Rae Morris - Atletico (The only one)

Rae Morris understood that she needed to do something different to stand out from all the mild pop voices that are being hugely supported by British media like NME and BBC. Her 2015 debut album, Unguarded, struck us as the perfect background album, something nice and mellow but unable to catch our attention in significant ways, it was cute but inoffensive music.

Three years later, Morris is decided to do something meaningful for British pop, and Atletico (The only one), the second single of her new record, Someone Out There, is a synth-charged joyous maximalist pop track. Much in the vein of what other bands and singers that walk in the blurry line between ultracommercial pop and indie experimentations, like Carly Rae Jepsen and Years & Years, Morris is able to put the music in front of her celebrity status, favoring the mixing and the arranges instead of the catchiness and the mass appeal. Atletico won't get any MTV or Grammy nominations or attract hoards of Morrisliebers, but that doesn't make it less of a great pop track.

If the low point of the track might be the lyrics, she makes up for it with her interpretation. She not only posses an outstanding voice able to reach very high notes, she also knows how to infuse personality and emotion through subtle changes of intonation and strength, it's what you might expect of Björk if she'd ever decide to change paths to be a pop diva. At times shy and at times elated, she transforms this simple lines about attraction to the pretty boy of the party into a real trip that explores the nuances of infatuations and vulnerabilities.

To complement it, a masterful mixing that is able to incorporate quite a lot elements, giving each their space and making them work together to create a fantasy world: the equivalent of the slow construction of a perfect fantasy with the object of our affection playing on our mind. The back vocals, and a slight dose of asian sounds that punctuate and undulate in the chorus, make Atletico stand out from other similar tracks (think Kiesza's Hideaway or Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand).

The reinvention of her sound is more than welcomed, this big-bold-shiny effort is the unexpected track that, if it's not going to shake music at its chore, is able to bring a fresh and genuine perspective of what can be achieved when a pop artist starts thinking outside of the (Spotify) box.