Asha Vivian’s debut release Like In the Movies is a refined slice of ambient pop that is sure to stay in your head after just one listen.
Hailing from Perth, WA, Asha has kicked off her career with a wise single choice: subtle yet hooky, awash with contemporary nuances yet containing a sense of melodic weight that sounds timeless and strangely familiar. Asha flexes her evocative voice with style and a brooding sense of control which feels authentic and irrefutable.
The lyric is direct, with its heartfelt reflection on the tiresome act of waiting for life to begin its passage to fulfilment delivered with a cool yet restrained avidity. Asha’s warm and alluring voice contains enough youthful street smarts to be convincing on many levels, and it’s not difficult to imagine her appeal and the strength and appeal of the song to comfortably bridge the cultural divide between old and new music fans. With only vague nods to the pop princesses of the day–Billy Eilish, Ariana Grande–Asha’s style seems to blend these two seemingly disparate influences with discerning skill.
Like In the Movies certainly has aspects of an indie crossover hit about it yet there are also woven between the cadences of Asha’s voice and the treatment of the song, and the song itself, nice streaks of identifiable pop, most notably in the chorus.
This is a not the kind that hits you in the face but rather one that emerges from out of the myriad of interesting chord changes and shifts in rhythmic pulse, with the melodic resolve at the tail of the chorus immediately satisfying, a hook that will not leave you. A lot rests on the lyric in this song but it’s a focus that never detracts from the overall effect or Asha’s voice. All these elements blend well together to create an impressive and quite hypnotising debut record.