
Over her month of vocal rest, Maddy Newton has been gearing all of her fans up for the release of this track. She has released two singles widely before, although neither to iTunes: "A Little Too Me" and "Not a Hipster." During her "Maddy on Mute" month, she released 3 songs through email for free download, "Something Better," "Pretty Thing," & "Down Boy." These all played around genre wise, and showed an evolution of Newton's sound, all leading up to this track. This is her first single released to iTunes ever, so in that sense, her debut single.
dysFUNctional is somewhat of a reinvention of Newton. She's played around a lot with different genres and styles over the songs she has released so far, and this is her finally finding her sound. As far as how to identify this sound, it might be easiest just to identify it as singer-songwriter, because it is such a hybrid between acoustic pop, pop and country. But that is what Maddy Newton has been all along, she just hadn't quite realized it yet. She has done YouTube covers of basically only pop songs for forever, but always acoustic. She has been part of Song Suffragettes, and "A Little Too Me" was a country-pop tune. Now all of those different sides of her career are coming together and working together in this track.
Lyrically, this is an adorable track. The title is stylized the way it is because of the hook: "we put the fun, put the fun in dysfunctional." Newton is characterized for her slightly odd, but sweet lyrics, and this song continues that trend. Throughout the song, she compares herself to the guy she likes, with lyrics like "I'm the good girl, you're the dropout" and "I'm the seatbelt, you're the top down." Despite the airy vocal delivery and slightly comical lyrics, it's clear that this song does mean a lot to Newton. This relationship is crazy, and insane, but special. It is nice to hear a different side of Newton.
Newton seems comfortable with her music now. She spent so long experimenting and trying to be an artist that she obviously wasn't, and this is so clearly her. Just like when Megan & Liz found their sound with "That Ghost," Newton has found hers.
Overall rating: 4 crowns
Lyrically, this is an adorable track. The title is stylized the way it is because of the hook: "we put the fun, put the fun in dysfunctional." Newton is characterized for her slightly odd, but sweet lyrics, and this song continues that trend. Throughout the song, she compares herself to the guy she likes, with lyrics like "I'm the good girl, you're the dropout" and "I'm the seatbelt, you're the top down." Despite the airy vocal delivery and slightly comical lyrics, it's clear that this song does mean a lot to Newton. This relationship is crazy, and insane, but special. It is nice to hear a different side of Newton.
Newton seems comfortable with her music now. She spent so long experimenting and trying to be an artist that she obviously wasn't, and this is so clearly her. Just like when Megan & Liz found their sound with "That Ghost," Newton has found hers.
Overall rating: 4 crowns