Since her joining YouTube in 2009, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that California-based singer/songwriter Kina Grannis has hit an all-time high in her career. With over 612 iTunes reviews on her first post-Tube album, ‘Stairwells’, aggregating to a 5/5 star rating, and over 10 million views on the music video for her single, “In Your Arms”, she is easily one of the popular video streaming service’s most renowned stars. It’s not without deserved reason either, as on far more than one occasion has she delivered the goods in terms of displaying the tip-top of her clever artistic ingenuity and honing in on it in every way imaginable on a track-by-track, performance-by-performance basis. If using nearly 300,000 Jelly Belly jelly beans to create a single music video is in and of itself a supreme unique talent and showing of patience, but it was first in Ms. Grannis’ natural skills as a pure songstress that she touched the hearts of millions.
Recently, the online sensation announced the impending release of a new album entitled ‘Elements’ that is set to be released on May 6, 2014. Along with that announcement, she also released the first single from off of the album: “The Fire” . In many ways, this track is unlike anything Grannis has done in the pass, exchanging the sweet, strummy acoustic-driven tunes of which ‘Stairwells’ was comprised for something significantly more sophisticated in its design. Sonically, it features several layers of ethereal vocal production which, alongside an instrumental backing comprised of a myriad of electric instruments and percussion with a bit more of an “oomph” to it than in past tunes, make for an appealing indie pop-style arrangement that wouldn’t feel out of place on current Top 40 radio alongside such artists as Lorde.
This isn’t to say that Kina Grannis is selling out to the newly popular indie scene, however, but rather adapting her artistry to something new– something more evolved. “The Fire” is of a masterclass design; it’s the type of song that doesn’t come along every day despite its being such a good fit for the modern-day radio. It features a high degree of complexity in its composition and arrangement, but it’s Grannis’ vocals laid on the track that really bring it home at the end of the day. She convincingly conveys the story of a shocking debacle suddenly thrown into her love life by the unfortunate other half through her quiet, gentle croon. The amount of thought she had to have put into the execution of her vocal alone shows in spades when analyzing the quality of the track, which is top-notch.
Basically, if you’re looking for a brand new indie track to get you through the day, you couldn’t do much better than “The Fire”.
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