(artwork credit goes to BrownSugar)
Title: Beautiful
Length: 3.25
Genres: Soul, Pop
Release Date: March 2nd 2014
Label: FREEDOM
Written By: Adam Black
Produced By: Neavah Martinez
Sounds Like: Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are'Beautiful' is Adam Black's third overall single but the first to be lifted from his debut full length album titled 'Chemistry Times 3' his previous two singles were taken from his debut EP which was titled 'Chemical Reaction' and has made waves in the charts as did Adam's last single 'Give Me It', beautiful was written By Adam Black himself and the song describes feelings towards a guy and telling the guy that he is 'beautiful' to him regardless of what anyone else thinks, the song was produced, mixed and mastered by Neavah Martinez at the FREEDOM headquarters, the song has a total length of three minutes and twenty-five seconds, the song will be released on Sunday March 2nd by FREEDOM Records.
Beautiful is a pop and soul song with an instrumentation that features piano. keyboard sounds and breakbeat. The instruments are arranged into what critics described as a "nice smooth ballad with vocals". Tim Byron of The Vine said "the steeply rising melody at the start of the chorus introduces a little tension before defusing it with the, catchy tag of the chorus, which is simple and effective as a hook". The Guardian music reviewer, Paul Lester, describes the song as "fairly standard R&B pop, his vocal a breezy falsetto as characterless."
the song starts with Adam singing the opening verse begin a piano feeled beat, Adam sings with a soft and light voice to emphasis the feeling of the song as he is the the beat behind him is changing slowly as he progresses further into the verse with a drum beat coming in towards the middle, the beat then speeds up slightly as Adam sings the first chorus again with a soft and light tone but with a bit more power in his vocals to get across what he is trying to say, as his finishes singing the chorus the beat changes back to just the piano beat as Adam begins to sing the second verse, instead of the soft and light tone to his voice for the second verse Adam sings in a powerful almost forceful tone this is again to emphasis what the lyrics say, as he continues to sing the second verse again as he is singing the beat behind him is changing and once again towards the middle the drum beat comes in, after Adam finishs the second verse he begins to sing the second chorus again with a soft and light tone but backed with a slightly powerful tone Adam almost towards the end of this chorus sings it in falsetto showing off his vocal range, after he finishes the second chorus the beat then changes once again to just the piano beat as Adam begins to sing the third verse of the song some count this verse as a bridge section as it's shorter than the other verses, as Adam is singing the third verse in falsetto once again the beat behind him is changing but this time no drum beat can be heard instead the piano beat changes it arrangement slightly, as the third verse comes to an end there is then a bridge section again were Adam shows off his vocal range with his now signature rifts and trills all sung in falsetto and in a light and breezy tone, after this there is yet another bridge section but Adam sings this bridge in a regular key but changes key towards the end to once again perform some vocal rifts, after the second bridge the beat changes again to the piano beat along with the drum beat as Adam sings the chorus for a final time again singing with a powerful and forceful tone to his voice but again also towards the end goes into a higer falsetto key as the song comes to an end after a five second outro.
The music video for "beautiful" will premiere five days after the song is released. It was filmed on location at a house near Reading, Berkshire. The video shows Black pursuing a young guy who is playing hard-to-get at a large party. When he starts to lose hope, he then pursues him and the video culminates with both of them dancing into the night. The man playing the male subject of the song was chosen personally by Black. The owner of the house also appeared as an extra in the video.
The song has been well received by music critics. Digital Spy's Nick Levine gave the song four out of five stars and described it as a "huge-hearted urbany piano ballad" and compared it with Austin Nimmo but noted a different sound to Austin,In her review for Billboard, Megan Vick wrote: "Over a breezy piano and vaguely hip-hop breakbeat, Black professes his love for a beautiful man who occupies his dreams Adam pens lyrics that aim to make male listeners feel nothing short of perfect in their own skin. With its steady, danceable pulse and singalong chorus, Black has created a feel-good jam that should establish him as a contender in his own right.", Nima Baniamer from Contactmusic.com felt that "there is something about the single that makes Adam Black stand out from all the other R&B artists dominating the charts at the moment", and said, "The song is full of flirtation and charisma, but also comes across quite satisfied and classy, Jason Lipshutz of Billboard wrote that one "gets the feeling that 'Beautiful,' with its grand harmonies, classically kooky hooks and slyly sexual undertones, is the musical mode that makes Black the happiest." Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly remarked that the song "makes silk-jumpsuit soul feel contemporary," while Spin's Dan Hyman favorably compared "Beautiful" to the work of American Soul artists. Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian described the song as a "sprightly soul thumper". Robert Copsey of Digital Spy gave the song a rating of 4 out of 5, stating that Black " insists over '80s smooth funk guitars and retro-styled soul beats, before declaring his woman his "treasure" and "golden star" with a sense of unabashed affection. The result sounds like a modern day 'Rock With You'; a feat that few could get away with pulling off so authentically". Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen commented that "Beautiful" is a creamy Michael Jackson/Prince-schooled soul. while Matt Cibula from Pop Matters compared also the "funky" song with the two musicians' work saying that "Beautiful" "knows that a flirt beats a bleat any day". Matthew Horton from BBC Music wrote that the track has a "sugary early 80s sou", and that it "is lathered in so much slap bass it starts to sting". Evan Rytle of The A.V. Club opined that Adam is "capably sells himself as a one-man Maroon 5 on the soul-spiked "Beautiful"."Ryan Reed of Paste Magazine gave the song a positive review, writing that "Beautiful” is stripper-theme funk-pop with gooey synth pads and enormous slap-bass fills that punch through like air-humps"
LYRICS:You spend your whole life waiting
On a single dream
There's a shorter way to heaven
Leading right to me there's a whole new world
you can breathe it whenever you're ready we can
The stars, they came, all of them
This way they stood in line
To see us fall In love
The sun and moon will share the night
Now tell me isn't it beautiful, Isn't it beautiful
what is this beautiful sky we're under
It's beautifulSay yeahh
And your smile has been missing
you compromised all your positions
I know your heart has been weak
it hurts but you haven't reached the limit, yeah
You gotta live in this moment
I'm standing here right now and you should know
That with me is where you belong
The stars, they came, all of them
This way they stood, in line
To see us fall In love
The sun and moon will share the night
Now tell me isn't it beautiful, Isn't it beautiful
what is this beautiful sky we're under
It's beautifulSpeeding like I can't find, the brakes
Meet me by the thin line, babe
I know that your world's broke, so come get a change
Bring you in the love from the hate
Then I give you joy for your pain
Trade in all your heartaches
In return for real love
The stars, they came, all of them
This way they stood in line
To see us fall in love
The sun and moon will share, the night
Now tell me isn't it beautiful, Isn't it beautiful
what is this beautiful sky we're under
It's beautifulSay yeah
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