When grappling with tracks of mental anguish, euphoria, love and loss many artists fall into a trap of sacrificing their sound for honesty or vice versa which is understandable. To show that personal vulnerability in your song writing, to bare before the eyes and ears of the world, wide open to criticism; daunting doesn’t even begin to cut it.
Although this is not what we are seeing with Tizane. At just 19-years-old, this harmonic vision has done what many artists will, to put it, frankly, never have the balls to do. She has re-drawn the binaries and boundaries of music, turning her struggles of morbid anxiety, isolationism and on-going recovery into a brutally honest, dulcet mammoth of an album.
She has cut the bullshit. The overdrawn instrumental breaks, the grandiose two-dimensional lyrics, the not so modest sweeping emotional statements…you will find none of it in ‘Cherry’ and Tizane has made sure of that.
Having self-written and mostly self-produced and performed her latest album, I challenge you to find any artificial or forced sensibilities. I say this because the task is near impossible for me. In fact, I’m having difficulty even seeing my screen at this point with ‘Mellifluous’ playing in the background and tugging at my heartstrings, a little more than I would like to admit.
This being said, all 17-tracks respire with Tizane’s each and every thought, be it bittersweet sultry empowerment or points of brooding anguish, this is her creation, and we are here to bask in every ethereal breath.
Scooping up the bittersweet sensibility, ‘He Took it all Back’ has enough to knock you down in one breath. One thing common on the album is the central go to acoustic guitar bringing a stripped back kind of honesty that resonates through this opening single. It gets even better, as the strings and electricity begin to join, we are left dumbfounded by some of the most beautiful harmonies which I still can’t stop thinking about.
Nevertheless, this isn’t a one stop show and clearly Tizane is no stranger to a catchy hook or two. ‘Are You Bad’, I’m certainly believing so after a listen. It is a sultry, empowering single, designated to bring the bad bitch vibes to a whole new level. It is a sonic middle finger up to the patriarchy with an audacious swagger that feeds off disequilibrium. This stunning, blood pumping attitude was completely unexpected and an entirely welcome surprise I may add, sharing that inspiring IDGAF attitude to anyone daring enough to have a listen.
She doesn’t stop here. In contrast to the empowering beauty of ‘Are You Bad’ is ‘Floating’. Edging into contemporary nihilism, the previous attitude has gone, replaced with jaw dropping orchestral swells of sound and a gripping intensity within the deeper dips of the track. Your heart works to match the beat of the track and your mind works to comprehend the jump between attitudes, rolling with the ever-changing narrative tone guiding the album.
I also cannot forget to mention her rendition of Bob Dylan’s ‘All along the watch tower’. What was such an iconic and recognisable single has suddenly turned alien in the hands of Tizane. It has been mastered into a unique and personal piece that has given this personal version a new meaning, depth and drum of emotion.
There is nothing invasive about this album, it is utterly soothing and yet heart breaking, brought to life by the attention to detail, attention to honesty and a raw untampered confidence. It is the perfect musical resume, filled with big ideas and even bigger hooks. Varying between genres and emotions, the ‘Cherry’ album flips between different sides of the main narrative in a holistic kind of way, I’m guessing this is why I am also on my fifth listen to the album and showing no signs of boredom.
For a 19-year-old to produce something as immense as this it is clear that Tizane is going to go far, having already amassed 41k Facebook followers and almost 4 million streams. Despite the unwelcome restrictions of COVID Tizane has continued to write, produce and broadcast across the internet and is now bringing us the ethereal sounds of ‘Cherry’ from the 26th February.