PRINS - EP Review: Magnetic
If 2019 was the year when BENEE ruled the New Zealand pop charts, then 2020 could well be the year of another emerging talent, PRINS.
It’s would be a bit cute to add an -ess, as in PRINC-ess, but, nevertheless, the Christchurch based singer and songwriter has the style and substance to wear the mantle of dance pop princess and wear it well.
The five-track EP Magnetic is her first full-length outing after a couple of ear-catching singles, most notably Notion. It’s bold, self-assured, lyrically honest and heartfelt and, given the thrust of the subject matter – the breakdown of a relationship – could so easily have been self-indulgent if not for the nuanced power and clarity in her vocal delivery.
As a songwriter, she is direct and uncomplicated, but uses her voice to channel both obvious and implicit emotions such as frustration, loss of trust, compulsion, anger, anxiety, unmet expectations and disappointment in a way that is constructive. A case in point is I Tried, which speeds along on a crisp, fat beat and a throbbing synthesiser line that emphases the constant push and pull of attraction and “detraction”, succinctly self-revealed in the lyric “only time can tell if I should have listened to my gut feeling, because I thought you were the one, I see what you have become and this really isn’t fun”.
Stay Away, the title track and the funky-as Little Too Late, show different perspectives on a relationship that has served its usefulness, nicely diced and spiced with mammoth, looping beats and high voltage electronics by Sachi’s Nick Chrisp and Will Thomas and Wulfie aka Timothy Heeringa.
Despite the different degrees of separation she goes through, Magnetic comes across as a purge of sorts, an emotional and mental cleansing, an affirmation of intent. This is where I’ve been, this is what I felt and now it’s time to put it behind me.
In the aforementioned I Tried, PRINS sings “there’s got to be more to us than this”. On the evidence of the impressive Magnetic, we know there is going to be more to her than this. Stay tuned.
About PRINS
This Auckland born singer/songwriter, dancer, actor and model has spent the past few years establishing herself with live performance experience in New Zealand and has no intention of leaving the industry any time soon. A sultry powerhouse described as a mix between Duo Lipa and Amy Winehouse, PRINS is one to watch out for in 2020.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for PRINS
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