“Happy Place” is the intensely soulful latest single from the up and coming London-based pop singer Maria Manuel. With the opening lyrics, “it was pretty when I thought I could have it all, it was pretty when I thought I could do it all”, you’re instantly disarmed by the vulnerable confession of previous naivety.
What few people prepare you for is how much growth can hurt when we detach ourselves from our innocence and fantasy-like expectations of the world. Maria Manuel softens the blow with the sincerity of her balladic RnB pop vocals and the minimalist yet consumingly resounding score of soft RnB instrumentals against orchestral strings. Happy Place is a track that you will want to delve into time after time for its consoling power and its minor-key earworm potential. You could listen to the radio all day and still never encounter an artist with as much soulful presence as Manuel.
You can check out Happy Place for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud and Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast
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