Exclusive Review: Grace Bland 'Human'

Grace Bland is an 18 year old singer-songwriter and established musician who recently contacted us here at Hot Pink Music, letting us know about her new single Human. As an indie pop artist, her musical inspirations include amazing women like Maisie Peters, Lana Del Ray, Gabrielle Aplin and Orla Gartland. She’s managed to gain a tonne of experience performing at festivals like ‘Music in the City’, ‘Gosport Waterfront Festival,’ and many more. Grace has also been involved with the Open Mic UK competition, where she reached the finals and was able to perform at the O2 in London, an incredible achievement. She received several compliments from the panel of judges whilst competing, being described as ‘a star in the making’ and ‘authentic,’ leaving myself and Ruby here at Hot Pink Music excited to listen to the new track and learn a little more about Grace while doing so. Human is being released on the 27th of July, so Myself and Ruby are elated that Grace has willingly given us an exclusive listen before it's available to stream, so we can review it as well as hopefully help you discover a new artist to add to your daily playlists.

After listening to the track, I was immediately mesmerized by the candid lyrics. I think that the way Grace has authored the track so beautifully is a great way to address the actual topic of the song. Lyrics such as ‘I’m insecure when I get dressed, I leave my bedroom floor a mess And find it hard to like myself some days,’ can be so relatable for many listeners out there. Other lines such as ‘I need to accept The pieces of me I see as imperfect, I’m human’ and ‘Find sanctuary inside my bed And I’ll take a year to reply to your text,’ are all so relatable for people struggling with the issues she's singing about, and I love it. I think it’s so important that these types of everyday worries can be put into an upbeat song and can be lyrics in a summer-time anthem. More than anything these lyrics are honest truths that many people dare to talk about, until now. Moreover, the vocals behind the captivating lyrics are just as favorable. At the beginning of the track, Grace's soft and light voice accompanies the piano as the song begins to build. I particularly love how Bland uses her lower range at the end of every line in the verses, the descending runs just add another element to the musicality and creativity of the whole track. Speaking to my co-writer Ruby, she commented that she loves how the song compliments Grace's voice perfectly, using her range to highlight just how talented her vocals are. Ruby also mentioned that she loves the rich story telling that's intertwined throughout the song, lyrically and musically.

Speaking of musicality and creativity, Bland did not shy away from getting experimental and creative with the instrumentation on this track. For example, there is prime usage of ‘clicks’ (or ‘snaps’) starting from the first chorus. Not only is this a creative way to produce a different type of sound, but it adds texture to the song just by increasing the number of layers in the recording. Grace continues to add more texture with the addition of a drum pattern in the second verse as well as some harmonizing lines and guitar tab, all of which greatly contribute to the overall Indie-Pop, summertime anthem vibe. Grace also gets creative with the dynamics in this track. From start to finish, the dynamics develop and change to fit with the natural flow of the song. Just like any classic Indie-Pop track, the intro is quieter and low-key compared to the much louder, catchy, mid to late choruses. Bland even pulls the dynamics and texture back again in the bridge of the song. Keeping to purely vocals and piano, the bridge reminds the listener very much of the intro, which keeps the song moving. Just like Ruby mentioned before, the lyrics and music really do tell a story. Finally, to finish off this amazing track, Grace strips away all the texture from the outro, again just leaving it to the vocals and keys. She even decreases the tempo on the very last line, ‘But I‘m happy with the human in me,’ to end the track perfectly and on a positive and inspirational note.

We really would like to thank Grace once more for inviting us to review Human before it's release and below is a link to pre save the song on your preferred streaming platform as well as where to find her!

Kay x

Grace: https://www.instagram.com/graceblandmusic/?hl=en

Pre Save Human: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/gracebland/human