Laura Mvula Discography Rate - #11 - White Noise

[Trouble in Paradise]

Wait did bread beat diamonds and father father or is one of those mercifully still in?? I really thought there’d be way more fans here for the debut! I see it as her big GP moment funnily enough

 

[boom bazooka joe]

Wait did bread beat diamonds and father father or is one of those mercifully still in?? I really thought there’d be way more fans here for the debut! I see it as her big GP moment funnily enough

Sadly they both left in the 40s!

 

[Trouble in Paradise]

Sadly they both left in the 40s!

Well at least bread got it’s dues?

 

[boom bazooka joe]

#31 *TIE*

Make Me Lovely
from Sing To The Moon
Written by Laura Mvula and Steve Brown

Score: 7.48
Flying Peak: 12 Valley: 39

Lovely Humans: (8.75) @TéléDex
My Enemy: (3) @BritPopLover
Boom Score: 10

Another day, another me crying over a Sing To The Moon song that's time here is unjustly cut short. I actually held off doing this elimination for ages specifically because of losing this 10. (I didn't at all but I can pretend it's for that reason.)

To me, "Make Me Lovely" is Laura Mvula at her most 70s, and the sound is truly inspired. The swirling orchestral instrumentation over her biting send off to her (ex, former, soon to be long gone?) lover. "I can't make you love me, you can't make me lovely, please don't try to."

The vocal doubling of the main chorus can be a bit grating on the album version (which I think is intentional), but this song EXPLODES live. Vocally, she really lets it rip, and its' all the better for it. Once again, if you haven't listened to the live version of this album you are really doing yourself a disservice to Laura's best album don't @ me.

@Sprockrooster (8) gets personal: “This would have been a 7,0 if it wasn't for the lyric "Give Back My Soul And Take My Heart". I am an insecure person by nature and it’s lyrics like this that prove to me to be very powerful as my confidence is low enough. No need to take the last crumbs. Have my heart instead then.”

@Trouble in Paradise (7.5) struggles a bit with the balance between the lyric and the music: "A song where the message always outweighed the melody for me. Something about the toggle between the softness of the orchestra against venom of the lyric."

And @BritPopLover (3) continues to give scores that create my villain origin story: “Forgettable until I listened to it to remember how the melody even goes but it's still cute.”




I plan to do the other 3 parts of the tie today ... I swear!
​

 

[boom bazooka joe]

#31 *TIE*

Renaissance Moon
from The Dreaming Room
Written by Laura Mvula

Score: 7.48
Flying Peak: 12 Valley: 37

Interlude Lovers: (10) @Sprockrooster
Interlude Haters: (5.5) @Trouble in Paradise
Boom Score: 8

I have absolutely nothing against this but I'm lowkey fuming that this 45 second interlude that basically interpolates the melody of "Sing To The Moon" (and album y'all have done so ugly) for a cute few seconds.

@Sprockrooster wrongly predicts: (10) “I know this will be done wrong, cause it is an instrumental and this is pop(ish) girl rate so it will be tanked and I inflated my score consequently.”

@Trouble in Paradise (5.5) can't remember how it goes: "Is it bad that I can never remember what this sounds like til pressing play? Can’t be good."

​

 

[boom bazooka joe]

#31 *TIE*

You Work For Me
from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Written by Jack Glass / Christopher John Stracey / Tobias Macdonald Jesso

Score: 7.48
Flying Peak: 18 Valley: 36

On Laura's Payroll: (10) @Attis
Fired from their Unpaid Internship: (5) @BritPopLover @Trouble in Paradise
Boom Score: 8

We say goodbye to another bonus track/extra with "You Work With Me," which was featured in the feature film The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The song is a bold sixties inspired Bond-esque track which showcases Mvula’s incredible vocals. Guy Ritchie, who directed the film, chose the song himself, saying: “It’s not easy to find a new song which matches the power of the classic Nina Simone and Roberta Flack pieces in the film. Laura Mvula has done it with ‘You Work For Me.'”

The song is a Bond song through and through, and upon repeat listens -- I think I may have been a bitsy generous with my 8?

