Review: I Am Boleyn - Young Love
I think at this point, I am mostly done with some of the worst aspects of the retro trend. I love the genre, but I feel many artists indulge in the style without understanding what made the '80s so great. Even so, I think there have only been a handful of songs within this style that understand what they are trying to do. I Am Boleyn is a somewhat-unknown artist, who has been doing this retro sound for a while. She has released several songs, but I feel Young Love is easily the best, for it understands the '80s just right.
Music repurposing the past needs to be nostalgic, and I best enjoy my synth-pop with a siding of wistful regret and remembrance. Young Love is exactly that, feeling like a rush of nostalgic memories while running through a small city's shopping district. This is best showcased through the winding chorus melody, surging with youthful passion and loss like few other songs. I love the percussion here, as it adds a level of authenticity over the somewhat stable synthwave production. That said, I love it when the song pulls out a little trick, mostly through the instrumental, such as at 1:44, where the instrumental follows Boleyn's voice or the electronic flourishes at 1:30.
Boleyn does quite fine over the song, especially in the chorus, where her voice becomes the leader in a sonic battalion of the '80s. Unfortunately, the song does feel a little short, and never truly grows into the masterpiece that it could be. A stronger finale would send this song into the stratosphere, but I enjoy Young Love as is.
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