Greetings to all my lovely readers and music lovers. Let’s welcome French artist HADRIAAN. A Journey to the Light Hadriaan’s debut EP “Shine” was released on June 20. The twelve-song EP serves as both a personal and universal statement. Let’s discuss it further
The title track “Shine” is a project cornerstone, reflecting the yearning to break free from the darkness, create a mark, discover one’s light, and eventually shine brilliantly. The track, designed as a soft yet resolute, almost ceremonial march, perfectly merges powerful voices with electronic instrumentation to elicit raw and crystalline emotions. The song’s defining moment is the chorus, which combines an inner anthem with a liberating shout. “Shine” represents the journey from inner darkness to dawn, a work that speaks to the individual while aiming for the universal.
Next up is the song “Running after time”. The song opens with a heavenly vocal and piano melody. The song talks about the fact that lost time can never be reclaimed. The character in the song seems to have been waiting for something for his entire life. During this wait, he lets us know the uncanny truth about time(“Waiting for something, time kills, time flies”). The vocal performance was an amazing falsetto throughout and it was amazing
“Will O’ the wisp” is the name of the next song on this record. The song opens with a beautiful and catchy melody. The song illustrates a character who has opened up his life to spontaneity and adventure(“I wanna go where the wind goes”). The song emphasizes experimentation, which will fulfill you. The beat in this song was catchy and enjoyable. The vocal performance was so incredible, this album keeps getting better and better
Up next is a track titled “Piece of My Soul”. The song starts with the chorus which describes a character who is blaming someone for taking a piece of his soul and asks this person where the piece of his soul is(“you took a piece of my soul, where did it go”). This song has synth pop elements that were insanely good and it ends with a lovely piano melody before, it reverts to the synth pop style. Listeners will love this track
“Our love died” is the next track on this EP. The song opens with the vocal performance right away. The song is about a character who is telling us listeners about how his love died even though, he doesn’t know the cause. We learn that they promised to spend forever together but, it comes to fruition. The vocal performance is theatrical and lively. The mouth percussion was exceptional and this is yet another great song on the EP
Next up is “powerless”. The song opens with a vocal performance with a piano melody in the background. The song describes a persona who is reminding us that our voices are our power so when we are silenced, we become powerless. This song displays a different side of Hadrian’s vocal ability and his range. The instrumentation was catchy and I loved this song
“Endlessly(I heard)” is the name of this next song. The intro of this song is an exciting drum sequence. From there, he hears a dark and mysterious melody that doesn’t change throughout the song. This song was very foot-tapping and it was fun to dance to
Next up is “heartbeat”. This song’s intro is a piano and drum-like beat. The song is about a character who is trying to woo a lady. He asks her to give him a chance for them to be together because there would be no harm in it. This song was emotive, with stunning instrumentation and vocal performance, This song will captivate you like it did me
“Out of touch” is the title of the next track. The song opens in a glacial way with a bold vocal and guitar performance. The persona in the song is accusing someone of being out of touch because of his or her apathy towards anything and everything. (“My dear you are out of touch”). This song again showcases the artist’s vocal range. This was a fabulous song
Up next is “finally home”. The song opens with a slow and dark eerie sound. The song illustrates a persona who is finally home(“I’m finally home”). The song can be looked at in two ways. Home to this character is either a place or a person because people can be our homes too. Whether literal or metaphorical home, this character has finally reached his place of comfort. The vocal performance lets listeners know the relief that this character feels so, we go on this journey with him
“Something wrong” is the song that comes next. The song opens with a captivating melody. We meet a character who isn’t like other people(“Is there something wrong with me”). This character seems to have a different reaction to certain things than other people. Knowing this, he asks himself why he is different and questions everything and wondering if there is something wrong with him. Maybe there is something wrong with him or not but, either way, this song is for people who struggle with this and we appreciate the artist for making us feel seen and connecting with us on a deeper level. The vocal performance was stunning and the instrumentation fits it perfectly
The last song is called Our Seasons”. This song opens with a soft piano melody. This song is about a persona who thought that he was better than the rest but, learnt that we all have seasons in our lives. Like the four seasons, we do not know what season someone is in and live our lives like that. This song was so emotive and tender. With a gorgeous send-off off this song was
Hadriaan’s goal with this project is not just to fascinate or surprise audiences, but also to genuinely connect with them via his unusual artistic sensibility. I am proud to say that, he achieved the goal he set out to get, This was one unforgettable collection of songs. This artist is a star and he is going to take over the music scene, just you wait and see
Stream the “Shine” EP on Spotify
Follow Hadriaan on his socials; Facebook, Instagram
