Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
It seems fitting that Sam Smith recently tweeted about Karen Harding’s new single Say Something, because they’ve both achieved the same unusual feat. They’ve reinvented themselves from a cheesy pop past into credible artists who are taken seriously. While Sam’s hilarious teenage music video has largely eluded notice, 22-year-old Karen has appearances on X Factor and Eurovision: Your Country Needs You to keep quiet. Signing to the same label as Disclosure, collaborating with MNEK on the 90s-esque house-pop song Say Something and presenting herself to people who don’t follow those shows has worked a treat. The single premiered on Noisey and I even heard her on 1Xtra this weekend. Although her reincarnation exposes the shallowness of the music industry, the old clips show she’s a confident performer with a strong voice, and I admire her determination to make it via any route.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSo_bazU77E]