Image: lacycavalier.com
Lacy Cavalier's been in Nashville for years and has always existed within the country music scene. She opened for Chase Rice and others, always putting out music that could be pretty easily classified as country music. But recently, there's been a marked shift in her musical style, building up to her first official pop release, an EP entitled 'k i'm done.'
Cavalier released a video for her song "Cheating On U" last year, and the video quickly blew up. As of when this article was written, the video has hit three million views. The video is a remarkably vulnerable one, seemingly intended to be only sent to the person she wrote the song about. The beginning is her talking to the camera, but more talking to him, saying "I don't really know why I care about you hearing it, but I do." The rest of the video is Cavalier looking at the camera and occasionally mouthing lines, with the lyrics of the song appearing at the bottom of screen, as it is technically a lyric video. An unconventional lyric video, but it's an unconventionally honest and vulnerable song. This was the first taste of her EP that borrows vulnerability and lyrical structure from country music, but experiments with pop music sounds.
Other highlights of the EP include the ballad "Blue Suede Couch" and the EP's closer "Dumbest Thing." A lot of the project projects confidence and sass towards the man the EP is about, while "Blue Suede Couch" has the same sort of vulnerability as "Cheating On U." Cavalier's country roots are loud and clear in this song. Linking a memory or a broken heart to a physical object is a classic country lyrical move, and the song could pretty easily be a country song with a small shift in instrumentation. This is an interesting track and placement on the EP as by the end Cavalier clearly sings, "Come back because you know I love the days we spent on this blue suede couch." But before listeners get too convinced that they'll get back together, the record's final songs clarifies the ending of the story.
"Dumbest Thing" has quickly become a fan favourite. The song details a drunk call slip-up where Cavalier asked him if he maybe wanted to get together. A mid-tempo pop song, this song closes the EP and rounds up the story of the record nicely. "Blue Suede Couch" hints that maybe they will get back together, maybe it's not completely over. But "Dumbest Thing" is the final nail on the coffin of this relationship when Cavalier sings, "Thinking we could be us again is the dumbest thing I ever did."
Cavalier's soulful voice fits this new kind of music. She gets more room to experiment as a pop artist, and she really plays around with different styles of pop on this record. The sound of "Tea" is pretty drastically different that "Blue Suede Couch," but it all still fits together as a cohesive project. Country music may have to let go of Lacy Cavalier, but she should be welcomed into the pop world with this killer debut.
Stream 'k i'm done' here.
Stream 'k i'm done' here.
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