Janelle Nucum’s Pages makes for a bright and confident introduction to the teenage artist’s creativity and writing. It’s a bold and empowering song that pours through with genuine self-belief and an inspiring level of energy – likely to work wonders for those who need to hear something uplifting right now.
Nucum’s story is that of the journey from struggle to success, or rather, from feeling somewhat weak to feeling strong and capable. It’s a song full of possibility, and everything from the lyrics to the rising chord progression to the passion in her leading voice reinforces this sentiment and this aura throughout.
In terms of today’s pop music and what works on a wider audience, Pages offers up a melody that feels fresh yet still has that mild ear-worm capability to make-sure you recognise and remember it. As the soundscape builds, the instrumentation blossoms further, and Nucum’s own performance evolves and doubles-up to further highlight this underlying sense of opportunity, of optimism, of togetherness and general positivity.
The songwriting on this release is unquestionably honest and comes straight from the artists’ own perspective. It’s perhaps a track that will connect with other artists and creatives the most as it offers references to those struggles and that uphill slog to really push through. The second and third time you hear it, you can sense and anticipate the rising energy and vibrancy. Everything about the song moves upwards, reaching for the sky consistently – something that cleverly and relevantly draws focus to that key concept and what the artist is all about. This self-belief and chasing your dreams, separating yourself from the crowd or from what people seem to think of you, runs deep within the song and indeed within the Janelle Nucum sound in general. And this is merely just the beginning for her – there’s plenty more to come.
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