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“Black and Blue” is one of those songs that sits at the convergence of many roads – sonic highways that connect genres, eras, and even musical worlds. But that is where the best music, the most forward-thinking music, the music that moves things on, the music that matters, is always found.
Here, WHIT takes a platform of country moves and rock grooves as her starting point; nothing new in that, but it is what she hangs onto this structure and how she polishes it and powers it forward so that it leaves the rest of the pack eating its dust, that is a joy to watch.
Onto this country rock sound, one that, via incendiary guitar salvos and a growling, growing intensity, moves more towards the latter sound as it goes, she adds no small amount of pop sheen and sophistication, in fact, more than enough to dazzle and beguile any mainstream pop picker. But while “Black and Blue” is wonderfully accessible to those with more chart-oriented sonic palettes, it also ticks all the right boxes for those with more discerning tastes – real groove, authenticity, brooding and seductive qualities, power, and poignancy.
Then you come to the message. Unlike pop’s often throwaway lyricism and rock’s clumsy way with words, “Black and Blue” is an articulate anthem of defiance, a flag planted in the ground for independence, a song of empowerment reminding us all that we hold all the cards, we have always held them, and in doing so, you have always had the power to take control of your own lives.
When you add this rallying cry to “Ready or Not,” the other song making up this brace of singles and a powerhouse song of liberty in its own right, you realize that here, WHIT has delivered a perfect one-two, sonic sucker punch to the music scene, all we have to do is stand back and watch it reel from the impact.
