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 TITLE: Echo ARTIST: Valerie Hue WRITERS: Valerie Hue LENGTH: 3:31 GENRE: Acoustic, folk, indie folk PRODUCER: Valerie Hue LABEL: Independent RELEASED: April 22nd, 2015 From the Album: TBA
Lately, it seems that many of the past participants of Starfactory have been coming out of the woodworks and back into the limelight to release their own music, and Miss. Valerie Hue is no different. Valerie was a contestant on the ill-fated third season of the show, which only ran for two weeks, featuring an indie challenge and a hip-hop challenge. It was no surprise to most that Valerie rocked the indie challenge, as many people already knew Valerie's name from her short-lived YouTube popularity after the recording of her original song, "By Your Side," went viral. The young woman was viewed as the sweet, shy redhead from D.C. with the voice of an angel after the first week, when she explained to the audience during an interview her love for her family, and her love for her music. Many agree that she would have been a force to be reckoned with if the show had continued - especially after the hip-hop challenge, when she performed her original song "You're My Pisces," where she proved that not only could she give soulful indie performances, but also could also attempt the hip-hop genre. The results of this challenge were never released, but many people believe Valerie would have advanced.
Well, what did Valerie do after Starfactory came to it's sudden end? She went back home, of course. The young woman went back to her apartment in Washington D.C., started her first semester of college at Georgetown University, cut and dyed her hair a few times, and hung out with her boyfriend, Joshua Grimmie - also a contestant on the third season of Starfactory. For a while, she led a pretty normal life. But like many artists, she strived for something more. Thus, she independently released her first debut single, "Echo." The song was written and produced by Valerie Hue herself in Washington DC., and was recorded over the length of a three days.
The song starts off the way many people expected Valerie's first official debut album to start - with an acoustic guitar. Valerie's soft, wispy voice - a trademark of her's that many viewers compared to what you would imagine a mythological creature, like a woodland fairy's, voice to sound like - comes through, singing just barely above the volume of the guitar. She starts the song out talking directly to the man she's singing to (many can assume that this song is written to Joshua Grimmie) as she sings about their life together. It sounds like a pretty fun life, with them going out at night and drinking for free in bars, and then wasting all day together. It seems like a pretty fun relationship to have, especially when you're eighteen or nineteen. Valerie sings that they might be moving quickly, and she doesn't know how long they can stay together going at the rate that they're going, but he's grown to mean a lot to her, and she doesn't want to let go of him any time soon. In the short chorus, Valerie explains that she knows that they could be each other's echo. As she sings this, the low stringed sound of a double bass accompanies her, adding a very lullaby effect to an already very soothing sounding song. Those who watched Valerie's viral video of "By Your Side" would remember that that song had a very calming effect as well, as it was played solely by her on her piano, while this song features very few other instruments behinds her voice and her acoustic guitar. This seems to be a pattern that Valerie plans on continuing into the rest of her musical career.
The second verse starts, again with just Valerie's voice and the acoustic guitar as the double bass fades out. She asks if the effort that they're both putting into the relationship is really enough to keep them together, adding that she had never been able to fall in love before, but when he flashed his smile at her, she knew she could. She paints a picture for both the man she's singing to and to the listener of what her life was like before they met, explaining that she was getting "drunk and lazy from summer air." This doesn't seem like a particularly bad way to live life - very carefree and relaxed - but when taking a deeper look, it also means that nothing was particularly important to Valerie at that time either. While her life before her boyfriend wasn't necessarily bad, she likes the way that she's living with him more.
After the second repeat of the chorus, Valerie goes into two sets of four "oooh's," as the double bass and other stringed instruments begin to accompany her, along with a soft drum to keep a slow, steady beat. This small intermission from actual lyrics adds to the relaxing energy that the song brings. It's easily the type of song that somebody could do yoga or meditate to. As all the instruments besides the acoustic guitar begin to fade out, Valerie begins to sing again, saying that when she's holding hands with him, nothing seems wrong in her life. It's revealed that the song is being written in bed while her boyfriend sleeps next to her, as she sings to him that she'll continue writing this song, and he can continue sleeping - again, making the song seem more and more like a lullaby, and giving another almost sleepy energy to it's meaning. As she continues in the verse, singing that they'll laugh in the face of grey skies together, the music begins to build more and more as the stringed instruments accompany her voice again, both her voice and the instruments growing in a sense of urgency before her voice reaches a very high note - her voice wispy, soft voice hitting it without any struggle - as she tells him that he'll always be there to answer when if she cries - much like an echo would. The song ends with her confirming that she knows that as a fact, giving her guitar one last strum before the song fades out, ending with a blissful feeling.
The sounds of you and me, the nights we drank for free
Coming home from the days we wasted
We might be moving pretty fast
We don't know how long we can last
But you see how much you mean to me
And I just know
That we could be each other's echo
That, I just know
Can this be enough? I never could fall in love
Before you shined your smile at me
I almost got lost out there
Drunk and lazy from summer air
But you're the salvation I see
And I just know
That we could be each other's echo
That, I just know
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Ooooooh
Hand in hand, there's nothing wrong
I'll keep writing you this song, and you can keep sleeping so soundly
But with you and me, it's no surprise
We laugh in the face of grey skies
You'll always be, you'll always be
You'll always be there to answer if I cry
That, I just knowSOUNDS LIKE:
Priscilla Ahn - Dream
Edited by user 23 April 2015 15:31:40(UTC)
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