7th-placer’s follow-up single. This is Inn I Deg (Into You), and I’d call it…

Tom: An X Factor 7th-placer’s third single?

Tim: …an X Factor 7th-placer’s third single, yes, but (a) I’m bored of that, even if three singles from coming 7th is quite impressive and (b) it’s really quite something of a departure from previously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0FpwiEkRJo

Tim: You see?

Tom: She’s going with the “repeat the title endlessly in the backing”, then. Because that works so well every bloody time it’s used.

Tim: Here we have a very mainstream type of dubstep, and actually rather enjoyable – the voice comes across as a bit aggressive when its got the backing that I’d normally run a mile from, and seems to fit it perfectly.

Tom: I’m sure that dubstep purists – and yes, they exist – would say this doesn’t really count; it’s more like a standard dance beat slowed down with a bit of ‘wubwubwub’ occasionally added behind it. I can’t tell the difference all that well, though, so it’s close enough for me.

Tim: Well, that’s surely how every genre has to start off, before it can be accepted by a large amount of people – gradually work its way in, gently increasing and persuading people that actually, they can cope with it. If they go in too fast, they just get rejected outright – look what Keith Chegwin did for the idea of naked gameshows, for example.

Tom: That analogy worked so well until the very last moment, then it just took a horrific turn.

Tim: The lyrics, as far as I can tell, are about her finally realising that she quite likes the bloke she’s with, and wants to stay with him; I’m not really sure the tone of the music fits with that sort of feeling, but it seems to work – once I’ve heard that vocal, I can’t really imagine anything else as a backing track, and I’m fairly sure that’s a sign of something going well.

Tom: There’s just a bit too much “Inn I Deg” for me.

Gabrielle – Bordet

That chorus is really rather lush.

Tim: No, not that Gabrielle, this Gabrielle. Remember her? If you don’t, don’t worry, just listen to this one.

Tom: Start your new video with your old track – that’s confidence, right there.

Tim: Well? I like this. I won’t say it’s exactly what the pop music scene is looking for, because that’s not true. It’s not far off, though – it’ll fit in nicely, not offend too many people.

Tom: That chorus is really rather lush, though, isn’t it? It goes all, well, big after a fairly quiet verse.

Tim: If it had English lyrics it’d go nicely on a daytime radio playlist, but as it is, I’m sure Norway will be perfectly happy with it.

Tom: What’s the Norwegian equivalent of Radio 1? I can see them playing this.

Tim: Two final notes: disappointed as I am to say it, it’s a lot better than much of what our X Factor seems to be coming up with at the moment and also, I’ve just noticed that YouTube reckons Jizz In My Pants is a related video. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions there.

Gabrielle – Ring Meg

Repeatedly surprised by bridges.

Tim: Welcome to London, Norwegian X Factor 7th-placer! While you’re here, why not film your next music video?

Tim: Now, we’ve featured our fair share of tracks with foreign lyrics here, but for the first time right now, I feel I’m actually hearing this as a load of random syllables. Not sure why, because it’s fairly obvious what the song’s all about – well, I assume it is, given the the title translates to ‘Call Me’ and there are phones all over the place – but I just can’t help it.

Tom: I reckon that’s because the quality of her vowels, with the autotune effect she’s got, is very close to English – so rather than parsing it as ‘foreign language’, your brain hears nonsense English.

Tim: Well, whatever the reason is, I’m not so bothered about that, because the music’s good, chirpy, upbeat and all that, and it’s nice and sunny in the video – my personal highlight of which, by the way, is her utterly ridiculous purple and red car which I would LOVE to see someone actually driving around London in.

Tom: I like how she seems to be repeatedly surprised by bridges. Every time her boat goes under one, she stares up like it’s the first one she’s ever seen. A road! Over water! AMAZING.