Singer Josie Man has released an acoustic version of her song ‘Grow,‘ online and it is available to stream or download today from Apple Music, Spotify, Itunes, Amazon Music, Deezer or Youtube. She announced the news on her instagram story with a cheeky ASMR version of some of the lyrics from the song. This stripped back, acoustic take on the song comes a month after the original release of the song which is richly produced with a chilled breakbeat behind the vocals and some cool echo and delay effects in the synths.
The simple catchy loops and spacey sounds of Josie Man are perfectly suited to the TikTok generation of music consumers who have overseen the rise to fame of the likes of Doja Cat who’s simply, dreamy melodies and danceable rhythms can be heard on a loop without creating boredom and can be used to accompany a variety of dances or scenes.
There’s a certain zen like calm to Josie Man’s dreamlike sound and visual style which has made for a number of very engaging songs and videos being released this year, much of it throughout the UK’s lockdown period, which gives hope to fans that there may be more to come as we move in to lockdown number too.
It is a fortunate characteristic of the younger generation in the music industry to have grown up engrossed in the digital technology which is now being used by people of all ages in the absence of any physical interactions. A young artist like Josie Man seems as comfortable using her Youtube and Instagram platforms to interact with fans and express creativity as you imagine she might if you were to meet her in real life.
The video for her earlier release ‘Just Me,’ see’s Josie Man making good use of green screen technology to set her performance to a variety of escapist scenes like beaches and surf waves while she dances in men’s clothing and tackles yoga poses while being floated around the screen by some skilful post production editing.
While her videos and songs have previously shown Josie Man’s ability to provide the whole works, great songwriting, catchy tunes, and great visuals all delivered in an easy to consume digital format which the artists is clearly entirely comfortable with, the acoustic version of ‘Grow,’ shows the artist in a slightly different light. In contrast to the high energy and light intensive videos which decorate her Youtube channel and her regular Instagram posts which are always colourful and exiting, an acoustic reworking of one of her songs shows a more human side to this postmodern singer.
While listening to ‘Grow,’ acoustic, with just Josie Man’s sweet vocals and a gentle guitar accompaniment throughout the two and a half minute number, we are instantly transported to an intimate encounter. The artist is able to show off not only her remarkable talent, but share the deep feeling with which she composers her numbers. This is truly emotional complexity cloaked in a catchy exterior.
