Klara

Recently we were contacted by OGECHI's press team and asked to review her new music video (out 22nd October 2017) called BLVCK + WOMVN. If I'm honest I hadn't heard of her before but the information the company sent to me she is a poet, author, recording artist and dancer. She made her debut at only 17 years old in 2015 and I'm all for supporting young artists, and Amber and Ana agreed so we decided to go ahead with the review. The lyrics are a poem so they're very deep and explore race and femininity which I personally liked, I think these are important topics which are often avoided due to perceived taboos. The video also depicts a woman dancing while onlookers ignore or glance over her which I think represents the struggle for women, particularly those of colour, to be noticed for their work. Overall I would definitely recommend watching this music video.

Amber

I listened to the video first out of us, and really, really enjoyed it, in terms of aesthetic, music, and substance. I loved the strength of Ogechi, even showing through the bare-bones title, and shows intersectionalism from her perspective of a woman, who is also black. We all picked out the symbolism of the solitary dancer: rejected by her peers and still dancing on. In terms of musical content, I thought the opening was Beyonce-during-Formation-reminiscent but then she really came into her own. She directly addressed issues such as misogyny and other struggles she has experienced, and obviously, with her album entitled 'Intersectional Blvckness' she is highly aware of the importance of intersectionalism, which was fab. Not only is the content very personal and informed, but the music is great too, and it works so well as a song, rather than just as poetry.

Ana

Having not heard of the artist before I was curious as to what the video will be like and was pleasantly surprised. Being quite interested in the issues surrounding gender and race, I found the video to be an insightful and powerful take on the intersection between the two. The portrayal of a woman as a lone dancer voiced several messages to me; it was both a depiction of the struggle women go through and the strength they have to keep going. Another element which I found interesting is that at the end of the music video the performer is silenced by a man, which illustrates the ignorance and lack of engagement with the art produced by women of colour, and therefore the lack of attention the messages those powerful lyrics send to the listener. I would definitely recommend watching this video as it forces the audience to engage with the struggles of women, and more specifically women of colour and further comment on the ignorance exhibited towards the said issues by society.

Having been a Paramore fan for quite some time now, I was super excited to hear that P5 was coming out, and decided to interrupt my revision to listen to it in its entirety and review for your reading pleasure!

I must say that my reaction to this album is that it is not their best, but does have some very, very good songs on it, and as so many have said, fully marks their departure from pop punk 2007-ness, but it can be good to change and evolve a music style. Is this fresh? Arguably, yes, although I feel like I would have cut a couple of songs from this album that make it feel a little samey.

1. Hard Times
I love this song a lot, although it definitely took a few plays to grow on me, and I'll probably end up overplaying it to the point where I hate it! It's very catchy but I really like it, especially as an album opener. I think it also signals very much through the lyrics, the transition of the band up until this point.

2. Rose-Colored Boy
This is very funky, think The 1975's Love Me, or even some of the more upbeat songs from self-titled. I love the chorus, especially, and it follows nicely on from Hard Times.

3. Told You So
By this point on the album, I'm thinking that the last three songs have all sounded *quite* similar and I am hoping for a little diversity soon. Self-titled was so good because it was a beautiful mix of old and new Paramore, so I want to see more of that. I will say that I love the 'throw me in and pull me out again' section.

4. Forgiveness
Oooo I actually really like this. It shifts tempo into a slower and much sadder groove, juxtaposed with the peppy melody favoured of late, and it is something very pretty. I am noticing that a lot of the songs are only just around the 3-minute mark, which I think does work as it stops them sounding repetitive.

5. Fake Happy
Around 42 seconds, the shift into the sound of the rest of the album kicks in, but I was a little surprised up until then. Hayley sounds amazing, and I find the chorus a little reminiscent of Last Hope.

6. 26
Acoustic prettiness, not my favourite, but a welcome addition to the album

7. Pool
I'm not that keen on this song, and it's almost too vanilla for me to work out what I don't like about it. This is one of the ones I would have cut, like I was saying above :)

8. Grudges
I don't know how many more adjectives I can use for this album ahaha, but this is a nice, fairly middle of the (new) road song from the album. It's also very catchy, especially the final line from the chorus!

9. Caught in the middle
This is a good song, from the opening guitar melody, and then opening up into a bubbly chorus. I think this definitely is one of my favourites

10. Idle Worship
This had a surprising chorus that made it feel a little more old-Paramore, before simmering back into the verses. Not bad, not bad.

11. No Friend
This doesn't feature Hayley at all (unless she's playing an instrument) and I think does nicely as serving as an interlude of sorts. Not the sort of song to put in a playlist of its own, but not worth skipping on the album.

12. Tell Me How
When I heard the opening bar or so I thought it was turning in the direction of Still Into You, but it surprisingly didn't and moved into a beautiful piano led slower final track.