25 October 2012
We’re Backing Brave! Let’s Make Possible! Just like your favourite ‘inspirational’ marketing slogans that used random adjectives as nouns, here’s the title of Labrinth and Emeli’s chart-topping 2012 collab.
The minor-key strings and piano stir plenty of maudlin heartache in with the personal development stuff – plus we get a big ol’ dollop of Sexism 101. She’s a looker but rejects him, from which he immediately diagnoses the objectively verifiable truth: all this beauty of hers is just a facade, and the only cure for her inauthenticity is hooking up with him. Yes, Sandé’s verses flip the scenario: guy is acting tough to hide inner pain. However, this is just convenient cover for familiar gender stereotypes: we guys put on a show of bravado while being sensitive inside, but you girls are just superficial man-hating dolly-birds. The reality TV montage vibe of the swelling chorus gives away the real superficiality here. Shove your shallow.
