On the back of the teaser introduction of “Sadie” that came to our attention towards the end of last year, aspiring pop starlet (Sophia) Manou returns brandishing an equally cool follow-up in the tropical R’n’B synth hazy, indie pop intonated “Loving You”.
Now we must remember that Manou is just sixteen and she’s working the ropes with P*NUT, the producer behind Foxes and Eliza Doolittle.
As the debut single “Loving You” does spa off unto an altogether different course of direction than the sonically synth pleasing buzz-fed predecessor “Sadie”, but that’s not to say that “Loving You” doesn’t harbour the same spark of interest within us, if anything we are even greater endeared to the level of hybrid pop wrapping that encases itself around Manou’s honeyed and altruistically driven vocals.
I’ll be honest this has dropped in as a bit of a surprise, given the initial impression that “Sadie” brought with it and as such, I totally wasn’t expecting anything in the way of such alternatively leaning pop to steam off the back of that one.
Yet those robust guitar riffs do hover over the melody with a gravitating and tantalisingly fresh appeal and when teamed with Manou’s alt-Iconapop / Kylie vocal directive it all falls out as one glisteningly coherent thread of simmering and affectingly riveting synth pop.