Review: G.E.M. - Loneliness
G.E.M is one of my favorite Chinese artists, and most of that comes down to her personal lyrics, strong musical arrangement, and her dominating voice. Despite commonly borrowing from popular western styles such as ballads and trap, she has built her own identity due to those three lyrics, down to the point you can tell if a song is from G.E.M or not.
City Zoo was one of my favorite albums from 2019, and she has kept that personal style since then. After all, she had suffered under her previous agency, and her reflections of fame can be quite deep, ranging from optimistic to downright depressing.
As its title suggests, Loneliness is all about the cutthroat pressure and lack of freedom as a celebrity at the top. G.E.M. has tackled this before, but this is one of her more eloquent and gritty showcases of such. I will always prefer the nostalgic look of the dreamy Full Stop, simply because it was more of a look at the past, and was considerably lighter. Still, Loneliness is an important story, more so than Full Stop, and must be told.
Musically, Loneliness samples Beethoven's iconic Moonlight Sonata. I always have been amazed by the few opening bars of that piece, simplistic but with emotional depth. In a way, Beethoven's later career as the founder of the Romantic movement stands as the origin of modern pop music. Moonlight Sonata was the root of this style, and sampling it is a smart choice.
Along with this, the song is a hip-hop ballad. This is not entirely original, but G.E.M.'s heavy quick-fire vocal performance provides a unique counterpoint. In a way, Loneliness is a song much easier to appreciate than to fully enjoy, and I don't mind it. After all, there are times for every listen, and there certainly is there for this song.
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