Aditi Babel – gold (Single Review)

London-based singer-songwriter Aditi Babel is releasing her sixth single titled “gold.” The pop artist is known for her introspective lyrics and intimate compositions. Here is the link to a past review I did for one of her singles. I noticed that, similar to the previous track, the lyricism for “gold” was simply electrifying.

Babel really takes a basic songwriting formula and imbues it with personal details and an honest delivery. Lyrics-wise, the song is about a post-breakup reunion that immediately turns tragic. She sings wistfully: “Closure never felt this nice/It’s been so long, so long and you look good/I know we shouldn’t, but we could.” The momentum of the song starts to pick up as she belts out: “Electric, last touch/Baby, I missed you so much/Soft lips, head rush/Spinning around in this.” Later, we get a choral interlude: “You know that I must leave/And now we both must grieve/So dawn goes down to day/Nothing gold can stay…”

Musically, the track starts out smoky with an underlying electronic beat. Slowly, the track gains traction as synths join the arrangement. Babel’s vocals on this number have a great pop finish. It’s like her vocals are made for this type of music. She coos and croons, weaving through the notes with finesse.

The artist has added an AI disclaimer in the notes, citing that she used AI for the choral section. She said that the choral section was absolutely vital to her vision of this song, and she couldn’t do without it, but because of money constraints, she was unable to hire a real-life choir. While listening to this track, I wholeheartedly agreed with the artist that the choral background vocals were absolutely necessary to the song’s atmosphere. I didn’t think the AI element distracted too much from the overall track. Honestly, if Babel hadn’t shared in the notes that she used AI only for this section, I wouldn’t have noticed. So she must be doing something right, or else the sound engineer did a really good job mixing this track, which must be the case.

Production-wise, I had no complaints. The track was very well-produced, and as I said, the AI part didn’t stick out too much.

Another note about the lyrics: Babel actually states that the closing lyrics were inspired by Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” a poem about impermanence. I think the inspired lines only added to the overall haunting and soaring sounds that grab your attention from the get-go.

My only critique is that the song is way too short, just over 2 minutes long. This track is such an earworm, I really wish it lasted longer. But other than that, this song was nearly perfect.

SCORE/Excellent: The only reason this song didn’t get a perfect score is that it was too short for my tastes. I really wished it would’ve lasted longer, and that is mainly because it transported me away from my ordinary life and allowed me to escape, if only for a couple of minutes. Babel’s music is powerful enough to do this, despite the ten or so seconds of AI, which she used for the choral section. Despite that and the song’s length, I truly think this is a song that has many strengths, highly indicative of an emerging artist showing strong potential.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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