Musicians eh? They really need to learn some manners don’t they? And how to spell. Take Kailee Morgue – singer of internet hit Medusa. Now she’s back swearing like a trooper with F**k U, which let’s face it is pretty rude and follows the Prince school of spelling for the word You.
For those expecting some sort of aggressive sounding dirty rock beast of a song, or a sweaty funk work out and Kailee screaming like a banshee, sneering, spitting and shoving her angry finger in your face, prepare to be surprised. Because F**k U sounds adorably pleasing, with just Kailee’s candied voice and some stripped back instrumentation. Sometimes there’s a greater power in subtlety - it makes the words even stronger - like here, where there is no happy ending.
Kailee Morgue - F**k You
This week lots of music fans have been sharing their data online from Wrapped, the end of year feature from Spotify that shows the statistics behind your streaming habits. Yes, big brother is watching you (or rather listening to you) every time you play a song. My own personal statistics were of no surprise to me; the likes of Lorde, Hannah Peel, Lucy Rose, Stormzy and Alice Jemima being my most streamed artists. What I also found fascinating was that my listening tastes are similar to those of people a lot younger than me and that I listen to a lot of music in a genre called ‘post-teen pop’. Now I’m not quite sure what post-teen pop is, but if I were to hazard a guess, the second release from Kailee Morgue, Discovery, would probably fall into this category.
It’s the sort of pop music that has that edge, that added depth from the likes of pure mainstream pop, but is still full of melody and accessibility. Other artists we’d put in this category would be Chvrches, Oh Wonder, Sigrid, FKA Twigs, Broods, Robyn and right now, the queen of post-teen pop Lorde.
“I've been out here searching, all my bridges burning, kept my heart a virgin, for you,” sings Kailee of her relationship with something (music?) or someone. Whatever it is she’s discovered it seems to be her salvation. It's an immaculate pop ballad. Or rather a post-teen pop ballad.
Kailee Morgue - Discovery
The back story to Phoenix's Kailee Morgue and her music is that she tweeted a video clip of her singing a demo of her song Medusa back in January with the words “I apologize for my voice cracking and the unflattering angles but here's something I'm working on,” then a few months later she had been signed by Republic records, and the tweet had been retweeted over 45,000 times by October.
It’s impressive statistics, however they were achieved, but let’s all remember that there is often a massive disconnect between online numbers and the real world; I’ve been to see bands that have had millions of plays on Spotify playing to rooms of less than 50 people and vice versa I’ve seen artists that appear to have relatively small on-line statistics play to packed houses. Just because someone takes a second to favourite something on line doesn't mean they'll come to your show or invest any money into supporting you as an artist buy buying your products. There's more to it than that.
However, what matters as far as this blog is concerned is simply this; does the music do it for me? Irrespective of profile. And with this one, the answer is a resounding YES! Medusa is such a pretty electronic pop song that works because of some very straightforward things.
First its simplicity in its lilting dreamy construction; there’s nothing more than what needs to be there – it doesn’t need any extra polish or make up to make it sound just right. Second there’s the hooky chorus; “She looked right through me and I turned to stone,” will soon be bouncing around the inside of your brain. Guaranteed. Then third it’s Kailee’s highly palatable vocal delivery on the song – she has one of those girl-next-door voices that’s just really easy on the ears.
The question now is will Kailee be a one song wonder or something more? The fact that she’s already been signed to a label suggests that somebody thinks she can deliver. Let’s watch this space.
Kailee Morgue - Medusa
