CHARLOTTE EP Review: a confident, powerful and rousing collection
By Jimmy G
“Who knew that a debut EP about such emotionally rich material could be so uplifting?”
The last time I spoke to CHARLOTTE, it was April 2019; the first of her songs “I Tell Lies” had just been released and she was eagerly anticipating the release of her debut EP “Nowhere to Hide”.
It feels like the interview took place only a handful of weeks ago but since April, CHARLOTTE’s career has jettisoned with ultra-supersonic speed.
It would be impossible to list all her achievements in the past year here, but opening for MIKA and Lewis Capaldi, sold out headline shows, millions of streams and performing at a number of some of the world’s most acclaimed festivals does make us wonder if CHARLOTTE actually has had time to sleep or perform other basic human functions.
We love her most recent track, All My Life, released in November, as it really shows off CHARLOTTE’s vocal finesse whilst carrying a raw, emotional tone-it’s well worth checking out. But today we want to talk about her EP; which demonstrates her ability to craft a really worth-while collection.
Nowhere to Hide, released last year is a confident, powerful and rousing collection of pop ballads with a soulful choral punch to match. When artists talk about vulnerability in their records, we expect stripped back and quiet records to echo that sentiment but CHARLOTTE bursts that presumption with four songs about showcasing one’s insecurities and anxieties but doing so with strong vocals, honest lyrics and compositions so ear-wormingly good, you’ll be humming them for the weeks to come. Who knew that a debut EP about such emotionally rich material could be so uplifting?
Track Breakdown
“I Tell Lies” is perhaps the most uniquely composed of the songs on the EP, easing us in with just a handful of gentle simple guitar chords and bare vocals before the track picks up with a oh-so-good, toe-tappingly great percussion beat and interesting, varied vocals as the singer reflects on the past but most importantly looks to the future.
“Nervous” is another track that perfectly showcases CHARLOTTE’s soul/pop concoction. Lyrically, this song tackles the eponymous nervousness someone can feel when around a romantic interest which -cleverly- affects the style of the track, playing with an enjambement style (ten points if you remember that word from GCSE English) and a variety of ranges and weights in the vocals.
With verses and phrases that stick in your head – “like my body forgets its language- it’s as if CHARLOTTE has the unique gift of putting those hard-to-describe feelings around a romantic interest articulately and gracefully into a song.
CHARLOTTE
Image: The Orchard.
“Just Me”- there’s a reflective beauty in it which for the majority of the song consists of just CHARLOTTE’s powerhouse voice and a piano, with the track ramping up at the end with powerful strings and backing choral vocals. It feels the most exposed of the tracks and works well to highlight CHARLOTTE’s seemingly cathartic and therapeutic approach to song writing.
“Somebody to hold” is a blissfully sweet soul ballad, it’s stunningly built together and feels perhaps the most realised of the tracks, with a chorus that will knock you straight off your feet and musical moments which feel bare and honest. Lyrically, this encompasses what this EP seems to be about, for CHARLOTTE and all her anxieties and insecurities, there’s “nowhere to hide” anymore.
You can listen to CHARLOTTE’s latest releases here, including her most recent track All My Life, which we love. Follow any future upcoming tour dates here.