Paloma Amaya’s song “Strangers” has the classic or even vintage sound of power-pop-dance fusion from way back when. The energy of the piece is intense and upbeat throughout, and the artist’s vocal performance is bold and passionate at every instance.
The song is everything you’d hope for when seeking out uplifting and optimistic music to inspire or motivate. The production is crisp and driven by a positive energy that passes over to you as you listen. The lyrics portray the all important ideas of an optimist, a hard working, motivated songwriter hoping to inspire similar feelings of being unstoppable in all who hear the track. The accompanying video is mindblowing, and the video plays into that idea really well. The optimism is furthered by the visuals, the youthfulness and energy of the scenes between the vocal performance moments add a relevant contrast.
Melodically the verses offer the edges of the story and lead powerfully into the hook. The hook has a simple yet effective melody and leaves its key line lingering in your mind long after listening. Adding to this effect is the stylish and memorable instrumental riff that accompanies the hook. Throughout the recording there are these various instrumental moments that suggest a deep level of creativity in everything that makes up the recording. The whole track progresses and evolves with numerous fresh moments of sound, all the while continuing to stand tall with the overall mood of the piece and the upbeat chord progression.
Instrumentally the piece offers a characterful click-style beat that gives the whole thing a stamp of character. Elsewhere the production has been executed so as to reinforce that power-pop stance and emphasize the energy of the recording on the whole rather than drawing your focus to individual moments or lyrics. The lyrics come across as pretty dark for the most part, though once the idea of metaphor is introduced it changes your perspective a little.
There are some moments within the instrumentation that reignite that vintage flame of power pop from the golden age. Not just the click, the synthesized, brass-like riffs, and on occasion the leading artist’s vocal – the bridge section for example; this moment holds a lot of character and makes for a strong breakaway from the regular set-up of the song.
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