Title - Been Loving You [EP]
Artist - Annie J.
For those unaware, as the second-eldest daughter in a large, religious family–five siblings in all–Seattle-based retro soul and modern pop artist Annie J has always relied on music to find a sense of belonging.
With a childhood spent shuffling around small towns throughout the US, she discovered that art created a deeper understanding of her purpose than what was on the surface.
Annie’s family eventually settled on the east side of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State—through it all, she found a constant companion in what was flowing through the speakers of a “dream machine” radio alarm clock her grandfather gifted her.
“Anything that was mainstream pop or R&B came through the dream machine clock radio, which I’d listen to quietly in a room I shared with one of my sisters,” she says.
The R&B and jazz stylings of Whitney Houston and Nina Simone that Annie gravitated toward swirled with country-soaked powerhouse voices of Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, The Chicks and The Judds that her mother had on repeat.
The messages these women sent via their music sparked her desire not only for singing but also for crafting stories and emotions into melodies that resonate, as well as modeling the significance of what it means to be uniquely you.
In addition to what she found on her radio, she credits the incredible educators along her path for the vocalist she is now, particularly a middle-high school choir teacher who felt like one of the first people to further her development as a young vocalist. These teachers and mentors helped her solidify the belief that she was worth the investment.
Thus she blends her skillful songwriting and brilliant vocals seamlessly on her second EP, BEEN LOVING YOU, for a sound that is truly her own.
“BEEN LOVING YOU calls through time to me as a young girl, a young woman, an adult, and a new mom,” she says. “The words and music are for each, ever-evolving version of me. It’s a reminder: this is just life, mama—you’ll be okay. Keep creating yourself, and keep writing the story. It matters.”
1. Your Power
2. Makin Bacon
3. Interlude
4. Around The Block
5. Can’t Solve It
6. Gotta Give It Up
7. Blue Angel
This dutifully impassioned, and soulfully ambient new recording opens on veritably glittering jauntiness of Your Power and then brings us the deliciously rhythmic, Billie Eilish-imbed Makin Bacon, which is followed by the family collaboration Interlude (which also features her then-three-year-old son), the organically introspective Around The Block, the EP rounding out on a resonate yearning within Can’t Solve It, the funk-grooved, 70’s throwback sound of Gotta Give It Up, closing on the soul-baring, impactful Blue Angel.
“‘Blue Angel’ a gem that poured as if it was already written on my soul,” Annie says. “It started with a guitar riff I’d heard for years from my husband, Nick. I asked him to lay it down for me one day, then shooed him out of the studio to take a stab at it.”
“I sang the tune almost immediately, and wept,” she continues. “During that take, the infamous Blue Angels flew over our home right through the recording and became a part of it. An unlikely, organic outpouring specific to that moment.”
Official Website
Annie J @ Facebook
Annie J @ Facebook