Alicia G has flirted with different genres through the years, but with her most recent dabblings in country music, I think she’s found a real center from which to develop some really exciting new material. Her latest single, titled “Shake Down,” is as rhythmic as its title suggests, but it’s not a beat-driven performance by any means. If anything, this is a performance that was made to highlight how little Alicia G has to rely on instrumental accents to make a sterling melodic fever pitch, and from where I sit, her conservative role at lead vocal is also one of her most daring looks so far.
As much as I like the evenhandedness of this mix, there’s no debating that the instruments don’t stand a chance next to this singer’s potent execution with a verse. When she’s crooning to the microphone, even if it’s in a soft manner, there’s more power coming from her chest than there is any amplifier you could put behind her. This is an instance where we’re getting a good taste of her live abilities, which are hard to capture from within the four walls of a recording studio.
A condensed master mix doesn’t work for a lot of artists because it eliminates the textural expressiveness that a post-hipster pop genre has been dependent on for a number of years now, but if there’s one player who is making it a showcase piece in her new work, it’s Alicia G. “Shake Down” is so compressed it’s almost flattened, and yet this is the perfect means to magnify the naturally sublime qualities of her lead vocal. She’s got the perfect angle here, and it’s not just because she’s finding a way to communicate in an aesthetic that just feels more organic than anything else she’s utilized in the past.
The sexy music video for “Shake Down” undeniably adds to the energy of the song’s narrative as it stands on its own, and for those who aren’t familiar with the style Alicia G is making her own, it clarifies her persona without any room for argument by the time it meets it’s 2:49 running time. There’s so much hype around this player at the moment, and when I look at something like this, it’s easy to see why people are talking about her and, more importantly, why they’re going to keep her name relevant for the foreseeable future.
