“This time is the last time / I’ll be actin’ like a landmine” croons the captivating Nya in her new single “Love You to Death,” which sees the up and coming pop singer delivering one of the most stirring lead vocals of the season. Her voice emits an evocative tone in every word that she utters, but its textures are nothing compared to the eviscerating quality of the lyrics, which are unquestionably her most cutting verses yet. “Love You to Death” is a brilliant look for this deeply talented songwriter, and furthermore, it’s a single that lives up to all of the hype surrounding its release.
The keys in this track are stoic and colorless, which creates a tremendous amount of contrast with the synthesized melodies that dart between our speakers sporadically. The synths are almost fluorescent, and though their tone conflicts with that of the keyboard, it’s in this discordance that Nya channels the mood in “Love You to Death.” She isn’t casting a spell using her bittersweet serenade exclusively; she’s using literally every sonic weapon at her disposal to forge a larger than life wall of harmonies capable of destroying anything that gets in its path.
YOU TUBE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H18iIBAoKQc
Everything is built around the vocal track, from the instrumental melodies to the structure of the beats, but Nya’s performance never devolves into overindulgent territory. Admittedly, grandiosity is a main component of this composition, but for every over the top frill present here, there’s a deliberately minimalist facet to balance out the sound. Nya isn’t a one-note performer, and she’s demonstrating just how complex a musical profile she’s boasting at this stage of her career. She’s come a long way in a relatively short amount of time, and this is definitely some of her most refined material to see widespread release thus far.
The percussion, in all of its black and white glory, adds to the tension in the chorus enormously, and arguably makes the climax in “Love You to Death” all the more engaging. The music video for the song is sensuously surreal, playing out like a cerebral piece of Hollywood cinema, but it’s the minor subtleties, like this drum pattern, that keep it from slipping into inaccessible avant-gardism. The shots are spaced out in a dreamlike sequencing that can be a bit overwhelming in some spots, but overall, it’s an extension of the postmodern pop stylishness that listeners will find in an abundance on the track by itself.
AMAZON: www.amazon.com/Love-You-Death-Nya/dp/B07NMWSZZ2
“Love You to Death” is a must-listen for pop fans, and I think that it could be one of the most enticingly erotic indie pop songs out at the moment. Both the video and the single are sublimely fashioned in high definition textures, but there’s a defiant, rebelliously DIY aesthetic in play here that alternative buffs will not only pick up on instantly, but are likely to take solace in, especially considering the spike in plasticity that we’ve heard in American pop music lately. This is a step in the right direction for Nya’s genre, and moreover, the forthcoming music of this amazingly skilled singer/songwriter.
Clay Burton