Released last week, the UK's newest shining star Olivia White has revealed her latest stunning single Unrequited. This stellar new pop anthem contains everything you could ever want, catchy chorus' and electrifying melodies. Describing 'Unrequited' as “about that day that you finally wake up and realise you are no longer affected by a person who hurt you.”
We caught up with Olivia White earlier this week to discover her five all time favourite songs...
Lorde - The Louvre
As much as I do enjoy Lorde’s new album, Melodrama will always have a special place in my heart. When Melodrama came out, I was so lost in trying to grow up and figure my life out and this feeling is exactly what that album is about. The song The Louvre is such a defining song on the album. The Louvre is about having a love so great, it should be displayed in the Louvre. The melody and bass line in “The Louvre” is reminiscent of the song Still Sane from her first album. The similarity between the two tracks enhances the psychosis and “Still Sane” denies it. The Louvre is one of the more upbeat songs on the album. I am obsessed with how out there Lorde’s music is. There is one lyric in the song that goes ‘Broadcast the boom, boom, boom, boom and make 'em all dance to it.’ This is potentially my favourite line of the entire album, who else would put that lyric in a song? There are no rules when it comes to her writing. This song is such a feel good track with catchy melodies and the perfect way to finish my five songs I love.
Taylor Swift - Epiphany
This is one of the most incredible songs to be released during the COVID-19 pandemic. The song is a dedicated to healthcare workers, who have sacrificed so much over the past year and half. Her perceptive on the entire pandemic is so refreshing. We have all been so deeply affected by the pandemic and it could be very easy to not consider the pain that others are feeling. I love that instead of writing a song about the pain she has felt since the pandemic, she decided to shed light on the people battling the pandemic every single day. The lyrics ‘Something med school did not cover. Someone’s daughter, someone's mother. Holds your hand through plastic now. Doc, I think she's crashing out’ for me, are the most important lyrics from the whole album. The lyrics are so realistic and current. We have all seen the videos and photos of people hugging their loved ones through plastic sheets. This is something that has almost become normal, however if we saw these videos before 2020 none of it would make any sense. The lyric also highlights that no one has any training for anything like this. Our healthcare workers are having to learn on the job. No one was prepared for this.
Vance Joy - Call Me If You Need Me
Vance Joy has so many amazing songs, but this one really stands out for me. The first thing I love about this song, is the structure. The song does not follow the usual structure that most artists follow. There are two verses, split by a round of layered harmonies. The second verse comes in, sung in a pushed vocal placement. This is then the end of the song. The song itself is over two minutes and thirty seconds, however he manages to say so much in this time. The lyrics in this song are very matter of fact. They discuss multiple different events that happened in within a relationship. I love this honesty. It's like having a window into a relationship. I definitely think this song is about young love and all the feelings that come with your first love. The lyric writing is so unique and special to me.
Glass Animals - Heat Waves
This song is definitely a very recent favourite of mine. This song came out in 2020 however when I first heard it, it almost made me nostalgic. I felt like I had heard this specific song one hundred times before. I’ve read an interview with Glass Animals where they explain how the song came to be. They explained that they wrote this song in under an hour, and we can really feel that within the song. There is such a nice, easy flow through out the song. This gives the song almost an upbeat feel to it. Upon further research into this song, I discovered that this song is about the death of someone close to you. It’s such a unique perspective on the feeling of grief. This song provides a safe space for that grief. I find that so many songs discussing grief are very heard to listen to when you are in that place, due to the content of the lyrics. I love that this song creates the energy that you are allowed to feel sad and remember a person that you miss, without the feeling becoming overwhelming. The line ‘sometimes all I think about is you’ is really one that defines the entire song.
Frank Ocean - White Ferrari
This song has been my favourite since the first moment I heard it. I remember listening to it for the first time and being so overwhelmed by the song, even though I wasn’t entirely sure what the song was about. The lyrics in this song are so ambiguous. There is no clear meaning in each sentence. This means each person can really take away their own meaning from the song and relate it to their own life and feelings. One day I decided to do a deep dive into the meaning on this song, and the message Frank Ocean was trying to get across. I discovered that the song is about losing your innocence, potentially too early. It was so interesting to me, because I had never thought about the song in this sense, but as soon as I realised the meaning everything clicked into place. I think this is a sentiment that we can all relate to. The feeling that we had to grow up too fast. That’s the thing that I love most about Frank Ocean’s song writing, that is it so relatable. This ambiguous writing allows each individual listener to create their own meaning to each song.
You can listen to Olivia White's latest single 'Unrequited' here...