I have to confess that I lost touch with Charlotte Grayson’s music a while ago; my fault, not hers, but it does mean that writing about her latest single, “Get Outta My Yard,” does seem a bit like dropping in on an old friend and having a catch-up, at least musically speaking.
Charlotte has always made great pop music, but if such a term conjures up images of the usual digital dross that we find cluttering up today’s charts, all dance routines and celebrity music guests, music that is the result of a twelve-person writing team and marketing department, I’m happy to report that, with her, nothing could be further from the truth.
I’ve always loved Charlotte’s youthfulness and ability to write about the stuff that young people experience, namely boys and boozy nights out, hangovers and coffee, friends, and fun. Like they say, write about what you know.
“Get Outta My Yard” is about those relationships that seem to be far too one side: that friend who crosses the line when the drink takes hold, the guy who will try it on and then avoid you for weeks. And her response to such shallow moves, well, the title says it all!
I love the fact that this new one returns to the sassy R&B of singles such as “Sorry,” it reminds us that whilst she can do the fresh-faced indie pop song to perfection, she also has a neat line in more mature, more worldly wise, more soul-rock-infused numbers.
As I said, I have been out of the loop for a while, but what I find as I return to Charlotte Grayson’s music is an artist maturing at just the right speed, broadening her sound and writing more profound messages in her music as she racks up the life-experience. That said, I’m sure there are still a few songs like the perky yet insightful “Coffee” and the ultimate expression of girls having fun that is “Drunk Girls,” still to be written, but “Get Outta My Yard” is the sound of an artist growing up in front of our eyes.
I’m glad I checked in, but I didn’t need to, Charlotte Grayson is precisely where she needs to be.
