Today’s pop music landscape is SO MUCH different than it was in, let’s say the late 90s early 2000s when boy bands and bubblegum ruled the charts. [Mostly] gone are the days when groomed (to-be-popular-by-record-executives) young pop stars sang other people’s words over flimsy, cookie-cutter beats. While those types of artists DO STILL EXIST, pop music on the whole is in the midst of a revolution of sorts. More and more pop artists today are entering the game with ideas of their own and a specific vision of who they are and where they want to go. As a pop music lover, this is all very exciting, if I’m being honest. One new artist that I’m particularly excited about is Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter (and music teacher) Erica Gibson. Her debut single, “Out Of My Mind” premiered last week and is now available to purchase (iTunes).
“Out Of My Mind” is a shimmery electropop bubble bursting with intelligent pop lyrics, a catchy chorus and an infectious production by the songs co-writer Scott Stallone. Very promising indeed. Erica Gibson is pretty much everything I like about pop music today. Her sound falls nicely within the modern pop music spectrum, seamlessly squeezing in with more well-known (or getting there at least), buzzy contemporaries like Ryn Weaver, Melanie Martinez, Tove Lo, and Verite while still managing to carve out a space of her own. Initially after hearing “Out Of My Mind” Gibson’s phrasing and tone was giving me a more electropop Inara George (songwriter and 1/2 of The Bird & The Bee) vibe (check out a personal favorite B&TB song, “Love Letter To Japan” for reference). Not entirely the same obviously, but I think the comparison is warranted (and NOT a bad thing at all!).
Erica Gibson strikes me as a versatile singer whose vocals could lend themselves just as nicely on a dance track (and she has dabbled!) as they could on a chilled-out electronic mid-tempo or folky-pop ballad. I’m interested to see where this burgeoning new artist goes with her career. I know it can be hard for an indie artist hustling on his/her own, but with the right people behind her I think she shows TREMENDOUS potential. If the rest of her material is as delicious as THIS first taste, I think she’s off to a promising start—and with love already pouring in from taste-makers like The Line Of Best Fit, Kick Kick Snare and All Things Go among others, it looks like I’m not alone in this sentiment!
Download “Out Of My Mind” (iTunes) or stream it (Spotify).
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Check Out Erica Gibson Online:
Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud