Lorraine Xie – Singles
Lorraine Xie – Singles Review
Interesting review to take part of for sure! Lorraine Xie is an 18 year-old singer/songwriter/producer/dancer/performer who speaks four languages, was born in China and now lives in Florida in the USA. Impressed yet? I know I am! It’s safe to say that Lorraine has probably lived more life on the inside of a single week of her own experience than my entire thirty-six years combined; I’ve lived twice as long as she has – but it seems she’s already managed to live twice the amount of life in half the time!
When I first started listening to Lorraine’s music, she had two-songs available at her homepage…by the time I went to post this up and had it all ready for you, a third tune popped-up. Even though it’s a cover…I figured since I’m here and listening already – might as well let you know about everything I can see/hear today. That being said…I’d change the order of the way they’re listed at the homepage if I was Lorraine Xie…believe me when I say she’s got a lot more to offer through her original tunes than any cover song will fully let you in on.
On the bright-side of the new-inclusion…all three of these songs available really highlight different aspects of the strengths & talents that Lorraine has. Through the cover of “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins, she manages to put her own stamp & personality on the song through her own sincere approach to the vocals and piano-playing…I like the pacing she’s chosen and I like the delicate-but-confident tones she has in her voice. All this being said…I was happy to hear her deliver this one so authentically and make it her own – but it’s also a song I’ve certainly heard many, many times…in terms of whether or not she’d stand out with this one tune alone it’s honestly hard to say. I think she does the song enough justice to warrant covering it…but by comparison to the memorable impact I felt like she goes on to make on “Breathe” – well…really I felt there was no comparison. I like what she’s done on “Against All Odds” – but I love what she’s doing on “Breathe” – know what I mean?
With sparkling chorus-hooks and a truly passionate sound to the brightness in her melody, the subtly-dramatic texture to “Breathe” was a complete pleasure to listen to and had Xie sounding at her most sincere in the three-songs I’ve heard in my opinion. I think the piano is well-played and sounds sparkling & gorgeous alongside the melody she’s created for the vocals. She’s taken a more gentle and delicate approach to the way she sings this song…and most of the notes are pretty high-up in her register. She hits them well…the track might have benefitted from a slight amount more variation there in order to stay with the tones and energy of the music…but at the same time, there’s a magic that exists between the contrast of sound between the music/vocals here that I think is honestly audibly tangible. In any event – I thought “Breathe” worked out exceptionally well from performance to production – great job and really well-written tune.
What will surprise you…and especially surprised me by how much I liked it…is “Hate” at the end of the three-song set. You get a COMPLETELY different side of Lorraine here on this tune…like…a full 180-degree switch as she heads into supercharged, innovative electro with wild, vibrant samples and a massive transition in energy that you purely don’t see coming when listening to these three in order. Again, to me, what was extremely surprising was just how incredibly confident Xie sounds in this switch of styles…how quickly she commands the song and brings the fire, passion & energy to “Hate” through the lively vocals. Up until this point, you’ve experience two ballads…and then all of a sudden you’re in a whirlwind-switch of sound to an entirely different but gripping style. Think along the lines of something like M.I.A.…something with that amount of vibrant & captivating sound happening…that kind of electric atmosphere and excitement in the music and that’s close to what you’ll get from Lorraine on the inspired performance she puts into “Hate” at the end of this set. Normally I would say that this kind of cut isn’t usually my thing…but I gotta admit it when something gets the better of me like this one did. I definitely fell for the wild ideas that Xie’s put into “Hate” and thought this final tune was so perfectly out-of-the-blue, fresh and different from what we’d already heard so far that it made all the memorable impact you could hope a final tune would have.
She’s fun, she’s sincere, she’s talented…I feel like Lorraine Xie has a solid grip on her own capabilities and an unlimited imagination…should be interesting to hear which direction she takes her music in next and I think she’ll always keep us guessing.
And I dig that!
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