The Bond comparisons run through the commentary. @Sprockrooster (9) says “If one would think this is a bond theme it would make total sense as well. Her voice with a cinematic soundscape clicks easily with each other. I am a big fan of the adlib ending the song. I do feel like it's missing an umph of some sorts making me score this a 9,0 instead of a 10.” @Trouble in Paradise clearly agrees, but also hates Bond: (5) "I mean of course Laura crushed her bond theme but it’s still a bond theme."



Next up, 17 eliminations after I lost my 11, we lose our next 11.​

 

[boom bazooka joe]

TOP 30

SING TO THE MOON (2013)
Like The Morning Dew
Green Gardens
That's Alright
She
Sing To The Moon
(5/16)

THE DREAMING ROOM (2016)
Overome (featuring Nile Rodgers)
Let Me Fall
Kiss My Feet
Show Me Love
Angel
People (featuring Wretch 32)
Phenomenal Woman
Ready Or Not [Fugees Cover]
Same Ol' Mistakes (BBC Live Version) [Tame Impala Cover]
(9/17)

1/f (2021)
Sing To The Moon (1/f Version)
Show Me Love (1/f Version)
Green Gardens (1/f Version)
I'm Still Waiting [Diana Ross Cover]
(4/4)

PINK NOISE (2021)
Safe Passage
Unconditional
Church Girl
Remedy
Magical
Pink Noise
Golden Ashes
What Matters (featuring Simon Neil)
Got Me
Before The Dawn
(10/10)

EXTRAS
Little Girl Blue (from the Motion Picture "12 Years A Slave")
We Go Harder feat. Mayra Andrade (from the Motion Picture "The Harder We Fall")
(2/7)

Any surprises? Anything you think has overstayed it's welcome? Anything you want to see go next? Sound off in the comments!​

 

[Trouble in Paradise]

I won’t pretend to call for anything from Pink Noise even if it could lose a few songs but the second half of the dreaming room needs a cull

 

[CorgiCorgiCorgi]

I'd love to see Laura get to do a proper Bond theme someday.

 

[soratami]

I honestly forgot the 1/f songs were even here. Anyway, Little Girl Blue is my lowest score left (my only score left below 8 actually), so hopefully that goes next.

 

[boom bazooka joe]

I know a lot of rates are struggling on hiatus at the moment, and I would just like to remove myself from the narrative by saying -- mine is not on hiatus -- it's just running at a snail's pace! ddd.

Let's keep this going, shall we?

#30

Kiss My Feet
from The Dreaming Room
Written by Jack Glass / Christopher John Stracey / Tobias Macdonald Jesso

Score: 7.64
Flying Peak: 27 Valley: 54

Foot Fetish (11) @adayasatiger (10) @klow @soratami @Trouble in Paradise
Socks On Always: (2) @BritPopLover (5) @Sprockrooster
Boom Score: 7

After what feels like a billion years, we finally loose our second 11. Sorry @adayasatiger! This one was clearly divisise for the girls, since it's the first song with a nice batch of 10s (and an 11) but it still suffered a few (heinously) low scores, hence only making top 30!

In retrospect, I think I rated this one a bit "low." I'm not even sure why -- when I saw Laura live when she was touring The Dreaming Room what felt like ages ago, this song was a real highlight, to be honest. The rhythmic rim snare percussion paired with with the bells and the lush string make for a really magnetic orchestral sound.

What I find most interesting about this song is that Laura often wallows in the misery and the sad grey area, and musically, this sounds like more of the same, but it's a rare moment of (perhaps cautious) euphoria and joy. That juxtaposition makes for a unique listen.

Commentary has nothing but love on this one. @Trouble in Paradise (10) "An 11 on any other day, possibly the victim of single bias that I’m not giving this PERFECT song my 11. Ugh the emotion she wrings out of this. She’s a genius. The crashing layers obliterate me, that desperate shouted “I’ve been waiting."

