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THE ITHACAN

The Student News Site of Ithaca College

THE ITHACAN

The Student News Site of Ithaca College

THE ITHACAN

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Review: Birdy’s raw talent soars

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Birdy, a 19-year-old English singer-songwriter, released her third studio album, “Beautiful Lies,” on March 25. She is known for somber and vocally stunning hits like “Tee Shirt,” which was featured in the movie “The Fault in Our Stars”; her cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love”; and her Oscar-nominated song “Learn Me Right” from Disney’s “Brave.” “Beautiful Lies” is a 14-track album that tests Birdy’s vocal ability more than anything else in her music career thus far.

The album’s first single, “Keeping Your Head Up,” begins with calm piano accompanying slow vocals, but by the time the chorus hits, a very present drumline helps to escalate the song to an exciting and uplifting tempo. Although the lyrics are a bit repetitive, this is a song that many listeners may be able to dance to as they relate to the story of keeping your head up even when in a hard situation.

The song “Deep End” has the familiarity many of Birdy’s listeners will remember from her previous work. The melody is a mix of a slowtempoed piano and drum composition that helps the listeners to feel the sorrowful and raw emotions of the song. The lyrics tell the story of a girl who questions her relationship by contemplating whether or not she is good enough for her partner and if she can be vulnerable enough to be open enough to love someone: “Don’t want to find out, lost it all/ Too scared to have no one to call/ So can we just pretend.” This may be the most emotionally impactful song on the album.

Birdy has never shown off her talent like she does in “Beautiful Lies.” The album has upbeat and fun songs like “Keeping Your Head Up” and “Hear You Calling,” as well as emotional ballads like “Deep End” and the title track, “Beautiful Lies.” This album is not for a listener who wants optimistic, cheerful or easy-listening songs, but it is for someone who wants to think about deeper life messages like heartbreak and changing love, or who wants to listen to astonishing talent from a woman not yet even in her 20s.

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