Sometimes a song screams at you ‘Rom-com movie credits song’ or ‘epic Disney Princess song.’ Sara Fjeldvær’s‘The way you love me’ somehow manages to be both.
Bookended by the twinkling synthesiser notes you might expect to accompany a Planetarium Sound & Light show about the beginning of the universe it develops into a bold and brash Big Bang of its own, and you won’t have to listen too hard to hear distinct elements of the golden era of Hollywood and the likes of Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland and, yes, with a hint of Idina Menzel as well, as I’d mentioned Disney princesses.
That good? Really?… I hear you ask. I think I can safely say yes, with perhaps the caveat that on some of the higher notes from the middle of the song onwards I’m not sure if Sara is belting something akin to a metal growl or if the note is not quite being reached.
But in the overall scheme of things that’s no more than a passing observation. It’s a powerful song, full of hooks, delivered in a commanding manner and a paean to love itself.
The press release alerted me to analogies with the likes of Weyes Blood, Ane Brun and Susanne Sundfør. I don’t really hear Weyes, her voice, powerful as it is, doesn’t reach this level. Ane and Susanne I can concur with and that sets the standard. So think of those two singing Hollywood power classics and you’ve nailed her.
Growing up on a small island on the coast of Norway and raised in a house full of instruments in a small community, Sara Fjeldvær started writing songs from an early age and went on to study Performing Jazz at The Music Conservatory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, which experience tells me is the alma mater of many contemporary Norwegian musicians.
Her debut album was recorded in Nyhavna Studio in Trondheim and ‘The way you love me’ is taken from her second album which is set to be released this month.
Sara has an eight-city tour of Norway coming up, starting in mid-March. See her Facebook page for details.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fjeldvaersara
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarafjeldvaer/
