After the crescendo-arched gravitas in Teona Zak’s complete reinvention of the piano pop power ballad in Golden Days, the industry should be pacing in anticipation of how she will pour that same unflinching raw talent into her forthcoming single, Alive, before unveiling her debut EP, To Be Loved.
With a standing ovation-worthy vocal performance and a production style that marries contemporary stylings with classical pop timbres, Golden Days roots you in the heart and soul of the single, which alludes to how important it is to hold onto the moments and connections that matter, dig your nails in, and savour every sensation that filters through the golden hue that surrounds the memories that will haunt you with sun-bleached warmth for years to come.
Each progression in Golden Days unveils a different facet of the visceral, from rose-tinted reflection that gnaws at your chest to the instrumental cascade in the middle eight, which makes you feel the transformative might of memory itself. Teona’s harmonies summon past, present, and future in one breath, as though melody alone can bend time. There’s nothing manufactured about the presence she commands; it is born of sheer instinct and talent, the sort that renders industry politics irrelevant when confronted with such authenticity.
Alive, arriving on September 9, promises to bring a new dimension to her repertoire by translating intimacy into song, priming audiences for the full immersion of To Be Loved. For now, Golden Days holds the air with its ache that is equal parts bittersweet and transcendent.
If she isn’t holding a Grammy 10 years from now, we might as well put the final nail in the sonic coffin and resign to the fact that nepotism reigns with the industry plants who could never command a presence so phenomenal.
Golden Days is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast