‘Glitter Up the Dark’ is the unmissable title-track from trans folk-rocker Jessye DeSilva’s forthcoming album and it’s so representative of the journey that this artist has promised across the record. As an ode to the memory of a departed friend and former partner, this track boldly combines vulnerability through grief and strength through celebration. This contrast is indicative of DeSilva’s songwriting as she seeks to embrace the universality of the lived queer experience.
As the Massachusetts creative states, “I think music is universal and I think that the trans experience and the queer experience is also universal.”
Built on a steady piano progression and americana-tinged guitars, DeSilva‘s resonant vocal commands attention from the very start. Full of feeling and tinted by a subtle vibrato, her performance moves through nostalgia of fishnet tights, holding it all together and night-time adventures. These intimate reflections are transformed pure cinema through those heartland rock melodies, ’80s pop production and richly layered strings.
There’s something Dolly Parton-esque about this storytelling style, especially as DeSilva launches into that catchy chorus, “how do you glitter up the dark, glitter when they block out the light.” This glitter is more than a shiny aesthetic decoration. It represents queer resilience and unapologetically standing out, but it also brings to mind stars in the night sky that can be a reminder of the loved one’s we’ve lost.
You can also listen to ‘Glitter up the dark’ in our Shades of Pop playlist.
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