As part of our 2020 roundup, each member of the Keylime team has written a review of their track of the year. First up, we have Karishma's pick: "Bittersweet".
"Bittersweet": Lianne La Havas
Production: Beni Giles, Lianne La Havas, Matt Hales
Album: Lianne La Havas
Since its release earlier this year, I have returned to Bittersweet by Lianne La Havas again and again. The song’s instrumental, made up of a soft drum groove, relaxed guitar and twinkling piano sample, is both intoxicating and spacious, offering La Havas room to showcase her stunning vocals and lyrical ability. Within the song, she depicts the final chapter of a relationship, repeatedly asserting that there is ‘no more hanging around’ and later likening the break-up to ‘summer rain’ in which she is ‘born again’. This image of water, in addition to the singer’s metaphorical re-birth, powerfully connote a process of cleansing and newfound purpose. This feeling of revival is mirrored within La Havas’ vocals as she crescendos throughout the chorus whilst also gradually rising in pitch. When this build up in musical intensity reaches its peak, the listener is met with a remarkable sense of catharsis, conveying simultaneously the pain and relief of separation; a bittersweet conclusion.
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