‘Betrayal’ is a memorable song for a number of reasons. The first thing to strike as you listen is the development of the melody – the song offers a relentless outpouring of lyricism and a great vocal rhythm. The verses are loaded with captivating and addictive lines that beg for you to learn them. Almost immediately listeners are likely to find themselves following the story along intently.
The second thing to really grab you is the artist’s leading vocal performance, this precise and confident delivery of these ideas and this rhythm and this melody. Furthermore, alongside all of this – the strength of songwriting, the strength of voice – the musicality throughout the whole piece is notably unique. The music seems to take a little bit of an indie rock influence, a little bit of the crisp polish of pop production, and a little bit of some alternative, electronic or trip-hop inspired ambiance, and fuse it all with great style.
The backdrop in its entirety is compelling and consistently creative. The music maintains its intrigue, it keeps you interested throughout, and structurally every moment fits brilliantly with the concept and vocal performance riding on top of it. The piano ballad implied by the introduction swiftly evolves into a much harder hitting piece of pop music, emotionally loaded, melodically effective, a generally striking and, as mentioned, memorable bit of music and writing.
At the same time as all of this the song itself offers a bitterly honest and personal account of experience and learning from the hard times. This kind of openness is always valuable, and the influx of lyrics in this case offers a fresh perspective on betrayal and also allows audiences to get a strong grasp of what the artist Bianca Modesti is all about. The song has a hugely effective middle eight section, adding further to the overall effect of the piece.
By Rebecca Cullen
Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing.
