Review: Kitty Rae’s newest dark electronic-pop offering ‘Swim With Sharks’ channels fear and empowerment all in under three minutes
The eccentric, pink-haired, dark electronic-pop artist Kitty Rae has been slowly but surely solidifying her path in the music industry, emerging on the Australian scene with no plans to back down. After she began to pursue music in 2020, Kitty has achieved an array of successes, from winning Top Song (Electronic) and the People's Choice Award in the 2021 nation-wide Campus Music Song Competition with Red Lights, to being a featured artist at the 2021 Indie Music Summit. Bearing a sound that emits confidence and individuality, Kitty’s newest single ‘Swim With Sharks’ just continues to show how she’s sure to go far.
Brimming with an apprehensive mystique, ‘Swim With Sharks’ right from its opening beats seems to get your heart racing, with pounding dark tones and a distinctly deeper range of sounds. Sending out pulsating gloomy beats that echo into a soundscape of vastness, upbeat thuds contrast the elements of darkness that ‘Swim With Sharks’ protrudes through with, adding a slither of brightness alike the rays of light scarcely touching the bottom of the dimly lit ocean. Kitty’s vocals almost edge on sultry in her styling as she captures the essence of her sound with ease, feeling moody but clean, embodying her charismatic personality as well as the track’s striking tensions and assertiveness in every single word. Just as things feel they couldn’t possibly get more chilling, the pre-chorus sees a drawn-out sombre synth underpinning Kitty’s oddly nonchalant delivery, settling in the unease between the hair-raising sound and her apparent lack of fear. With every element exploding into the chorus, a mix of murky tones and vibrant beats increase the volume and their frequency, building the story of ‘Swim With Sharks’ in sound alone.
Carrying a mountain of interpretations and inspirations, ‘Swim With Sharks’ reigns as a song you ought to think long and hard on to truly grasp its depths. As it takes inspiration from Kitty’s move to the city, away from everything and everyone she knew, ‘Swim With Sharks’ writes of feeling dropped in the middle of the ocean without a life ring and a slowly growing dread that you’re going to sink rather than swim. Feeling utterly inadequate beside the sharks, who seem to effortlessly carry and present themselves with an unmatched confidence and professionalism, ‘Swim With Sharks’ flips the tables and urges that instead of trying to be them, you just need to swim beside them. With clear nods towards trying to achieve your dreams beside those who seem to constantly have the upper hand, as well as generally feeling out of place in life referencing Kitty’s own lifelong struggles with depression and anxiety, the track proves to be a perfectly balanced double-edged sword of emotional honesty and cold-hard dominance.
‘Swim With Sharks’ constantly dances between intimacy and empowerment to comfort a listener who may feel their vulnerability is holding them down, whilst also pushing a narrative that they can do it anyway even if they’re afraid - and Kitty herself is the proof of that. The poignant chorus lines ‘are you scared of deep blue ocean? …show them you belong here’ manages to radiate these tensions whilst also establishing an infectious confidence that leaves you feeling as though you do belong, and even if you’re still wary, just fake it until you make it. With so much thought poured into the lyricism of ‘Swim With Sharks’, its words are left to linger long after first listen, beautifully moulding around the darkened sound for an eerie resonance. Pushing such a boldly unique extended metaphor to describe those who are powerful as sharks, it’s always exciting to see how Kitty parallels every line to real life, giving ‘Swim With Sharks’ a more impactful (and a little more frightening) journey than if it were spoken with realism: ‘Out in the deep, they will sink their teeth in. Don’t be frightened, they can smell your fear.’ Capturing the fear, the coldness, the sense of feeling hunted at all times and everything in-between, ‘Swim With Sharks’ is a undeniably brilliant piece of music that in its just under three minute length finds itself sure to be sticking with you for a lifetime.
Kitty adds, “When people glorify a shark mentality, it’s easy to mistake vulnerability for weakness… It feels like you’re surrounded by sharks sometimes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t swim in those waters and chase your dream. You just need to be brave enough to stand your ground, be yourself and show them you belong here too.”
If you want to listen to Kitty’s profoundly creative lyricism or the wonderfully tense soundscape for yourself, you can check ‘Swim With Sharks’ out here!
Written by: Tatiana Whybrow
Photo Credits: Ryan Mangold
// This coverage was created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.
