Tag: Katéa

Katéa – California Baby

“There’s the old mantra of ‘don’t bore us, get to the chorus’…”

Tim: There’s the old mantra of “don’t bore us, get to the chorus”, which is all well and good – no-one likes to be kept waiting for a song to get going, as we found out yesterday. On the other hand, sometimes it gets taken to an extreme, and then you feel a tad let down afterwards. For example.

Tom: Oh, that starts well!

Tim: Indeed – a massive start, indicating the song will also be huge throughout. Except, no, suddenly it’s as though the song starts as Wile E. Coyote running at top speed just as he passes the cliff edge, and then screeches to a halt and thinks “hang on, I can’t keep this up” and drops miles and miles and miles until it can drop no further.

Tom: That’s true, but I reckon it works: and it sounds a bit like OneRepublic. This is really, really good. I actually enjoyed that first verse.

Tim: Oh, it’s certainly not unenjoyable – it starts up again soon enough, that backing under the first verse is perfectly decent, and when the chorus comes back it’s just as good as it was the first time. To be honest, this would be a perfectly good enough song if it didn’t have that first chorus, and in my mind better as it wouldn’t suffer from the missed expectation. So start it 19 seconds in, I’ve no problems at all. Easy.

Tom: I’ll be starting it at the beginning, repeatedly. This is one of my favourite songs of the last few weeks, Tim — it’s good.

Katéa – That Ain’t Love

‘Stripped down to a level I’d call “brave”‘

Tim: Katéa’s new and off Finland, with a great big soulful ballad to start herself off with.

Tim: You see? Like many such ballads, it’s mainly about the chorus, but there’s a lot of good stuff happening in the verse – for a start, we’ve got the introduction to her vocals, which sound very good on their own.

Tom: Yes, they do: that first verse is stripped down to a level I’d call “brave”, but it still works. Even that slightly clunky “Call Me Al” reference doesn’t stand out too much.

Tim: On the other hand, bring in the backing vocals and up the volume for the chorus, and it sounds just marvellous. Well, I reckon it does, anyway.

Tom: Agreed: it means there’s a real contrast between the verse and chorus. I don’t think it’ll be on my playlist, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the talent and style that’s gone into this.