Bittersweet emotions are at the core of Jessie Scarlet’s ‘Side to Side’. ‘All my faith in you has died’ she sings, unleashing her inner emo in the process. It’s a display of anger, triumph and resilience bundled together.
Scarlet herself remains relatively new to solo releases, with ‘Side to Side’ being only the St Helens’ artist’s second. However, she’s far from new to music, having recorded and toured extensively with her previous band Scarlet.
Her previous solo release was ‘Runaway’, but the pop-rock of that single is far from the biting guitars of ‘Side to Side’.
A double-edged sword, the distortion can be wearing and her vocals sit too quietly within the mix. But that doesn’t mean the heavier recording style doesn’t aid Scarlet’s smart lyrics of revenge and karma.
Songs about these topics can sound sour, but ‘Side to Side’ has some impressively sharp ideas. Singing of a friend who seemingly abused her trust, it would be easy to be vengeful. But sounding far from spiteful, she moves on, wishing her adversary well while knowing that karma will find the individual sometime soon.
She even manages to include a spoken word section that may divide listeners. It’s abrupt and gutsy but has a pointed and brilliantly nasty tone that works within the song’s themes.
Above all, it’s admirable that Scarlet is able to write about this search for retribution without resorting to cliches, cynicism or acerbic language. Perhaps this is why ‘Side to Side’ is so cutting and clever, without ever being convoluted.
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