Thailah – Sweet
The third single from the London-based chanteuse Thailah. Indeed the third in a trilogy of tracks produced in collaboration with producer J.AR.J., also a Londoner. and it’s a bit of a stormer.
Beginning with a Latin-style acoustic guitar that twists and wraps itself around the song as it progresses, it’s underpinned by a sturdy garage/house beat that won’t fail to get feet moving floorwards and then the whole thing is topped off with the gorgeously honeyed tones of Thailah herself. It’s a highly polished, slick affair that’s ready to fight it out with the Rita Oras and Taylor Swifts of this world in the higher regions of the charts. Everything is in perfect proportion and grooves along with an effortless grace that would be the envy of many a lesser musician. There are loads of unexpected tricks and neat turns neatly employed here and yet nothing seems gimmicky or cheap in the slightest.
Scratch beneath the surface, too, and you’ll find there’s more going on here than mere pop pap. Thailah tells us the tale of a “sweet, sweet child” fighting her way through city life. “She’s been a few wars but she wants to be loved,” we discover, and also that “she’ll never go back,”, although what she’s running from is left to the imagination.
That – by which we mean the evocative but ultimately mysterious nature of the vocals – is what ultimately keeps us coming back for repeat listens, although there’s no denying too that it has the dance music impact to hit home on first listen and boasts a chorus to die for. The grooves, meanwhile, are nimble and quirky enough to be garage but substantial and steady enough to please the funky house crowd. Bearing all that in mind, let’s hope Thailah and J.AR.J have a decent club mix up their collective sleeve, because if we only have one complaint about ‘Sweet’ it’s this – it’s all over far too damn quick!