Molly Hammar is ‘alone’ here but not the same sort of Alone as in Heart’s epic (“how can I get you a loan?” as it is unfortunately parodied); rather the Swedish RnB artist prefers be alone than with the wrong person.
I’ve had my doubts about Molly in the past, mainly because of her choice of collaborators. And modern RnB isn’t my preferred style anyway. But she gets it pretty well right with this one.
It starts as it means to go on, with a bit of fast guitar picking, and the pace never relents thereafter. I like it when contemporary RnB and hip-hop are thrown together, they’re not dissimilar, the melody of the first complementing the beat of the second and early doors on this track she sounds quite like Natasha Bedingfield, who had one of the songs of that musical wasteland called the first half of the noughties with ‘These Words’.
I’d have been happy had it stayed like that but then the song suddenly explodes into what could have been a new one from Sigrid. Now, a year or so ago that would have counted as a negative. The airwaves were dominated by the sassy, brassy sound of the Norwegian and a host of clones. But she’s taking a break right now along with the clones and its ‘ok’ again to throw out that traditional Sigrid sound, when it’s rolled up into a cocktail like this.
I’d add that her vocal is more convincing on this song than previously, too. It’s richer and smokier.
In this instance the song was co-written with UK artist Elle Eyre. ‘Alone’ is the first single to be released from Molly’s second EP, to be released autumn 2020.
Molly established herself as an RnB artist after breaking with her record label after the commercial pop she was making didn’t fit with her artistic vision. Her 2018 acclaimed EP ‘Sex’, concerning female sexuality from a very personal perspective, won her a fan base of young girls who could relate to her message. I reckon this song will project her beyond that fan base into the adult world.
She played a London show last year and is scheduled to return to play a session at JA JA JA when it is possible to do that.
'Alone’ was released today through via Cosmos Music, and you can find Molly on Facebook or Instagram.
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