Emma Grant is a songwriter from England who released Influencer. She put down music in 2010 and took time out to get married, start a family and co-lead an Eden Team back in Liverpool with her husband Tom. As a musician myself myself for the last twenty-five years taking that much time off seems borderline impossible for reasons I won’t go into. That being said it’s fairly common for people to put it down and re-discover their passion years later and I find that quite beautiful.
The music to my ears was mostly pop with less overt elements of folk. I liked her vocals especially when it veered towards folk instead of pop. The emotional resonance felt mostly warm, optimistic and filled with gratitude. There were a number of tracks which felt very motivational in the sense that I was at a Tony Robbins conference or a Sunday worship service. I have to admit I do like shades of darkness and gray areas of emotion that are hard to pinpoint. That’s an area Grant really doesn't go down. There’s no dissonance, chaos or ambiguity in these songs. There is however some reflection and occasional melancholy which often are emotions in the cocktail that I hear with this type of music. She opens with “I Don't Hate You” and this is a very pop oriented song - the structure, delivery and aesthetics choices. “Know You're Loved” actually felt even more pop oriented. It's super clean with a very positive message. “Born to Be” really didn’t feel much farther from the first two songs but the image in my head was people holding hands singing together. “Fake News” was the first song that had some grit and a little more attitude. I also really liked the piano. Grant can’t seem to avoid grand moments and in this song it definitely has one of the biggest towards the end. The arguable highlight was “Staying for Love.” I do wish she explored darker textures but especially on this song where there was room for it. Her best moments here are the most subtle. We go into “As I Am” which goes back into pop territory. I used to go to Sunday worship service and the lyrics and mood of this really capture the energy I’ve heard countless times. “Influencer” was another highlight. The song definitely had a sense of levity especially coming off the previous song and has some of her best hooks. “Upside Down” and “At Your Table” have their moments. She closes with “What a World” which is pretty catchy. The whole album felt unapologetically wholesome which I had to respect. As I mentioned this feels very positive to me and I think the appeal will actually be quite broad and oddly niche in other ways. The sort of religious and motivational qualities I was feeling will unequivocally resonate with a certain types of personality. Perhaps that’s you. Take a listen.
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