Thriving and shining female artist Sharl from Melbourne, Australia released a dazzling album ‘’City Lights’’ on the 26 of August. Sharl is an independent artist who crafted this album during the lockdown. Simmering past experiences in this time, she cooked up this album tastefully, sharing her rawest feelings and deepest sadness and frustrations over falling in love with the wrong person. But don’t worry, Sharl makes sure that we see the glamour of the city lights in the dark at the end of the heartbreak.
“City Lights” is a compilation of 10 pop songs about the dangers of toxic, failed love and the struggle of going through it all. What is head-turning about Sharl’s version of pop music is how it is composed differently than the noisy, overly stimulating, and joyous pop we’re used to. The album’s overall sound is a mix of classic sounds and trendy tunes; in a more specific sense, it has classic ballads and vintage disco vibes.
Sharl takes you through the confrontation of the toxic love with intense tunes and then descends into the heart-wrenching and lonely emotions of becoming single again after departing from a love that didn’t work out. The music and beats of the songs match each emotion lyrically conveyed along with the melancholic piano melodies and striking drums. Sharl flaunts her vocals in a determined manner and isn’t afraid to use her high pitch sounds to move the song much more rhythmically and emotionally. The sadder songs have beautiful melodies that captivate you. The lyrics are so straightforward, the storytelling is crystal clear, and you feel like you are listening to an inner dialogue of somebody who is aching from a breakup, even speaking of hopelessness and imaginary scenarios of heartfelt words to the person who has been lost.
The order of songs starts with intense music that talks about deception with ‘’I fell in love’’, ‘’games’’ and then ‘’without me’’. We reach loneliness after that and some forms of regretful feelings of exchanging love that ended up nowhere, with really sad, slow rhythm music for almost 5 tracks. The album then ends with a much more accepting tone to the situation in ‘’city lights’’, as Sharl wonders where her old love is and if she ever crosses his mind, maybe remembering their love beneath the night sky, the busy city filling all the loneliness she feels without him. This album is so real and intense, you will get soaked up in some tears from the heart.