Tauranga’s Sophie-Maude has just dropped her third single, Vertigo. Co-written by the artist and Ben Malone, who produced the track at Parachute (before sending it over to Kog for mastering), the song was engineered to give off the vibe of the listener being on an emotional rollercoaster.

Now, all-out Pop music has a very definitive audience, and when done well this music can find its way all over the world as a result. I have news. This is done well.

The orchestration and composition are very well balanced and subtle. We have classic pop synths anchoring the overall track, with a medium depth bottom end that would benefit from a better speaker than the fairly decent headphones I just gave it a listen through. The lead keyboard delivers a catchy melody, well woven into the mix, and not imposing itself inappropriately over the rest of the instrumentation balance. It actually borders on dream-pop in its pitch and volume, which is a touch that I liked.

Some gentle, thoughtful lyrics take you on the journey along with the beat. It’s fairly lively, tempered with some emotive chord progressions. Nicely thought out all round.

What sends the song into the stratosphere, however, is the singer. Sophie-Maude has some serious chops. She reminds me a bit of Pink (I can’t remember if the exclamation mark is upside down or not so I didn’t bother), with an Avril Lavigne waif-like sugar punk timbre added. A really cool vocal, that one can tell would suit any number of genres. That’s uncommon, and I hope she goes a long, long way down the road of exploring what she can do with the instrument she’s got.

The melody is a bona fide ear worm. Pleasant to listen to, and one I would definitely not reach for the change channel button on, if it popped up on radio. This fits in pop and dancier stuff, although calling it R & B would be too much of a stretch. ZM, More FM, the commercial channels: they are its home. Also she needs to get a video out because that commercial element is definitely all over this number. It’ll go down well at parties, in the car, out for a run, and at something like a live performance on TV or an awards night. I’m sure her management have this in hand, but this song is vibrant and now and needs some visuals.

I always say music is subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and every genre has validity if even one person loves what they are hearing. Where might that person go with their life without the music they love? See where I’m going with that point? I get a lot of rock, punk, metal and other genres to review so this is probably not everyone’s cup of tea who follows this site. I actually really do like it though – especially her vocal performance. This is pop music done very well, and I hope this single follows her previous two on the upward arc of her success. The more pop the better so send them in!

Great work Sophie-Maude. Remember the name, and get on her socials to support.

I just invented the term sugar punk by the way, and yes, you can use it if you like it.