Meet Bleu Stroud, the presumptive heiress to Taylor Swift’s crown. Bleu just released her third single, called “Still Love You Anyway.” And like everything else she puts her hand to, it’s a glittering gem of a song.
Upon first hearing Bleu Stroud, what I heard was country-pop or alt-pop as if I’d never heard it before, reduced to the essentials, the sonic ornamentation understated, the melody bereft of any harmonic mist, and lush, crystalline tones that were like amber honey.
Hailing from the sunny land of Southern California, Stroud burst onto the music scene when she released her single, ‘Blue Town,” highlighting her tantalizing voice full of magical tones and buttery textures. It’s one of those effulgent voices that come along every millennium, radiating the graceful elegance of immediacy.
An autodidact, Stroud was playing the guitar when she was eight-years-old. After mastering the guitar, she learned 12-string guitar, banjo, piano, and ukulele. As her instrumental skills expanded, so did her songwriting talent, fusing rich smooth melodies with stirring, intimate lyrics.
She’ll be dropping her debut album soon, produced by Mark Dutton. And I, for one, can’t wait because her sound is a delicious amalgamation of pop, country, and folk resulting in musical confections of pure charisma.
“Still Love You Anyway” opens with Stroud’s effulgent tones, followed by a lightly throbbing beat flowing into a shimmering alt-pop tune, gleaming with country-lite sheens. Jangly guitars infuse the tune with clean, clear accents, as well as polished bouquets of color. The chorus glows with potent surges of energy topped by Stroud’s soaring vibrant voice.
An indulgent, velvety breakdown reduces the harmonics to soft dormancy, as a gentle piano accompanies Stroud’s soft voice, prior to ramping back up to weighty sonic culmination.
There’s a divine quality of scintillance to Blue Stroud’s music, and that voice, oh, that voice! – delivers silky tones full of enthralling melodicism.