Valerie Melina has moved on from her current obsession, which was the title of her last single, to sampling greed.
That’s a big step up but in this instance she’s equating greed with need. She needs him (I assume as usual that it’s a ‘him’) but her passions are not what he desires. She wants to change him but she knows she can’t. So it’s about both longing and fear, with a smidgen of hope on the side.
She says ‘Greed’ is very special to her because it’s mostly A Cappella, which is an unusual choice for someone that knows how to write a tune although there’s still plenty of tune in it.
It’s never been my favourite style, possibly because of 1980s stuff like The Flying Pickets’ ‘Only You’ and the A Cappella beginning of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (am I the only person on Earth to think that song isn’t all it’s made out to be?)
So I approached ‘Greed’ with due caution. I needn’t have.
There’s something about this lady that tells me she could make reading out loud the Stockholm telephone directory, or the instructions for cooking fugu, sound riveting.
I have no idea what the technical skills required for singing A Cappella are, but she could write the manual.
Firstly I reckon it requires pretty close to perfect pitch If you’re going to hum and ‘ah-ha’ it and she’s got that.
Secondly, this voice multi-tracking is no simple task, especially when you start overlaying it with some crisp guitar notes that vie for attention. They have to work well in unison and that’s another box ticked.
Then, she’s the Queen of Atmosphere while at times on this song she sounds like Regina Spektor, while carrying much of the style of Cyndi Lauper.
And what’s that crow, squawking at the end? The crow is a representation of greed in some fables. Did Valerie know that? Either way, that’s brilliant.
She’s omitted some of that up-tempo nature we’ve got used to in previous songs but there is no loss of impact. She does sad every bit as well as she does happy.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valerie.melina.artist/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsvaleriemelina/
