I haven't really been listening to the radio for the past month or so, but last I knew the only places in the U.S. to hear Irish singer Lesley Roy's single "I'm Gone, I'm Going" were on FNMTV and The Hills. That's a bit of a shame, though, since I think it might be one of the (just the?) best straight-up pop-rock-with-blowout-chorus song that Max Martin has done in the past few years (note that that excludes "So What" with Pink, whose songs I don't really think of as being in the same category somehow anyway--it's not just the lyrics, but also the fact that there's often a more playful and less straightforward pop-rock musical element somewhere in them--and "Hot 'n Cold," which once again falls into that Pink-like category). Sure, if you've heard the singles from Kelly Clarkson's second album and the knockoffs they inspired, you won't be too surprised by the sound of "I'm Gone, I'm Going" (well, if you're like me, the odd order of the phrases in the title line may surprise you), but it's really so much more powerful and...well, less knock-off feeling than a lot of the songs of this sort we've heard recently. Actually, in a way that odd phrase order makes sense, if it forces the emphasis to be on the "going" part: this really does feel like the song you'd play as you were driving away as fast as you could down the highway. In general and from the other songs I've heard from the album, I kind of get the feeling that Lesley's giving off the vibe of a singer who'd be just about as happy working in a pub being "authentic" and her excess guitars and raspy voice can at times detract from the musical experience for me, but on "I'm Going I'm Gone," with writers and producers helping her refine that sound, she does mainstream power-pop fantastically. I could be wrong, but I think this is a song that Samuel of HotStuff Files would be enjoying if that blog was still around.To preorder Lesley Roy's album Unbeautiful, due out September 30, go here (physical).
Next up: maybe an older American song.
