Live Review: Cecile Believe's 'Pick Up The Phone' is a sleek pop song for a world needing connection

If you haven’t heard the name CECILE BELIEVE, you’ve probably heard her voice one way or another. She’s lent her distinct vocal chops for cult-producer SOPHIE’s Grammy nominated album, plus worked with Kero Kero Bonito, Kane West, TOPS and Homeshake. Yet, Cecile’s hardly new to putting out her own music, having released music under ‘Mozart’s Sister’ since 2011. Fast forward to 2020 and it’s her time now to rebrand, rebuild and revolutionise pop.

Following her first single ‘Last Thing He Said To Me in Person’ ,and the announcement of her album ‘Made In Heaven’, Cecile has released ‘Pick Up The Phone’ - a sleek pop song that’s all the more poignant at this time of world crisis.

Believe’s latest single is a cohesive and heaving soundscape. Percussive elements layer over indescribable artificial beats as if Imogen Heap and Timbaland met halfway on what they thought made a "pop star". The song centres around the desperate cry for help, asking someone to pick up the phone, an almost taboo subject prior to quarantine: who picked up their phone on first ring? It’s a call out for connection, a yearning for support. Cecile says she was inspired after being four months sober and a friend telling her a story of an alcohol-fuelled night of calling number after number, waiting for a honest witness in a moment of desperation.

The track pitches itself as pop, yet for all of the saccharine vocals and dance-able beats, it doesn’t betray itself by letting its message become lost in the production. Cecile’s skill lies in how her vocal performance, production and lyricism work together to convey a heightened sense of feeling. You could dance to the track but it would be urgent and jerky, and you could sing along but because you understand it, not because the hook is catchy. It is pop in its purest form and is anchored in something raw, the pop polish applied not to hide the flaws but expose them.

If Cecile’s two singles are a promise of what’s to come, her debut album as Cecile Believe will be an absolute contender for end of year lists and playlists for Pisces everywhere.

Words by Lloyd Crackett

Image via Youtube

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