Velvet - Royel Otis
Song for The Week
The transition from January to February feels like being dragged through a hedge backwards with an arm full of suitcases. Now we can’t just use the excuse “it’s only January, there’s time”. We’re fully in 2024 and no amount of looking back or trying to hang on to a December hangover is going to help.
So, to ease symptoms of melancholy and a general reluctant attitude, it’s advisable to in-jest a dose of decent new indie music and a partake in shameless dad dancing. And, luckily for us Royel Otis served us a certifiable banger in January with Velvet.
For this number, I would recommend dancing around like you’ve just been electrocuted. With every jut and jolt timed with the repetitive chords, you’ve got the perfect base to go back to. And as the voltage takes hold you are charged with energy to release with the lyrics.
The song talks about suffering, about a draining relationship “my baby says I’m just a lover, my baby needs me more than others” or my favourite lyric “my baby eats me like a cheese”. A relationship so all encompassing that I could only relate it to that of our own neuroses.
All that worrying, all that self deprecation… throw it away. Take this song with it’s timeless sound, punky vocal and shake it loose.
Just when you think you’re nearly spent the piano doubles the tempo and you can really let your cheeks fly.
This song really reminds me of The Talking Heads. Lean into your inner David Byrne and dance around like it’s performance art, because it is, I said so.
Dear reader let’s get through this week together, through the power of this brilliant song. Shout the repetitive lyrics, dance like you’ve been struck by lightning and shake like a shaggy dog.