Harriet - Fly

Pre-order Fly here (UK iTunes)

It is no secret the level of adoration I have for Harriet and her flawless collection of songs that feel like they touch the most secret, hidden recesses of your soul. She is the proud owner of a distinctively gorgeous voice that seeks out every nuanced emotion in a lyric with a singularly affectional insight that is winning her legions of new admirers with every note she sings. She's back with a new single that precedes her eagerly anticipated debut album later this spring. Fly, co-written with the incomparable Steve Anderson, is a beautiful composition that is the embodiment of everything Harriet posseses - that timeless elegance that eschews trends and focuses on being just as dignified and graceful as it can be. I'll admit I feel a particular kinship with the song - it's one of those songs that comes along just at the right time and rescues you when you need it most. Lyrically it's about thinking you've found the one only to discover that they abuse your love, leaving your shaken and bruised. Harriet's not one to stay down for long and after she details the heartache in the verses she glides effortlessly into a chorus that is pure affirmation. It is a soaring serotonin rush that sends an endorphin boost to the brain as you listen, gently but definitively thrusting you/herself out of the doldroms. There's actual joy and determination in her singing and it's perfectly evident that now she's tasted love she knows that she absolutely deserves the real thing, to be treated like the shining diamond she is. When she sings (during the middle 8) "the world belongs to me/I wasn't meant to live for yesterday", it's like the clouds parting, the sun shining through and the eternal optimism of your potential is never more radiant. Set to a giddy uptempo beat with a deliciously jaunty piano that punctuates those opulent strings, the instrumental is as integral to the song as the lyrics and Harriet's refined, stately vocal. It feels buoyant and perky, a most serendipitous duet of music and vocal. Heavenly doesn't seem to do the song justice - it's one for the ages. When I first heard Fly it really did make my eyes sparkle with tears. I haven't had a heart broken, nothing sad has happened but I have had an incredibly difficult 2015 so far and this just seemed to have a universal message of believe. Believe you deserve to fly. It was a turning point and whether it's that song for you now or in months/years to come, you will be so thankful that it exists. I am.

(PS, the video is exquisite. Harriet herself one of those movie stars that the lovely elderly gent who lives next door to where Kate Winslet is staying in The Holiday would say has GUMPTION. I can also, however, totally see a video with Peter Pan flying, the lanterns from Tangled, the wardrobe leaping out the window at the end of Human Again in Beauty and the Beast. Transcendent).

Top 25 songs of the week:

25 ~ Maroon 5, Sugar
24 ~ Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
23 ~ Erasure, Sacred
22 ~ Mika, Talk About You (NE)
21 ~ Take That, If You Want It
20 ~ MAX ft Hoodie Allen, Gibberish (NE)
19 ~ GRL, Lighthouse
18 ~ Giorgio Moroder ft Kylie Minogue
17 ~ Kelly Clarkson, Heartbeat Song
16 ~ One Direction, Ready To Run
15 ~ Madonna, Ghosttown
14 ~ Shayne Ward, My Heart Would Take You Back
13 ~ Taylor Swift, Style
12 ~ Olly Murs, Season
11 ~ Auryn, Saturday I'm In Love
10 ~ The Overtones, Something Good
09 ~ Satin Circus, Crossroads
08 ~ Walk The Moon, Avalanche
07 ~ Danny Saucedo, All You Need Is A Spark
06 ~ Brandon Flowers, Can't Deny Love (NE)
05 ~ Magnus Carlsson, Meet Me Downtown Tonight
04 ~ Bleachers, Like A River Runs
03 ~ Eric Saade, Sting
02 ~ Nate Reuss, Nothing Without Love
01 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Heroes (4 weeks)