GIYA – Upside Down (2021)
If you are looking for a track that fuses pop, hip-hop and jazz, you are in for a treat. This is what GIYA does for the soundscape of ‘Upside Down’ while the lyrics provide an honest and playful account of what people get up to weekend to weekend. Delving into the need to get away from reality, she brings a touch of demons and the world beyond what we can see and feel.
GIYA first introduced listeners to her genre-defying sound with her The Almost Real EP. Her first solo outing laced folk tones with hip-hop beats and unique vocals that drew in fans and critics. This blended sound has been honed over the years since she started learning in and around Hak Baker, who she joined on a nationwide tour.
‘Upside Down’ pulls you in with the light and contemporary jazz vibes that open the track. This slides into an amazing shuffle of beats that you can’t help but sway and shimmy to. The jazzy tones of the melody are seductive as they beckon you further under the spell of GIYA. At times, the beats get a sprinkling of hip-hop tones that perfectly complements the jazzy vibes of the underlying notes. There is a really decadent feeling to this melody that urges you to sink into it and give in to the flows. The horns that lightly swan through the background are the perfect addition to add further texture to the track.
As you get completely lost in the melody, GIYA’s vocals slide into your ears with a sultry slip. The lyrics have you escaping the world for a little while as you close your eyes and sway to the vocal performance. The lyrics use metaphors to represent the escape from reality while bringing a touch of social media to the track. Through all of this, the vocals are amazing in their richness. While her performance is wonderfully jazzy, there is a light touch of alt-pop woven in. The sheer richness of the performance merges with the melody for a single that you are going to be hooked to and want to play on repeat.
GIYA has you swaying and shimmying to her jazzy flows as she dips you into the rich escape from reality that is ‘Upside Down’. From start to finish, the track is packed with jazzy tones that fill you with their decadence. Her vocal performance is enhanced by the melody while artfully sliding along the satin threads.
Find out more about GIYA on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