And I'll leave the final comment for @adayasatiger (11): "To my mind, a perfect crystallization of the Laura Mvula 'sound' before the sonic shift in Pink Noise - I remember walking by the Thames, watching the sunset and having this on, and thinking that it's literally *impossible* how beautiful it is."



Next up -- we still have 4 covers in the top 30, and one of them leaves next.​

 

[soratami]

Kiss Me Feet definitely deserved better, I can't believe someone actually gave it a 2...

As for the cover going next, it better be Little Girl Blue.

 

[Trouble in Paradise]

We continually make terrible choices. This should be Top 10!!

 

[boom bazooka joe]

#29

Ready or Not
from The Dreaming Room
Written by Enya, Lauryn Hill, Pras Michel, Roma Ryan, Thom Bell, William Hart, Wyclef Jean

Score: 7.7
Flying Peak: 13 Valley: 30

Ready: (10) @Attis @BritPopLover
Not Ready: (3) @Trouble in Paradise
Boom Score: 8

Laura has shown that she knows her way around a cover, this being one of her most interesting. Covering the legendaric Fugees classic, Laura throws a do-wop inspired 60s twist on the 90s rap stunner.

It was definitely an ambitious thing to take on this song, but Laura really makes it her own with the upbeat production and her stellar vocal rendition. It doesn't completely work, though. @Sprockrooster (8) takes the words out of my mouth with their commentary: “This is a rather interesting take on the original/Fugees version. But I am not entirely swept quite frankly as it feels a bit disjointed (verses compared to the chorus). But I do want to applaud the experimental approach she took with it. She truly made it her own, but I'd rather listen to the Fugees version.”

@BritPopLover (10) loves it (shocked, right?!) “This song was on an advert and it never escaped me."

@Trouble in Paradise (3), meanwhile, is making me cry. "I don’t particularly enjoy the original and Laura’s version just grated on me." What?!

This is one of the few entires that actually has a music video, so hey! Let's celebrate that!



​

 

[CorgiCorgiCorgi]

It's a good song but I am surprised it lasted this far. Usually cover versions (especially of such iconic originals) are out early!

 

[Trouble in Paradise]

Oh right my time as rate villain for a change! I always found ready or not too one note in a way, it’s that the ear worm is too good so immediately after listening it’s just READY OR NOT HERE I COME I’M GONNA FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

 

[BritPopLover]

I’m becoming like, some sort of Anti-Hero. Neither good or bad. Y’all shocked I rated Ready Of Not so highly? Just wait for the rest of my rate x

 

[boom bazooka joe]

Hey friends —

A little update. I’m basically opening up a new business this month while also probably moving states and making some big life changes and the next month or two is going to be even more chaotic than the last few have been … which as you know hasn’t meant great news for me hosting this rate.

I don’t want to delay things any further - if any of you lovely voters would be interested in taking over the rate to handle the eliminations from here to the end, I will happily send over the spreadsheet and commentary. If no one offers in the next few days, I will probably just post the remaining results so you can at least be aware of the remaining rankings!

Thanks for understanding. Xx

 

[Trouble in Paradise]

Hey friends —

A little update. I’m basically opening up a new business this month while also probably moving states and making some big life changes and the next month or two is going to be even more chaotic than the last few have been … which as you know hasn’t meant great news for doing more hosting this rate.

I don’t want to delay things any further - if any of you lovely voters would be interested in taking over the rate to handle the eliminations from here to the end, I will happily send over the spreadsheet and commentary. If no one offers in the next few days, I will probably just post the remaining results so you can at least be aware of the remaining rankings!

Thanks for understanding. Xx

Love you and excited for you!! I was thinking recently of dipping my toe back into rate hosting but with less expectation! I would be open to doing a bare bones remaining eliminations til the top 10/15. More or less doing a chunk of 2-6 eliminations per post and giving just top and lowest voters and commentary. If anyone feels up for doing more , please take over!! But otherwise I’m happy to run this, I ADORE Laura and @boombazookajoe and am just happy this rate exists

 

[klow]

If need be, I'd be happy to assist too, @boombazookajoe (thanks for your work so far!) and @Trouble in Paradise.