Beyond a brief but important introduction, a vocal track is waiting to take over the center stage in “Helicopter,” the new single from up-and-coming pop singer/songwriter Taylor Jules, but it will soon be joined by a rollicking bass groove that will colorize every beat coming from the drums. The instrumentation is moving like a mild hurricane, and while its grip is intimidating, it isn’t able to overshadow the singing that Jules is treating us to here. With a basic backdrop to guide her voice, Jules presents a statement about who she is in the studio with this release, and while it’s inarguably designed around her sensational vocal abilities, it’s far from a singer-centric pop song as I would measure one.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/iamtaylorjules/
The bassline here is very physical, as is Jules’ voice, and that’s even taking into account the insular style and sleekness of the mix. Though its equalization isn’t intrusive, the rigidity in the low-end displays paralyzing might just before we hit the chorus, with the bass finally meeting its match in the gilded vocal that Jules dispenses with ease. The lyrics in this song are very poignant and heartfelt no matter how you analyze them, but there’s just as much to be said about the arrangement of the track’s intricate instrumental components, which are structured to constantly draw us closer to the real conceptual nucleus in the composition. I don’t know if it’s youthful luck or simply an awakening of something that has always been in this artist’s soul, but whatever the case may be, you can’t deny how polished this single is from a songwriter’s perspective.
Jules sounds completely in her element in “Helicopter,” but not to an extent where she seems passive about the guts of the song. She’s engaged with us with her words and the music she forms around her, offering one wickedly intoxicating melody after another rather easily, and she never once comes off as hesitant or unsure of herself. Pop has been dominated by big personalities since the beginning, and while Jules certainly has a lot of facets to her musical persona, I don’t think that she’s all about herself in this lyricism.
These verses are accessible and a lot more humble in narrative than almost anything I’ve heard in the top tier of the charts recently. Evocative poetically and instrumentally, “Helicopter” is definitively an example of fine pop music from Ms. Taylor Jules, whose name is poised to become synonymous with quality amidst an onslaught of inarticulate artists struggling to find their place in contemporary culture – usually because they can’t find a sound that feels natural to them.
There’s nothing stock about this single, and yet at the same time, it has a familiar gloss that makes it more than cohesive with the slick sounds of a new year’s playlist devoid of the commerciality that plagues mainstream stations from one corner of the globe to another. I’m excited to hear what Jules comes up with next, and for those of you who have yet to experience her sound in all of its unfiltered glory, this track is an excellent place to start.
Chadwick Easton