Watford’s own Clare Cordell has released her new single “Big Girl”, which in Clare’s words, is “a deep dive into how it feels to be a plus-sized artist in a world, more specifically an industry, where bigger isn’t always seen as better.”
You may recognise her, from the Voice UK, having done a cracking version of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way” and impressing the likes of Olly Murs and legend Tom Jones, going with him and reaching the quarter-finals.
Since then, she’s released an album that reached number 3 in the singer-songwriter charts called “No Stupid Ideas” and more recently, “Big Girl”.
It’s a very soft opening and Clare’s voice is incredibly gentle to begin with, but the lyrics are incredibly easy to pick up on due to this, which really tell the story of personal experiences, the feelings and how it can effect self-esteem, mental health and more.
Clare’s voice is verstatile, anthemic and powerful, the song is simple, but it’s pushes all the right boundaries, showcases her voice at her best and really elevates her.
The backing singers probably weren’t needed in my opinion, but they still added some flavour to the track, the backing instrumental blended in beautifully, with electric guitar taking centre-stage towards the end.
I imagine an acoustic version of this song would also be incredibly powerful.
As someone who has had issues with weight in the past, it did hit home a little bit for me, but I imagine it would hit the feelings of many, more than we expect, just because of the relatability factor, Clare has crafted this in a very gentle way, and it really adds to her flair, character and overall talent, she has a stunning voice.
Here song-writing is clearly very personal and her latest solo work really does pang that it is something incredibly important to her and has been driven from personal experiences, but something that can bravely be shared, opening up is a difficult thing for many, but Clare has done this really well through her music and it’s an easier way of doing so, and has made a beautiful track from it.
Overall, I think it would have been better with just Clare, rather than additional backing singers, but it’s still brilliant regardless, her voice has the power to go places, and I think her style of songwriting will take her far.
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