Got My Love - Eliza May
Single Review
By Silva Shahini
‘Got My Love’ is a charming song that both audibly pays homage to the musical canon and dares to buck historical trends by combining this sound with Eliza May’s fresh, lyrical perspective. ‘Got My Love’ aurally places the listener into a lazy hazy summers’ day and dares to match this sound with its lyrical choices. Her lyrics explore simple forms of happiness and then goes even further by fully committing its story telling to mirror the sound. The plucky charm of the light drums and strums creates a feeling of being present and happy. Vocally, its light, airiness allows people to feel giddy and carefree for four minutes of their day and feels like a smile in the right direction.
It’s simple, it’s bright and its gentle sonic cadence addresses a public desire to hear soft happiness in a way that made songs such as ‘Sunkissed’ by khai dreams, ‘There She Goes’ by The La’s or ‘Kiss Me’ by Sixpence None The Richer so popular. May recognises the value of creating music that has this style of sound but also finds a lyrical gap in these kind of songs from a female perspective. The female experience- as explored by female songwriters- tends to usually involve some form of sadness. May’s ‘Got My Love’ is contributing to a smaller camp female of singer songwriters’ musical works by both sounding happy and talking about being happy. Whilst this may not sound revolutionary, a smaller singer songwriter not leaning into some sadness or tragedy lyrically to balance out a positive sound is an interesting musical choice in terms how this song exists within the musical canon.
Usually, music made ‘for’, about or by women seems to fit into one of these three categories: sad music and sad lyrics; happy music and sad lyrics or women becoming an object for men to voyeuristically interpret. For example, Joni Mitchell brilliantly explored female pain both sonically and lyrically but even songs with a more upbeat sound like ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ by ABBA or ‘ME!’ By Taylor Swift have some lyrical female sadness coded into the overall happy-sounding song. Great value can be derived from the exploration of female sadness; women claiming control over their own emotional narratives has been evidently powerful and respected across musical history.
But, as important as it has been to allow women the narrative control over their sadness instead of allowing the music-sphere to be filled with songs that distantly discuss a “she” as ‘understood’ by a man, it is also important to encourage and celebrate women tapping into a full spectrum of emotions, including happy ones. May’s choices in creating ‘Got My Love’ feels especially important when considering May’s declaration that Paramore was a musical large influence. A unique pop-punk band that explored experiences with a female tilt, with a female vocalist and in a genre that was male dominated. Clearly, ‘Got My Love’ feels the need to focus on and continue some of the successes of Paramore’s works, especially their album, After Laughter, which was a daring pivot and arguably sonically fun, not too dissimilar to May’s sound. This distinctly female gaze exploring a mellow, relaxing yet in control perspective is something I’d like to see more of.
